I broke down 12 Cuts from the scrimmage and just talked about things a little more with some visuals.
Shout out to @superhelix for the glorious work and video that was actually worth breaking down!
12 Impactful Cuts from the Blue/White Scrimmage ā Cuts from The Corner: UVA Hoops Musings
Read the first two and when I have time, Iām looking forward to watching the rest. I see why you are bullish on Saundersā shooting and, when watching his shot, Iām reminded of what I learned from playing with a bunch of ex- college basketball players: an arched shot like his comes off the rim softly on a miss and makes it much easier and more predictable for the offense teammates to get a stick back.
I just realised. Leon Bond was the most UVa guy tooā¦ whoops
Did Desmond get any run in the last stanza?
The last period - super secret - no film found.
Conspiracy theory: Tony Bennett drained @superhelix ās iPhone battery. 
Or the third period was played in total darkness.
lol truth be told, my arm got tired and I wanted to really watch the game more closely / but now I regret not filming it, as Iāve probably rewatched those first two periods 10 times!
Stoked to dive into @Cuts_from_The_Corner analysis next, itās like Christmas morning! 
This is the logical next step that comes after using those glasses that cut off the bottom half of your field of view for dribbling drills.
I finally found time to watch the tapes last night (thanks again @superhelix!). I have very little original to say and mostly chose to confirm my priors because it makes me feel good, but my small thoughts:
I actually thought Blake was fine. I get thatās heās not going to give us a ton offensively, but donāt think thatās what we need from that spot on the floor. He still moves phenomenally fluidly for a guy of his size and it takes bigs a while to perfect the defense. I am personally not worried.
Cofie is legit and should play this year if he can get the defense down well enough to be passable. He just does some things so naturally you forget theyāre actually not commonly easy for guys at that size.
Robinson is a nice piece to have, but I think heāll mostly be a āgo bang up their physical big - use your five fouls if you have to but let him know youāre thereā type situational piece deployed in only specific match-ups while heās at UVA. Will that be enough for him to stick around? We shall see.
Re PGs, relative to the consensus on this board I remain - shockingly - lower on Dai Dai, lower on Rohde, and higher on Bliss. Dai Dai looked rough to me for most of the scrimmage, even when guarded by guys not named Warley (two air balls isā¦ bad). Rohde did have a few nice passes and is indeed a good facilitator, but if he canāt/wonāt shoot at all or attack the rim effectively (was a bad miss in transition), other teams are going to just back off him and clog things up. So heās got to figure that out. And I actually really liked the way Bliss orchestrated things - too many turnovers but also made a lot happen and the shot legit looks promising. Give him two/three months to get back into game shape and letās see whatās happening.
I wish I had more feelings about Power. Shot does look nice. I just didnāt notice him as much as I thought I would for better or worse. But I believe heāll be good for us, and Cuts talked about the value he provided so maybe I just missed it in a casual watch through.
Sharma looks good, but somebody needs to mention to him you donāt have to fade away on 80 percent of your jump shots. A couple he had to as the clock was running down and he was guarded, but he feels a little like heās shouting āKobeā every time he shoots, if that makes sense. Heās a great shooter and I like his prospects, I think we just need to help get him more looks in the flow of the offense so heās not scrambling as much.
My hottest take is Iām a little worried about McKneely. He seems exactly the same - an elite shooter, and thatās about it. I didnāt see anything new from him, and he didnāt feel like heād taken a step towards being The Guy, so to speak. But heāll probably still be better for us just by virtue of being surrounded by better fitting pieces. Just donāt think heās about to take off the way some may have hoped, but weāll see.
TLDR: Basketball is fun. I write too much. Go Hoos.
Iām āworriedā about McKneely too as far as him taking a 3rd year leap but even if heās plateaud heās still a good player and definitely āstarter on a really good teamā quality already. I think he just needs to be surrounded by better pieces to your point and his value becomes more evident. Weāve needed him to be something he may never become, and honestly itās okay if he doesnāt.
I really like most of this synopsis and agree with a majority of the conclusions - even point 4 re: give him some more time to see how he looks then. Just not ready now.
I especially think the whole working to get Sharma easier shots thing is relevant, although his ability to make tougher ones is good.
I fully agree about McKneely - and I donāt think he needs to or will be āHIMā all caps where heās going to take over on his own. But I do think the change in offense and improved shooting around him is going to help him a good deal.
One thing about just having the two periods - Ames and Power were most impactful in period three and their team spanked the starters + Taine so thatās something.
Yeah, I wish Iād been able to go in person so I could have seen the full game. But good to hear though that Ames and Power looked better late. Canāt draw totally fair conclusions when not seeing a third of the game.
Some thoughts in response:
On 1, Blake, I agree. Heās still recovering from his foot procedure, and still looked solid. Good positionally, rebounded, finished. His presence at the 5 will go a long way.
On 2, also agree I want Cofie as the backup 5 for 15 mpg out of the gate if at all possible, except maybe against really small lineups like weāll see in the non-conference, and even then I like him defensively against rangier bigs. Letās get his growing pains worked through as much as possible in Nov/Dec so he can have some confidence for league play.
On 4, re: the PGās, this is just going to be a patience thing. Bliss and Dai Dai and Rohde are all imperfect options, and not sure Bennett ever settles on one this season to be Warleyās clear cut #2.
For 5 on Power, the fact that heās playing well enough to start at the 3 speaks volumes to be, because I was really worried heād be too behind to be anything other than a 6th man this season. Recall someone said a coach said Power came from Duke having barely developed at all last year, so in many ways heās a 5-star freshman. Think of him like how we used Murphy in '20-21. Length on defense and shooting on offense, but otherwise not asked to do too much in his first real season as a high major rotation player.
Iāve said this a ton but I really think Isaac is under appreciated. He is elite at just about the most valuable skillset you can have. If he was on the open market in the portal, he would legitimately be one of the most sought after players in the country. And yet are fans are very āmehā on him. I understand why but I think we need to realize what we have in him and where weād be without him. Iām pretty confident he will be in the discussion for First Team All ACC this year.
Edited to add fun fact: Isaac and Kyle are the only underclassmen to average 12+ ppg in a season during the Bennett era. Joe Harris, Kihei Clark, and Ty Jerome are the only other underclassmen to average double figures.
I also think some of this āconcernā around McKneely is a result of the Steph-ification of the game.
Before Steph, guards were either facilitators, shot-creators, or shot-makers. Now, every dude in the back court has to do all three of those things at least somewhat well to be considered good. IMac has some holes in his game, but he can create his own midrange shot (we can debate whether that is a skill worth having or not elsewhere). But even though he isnāt much of a facilitator, he is a deadeye shooter. And I think we are losing track of the fact that he is elite at that skill because we want him to get other dudes involved or something.
Itās also entirely possible that in the B/W scrimmage, Bennett purposefully didnāt want iMac to take over such that all his new and/or younger teammates got more opportunities to develop confidence. iMac is legit the one piece Bennett didnāt have questions about coming into the season, the guy who needs the fewest reps this offseason, but that doesnāt mean he wonāt assume a bigger role when the games count.
I agree completely. Also think that with all the options now on the floor the game will be easier for Isaac. Teams wonāt be able to cheat as hard to help when 4+ guys are legitimate threats to score. Isaac took over a few games last year even as essentially the only threat, watch out for what happens when teams try to single/not shade him as much.
And as always holding on to and buying all the open Bliss stock. I think he figures it out.
Yeah that was my interpretation. Older program veterans typically donāt do much in B/W and seem to defer to younger guys more than in season game play.
What I want from Isaac is to take more threes. Which probably means getting open more often and more easily.
That will be helped by having better spacing, but also hopefully having Kyle there will help. Guy was the best Iāve ever seen at getting open for a 3.
Isaac should also juat shoot more even when he doesnt have much room. Kyle was also awesome at that. But Isaac shot 45% from deep last year and Iāve always felt like if youāre shooting above 40% you should shoot more until you drop below 40%.