Yep and that goes back to recruiting. Even though we were a 4 seed we all DEFINITELY saw some holes this entire season and just hoped and prayed that it wouldn’t be a problem during the tournaments which they were. To summarize we were small at MULTIPLE positions, Not athletic at others, and Couldn’t shoot. I look at these FAU and FDU teams and even if they’re not *big at all of their positions they are athletic and can shoot.
Uva at minimum should be able to fix those 3 issues in order to get us back in the race of competing for titles.
We had trouble defensively against Tech, Miami, BC, and Pitt which all stemmed from a lack of size or athleticism. If those teams can get legit players then we can too.
Yes BVP and Reece were injured during the year. It would have been nice to have Bond and Traudt as *options when those happened. Injuries can happen to anyone (hell we have a history of injuries almost every year), but I think it was short sighted to not have an emergency release valve in these situations. So instead of having a higher ceiling because those two were available and potentially a better chance at a championship or atleast make some noise in the NCAA this year AND next year; what has actually occured has been a complete 180 in that we are losing the graduates, and *may lose Traudt whether due to loneliness, feeling ostracized, incompatibility or whatever without him playing a minute. I can guarantee you that if Traudt felt like a part of this team and a potentially BIGGER part next year, with some NBA buzz then his girlfriend would be transferring HERE, not trying to pull him back to Iowa.
Focus on two guys we know: Nickel and Washington from UNC
For development: Some game tape helps the player with development in season and for future seasons, and a good sense of the athleticism at the college level. Jalen Washington gets a sense of what he can do, and where he needs to focus.
For team fit: you see how the coach thinks you fit in the team concept. Maybe that keeps you there (Washington, I think), and maybe it drives you away (Nickel).
For me, the other big thing is it takes away an artificial constraint: The RS is a self perpetuating thing. Would Tony have played Leon zero minutes but for the RS? Maybe; tough to say. Or would he have found some minutes for him? What about Isaac T? I think my sense is he’d have played some more.
I think Jalen Washington is really the counter to what we do. He’s dinged up early on and is stuck behind an upperclass all-American. Prime RS candidate. He likely would have here. But then he misses out on a game that gives him great feedback and great hope for the future. (Now, don’t get me wrong – I’m not praising Hubert – I just think there are other ways of doing things…)
This is a fascinating discussion about redshirts. I feel like we don’t discuss this topic nearly enough, and I’m happy to see all these fresh, new, definitely not rehashed-to-death points being made.
I don’t have anything to add, because frankly I don’t care one way or another. (Blasphemy, I know. How can I be a true UVa fan without a strong opinion about redshirts?) But I will say that I think it’s extremely misguided to think Traudt would have (or could have) taken Caffaro’s minutes. Papi had a specific and unique role on this team: a big body that would bang and rebound and maul. Traudt was never going to play that role this year. You really think he was going to guard Bacot or Ormier or Burns? He would have fouled out in three minutes.
If anything, he would have taken minutes from BVP as a stretch 4, or a small-ball 5. I think there’s a legitimate argument to be made that that would have been a good idea, but I think it’s an argument that’s stronger in hindsight than it may have been at the beginning of the year.
It doesn’t have to be alot, however it could have been 5-10 per game…Also I’m sure the natural progression of learning is faster when you’re playing *in games, plus practicing *with your team since you know you may be playing 5-10 per game. I’m sure there is a whole different level of communication, urgency and teamwork when you’re practicing and in the game.
Exactly. In addition if you *know that you may get into a game this year then you’re going to bust your ass, take practice seriously, do the lifting program etc. in other words be a model player for the opportunity to get in the game.
We’ve seen different approaches recently, though: Jabri and Carson in 2021, Igor and Taine in 2022 all getting less than 10% minutes. All their own situations, of course, which I think goes to a point @haney made about rotation depth, that it really depends on team context.
To steelman the anti-redshirt case, I’d describe it as “TB imposed more certainty on the hierarchy of the team this season than the actual player quality called for, and that took away opportunities for the redshirts to contribute.” I’m not sure I agree with that, but I think it’s worth continuing to stay away from blanket judgments about redshirts = good/bad, and to be more specific about the assessments of the situation.
Sorry if this trods on too much settled ground, I just think sometimes the discussions go past each other and we should try to keep them lined up.
So much for *not having anything to add … I agree that Papi probably would have gotten his, but maybe that means that when Traudt is in that Dunn is guarding the three position, Armaan is guarding the 2 position and Reece is guarding the one position.
Offensively you have now just added a weapon in Traudt, kept Armaan and Reece in, and perhaps Shedrick at the 5 offensively and defensively. When Kadin went through his funk maybe TB could have been like “fine we have Traudt so you can sit here and sulk if you want” (not saying that there definitely was a poor attitude issue), BUT Kadin also could have seen that Traudt was another body and maybe he would have realized that he couldn’t slack and that there was real competition for his role.
Regarding an argument in hindsight, there are *plenty of us on this board who were excited about Traudt and Bond being available in the beginning of the year and *immediately commented that NOT having them would severely lower our ceiling. So none of this is hindsight to be honest.
History shows we can expect to have a serious injury or medical situation every year. The only years we have not is the Elite 8 and Championship years as far as NCAA Tournament appearances. May as well go into the season playing one extra guy because it’s going to happen.
That’s fair. In the past I would’ve agreed; post rule change, I’d be fine with a blanket “no voluntary redshirts” rule. And even given my blanket rule, you still need exemptions/exceptions/loopholes to every rule.
Yes, we’ve all been yelling about this from the jump. The reason you are all tired of talking about this topic is we started talking about in the offseason. I can even remember having a discussion with @Hoos9412 that we shouldn’t worry about guys redshirting, because surely they’d see the opportunity for PT the year following. And I even believed it myself!
Good point about us trying this with Jabri and Carson in 2021. The benefit of *not redshirting means that we get to see who they are sooner; if you have the drive, potential and work ethic in the games.
If they do not have this then I’d rather see them move along sooner, rather than later to be honest; no hate but we need people that work in our system and not ones that take up schollies for 5 years…
Yes I know someone is going to mention the development of Malcolm specifically in his 5 years; to which I say that Malcolm was going to be an NBA player whether he stayed 4 or 5 years, so what we NEED to do is recruit more guards like Malcolm and Hoggard so that when they leave after 2-3 years that we have someone coming in right after them. I think that if your’e staying 5 years its because you like college, which is fine, but also that we *could have had someone on our roster that increases our ceiling.
I hope you’re not making the argument that we should continue to build our team with smaller, less athletic, non-shooters are you? TB gets a lot of credit for his schemes both offensively and defensively, BUT we still need the recruiting to continue to catch up.
Not arguing that at all. But you cherrypicked and didn’t present a full picture.
Each game, each team poses a different dynamic — “athletic,” “big” or otherwise.
It usually comes down to the packline. Teams that can hit threes from multiple positions can beat us. Teams that have penetrators that get the help defenders rotating fast can beat us. Teams that suffocate the offensive glass can beat us. Teams that move the ball well from side to side — and use skip passes well — can beat us.
The longer three-point line was more of a detriment to our style of defense than the shot-clock changing from 35 to 30 seconds because it meant we’d need more length 1-4 to contest jumpers. But there’s only so much you can do when teams are doing what’s listed above well.
Maybe before your times, but some of the most rigorous debates on the Edge and Basketball boards on TheSabre during our recent rise was whether Harris or Brogdon would be drafted because they stayed in college too long and would be older than others in the draft pool.
Conventional wisdom on the boards was that they were “system” players in constrained systems that, combined with their age and purported “lack of athleticism,” would be a detriment. Maybe make a roster as UDFAs.
Little did anyone know Golden State was about to change the preferred style of play to where some of the most covered prospects would be “3 and D.”
I don’t think this needs to overanalyzed. It was pretty obvious that Ty and Kyle and then Dre in their first year had the potential to be part of a very special core. It’s also pretty obvious that McKneely (and maybe Dunn) are similar. Maybe Traudt is that, maybe he’s not. But Tony must know one way or the other, and if he is part of a potential '25 core, that should have been prioritized at all costs. Instead, we get the “experience” of BVP, Stattmann, Papi, etc.
… I agree that Papi probably would have gotten his, but maybe that means that when Traudt is in that Dunn is guarding the three position, Armaan is guarding the 2 position and Reece is guarding the one position.
I can even remember having a discussion with