🙄 No Holds Barred Thread - A Haney/DavetheWave Production

As a recruit, Pedulla was #139 nationally - about the same as McCorkle and way lower than McCorkle before he reclassed. Also much lower than Murray and Milicic.
Maddox was #115 nationally.
David N’Guessan was # 414 Nationally.

Loved his energy, sneaky athlete and plays free with confidence

Pedulla would have been higher with a full evaluation period. And none mentioned are international players which is a bit of a different game. Still i agree they should have played. This season has accomplished little

I mean I would deny that (blasphemous I know) but calling Tony the 3rd or 5th or 7th best coach in the country isn’t exactly an insult lol plus no matter where you rank him in the top 5-10 he’s undeniably the best fit for UVA. Just seems odd many expect you to throw that caveat in front of even mild criticism like rotation decisions.

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Wright would work too but generally speaking yes

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Love listening to a coach whose team is the best defensive team in the league use a lot of a post game presser to talk about offense and strategy on that end.

People keep saying things like this: “this season accomplished little.” What does that mean to you guys? Are you saying you would prefer that players not ready to see an ACC court (an obvious statement, on which Im sure someone will try to point to 3.5 minutes of time against non-P5 caliber teams to disprove) were playing? Of course if that were happening we’d not only be losing a ton more games but compromising the entire culture CTB has established. If thats your preference, fine, but understand the implications of that. It sounds like you want to be on the same trajectory as Wofford Tech.

Also, are you saying that growth from armaan (yes he has gotten better at basketball this year, a lot better), reece, kadin, papi is nothing, but seeing the Ms play bad minutes would be accomplishing a lot? Do you think there’s a reason coaches have standards for earning playing time and a reason they aren’t willing to throw out those standards because they slipped to 6th in the ACC? Seriously, I dont want to be the CTB is unquestionable guy, but sheesh.

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You let players play through adversity to develop. See the Iowa game. Taine Murray struggled defensively but he actually didn’t get pulled. He got more comfortable throughout the game and was able to grow some. These players aren’t “acc caliber” in the first place because they didn’t get more opportunities like that in the non-conference.

Also it’s really debatable on armaan. Outside the Miami game he has been horrendous from 3 the last few games.

It’s also little things. Like during UNC Carson hit a big jumper and then was immediately yanked because of a turnover. The same didn’t happen to Kihei who committed many turnovers and didn’t give us anything that game. You could argue “Kihei is our soul/experience” but that’s because the other guys never get the chance to get comfortable/they could be the soul too if given the opportunity. Moreso Taine than Carson. And they usually get inserted in moments of desperation, not within the flow of the game beforehand. Trust your players and let them be confident. Otherwise they are afraid to make mistakes and it affects them psychologically/hesitations (Wilkins looking away on open 3s, Devon Hall indecisiveness, Jay Huff pumpfakes without pulling. casey morsell’s psychological struggles here). That’s my one glaring weakness with Tony; he has to recruit offensively confident players because that confidence isn’t going to be instilled while here. Jerome Guy and Hunter had that swag from the getgo. Joe Harris, Brogdon, Cali Swag. All confident players day 1

Basically we are both losing games and not really developing anyone outside Reece and Kadin.

Tony is far from perfect, but at the same time he is perfect for UVA and I want him here for life. But of course we can be critical; our trajectory could easily be Syracuse’s in a dying ACC conference. And people say “Tony proved the haters who said he could never win with his style wrong” but it wasn’t Tony’s traditional style that won. The packline wasn’t stopping Carson Edwards or Auburn or Texas Tech down the stretch. We had 3 NBA players who could create their own shot who were able to match the big shots of the opponent. We had the continuous ball screen offense that helped highlight the offensive strengths of our players. Tony adjusted and played his talented springy mamadi big over veteran Jack Salt. Of course it was still Tony’s coaching and development but it wasn’t the mover/blocker+Packline that defined that national title.

It is hard when it becomes all or nothing. You can be critical and still acknowledge Tony is the goat for UVA.

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Great thread… A lot of ground covered for sure. Love the intensity and the slight hint of smoke in the air from past battles between some of the regulars who post here. Love it - good stuff and one comment…

What is clear - If you don’t get any run as a first year for CTB, its unlikely that you will ever play meaningful minutes during your career. That’s clearly been the pattern as evidenced by the graphic posted above by Norfolk_Hoo. I personally think CTB’s rotation/bench philosophy is the only legitimate criticism we can levy against him as we don’t watch practice or have consistent behind the scenes data points.

My issue is that there are times when bench players can be inserted for meaningful minutes to gain confidence, experience, and make a contribution. When you fail to insert the 7-9 guys on your bench, you aren’t preparing them to succeed, and your not preparing your team for adversity. You are preparing the bench players to be nervous, have self doubt, and under-perform. Garbage minutes don’t count - nobody wants those and nobody wants to check in with :30 seconds left in the game.

But here is the bigger issue… you aren’t preparing your team in case of an injury or a suspension. What if Franklin hurts his knee? Does Stattman start? Is it Taine? Let’s say it’s Kody, and then he picks up two quick fouls…Who comes in next? The answer is that nobody has been prepared to come in and perform, because they haven’t had the chance to develop confidence, get game minutes, and feel comfortable. It takes time!! look at Reece - he has started for two years and is just NOW becoming confident.

Ask Fresh how important is was to play a little as a 1st year, and a little bit more 2nd year, and then contribute in a big way his last two years. Without those “appetizers” of playing time his first two years, Doug would not have been remotely prepared to play the important bench role he ended up playing. It bred confidence, gave him positive game memory, and allowed for significant contribution. You have to invest in players to see positive performance and I think we miss opportunities to get guys in the game sometimes.

Also, meaningful playing time can keep a kid from transferring. If a kid feels hopeless, forgotten, and unimportant - he’s gone. And while I am sure the program does a great job of keeping bench players involved and feeling valuable, there is no substitute for PT. Its the only currency that college athletes have and they derive a great deal of self worth from a playing time. Trust me!!!

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This is such a perfect and more concise way to express what I wanted to express. Thank you. lol.

Also why my Taine expectations have plummeted and I just hope he can be a better 3pt shooting Jack White from Duke as that veteran small ball 4 down the line (better version of Kody cause I think he’s better now but still adjusting to US ball)

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For what it’s worth the graphic is @MaineWahoo work not mine

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“These players aren’t “acc caliber” in the first place because they didn’t get more opportunities like that in the non-conference.” Thats just, like, your opinion man. But seriously Im sympathetic to this argument but you, and I, only have seen probably 1% of what Taine does. Tony has strict standards, I also wish hed relax them a bit more, but no doubt those strict standards have a purpose and you have to consider that.

Its not really debatable on armaan. he is a better BASKETBALL player. no question about it. it is true that he has been horrendous from 3 but I didnt claim he has gotten better from 3.

Comparing kihei and carson is just ridiculous. you know those things are not the same. I too have been frustrated by Kiheis performance this year. He does stuff a fourth year guy under CTB just shouldn’t do. I wish he was benched way more often, but cmon man, he and carson have, for very good reason, different standards. Im 100% with you on the recruiting stuff, he hasn’t done a good job at getting guys who fit lately.

We are losing games, that is true, but theres a big difference between 6th and a legit chance at the NCAA tourney and winning the ACC tourney and 11th and a losing record.

Many people on here wish someone was telling them not to be critical, but that just isn’t happening.

It just got real in the No Holds Barred Dave and Haney show!

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It’s less Kihei vs Carson, and moreso the longer leash Kihei has had his entire career as opposed to Carson. I also get it’s because of the defense of Kihei but that short leash absolutely affects development. Also again none of this is Kihei’s fault lol. He was brought in to be a role player, served his role damn well in 2019, and then had to bear a burden he should have never had to because we screwed over by Calipari taking Juzang from us last second on top of guy and Jerome leaving earlly all at the same time along with Casey and Jabri not panning out. Those events + the lack of recruiting 2017-2018 due to CVille protests + lack of opportunity from the 2016 class = Staff just now recovering with the 2022 class and hopefully 2023.

I think we do agree on most. However Armaan being a better basketball player doesn’t do much when the one thing of value we needed from and recruited him specifically for was his outside shooting. If he’s just a 34% 3pt shooter on the season we are already in the tournament as an 8-9 seed. His other traits are great but they dont space the floor for our bigs or give us lanes for Reece and Kihei to drive. I do wish we got more opportunities to see Jayden shoot the 3 more, his back to back 3s vs Iowa looked really good and his jump shot looks really nice. Would give us more spacing.

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If we lose to Miami and Duke removing ourselves from at-large contention, I wish Tony would play Murray, Milicic and McCorkle 30 minutes a game to finish the regular season. This board would be amazing during those games.

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Armaan is going to be a killer in sides (blocker/mover, whatever you want to call it). Damn frustrating he hasn’t shot better from 3, but he executes at an extremely high level curling those pin downs. I certainly don’t think that is nothing! Someone has made the point before, maybe hoozgotnext but it feels like hes been hurt by the expectation that he was going to be the trey murphy replacement and bang corner threes at 45%. Also defensively he has grown a ton. Ill buy everyones Armaan stock, hes going to be a KILLER next year.

Im with Hav and everyone on the rotation thing. Its a valid criticism and seems to be the answer for the problem. We need to develop more depth in season and need to develop guys that dont play scared. I think that means the rotation should be bigger by policy but who knows maybe theres some value in the sink or float model. I am pushing against the notion that this is a lost season cause the Ms havent played much.

And for some Xs and Os red meat (and to disprove that I think CTB is beyond criticism), why the hell don’t we exploit mismatches better on offense? (Im already ready to yell at the TV when Papi or Kadin get switched on to a Duke guard next week and we pass the ball around the perimeter for 30 seconds)

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Amen (Or, in other words, I don’t know, but I wish we would). Counterexample - the game in Cameron when Ty drove Bolden every time we got that mismatch.

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I think the biggest issue for CTB is how he will adapt to the new CBB environment (transfers, NIL). Coaches now have less control over players which either means the guys we recruit will have to change (or get more selective) or things like playing time will have to be more generously dispersed to keep guys happy in the moment. Going to be a lot harder to operate like you have 3-4 years to maximize a guy/a teams potential. Sounds like he is already trying to figure that out on the roster construction side by keeping the team smaller, as Hooz has said, but its going to have to filter into the on court stuff too at some point.

There’s an easy answer to that. CTB bout to go on a 4 yr run and when it’s up? That’s all folks. 5-10 yrs from now you’re gonna miss CTB. 5-10 yrs from now you’re gonna miss winning.

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I think it is more the just developing the 3M’s. It is not running the starters into the ground especially considering how hard and long UVa plays plays defense each possession. Reese played well against VT but had sat out time with foul trouble in recent games but check out the minutes played by the other 3 in the last four games. Back to back Sat/Mon. JG 36-35-37-38, AF 35-38-35-37, KC 37-38-36-32. They also all came out of Mia with 2 minutes left. With the pressure of no margin for error and playing mostly good teams it is not surprising that they ran out of gas in the second half of the VT game. If the bench had been used more to give them an occasional break it might have made a difference even if one of the M’s made a mistake or 2.

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