Dante Harris:
11 Likes
Depends on the player and the need IMO, TM3 and Jayden were both up-transfers who made solid contributions on their respective teams. I love the addition of Rohde because he still has several years left, and I think that he’ll evolve into a really solid player for us.
This has been discussed before, but there was plenty of reason to doubt how well Minor’s game would translate to the ACC. We needed to add another big, and I’m not sure what major conference transfer bigs were available/gettable for us. Given what I’ve heard about the going rate for those types of transfers, our options may have been limited.
6 Likes
Stats answers courtesy of Hoop Math and Torvik:
More live ball turnovers: Yes (14% of shots are coming after a steal this season, compared to 8% last season)
More points off live ball turnovers: Not really, we are shooting a miserable percentage after steals (that I would expect would come up over the course of the season).
Offensive rebounds: Kinda. We are ahead of last season’s offensive rebounding numbers, but actually behind where we were after the first three games last year. Getting a similar amount of putbacks (shots taken within four seconds of an offensive rebound) as last season, at least as a percentage of shots taken at the rim. Small sample size alert: the put back total is 3, all taken by Bond.
3 Likes
Idk how anyone takes Torvik seriously given his preseason projections.
1 Like
Well in this case it’s a very convenient way to track offensive rebounding % and compare it to past seasons. It has nothing to do with his preseason projections, it’s just the math operation of offensive rebounds/(field goal attempts - field goal makes).
6 Likes
Think on Rohde his overall impact has been greater than I expected. Was expecting him to score a little more, of course. But I was not expecting him to be so solid in all aspects of the game right away. He has been a plus defender for us so far and does all the little things right on both sides of the ball. Very complete player and better than I was expecting in pretty much every area outside of scoring. Given we are averaging 77-78 PPG I’ll take that trade off
10 Likes
I blew past 60 posts but wanted to add my Bond take.
To me, when all is said and done Bond is going to be like one of those Michigan State guards that’s a 4 year guy, defensive stalwart with some shooting inconsistency but one of the faces of college basketball and provides clutch moments.
9 Likes
Yep- to summarize we are more than 1-dimensional with *guards that can make plays. Last year we had 5 bigs that took up roster spots and were all dependent on the guards to make plays for them.
Not hating, but I like the speed, athleticism and skill that we have this year… I’m suddenly REALLY excited for Ishan next year as I think he will be a sleeper quality player (If he doesn’t redshirt).
2 Likes
Entirely agree. I don’t know what people are disappointed with. His three-point percentage? We’re looking at a very small sample size: If one of his misses had been a make (and there were a couple that rimmed out), he’d be at 37%. You can tell he has a nice stroke. Those shots will fall. He’s got a better midrange game than I expected. He’s patient with the ball. There was one play last night where he faked the three, sidestepped a defender, and sank a foul-line jumper. He’s been a solid defender at least, and better than that at time. I’m very happy we got him.
13 Likes
Yeah the “issue” with Harris is that he has skills, but tries to make these fancy plays, ball handling experiences. For example instead of just GRABBING the ball and looking to pass to someone to save the possession, he tried to DRIBBLE the ball through a couple of scrappy defenders who immediately dove on the ground to get the ball.
He will learn, and I’m glad that there is video tape of it so that he can make those adjustments. We want him to be a LEAD GUARD, and that means making SMART plays.
4 Likes
I think that with Rohde and Minor that we have a mix of okay–>good players that will not overshadow our true talent like Buchanan etc.
With that said I think Rohde is further along and will be better.
With Minor it’s interesting because he’s definitely the 3rd big in the rotation and many of us thought the order would have been Minor, Groves then Buchanan, so this is quite a shock. I’m actually very happy with Groves contribution as well.
1 Like
I thought Rohde would be better at creating his own shot, and he’s a bit riskier with the ball than Tony usually likes. But those are my only complaints. He’s better at defense than I expected, and has good court vision on offense. And his shot, whether it goes in or not, always looks good.
4 Likes
I’m willing to see how this year plays out but I’m a bit bear-ish on him developing. He has two years of tape and almost a year in the program so he may be what he is at this point…
Which to me is an empty calorie stat filler on a bad P5 team. Doesn’t have the baseline qualities we need in a point guard which is solid decision making and smart ball movement.
I agree, very happy with Rohde. Seems to be focusing on defense, team concept, and letting the shots come to him rather than forcing. He seems perfectly willing and comfortable to shoot the open jumper in rhythm without hesitation. I’m so used to many of our recent teams looking like they don’t want to shoot that this is a nice change.
Also agree with Dave’s gif of Mayhem Re: Dante and I feel like a passenger in that car whenever he’s dribbling.
6 Likes
Another nice change from last year is that we have several guys where I actually feel good when I see those guys taking an outside shot. When Groves or Imac or Rohde puts up a jumper, that’s a good PPP. And Blake and Bond look to have a smooth touch from 12 feet and in. Last year I understood why they didn’t want to shoot lol. Nice to have shooters again.
5 Likes
If he comes back next year I don’t see him leading our offense any more than he is doing it this year. Bliss will take over thankfully. I do love Harris off the bench as an energy and intensity boost.
7 Likes
Yes, there have been some posters on here advocating a recruiting strategy of high-level athleticism or shooting skill (or both). I think that’s what we’re seeing with this group. And it’s fun.
4 Likes
He has two more years of eligibility. It’s certain he comes back next year - he could stay, go pro/overseas or grad transfer for the following.
Agreed that I’d rather put my ducks in the Bliss development at this point without marked improvement of ball security and decision making. There’s also the transfer market which could make things awkward in many ways.
Too early to really be having this conversation really though. I think last night was more representative of the personnel he was surrounded with - for the 8 or so minutes he’ll play primary point to spell Beekman in a competitive game, he’ll have more playmakers around him.
2 Likes
Forget preseason projections- he still has UVA at 49th (???). For context, here are some notable teams ahead:
42nd Maryland (1-2)
39th Wisconsin (1-2) (38th is Providence who beat them last night by 13, and it wasn’t that close)
30th Villanova (nice loss to Penn)
29th Florida (didn’t we play them?)
15th St Mary’s (nice loss to Weber State)
I get there is baked in preseason stuff in his formula, but that is a joke. He should not be taken seriously.
1 Like
“He” (his algorithm) has UVa at #20 based on games so far.
“His” preseason projections (the algorithms) were pretty bad at estimating player usage and development, so it way undervalued our team.
The latter will work itself out over the next ~4-5 weeks and we’ll get a much more accurate read reflected in the ranking.
4 Likes