7-1 (Avg. NET ranking of opponents: 93.5)
+56 scoring differential (506-450 or 63.3-56.3)
FG% 44.4% (197-444)
FG% D 39.2% (160-408)
+8 on the glass
+9 on the offensive glass
The previous eight games vs. high-major opponents (includes Memphis, aTm, WVU, and Wisconsin):
4-4 (Avg. NET ranking of opponents: 100.1)
-26 scoring differential (485-511 or 60.6-63.9)
FG% 42.8% (183-428)
FG% D 42.1% (183-435)
-53 on the glass
-27 on the offensive glass
Just on the point of whether Groves gets the iMac treatment. I think that’s already happening. But Groves is 1) being guarded generally by bigger and slower dudes who cant get under him or are more prone to shot fakes, and 2) Groves is a bit craftier on the 3 point line (relative to his defender).
That’s probably true and I just read TheSabre’s double bonus on the Miami game and it highlighted multiple screwups by the Miami D when guarding Groves, so the plan was probably there, it just wasn’t executed properly.
I wonder if teams will begin to put smaller and faster players on Groves defensively that can keep up on the perimeter, and then longer/more athletic guys as well if they have them (FSU). This weekends game will tell us alot!
For me it’s really hard to gauge … it’s been a weird year where we were without a key guy for a long stretch (Harris) and another guy effectively missing a long stretch (Minor). We played the best teams on our schedule so far with 1 or 2 of our guys out.
On the flip side … we played a lot of our opponents when they were missing a bunch of key guys too especially the quad three and quad four teams. So those games are not good preparation for the ACC schedule but even worse this year because they were missing so many guys.
And it was even the case for some of the better teams we played. Florida was missing their starting point guard and hence turned the ball over a bunch against us. Texas A&M was missing their second best player …maybe third best in Radford.
West Virginia had a couple guys that had not played yet including their starting point guard when we played them.
Then we played two top eight ACC teams on the road and got waxed.
Then we played a very weak ACC schedule. In fact, it was the weakest first half of the ACC season amongst all ACC teams until we played Clemson.
Clemson would seem a very good win against a fully healthy team outside of Hemenway.
Then we beat Miami who was without their star freshman (score was 2-2 when he got hurt) and had a hobbled Wooga.
At the same time we’ve gotten healthy and it would seem we are playing a lot better, but I think to be determined as we play a lot tougher games over the next four weeks.
I think why I’m more optimistic this year is that the team has more depth. UVA teams usually get so worn down by the end of the year. But this team minutes played are down compared to other years and I think that’s important when it comes to the tourney.
I also like that Tony gets into his bench when he sees something is not working. Let’s hope that stays true as the season goes on.
Yep! We play atleast 9 players per game- varying minutes and then Bond and X are our 10th and 11th players who can eat minutes and contribute as well if we need to shake things up.
It allows us to switch players in/out when they’re in a bit of a slump (not naming names).
Looking at Torvik Game Score charts from the past decade, this year is probably more closely resembling 2019-2020. Maybe 2013 (where we missed the tourney).
But mostly have never seen such a dramatic fall in play. Followed by such a dramatic rise in play. Even in 2020.
I like this description and it seems we kinda do a one size fits all unfortunately… both of Wooga’s makes should’ve been — run him off the line, especially with him being hobbled and not 100%
Scouting report closeouts tweaks:
“Short close” = extra padding to defend the drive for a non-shooter (Russell Westbrook, Giannis)
“Be there on the catch” = pressure a good shooter (Steph, Lillard)
“Run them off the line” = force a one dimensional marksman to play off the dribble (Klay, Korver, Redick)
Cannot vouch for the accuracy of these figures, but have no reason to doubt them. We’re one of the most consistently successful programs in the nation, even counting the last four “down” years.
(I apologize for not knowing how to embed a Tweet. The chart basically says we’ve had the third-best road record over the last 10 years. Better than Kentucky, Kansas, Duke or UNC, among others.)
Thanks for sharing this. I’ll accept it without sourcing because it confirms what I want to hear. Not only does it show the road record is 3rd best, but 1 and 2 play in leagues with tons of cupcakes and we don’t. Ipso facto we’re #1.
A lot of you guys are pretty smart and keep up with everything. Some of it i know little about. So i want to ask some questions about UVA player stats and see how much you know .No Cheating
Who are the top 2 players in shooting percentage?
2 Which 2 are the worst?