Never gets old!
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No one passes the salt…
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Cold blooded. Ty knows the guy is going to get lit up, Jack does Jack things. I miss those days.
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Remember the same game when Salt got called for a foul for setting another hard, but perfectly legal screen? Lol
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Cool 7ish minute interview of Kihei from ESPN:
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I like that strategy to get rid of a pesky, full court, on-ball defender better, rather than the slow moving pick from a big man that has been in vogue for the last couple of years.
Great article about Vander Plas in the Athletic. Not just the trite and tired story they tell in every game.
Includes some interesting bits about the recruitment. Sounds like Mike Curtis played an important role, as did (indirectly) Sam Hauser. Paywalled, but a short clip:
During their sales pitch, coaches rolled clips of Vander Plas shooting off the move at Ohio … followed by video of the drill … followed by film of former Cavaliers wing Sam Hauser sinking the same type of looks in game flow. In fact, for all the talk about the Bennett-Vander Plas connections, Hauser might’ve been the most critical name drop and reference point in this process. “He did the homework with Sam Hauser,” Dean Vander Plas says. “He bounced things off of us, but I think his respect for Sam Hauser, and that Sam verified what he was feeling, was probably more important to Ben.”
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Thanks for sending. One of the best articles I have read on Athletic but I am biased
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Excellent read. Thank you
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Really enjoyed that article. Thanks for posting
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4 marquee games down now, how are you feeling?
- Meh
- Okay
- Very Good
- Way above expectations
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In your mind what is the biggest issue for the team?
- Lack of 3pt shooting
- Lack of athletic wing defenders and athletic rebounding forwards in the rotation
- Lack of playmakers outside Reece and Kihei
0 voters
I’m somewhere in between feeling “very good” and “way above expectations”. Figured we would go either 1-3 or 2-2 in those marquee games and end up this year around a 6 seed in the NCAAT, basically hovering in the 20-30 ranking range. So to be able to go 3-1 and be a top 10 team as of right now is awesome and sets us up to potentially have a much higher ceiling than I originally thought.
Shooting is a concern but this team could really use a Braxton Key, someone who has the size to rebound and check 4’s as well as the athleticism to also guard bigger wings. Many will rightly point out that we have Dunn but while he does provide us that versatility in spurts I’m not sure he’s at the stage in his development where he can do it for 20-25 minutes a game like we need. That’s the main thing that I think prevents us from being a sure fire national title contender this year.
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I feel good, which wasn’t an option, so I chose “way above expectations” because I tend to keep my expectations low. 
The biggest issue on this team is hard to answer. I think the biggest issue is basically that our roster isn’t good enough to win a natty, but that’s fine because hoops is still fun and if we get a few breaks I think we will have that in the next year or so. In other words, I guess the biggest issue is all three. We’d probably need all three to be a natty contender, barring an unlikely run. (Cue another round of “what’s a natty contender” discourse - 
)
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Also agree with this. Ceiling on this team is much higher than I expected.
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The story coming out of Vegas was the emergence of Reece as a star, and the big lift Vander Plas had given them. Injury and a slump have taken it’s toll since.
Some +/- stats
In the first 3 competitive games against (NCCU, Baylor, Illinois), UVA was +15 without Shedrick on the floor. And +17 with Vander Plas. Now, keep in mind those numbers aren’t all that related because at that point they had barely gone small, Caffaro replaced Shedrick.
In the last 4 games (Mich, FSU, JMU, Houston), They’re -29 without Shedrick, and -17 with Vander Plas. Those numbers are more interconnected as the small-ball has replaced Caffaro for the most part.
*not blaming small-ball, that’s more about matchups, Just pointing out how the rotation has changed.
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Almost all of that is explained by his shooting. 6-13 from 3 in the first four games but only 2-15 in the last four. And really his shooting slump (if that’s what it is) has been from Illinois on (2-18 over 6 games).
Classes are out with nothing to do. I’d spend an extra 2-3 hours a day in the gym with a buddy just taking catch and release threes.
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My understanding is that BVP is auditing a couple of classes which is the extent of his academic schedule haha. This is his 6th year in college.
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Armaan Franklin has scored 98 points so far…
47 of them came in 2 games … 51 in the other 7.
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I think similar to how the team purposefully fed/pumped up Gardner following a slow start, the team should actively look to engage Franklin over these next few games. He shot the ball well versus Houston- and more than that, the team could really use his aggression attacking the rim.
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