I’m not too worried about the boards; we’ve been excellent at defensive rebounding this season (#8 in defensive rebound %) and VT is only OK at it (#108 in offensive rebound %); Radford is their third-best offensive rebounder after Aluma and N’Guessan, so if he’s not playing, they will be a little less dangerous there.
Aluma has been high-usage for them in the interior, but this is still a 3pt-oriented team at its core on offense with Alleyne/Cattoor/Cone taking most of the 3s
Exactly. I feel pretty good about Kihei on Bebe and Reece/Casey on Cantoor/Cone. Allenye is the guy that worries me but I suspect we’ll start Murphy on him and the size advantage should help.
VT pummelled Duke and Notre Dame physically, and it’s been awhile since other teams complained about our players being “grown-ass men.” Hence my minor trepidation. On the other hand, UVA spreads the floor much better than Duke and ND (our 3 pt % is better than ND’s and much better than Duke’s), our interior defense against physical bigs like Simms and Wright has been good so far, and, as you point out, our defensive rebouding is excellent. But I still think that VT will try to be as physical as possible to see if they can rattle us like they did with Duke and ND.
VT has shifted their offense away from the 3 pt shot compared to last year, with an in-ACC 3 pt percentage of shots at just under 40% this year compared to 48% last year. Having more quality interior players and a little less 3 pt accuracy this year is probably the main reason behind that trend.
Man, that sucks. Best of luck to Devon in his rehab.
Man that sucks. If there is a silver lining this year shouldn’t count against his eligibility if I understand correctly. So that’s something
State won’t win many games the rest of the year without Daniels. He was by far their best player.
I also saw earlier today that Miami freshman Matt Cross left the program. The Canes were already shorthanded and he was one of the only shooters they had. Don’t see many wins on the schedule for Larranaga’s bunch either, even if/when Lykes comes back.
Larranga’s 71 and this’ll be their 3rd rough season in a row. They’re still doing fine in recruiting, but if next year is rocky as well I wonder how much longer he’ll keep going.
Wait, did Michigan State really lose to Rutgers by 30? I knew they were having a down year and Rutgers is much better than usual, but… yikes.
They were coming off a three week pause. Still don’t think they are good but wouldn’t make too much out of that one performance.
How good could Tony make this Iowa team defensively? Top 30? Would that be enough to win the title with how gold they are offensively?
As Eamonn Brennan once said “Bennett could take two walk-ons, a team manager, me and my dog and turn us into a top-10 defensive unit by the end of the season.”
GT vs Florida St. is a really good watch right now. GT leads by 7 at the half. Could put UVA ahead by another game in ACC with a GT win.
Facts
Also who had GT as the Hoos biggest win of the yr?
Can’t stand Pastner but like the way GT plays. No fear.
Surprised nobody has mentioned Duke losing to Miami yet. It’s part of our 12-step recovery from Saturday.
Means the Hokies get to dodge them.