It appeared to me (at least at end of first half) we switched on D with the smaller lineup (no Shed or Papi), but were hedging otherwise. Maybe less hedging when foul trouble.
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That was my biggest takeaway from last night there was a 5-10 min stretch at the start of the 2nd half and end of the first where the offense ground to a halt with a lot of iso dribble and watching. Itās funny because I swear thatās a trademark of Virginia basketball now, no matter whoās on the court thereās gonna be a 5 min stretch of stagnant offense. I donāt think they abandoned the hard hedge completely, but it was not as pronounced as weāre used to seeing.
As I said previously I was generally happy with what I saw, it wasnāt perfect but itās the first hi out and I need a bigger sample size before I start tearing things down.
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The hedging I saw seemed sort of half-hearted. In the past, Virginiaās hedges pushed ball handler away from the paint. Last night, the hedges, when used, barely changed the direction of the dribbler. Or, so I thought.
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Yeah I think that was right. I didnāt really love how the switching looked because it gave Wright too much leeway to dance with the ball and attack Jayden or BVP.
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I wonder if part of that is feeling out the refs and how they are calling the hedge?
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Thought we hedged some in the 2nd half with Shed and Papi. Noticed a few of NCC threes were when we went under a screen rather than fighting through. Someone noted that Mac got burned by his guy on the corner 3 because he was watching the ball trying to cheat. Kihei did much better in the 2nd half.
Beeks was about .25 seconds too late on 3-4 steals that would have made his night look great.
The important thing is I saw improvement with areas that are more susceptible to correction and improvement than last year. Hard to fix bad shooting during the season.
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Sorry, this is totally over my head. Donāt really get what the point is heās making.
I think its best to look one game at a time with this team.
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Just a salty mid major coach tired of his best players bouncing all the time maybe.
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Love that comparison. Sure you know you might be getting a player with some baggage or some issues, but if they get bucketsā¦ eh itāll work out.
Weāre not talking bout locking down forever, thatās too demanding, weāre just talking bout 2 people trying to find a little understanding.
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Emblematic of last night, on the first play in that video Reece just gets beat off the dribble and Shedrick way out of position. Even some of our best defenders werenāt great last night. Hope the D picks up.
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Iād also be salty that Dukeās OADs take classes there to remain eligible, but he canāt use them on the court in their tight crimson unis.
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As long as Kihei, Jayden, and BVP are playing major minutes and we play no switchable wing defender, I think thereās a hard cap on how good our defense can be. That said, it can certainly improve, and if it can just get to pretty solid by the end of the year, could be enough to do a little something if the offense works out the kinks too and we keep being able to knock down more threes.
(Also, to be clear, that is not me saying those guys should play less or anything. More saying the way this team is constructed this year, Iād be surprised if we ever get to an elite defensive level. But maybe we can get to pretty solid.)
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too much to read it all but based off the number of replies in this thread Iām assuming people were much more negative on last night than I was lol
Offense was good and most of the issues defensively were from McKneely and BVP. Theyāll get better as the year goes on
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Hasnt been negative at all I think.
Good points on Mc and BVP. Close out issues but NCC made some tough shots as well (as teams always seem to do against us)
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Define āswitchable wing defenderā ā because of the four or five I can think of during the Bennett era (Brogdon, Anderson, Hunter, Key and to a lesser extent Hall) we switched on screens rather than hedged with only two of them. But we had elite defenses when, essentially, all we did was hedge (2014-16).
EDIT ā Murphy, too. But the defense in 2020-21 was a mess.
Isaac looked good on ball too. The off ball problems are to be expected from a freshman in his first game
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Yea man. He really gets in a stance and locks in and moves really well
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Iād say Key, Hunter, Isaiah, Darion, Akil all fall into the mold Iām referring to. Although Malcolm and Anderson obviously were very versatile as well. And Diakite for that matter, although obviously more a big.
On this team right now, are we playing anybody who can reliably guard 2-4? Iād say no. And thatās the problem. When thereās breakdowns and players get switched, we canāt just overcome it. We use to have Swiss Army knife defenders that made the whole thing work, and right now weāre much less flexible. Most of our guys can only guard one or two positions.
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