In the immediate aftermath of the season, itās clear that changes are needed. My top 4 list
Talent: this team lacked athleticism, shooting, rebounding, strength, and toughness. Solution: roster and PT changes are needed. We need to figure out a way to get more cohesive along with these changes too.
Offense scheme / approach: just didnāt work well all too often this year. Solution: change things up. Be more dynamic. Minimize mid-range. Attack.
Adaptability / coaching: this is not to denigrate Tony, as he is an amazing coach and the best coach we will ever have at UVA. But our tactical adjustments were terrible this year, both in game and across games. Even with all of our other flaws, better adaptations would have kept us in more games and enabled the team to improve more as the season progressed. Solution: assistant coaching staff updates + introspection and embrace of change from those that remain. Offense and roster management should be the focus, although defense is not immune.
Toughness / Culture / Aggression: we played scared and tight. Our toughness and aggression was simply lacking, as we were too worried about not making mistakes. Solution: focus more on beating the other team and less on avoidance of mistakes. Also in talent, get gritty guys in.
4). Is a tough one. We need to check all the boxed on skills and upside but we also have to check the box on mental toughness and the ability to handle the shot pressure that Tony burdens our offense with.
and none of these freshmen are top 50 players. You have to have a couple of top 50 players at this level to win in TODAYS game. No more developing for 4 years, those days have gone. Im not sure Tony is seeing he has to change his entire recruiting philosophy.
Itāll be gone in two days. Then will become a lingering memory of Virginia making it in and people thinking it was undeserving and the offense was bad.
Once we get better, the chirping stops. Just go get better.
Iām gonna ask a Dave hypothetical here, but am curious to see where peopleās heads are at in terms of the program.
Which would you prefer for the upcoming season?
We add three high quality transfers who all fit our system well and one of which can get their own shot off of an ISO, but our offense stays exactly the same running Mover/Blocker as our primary set
We add one assistant that acts as an āOffensive Specialistā who comes in and completely changes/modernizes our offense, but we only add two transfers who are both effectively role players
0voters
Obviously we want the best of both worlds but just wanna see where things end up.
I think the main thing we need to change is that the offensive philosophy is designed to save energy for defense. Even if you think that is a good thing (it seems to give us a lower floor for sure). But, if we want a higher ceiling, we are going to have to put a philosophy on display that doesnāt make every non- UVA fan want to change channels along with every other prospective recruit.
We are most likely going to be awful next year, considering returning players and the stench of how the season ended (remind anyone of football?). So, letās move the ball up the court quickly. Who knows, maybe Imac may find himself open. Letās not drop 4 men back on defense while our shot is in the air. Letās present a suggestion that if you come to UVA, you have a chance of averagine 18 points a game. Letās turn Eli loose and see what happens.
Oh well. None of this will happen. I am going to try not to be so obsessed with all this next year. That probably wonāt happen either.
I would love to see a side-by-side video of 2024 blocker-mover vs a prior iteration (like a 2016 version). I am curious if it looks different even though the actions are the same. It just seemed like there was no urgency last night and were just going through the motions. But Iād need a comparison to validate my perception.
In theory, either option should result in a more efficient offense. To get back to being a team that competes for banners, we need more efficient offense, so either option is correct.
But the question wasnāt which one is correct, itās which one you would prefer LOL. There is no right or wrong answer here, basically just asking people if they think the issue lies more in the players not matching the scheme the way they should or is the scheme itself broken.
I think an issue all year long, and @DFresh11 and others have noted, is that McKneely doesnāt run off the screens nearly as hard enough. Doesnāt really fly off of them, and when the comes off the screen (unless itās the flair out to the corner 3) heās curling inward off the screen and not even in a position to shoot it.
I voted new asst. coach but Iād say you also have to get rid of 12 to add the new guy. No idea what the average number is but it feels like we have about 50. And I have no idea what any of them do.
I also think if you revamp the offense to something effective, watchable and fun to play, itād make it a little easier to get the type of players described in the other option, both as recruits and through the portal.
We just need a new perspective on staff. Basically everyone on staff came up under either Tony or Dick. The two exceptions, J Willy and Vandross, have been here for a long time at this point. We need someone to bring in a new perspective and alternative way of looking at things. Even if it doesnāt lead to radical schematic changes
