We need multiple play makers on the floor who can handle the ball.
A McKneely Saunders Power Buchanan 2-3-4-5 doesn’t meet that. Two of Dai Dai Bliss and Warley will start, especially if McKneely doesn’t show progress as a play maker/attacker on offense.
Edit: not necessarily my opinion but just having watched UVA basketball the last 15 years. Neither Saunders nor Power can handle or slash or create consistently that we know of. Need at least two play makers/drivers unless we want to watch the Stand Around Crew during scoring droughts for the 10th year in a row. Also college bball is very 3 guard dominated. whether it be teams like Kansas, Baylor, and UConn championship teams of recent or even our best UVA teams.
I see a lot of guys averaging between 15-30 mins per game, but for starters I’m thinking Ames, IMac, Warley, Power & BB. Off the bench, in order by minutes, Saunders, Murray, Bliss & AR as the regular rotation. Cofie, Rohde, Lang & Harris play some early but not so much when TB tightens the rotation for ACC unless it’s a blowout.
I have no idea how to peg Bliss. He still doesn’t seem to be 100% but we are a couple weeks away from summer practice. I haven’t seen him play in about a year, so no idea how he’s progressed.
Dante coming back and positive news (fingers crossed) on Elijah’s health could both affect his minutes. Or maybe he beats out Dai Dai for whatever reason and starts or plays starter minutes.
Lots of things seem possible. I just hope we don’t make the same mistake we did last year. Settle on a guard/wing rotation in the second scrimmage and barely change all season, barring injury (and sometimes even with injury).
Great analysis! Do you think Saunders and Power can play together with Blake at Center? Seems Saunders may be able to defend forwards (traditional lineups v 3 guard). Also what do you think of a Murray/ Saunders combo at forward?
This analysis made me a little less bullish on Saunders. Especially the limited stuff he showed in various aspects of his offense. I thought he was a bit more diverse in his offensive game, I guess.
I wonder if we see something like first season Armaan from him (in terms of impact, not style and scoring approach).
Yes, I do think he can play the 3 with Power at the 4 - that’s ideally where I’d want him along with backing up Power when he goes out. I don’t necessarily think they’ll utilize that option as often as I’d like - but we’ll see about that. It will probably depend on how often we still run Sides as he’s probably not a great fit at the SF in that offense.
Saunders at 4 won’t really be limited with who he can play with at 3. It’ll more be dependent on how big our opponent’s front court is collectively… so if Murray is getting significant PT, sure.
I get that, depending on what your expectations were. He only averaged 6ppg and his low FT numbers made me pretty confident he wasn’t scoring inside often before watching him.
His outside shot is more of a core part of his game than I’d expected. He’s more confident with it and looks for it. I also expected him to be bigger and slower and less athletic. The fact that he’s quick and very athletic and strong (with a shot already) has me optimistic that there’s good room for growth and, at the very least, he’s going to be a very good defender for you who defenses still have to guard outside.
Personally, I’m excited having found out those things - but if you were expecting more of a polished or complete offensive presence, I get lowering your expectation there, or if you were hoping he was going to be a great option for us to get into small ball basketball without many tradeoffs defensively.
Everything in this thread is fascinating to me because of the variety of opinions and also ways that Eli Saunders could be used for us.
I tend to believe if he and TJP are on the court together it’s in a “small ball” lineup where they’re the 4/5, but Cuts has me believing with his incredible deep dive. Well done.
