When reached for comment, @haney said “I have no comment at this time on the redshirt article. Please respect my lack of comment. Thank you.”
Okay one comment: Love this quote – “While their teammates slumbered at a hotel near the Florida State campus, a group of University of Virginia men’s basketball players woke up early Saturday morning, put on practice gear, and bused over to the Donald L. Tucker Center.” Not stated in the article is that Traudt and Bond had to get off and on the bus several times until they “got it right.” Redshirt year focuses on all aspects of development.
“What’s up, M.C.? You see this body? It’s a machine,” Bond said, flexing his muscles during a break in the morning workout in Tallahassee.
Curtis, for his part, declined to look up from his laptop,
LOL Mike Curtis is tired of these damn keeeeds!
At the Donald L. Tucker Center, the coaches split Bond, Traudt, Chase Coleman, Taine Murray, Dante Harris, Tristan How, Markus Rouse and Bryce Walker into two four-man teams.
So does this mean that Taine has been relegated to the *practice squad?
Traudt, known around the program as “Fish,” is an elite shooter who, during a recent workout at JPJ, made 37 top-of-the-key 3-pointers in two minutes.
Man- we are shooting threes pretty well this year, BUT imagine if Traudt was playing…however Papi is not even playing now, so is it too late for Traudt to burn that shirt? (I’m not really complaining though).
Bond, an explosive athlete, wasn’t a polished shooter when he joined the program, but he’s making progress. In the two-minute drill, Bond hit 29 treys from the top of the key.
I’m excited to see how Bond’s shooting and for that sake Dunn’s shooting comes around next year.
IF Beeks returns next year, and assuming no unexpected attrition, we could be a very good sleeper team in the ilk of 17-18. Maybe not that dramatic but probably a fringe top 25 team or like 26-30 in the preseason rankings that will overperform. My only hesitation would be that typically big men develop slower for Tony so maybe Traudt is just a rotation piece next year and not ready for 25-30 mins a game. Most likely we get a transfer to either start ahead of Traudt or split minutes with him.
If Beeks doesnt return, then we probably will be a lower NCAA tournament type team or NIT team but ready to blow the doors of in 24-25. Of course alot depends on transfer portal and who returns and who doesnt.
That is why I wish that Traudt would play *this year, because the depth that we thought we would have in the post seems to be a bit less with the new 5 out offense as neither Papi, Kadin and to a lesser degree Jayden cannot stretch the floor as far as the 3 point line. In addition this may be the *best window of time to try and win another championship while we have two very high level/efficient point guards, plus a now experienced Armaan etc…otherwise our next best opportunity may not be for 2-3 years down the line. If Traudt is good enough to leave before 4 years anyways, then he may as well play this year.
A lot of one’s views on what you’re saying and what @Raleigh_Hoo is saying has to do with whether one thinks (1) we are a natty (or even Final 4) contender this year, or (2) not until next year. If one thinks yes on 1 but no on 2, I think one might feel a bit differently.
If one thinks yes on #1, but no on #2, then not playing Traudt/Bond this year is not a big decision. (barring of course, @dave92 's “all hands on deck” theory, which I admit complicates the analysis a bit)
If one thinks no on #2, but yes on #1, then not playing Traudt/Bond seems more impactful (assuming one thinks that playing in year 1 is better prep for year 2 than focusing on lifting / other development, which I know is not universally believed).
If you think “yes” on both, it really doesn’t matter, because you’re an optimist, and that means whatever decisions the team makes, everything will come up Milhouse.
I think that since Traudt and Bond have had half a season of lifting and shooting- per their own admission which has made them stronger and better shooters, that Traudt could be immediately impactful now. To me it seems like he has reaped the full benefit of a summer lifiting regimen just moved up to the 1st half of this season. I’m an all hands on deck guy by the way…
Regarding being better *next year and ready for a championship then there are still alot of unknown variables about who will be here as the contributing point guard along with questions about the big men on that team which we don’t have on this years team. We know we have Jayden, Kadin, Papi and BVP all *pretty healthy as well and therefore are getting the best of everyone available this year.
To answer your question another way- we *could be contenders this year AND next year with Traudt contributing to both teams so why not start having him contribute this year.
So the key is not to redshirt anyone by themselves?
Originally I wanted Traudt to play this year because of 2 factors … I thought it would help us reach a higher ceiling by March of 2023 … and definitely would help us maximize 2023-24 … I still think that’s true for this year … and I’m even more bummed that he’s not available since - at least so far we’ve been better than I thought we’d be …
I guess we’ll never know whether he would have been better next year by playing this year or redshirting …
One … 3 every 3.2 seconds is crazy …
A catch and shoot 3 takes from 1.8 to 2.1 seconds to clear the net - assuming it catches no rim … so it basically means he hit missed 5 attempts at most with no break …
I wish Traudt had played because neither BVP or Gardner are really 5s and that means are big men were Shedrick and Caffaro both of whom have missed lots of time in their careers and the insurance woyld have been very nice to have
getting red flags from this. Recall Tony’s presser when he announced it he said he almost tried to convince him not to redshirt. This doesn’t really sound like he’s too pumped about it, “it’s not horrible”
Yea the redshirt interviews are always interesting because we get to see who is really on board and who just went along with what an authority figure was suggesting. Bond might be our most enthusiastic redshirt ever! Traudt…not so much.
I think Traudt’s situation was a little different - expectations wise. Going into the fall at UVa … Bond knew he was going to redshirt and Traudt probably thought he would be getting Dunn like minutes or more. Close call on Traudt too. He could definitely be helping us now in spots.
