New month, new thread.
Hoos #2 in The Athletic’s power rankings. Gushing about us and the win at Michigan.
Won’t post the full article but love this line:
This team looks complete. Not perfect, obviously (it could maybe do with a true center backup option who was slightly less likely than Francisco Caffaro is to unintentionally cave an opponent’s skull).
Unintentionally?
Yeah, love the most that they acknowledge that Michigan played really well (just like Baylor did)
I actually think Caffaro is a perfect backup center. The only issue is he won’t be here next year when Kadin is a lottery pick (what can mark williams do that Kadin can’t???)
Can anyone who is all about stats see if there is that same drop off like last year with Kadin on and off the floor? I figure there may be some of that same drop off but at the same time the Jayden BVP front court has won us games and been our go to lineup in crunch time.
Here are the raw stats – it’s sort of complicated to work through. Evan Miya** has less functionality but an easier/clearer interface.
https://hoop-explorer.com/OnOffAnalyzer?autoOffQuery=true&baseQuery=&gender=Men&maxRank=400&minRank=0&offQuery=NOT%20(“Shedrick%2C%20Kadin”%20)&onQuery=“Shedrick%2C%20Kadin”%20&team=Virginia&year=2022%2F23&
If I’m understanding this correctly (big big “if”), it means that our offense is better when he’s out there and defense is worse when he’s out there. Which is counter-intuitive. But I think you have to look at how the lineups change: e.g., he tends to play less with BVP, who probably has really good on/off numbers.
** Speaking of, looks like Evan is putting the lineup stats stuff behind a paywall…
As we’ve all been saying, it’s been great to have him here primarily for his defense. 
I’m always a bit 
with the on/off stuff. It tells some interesting stories, but it also tells some odd stories. I said something similar about +/-, but I think it would tell us more if lineups were selected at random, but they’re not.
Fixed it for him
That would be terrifying. CTB would just sub the guy in with a baseball bat every time.
Sometimes the old ways are best.
As we start the December thread, shout out to the program (both men and women) for going UNDEFEATED for the entire month of November! 15-0. Pre-season, the odds of that outcome would certainly have been less than 1%. Just an incredible month for both teams.
Surprised no one called it out but that missed tip in from Papi in the Michigan game tarnished his perfect FG % for the season.
Somewhere Grant Kersey is smiling.
Ha ha! I’m imagining him like the '74** Dolphins, having a sip of champagne every time a UVa player misses their first FG of the year.
** (meant 72)
#2 in Norlanders latest power rankings
Hoping that this part of our schedule sees some more PT and improvement for McKneely and Dunn. McKneely’s lack of assertiveness has surprised me, give. He was absolutely the guy for his state champion team and he took lots of big shots. I have been wondering if the change in his shooting motion to more of a set shot has affected his confidence coming off of pin downs. Kyle Guy would come off of those quickly and elevate. Mick can definitely elevate but not with the new motion. His one jumper at the elbow looked good with plenty of elevation. Something to watch I think.
I don’t think the motion changed much at all, they tweaked it slightly but he needs to run harder and tighter off those screens and use some ball fakes to get some open looks.
He used to have extreme elevation on his jump shot. They have taken that out. The motion is very different.
My point more so was that any tweaks to his form aren’t the reason he isn’t gunning. He isn’t shooting because teams are in his grill because they know he’s a shooter and he hasn’t proved he can hurt you in any other ways. He’s going to have to run off screens like Joe/KG to consistently get open looks. Right now he’s pretty much jogging off of them.
Not only is it the sprinting but he needs to decide that he is going to shoot the ball before he even gets by the screen. That’s what made Guy so dangerous was he knew 3-5 seconds before hand that he was going to shoot and had such an awareness of the basket.
Right now - to me - it seems like he is running and catching then thinking about what to do. This normally ends in 1-2 dribbles and pass. As it starts to slow down for him, he will know the set and be able to be ready to shoot 15 feet before he gets to his spot.
