That reads like a fancy way of saying āMake 'em earn.ā
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Ha. That was great. Also when college basketball starts I stop watching football!
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When a career 33% 3 point shooter gets to play against a short opponent and knows there is no threat of a shot alterā¦
https://twitter.com/i/status/1605189792899010560
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Dave youāre the only dude I know that could turn Eric Bledsoe highlights from China into a dig at Kihei
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@DavetheWave is an Antonio Blakeney hater! 
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Nah - nuttin to do with him ā¦ I was a shooter who loved shooting over short guys ā¦ just reminded me of good ole days.
And by the way - we are short and unathletic across our whole team ā¦
Itās the main reason our D is subpar vs previous UVA iterations.
For me the only plus athletes we have are Reece and Dunn ā¦
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Despite lots of video evidence many have provided here I dont think teams in college really try and exploit match ups as much as it might appear.
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Truth!
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This could easily devolve into a debate about what constitutes āathleteā which I donāt enjoy at all because I generally think thereās kind of an agreed on understanding of that term, but, alluding to that vague agreed on understanding - Iād say Shedrick would be another one in the plus athlete bucket.
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āWeā are short only if you are referring to Kihei (Beeks at 6ā3" is the shortest after him). But itās becoming clear that if a team has a size advantage against Kihei, they are targeting him inside the FT line and either shooting over him or drawing help which leaves the dump off to the open man underneath. Teams used to go after the Stokes brothers and Othell that way, but they were masters at stripping the ball on the way up.
Agree that Reece and Dunn are āplusā athletes, but I think you are underselling the athleticism of Sheds and IMac. Donāt think that lack of āathleticismā is a reason the D isnāt the same. Time in the system is more important to me - knowing instinctively when to move into a passing lane, etc. - than plus athletes (donāt get me wrong, love me some athletes). I think the D continues to improve as the season goes by (lord knows Tony will spend the practice time getting there).
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I used to think Sheds was too .. I donāt anymore in a basketball sense ā¦ athlete to me for any sport means a lot of things ā¦ mostly it means at least a few things are easier for you than everybody else.
Sheds has to improve his rebound %. Period. If he does that then I will put him back in that category ā¦ His basketball IQ is till lacking too often on understanding angles and situations.
Iāll give you an example. Jesse Edwards at Syracuse leads the ACC in both block % and rebound %. That means his IQ has caught up with his athleticism. He understands when to go for the block and when to block out and hold his position.
Sheds still far too often looks like a new born giraffe ā¦ struggling to keep his balance and hold position.
He also needs to look at the basket when facing. If not then we donāt need to run any pick and roll at all with him at the top of the key ā¦ like none. Itās the main reason we beat Baylor ā¦ their bigs were utter non factors after they set picks for their guards ā¦ and we forced them to be decision makers which they could not do.
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I love the chance to debate with @DavetheWave but his take here on Sheds is spot on. Heās a good/solid athlete but is still lost on the court. I had hopes he was turning a corner coming into the season esp. after seeing him come in a little bulked up, but he still canāt use that additional size. Sheds plays like a guy who does not feel comfortable with his body and at this point I think itās safe to lower his ceiling a bit and understand that big leap likely wonāt happen in a Virginia uni.
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Yeah, agree as well. If someone can jump out of the building but only ever uses it to release their jumpers really, really high, then sure, theyāre technically a great athlete, the potential is there. But you canāt really call them a āplus athleteā in basketball terms until they figure out how to use that potential productively. Shedrick should be a plus athlete, but he still hasnāt completely figured out how to use his potential. And until he does, heās not.
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You guys are tough graders. Last year Shed couldnāt spend 5 minutes on the court without fouling. This year that hasnāt been an issue - he played 29 minutes against Houston ending up with 3PF. Agree that he has to translate the athleticism into basketball āplaysā but he is making progress and the more he plays, the more the progress. He took the charge against Houston, a āsmartā play which ended up being a bad call against him and he was grabbed around the waist and thrown a couple of times when he did have position that were no-calls. Houston plays more ābig boyā than we will face the rest of the year. I donāt know about a big leap for him, but I think you are selling him low (just needs a little Mike Tobey reckless abandon sauce, which is possible now that the fouls are under control). He is also a great FT shooter for a big, which will pay huge dividends as well.
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Come on. Youāre the guy who likes to rely on objective stats, and Shedrick is a guy youāre going to dig into? Why does everyone have this weird yardstick they use to measure Sheds against relative to every other player on our team?
Look at Torvik. Sheds has the best all around score for his advanced metric on the team. He has the best box plus minus, he has the best O-rating of anyone playing real minutes, and his shooting percentages are extremely high. Heās also dropped his fouls again year over year while maintaining a very high block rate, and he is one of our best guys at getting to the FT line and converting. Iād have to find where you posted it, but I even think your own defensive stats have him as top or near top on the team.
Also, he had a good rebounding percentage last year. Has dipped this year and he should work on that, but he does not look lost or like a baby giraffe out there. In the past, yes, but I really donāt see that much this year at all and the stats donāt seem to back that up. There are problems on this team and players not taking sufficiently large steps forward that we would have hoped for, but I donāt think Sheds is anywhere near the top of the list. But anyway, maybe my bias.
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Lol ā¦ did you even read my post?
I didnāt say he wasnāt improved or a plus player for the team ā¦ his on off stats show how valuable he is.
And Iād say we only go as far as Reece and Sheds take us this year.
But we need him to get more than 4.8 FGA per game ā¦ some of that is on him - some of that is on the guards.
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Rest my case for now as he canāt finish inside on a very small teamā¦. Struggle athletically right now
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Not sure when this was posted relative to the game, but Shedrick took a major body blow from Omier that clearly affected him. Iām not surprised Shedrick has been a bit gunshy, especially taken into account heās been on the wrong end of a few hard fouls the last few games.
The foul was a few minutes after the missed easy dunk