This has a 2017 UNCW feel to it. Offensive squad who a lot of pundits jumped on. Virginia squad that at times struggled offensively. That game turned into a bit of a shootout, with a fantastic game from Shayok.
3 Likes
With so many teams / games, most of the pundits cannot keep up with how a team progresses. I got to watch the ACC tournament live and I thought we played three of our best games defensively without BVP (and we made it tough on Duke offensively). Our defense has found an entirely different gear and if our shots fall, we can beat anyone in the country. If the media was objective, they would be focusing on answering the following: āCan Virginia get good quality shots and can the guards get to the rim (and convert)ā as the key questions in evaluating our prospective success against opponents.
8 Likes
No question about it and I agree totally. Duke scored 90 somethin on NC St. and then in the 80s against Miami; we held them to 59. Did more than enough on that end to win, just 4/17 from 3 and 33% overall from the field aināt gonna cut it against anyone. If we can just get luke warm shooting, we will be ok.
3 Likes
We really held Duke to 53 before we had to foul at the end. Those FTās shouldnāt count against the defense.
6 Likes
I would generally ignore what people say their bracket picks are vs what vegas is saying. All the upset talk might move more public money to Furman but hopefully the line stays around 5-5.5. There is very little consequence of picking a uva upset because weāre a low end 4 seed vs the top 1 seed. If we donāt get upset, itās very unlikely weāll get to the E8 anyways and ruin peopleās brackets. Duke isnāt a popular upset pick because they all have them in their F4 haha
3 Likes
And, if we had wanted to hold them to 53, we could have. The last 6 were the hack a player as quick as you can points that tend to make a close game not look like a close game.
Thought we did an incredible job on D. Makes me wonder if I went overboard thinking they are a final four team. Seems like they have the pieces to do that.
4 Likes
Good luck to BVP and good vibes to Dr. Chabra who we know far too well. Also, I think we blow this sorry ass Furman team out, play SDSU close but win and then get blown out by Bama (awful matchup for us)
11 Likes
Just watched highlights of the Furman-UTC championship game. (I had free time ā or, at least, other things I didnāt want to do.)
No question Furman can shoot ā but there also was a five-minute stretch in the first half when they didnāt score a point, and UTC isnāt exactly a defensive powerhouse. They average 35% from behind the arc on the season ā actually, slightly lower than us ā and there were a bunch of games where they shot in the mid-20s, including against NC State.
UTC played drop coverage and gave up a ton of open looks ā and, still, Furman shot only 32% from long (actually worse than UTC). UTC also didnāt offer much resistance or much help on drives ā but they did foul a lot, and that seems to have been the difference in the game.
On offense, Furman ran a bunch of ball screens, but didnāt do a lot of screening away from the ball, which is usually what gives us the most trouble. On defense, didnāt look like Furman pressured the ball very much or switched on screens, and UTC seemed to be able to score pretty easily when they got the ball inside.
Itās just one game (Iām not bored enough to watch more), and Iām a firm believer that most teams in the tournament can beat most other teams if they get hot. So itās certainly possible that we lose this game. But I like our chances.
9 Likes
Until pundits are paid by their ability to predict games, Iām going to ignore them.
I think Matt Norlander is a smart thoughtful pundit, but he still canāt beat a coin flip in his game predictions over a season.
2 Likes
This feels like a game where we ride Jayden Gardner. He lives to feast on mid majors. I mean this as no disrespect as heās a very solid P6 player, but his play style and ability is basically like a Mid Major All American.
8 Likes
4 Likes
Letās be honest though, if we want to stop being the trendy upset pick, we have to stop getting upset.
26 Likes
Ticket lottery isnāt that badā¦ costs arenāt bad eitherā¦ but what I think is funny is that your first two tickets will be lower deck and if you ask for any more they will be upper deckā¦
To request tickets, please login to your Virginia Athletics/VAF account here . All requests must be made by Tuesday, March 14 at 12pm. Once you have logged in, you can follow the instructions to request your tickets. See notes below.
- You may request up to four tickets - up to two tickets will be assigned in the lower level with any additional tickets being assigned in the upper level.
- Tickets are assigned based on Priority Points.
- Requests are not guaranteed to be filled.
- Refunds are not provided for awarded tickets.
- Awarded requests for the First and Second Rounds will only be filled should Virginia play in each round. You are not permitted to order First Round tickets without committing to Second Round tickets and vice versa.
- First Round tickets purchased through UVA are only valid for the games in which Virginia plays.
- You will be notified whether you received tickets Tuesday, March 14, and your card will be charged for First Round tickets at that time and charged again following the First Round if the team advances to the Second Round.
- Tickets will be delivered digitally later in the week of March 13 to those awarded tickets.
- In the event Virginia does not advance, you will not be charged or receive tickets for the Second Round. Please know that by filling out a request you are committing to pay for these tickets.
- You will receive a confirmation once your credit card has been charged.
- Tickets are $100 per ticket for lower-level seats and $80 per ticket for upper-level seats per round. All orders are subject to a $15 processing fee per round.
3 Likes
Why would Alabama be an awful matchup for us? Even if we arenāt superb at several essential basketball skills, we can damn sure slow a team down. Sears and Quinerly canāt bully Kihei like the Houston guards could. Put Reece! on the hottest guard, give Kihei the other assignment. Dunn on Branden Miller has some pros and cons: on the plus side, Ryan will absolutely ruin Millerās night; on the minus side, he will definitely get high first-round grades next year after Miller turns in a 3-14 w/ 4 TOs. Oats will for sure lose his rag when Kihei does a double-pistol celebration after his 4th trey. Donāt really see how we lose.
2 Likes
Exactly right. I see people calling out the upset picks for Furman. But letās go back to 2021, 4 seed Virginia vs. 13 seed Ohio. From ncaa.com website. We start demonstrating more consistency, these upset picks stop occurring.
4 Likes
Really tough to use 2021 given that uva was coming off a covid pause. Every team that year struggled immensely coming off a pause.
2 Likes
Yeah Iām at the point, especially since weāve won a Natty, where I donāt get AS angry about people saying weāll lose earlyā¦. Especially when we donāt have a truly top level elite team.
3 Likes
I agree. With that being said, I think the Ohio one also had a lot to do with Ohio themselves. They are at a level that I donāt think Furman is. Hell, they had an NBA guard on the team.
*Knocks on wood
7 Likes
I donāt remember Ohio playing very well. Just like UMBC was terrible in the first half. If we play a Clemson ACCT first half against these teams then we cruise to wins
2 Likes