Yep, itās pretty clear BB has been working on his jump hook as a go to. Something all young bigs or low post guys should do. Focus and one go to shot/move and practice it endlessly. Been begging for Dunn to do the same thing, with his elevation a little jump hook in the paint could be unstoppable.
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Donāt want to be all statisticky, but RoDog is listed at 6ā6ā, 202, and Taine at 6ā5ā, 207. Taine looks ābiggerā (in his 3rd year with Mike Curtis) versus Rohde in his first though.
If the poll structure had been āpick all reasons that applyā instead of picking only one, Iām guessing it would have gotten a ton more votes
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Rohde has the āReeceā run/walk so it is impossible to tell how fast/quick he actually is
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Thatās crazy I knew Blakeās play had improved but did not realize the numbers reflected it that way. I noticed starting in the VT game he took a few bumps on his rolls and cuts to the hoop and still managed to finish. I chalk that up to him simply adjusting to physicality of the college game. He still needs to put on some muscle because he gets knocked off his spots but I agree itās a solid start and a base they can build on.
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Blakeās also benefitting from now having a clearly defined role that fits where heās at developmentally. Minorās emergence takes so much pressure off of him and he can now safely be a 10-15 mpg guy whoās often going against the opponentās backup center as well. Perfect amount of responsibility for Blake right now, not too much to overwhelm him, not too little that heās stagnating on the bench every night.
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Great great point. Heās slotted into the appropriate role which is likely doing wonders for his confidence.
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Blake has just the right amount of unrefinededness about his game at this point for me. And getting so much experience this year is huge. We are watching a real one develop in real time
Kind of the opposite of Mike Tobey who in lotta ways was who he was coming into the program. Super skilled big with solid package of moves etc but not the overt athleticism and rawness of BB
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I always thought Tobey caught a little too much flack, because we put a lot of expectations on him that he never quite reached.
- As a 7-footer with only limited ranginess, he was never an ideal fit with our hedge-and-recover defense responsibilities, hence why heād disappear sometimes against small, fast teams youād otherwise want him to dominate, and a reason he became a 6th man his last two years in favor of rangier defenders like Darion and Zay.
- We also were inconsistent in how we ran offense for big men, something thatās haunted us off an on throughout Bennettās tenure.
- With Malcolm and Gill there, he was always going to be no better than a 3rd option on most nights, those two being such ball dominant shot takers (ahem Dribble-Dribble-Malcolm), he was always fighting for that ā3rd optionā role with other future-NBA guys like Justin or London.
- Lastly, you so, so often have effort-consistency issues with 7-footers because they spent high school simply dominating guys with size alone, they never had to develop a five-tool skillset or learn to outwork everyone else to make it to D-1 the way a 6ā2 guard has to.
Did he ever become the superstar he maybe couldāve or shouldāve? No. But he was still an integral part of a 3-year stretch of near-total dominance (Final Fours aside).
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Absolutely. I meant nothing derogatory on Tobey in the ācomparisonā. Just think in our system Blake has the chance to be really special in a much different way
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I agree. I also think the experience heās gotten this year being thrown into the fire will be invaluable. I bet it means faster development into a really good big for us.
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Exactly this
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Iām hoping it means he can start next year and A-Rob is ready to be his backup. Iāll be thrilled if they give us the center depth we need in-house rather than having to hit the Portal yet again, acknowledging weāre likely doing that already to replace Dunn and keep Cofieās role similarly limited to key reserve.
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I think theyāll need two athletes in the transfer marketā¦ a 3 and 4. I think Rohde takes over at the point next year.
Nice, I was able to veer the conversation away from the never ending Rohde/Taine/Eli debate. Mission accomplished.
Yeah I keep looking at PJ Hallās stats from his freshman season to remind myself that BB could see a massive leap depending on how he develops his game and frame this offseason. Hall became a pretty consistent shooter which is something Iām still skeptical about with Blake, but thereās still plenty of room for everything else to come together.
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Ok but should Eli take Blakeās minutes?
Kidddddinggg
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Appreciate it. It was not an accident I was willing to dive into your comment so willingly.
The PJ Hall jump is a great comparison.
Iāve graded Blake very hard this season but it is out of love. Like many others I do believe he has the toolbox to become something solid to special. ( I reserve the term great for when itās appropriate).
The fact that Blake is starting to come around as he slots into his role on the team is a great sign. The emotional rollercoaster ride heās been on this season could break a player if they were not mentally prepared. Blake was at the top of the mountain after the Florida game and the boards had pitchforks waiting for him by the end of the Wake game. Thatās a lot to take on all while moving from Idaho to Charlottesville and enrolling in college. Heās shown great resilience to stick with it and appears to be turning a corner.
On a separate note, for as much as people, myself included, question the mental toughness of the UVa teams, or if they are hampered by the strict confines of CTBās system. I have to say someone is clearly working with the athletes and doing a good job. Blake and Minor could have easily been lost causes after the first 2 months of the season and instead they are both rounding into shape and becoming critical pieces that will play major roles in the outcome of this season.
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On/off stats for ACC games (9 so far), filtering out garbage minutes, sorted by total number of possessions, cut off of at least 50** possessions:
Name: Total / Offense / Defense (Possessions)
- Reece: +5.3 / +2.6 / +2.6 (437)
- iMac: -0.1 / +1.9 / -2.1 (437)
- RD: +8.9 / +3.2 / +7.2 (373)
- Rohde: +2.0 / +3.5 / -1.6 (370)
- Groves: -4.1 / +3.6 / -7.8 (231)
- Minor: -14.0 / -8.9 / -5.1 (185)
- Minor as a starter: -9.1 / +2.6 / -11.8 (169)
- Minor during win streak: -7.1 / +5.5 / -12.6 (133)
- Blake: +8.5 / -4.4 / +12.8 (154)
- Taine: -0.8 / +1.8 / -2.7 (135)
- Bond: -4.3 / -3.3 / -1.1 (126)
- Dante: -23.7 / -18.8 / -5.0 (90)
Takeaways:
- Some of it resonates: Reece and RD are our only 2 pros. iMac and Rohde and Taine are solid on O, slight negative on D. Groves is good on O, and a big negative on D. Dante has struggled a bit.
- Some of it is head-scratching: Blake? I mean, huh? Bond is a negative on defense (maybe covering bigs?) Minorā¦
- I couldnāt make Minorās numbers look good. Just bizarre. I ran them 3 ways. Even during the win streak, I mean ā¦ as weāve all been saying, you play Minor for his offensive contributions, even though his defense stinks.
- For me, ultimately, itās interesting stuff, but sort of shows the limits of the on/off analysis. I suppose you could square the circle by saying that Minor has taken the #1 matchup and let Blake take the secondary post threat? Maybe? (like Middlebrooks instead of Burns?)
** Yes, this just eliminates Eli from the analysis. His numbers are pretty bad, but he only has ~47 non-garbage possessions, and seems a bit low to really draw conclusions.
*** I probably shouldāve noted, but these numbers are all āas compared to our overall baselineā.
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All of this makes me realize why JWilly and CTB ignore advanced analytics and stick to the eye test.
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A lot to catch up so I may have missed it but I have two thoughts on the recent success (outside of the obviously weak opponents).
First, I love running the third guard by committee. Taine, Rohde, Dante all bring such different skill sets and are sturdy enough that we can afford to see who āgives us a liftā, as TB would say, any given game.
Second is that Taine and Minor bring back some old school UVA hoops toughness that weāve sorely missed for a few years. Good defense, fighting for rebounds and loose balls. You can tell they piss opposing teams off, and they give us energy.
Go hoos
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