I could be misremembering this, but didn’t Gardner guard Banchero in the two ■■■■ games and do a great job on him? I think you could argue that Gardner has shown he can guard some pretty good-sized, skilled 4s. I felt like Gardner’s main issue defensively last season was knowing the defense and continuous effort, not so much his physical limitations. Improving in those two areas this upcoming season would be significant as Tony likes to say.
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I want to see Jayden continue to work on that midrange game and make good decisions to use it instead of taking on much bigger guys at the rim
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Papi elbow the face, forcing him to the lockeroom for stitches, thus missing most of the first half
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Exactly right, but my general thought on the two Duke games is that if those were the only two games I watched last year, I would’ve thought we were a really good team and that this year we could potentially have natty aspirations.
Watching the other games, as I had the misfortune of doing**, I remember that even up to the last 5 (and arguably most important) games of the season, we were pretty mediocre. Defense got to “okay, not bad”, but the offense, if anything, reverted “did we really think we were going to mid-range ourselves into a decent offense?”
Sorry to rehash last season in the preseason thread, but seems relevant.
** I’m kidding. I like watching UVa hoops and never consider it a misfortune.
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face maul probably the best bet.
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Gonna be a huge test for Kadin. He has the athleticism to make up for the size difference, just gotta make sure he doesn’t foul 3 times in 3 minutes.
Also if that doesn’t work I would love to see us try and go small, play traudt at the 5, and try and play him off the floor by making him guard the perimeter. Welcome to the NBA playoffs, Hunter.
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Or even BVP. We have a pretty dynamic set of big men to use this year.
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OK - I’m going to be the anti Haney/Dave for this coming season (WFS correctly points out below he isn’t that negative). Do I think we win the NC? Realistically, no - we’re short on NBA quality in the top 7. So our ceiling may not be as high as the 2015-2019 teams, but I really believe that the floor is very, very high. Sure, we could lose two, maybe three games in the non-conf, but I believe those games against Houston, Michigan and the Roman tourney will be tight run affairs and we are equally capable that we can run the table as well (unlike last year where you knew that we were going to get run off the court in a couple of games). I think we curb stomp all of North Carolina Central University, Monmouth, Maryland Eastern Shore, and Albany. I think we really put JMU down hard. Maybe UNI is a better game, but ALL of them will be in front of a fired-up, non-complacent, post-Covid JPJ. That’s a very tough place for visitors.
This year’s team, although essentially unchanged at the starting 5, is a very different team than last year. I disagree that same players = same results, because this is the same, more experienced players , plus BvP as 6th man with multiple years of experience off the bench. Four talented hungry newcomers. Taine probably being put in a role where he has a better chance for success than the mismatched use of him last year. Trip to Italy. I don’t think there are surprises of the unpleasant variety this year (as there were last year). This year, I think the surprises are the good kind (oh look, Armaan is consistently shooting 35% plus from 3, Isaac M has a mean streak in him and can hit a dagger, etc.).
Just need more video
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woah there buddy, I think we’re going to be pretty decent this season so don’t lump me in with the nattering nabobs of negativism
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Sorry, you’re part of us now.
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He is the anti-fred he is THE DERF
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More like
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I don’t have optimism, sir. You’ll be hearing from my attorneys.
WFS_HOOVIP
Good morning all. We are =#@!*&. Have a nice day.
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This is a good point, so then that takes us to a question of the lineups and whom *should be getting playing time (regardless of starting).
PG’s- Reece & Kihei
SG- Armaan, McKneeley, Murray
SF- Bond, Dunn, Vanderplas?
PF- Gardner, Traudt, Vanderplas?
C- Shedrick, Papi
So that means that that one of the Freshman would have to play alot and supplement Vanderplas at the 3…In a vacuum this all makes sense but in reality Armaan will likely play some SF as well.
I think Armaan playing some SF is fine if he isn’t playing SF next to Kihei SG. Trading Armaan for bond adds like 1-2 inches of heigh. Trading Kihei for McKneely or Taine adds like 6-8 inches of height
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You mean @DFresh11 favorite player and his penguin run? Lol! Activate Papi-Maul-Attack.
Hold up supernova. Whos my favorite? hahahah
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I vaguely remember us recruiting this Dickinson character as well. I get it. There are sometimes little things about people that get on our nerves with no justification. It’s the Pheromones’.
PG’s- Reece - 32 min, Kihei - 8 min
SG- Armaan - 20 min, McKneeley - 20 min
SF- Murray - 20 min, Bond/Dunn - 10 min, VanderPlas - 10 min
PF- Gardner - 22 min, VanderPlas - 8 min, Traudt - 6 min, Bond - 4 min
C- Shedrick - 24 min, Traudt - 10 min, VanderPlas - 6 min
I believe something close to this as a baseline maximizes our chances to do well in meaningful games in March.
Maybe even get to the sweet 16 or beyond.
p.s. - If either Armaan or Isaac M is lighting it up in a particular game then they play more in that game.
Same for the 3 and 4 spots.
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Reece vs Keyontae George
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