Legends Classic championship game, Tuesday 7:30 pm on ESPN2
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Bring the defense that we played the last 9 minutes of the GA game. That looked like UVA basketball.
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Anyone watch Providence last night? Just a quick glance at the roster it looks like their best player is their center and they don’t have particularly great 3 point shooters
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They will certainly be a test. Beat Wisconsin on the road and always play tough. They shoot it well enough from 3 so we better shoot better tonight.
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Didn’t watch but they shot 48% from 3 last night. Hopefully reversion to the mean tonight.
Watched most of it. Everyone on the court will shoot from 3 and they shoot a lot of them. Frankly my thought was they play a style that generally causes us a lot of problems.
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UVA opens as 1.5pt dogs
They shoot 3-4 more 3’s a game than we do. They broke out last night and hit a lot. First 4 games their 3 shooting percentage was mediocre.
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To me, shutting down good offensive teams is UVa basketball. Shutting down one of the worst offenses in Power 6 is the hallmark of a replacement level Power 6 team.
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Yeah last night was their best from 3. They have 5 guys with double digit attempts from 3, we have 3 and the 3rd is Reece. Just willing as a team to let it fly.
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Wait this tournament is sponsored by an erectile dysfunction pill company? Incredible
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Yes, but also a tier-B beef jerky company that could use some branding help.
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I worry this is the kind of team that runs us out of the gym from the 3 line. Hope I’m wrong.
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this team needs guys who can shoot, spread the floor, and hunt offense to be on the court in the worst possible way. It doesn’t matter how much better our defense gets-- even if it’s elite, we are not going ANYWHERE with a sub 150 offense. Obviously I don’t have inside info and don’t go to practice, but I can’t fathom how Tony can look at the way KC and RB play together and think that continuing to play them the majority of minutes is the way for us to become a good team on offense. Even last year, when we had the best perimeter spacing from a 3-4-5 in perhaps college basketball of the last decade (Murphy/Hauser/Huff), the KC/RB backcourt struggled to be a productive backcourt. WIth this personnel, KC/RB would struggle even more because there are fewer lanes to the rim.
I also can’t understand where playing Poindexter over McCorkle (or Murray) fits into a larger plan. College basketball is only evolving more and more towards spacing and shooting (like the NBA). This team only has a chance to grow and become good if the guys who have offensive talent can learn the pack line.
At this point, we know what Kody and Caffaro are. If this is going to be a season of growing pains and working hard to gel and develop into a better team, I’d rather do it with guys who have higher ceilings and the potential to be part of a winning future (CM, TM, IM).
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Tony disagrees with your strategy to play guys for the future. He’s trying to win today. That answers pretty much all of your lineup questions. Now whether that is the right strategy is a fine debate, but there is no confusion in what Tony is doing
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Things I would like to see tonight:
- If Kihei is open on the perimeter, want to see him shoot the three immediately every time. With the dearth of shooters on the team, we aren’t going to get a better look by cycling the ball around again. Is he a phenomenal shooter? No, but he did clearly put in work and that’s a better shot than almost anyone else is going to get, so let it fly.
- Speaking of shooting, would love if McCorkle and Taine could work their way back into the line-up and get some more minutes at the 2 and 3 (not the 4!). Probably won’t happen against Providence unless we are getting blown out since Tony clearly doesn’t trust them yet, but would still really like to see it.
- More quick feeds to Gardner in the post and quick decisions by him to attack the hoop, although it may be hard with Providence’s Watson down there.
- Beekman hitting something to improve his confidence. I think that jumper is broken and don’t expect him to shoot it well this year, but if he can avoid having another night like last night, that’d help.
- Kadin somehow miraculously avoiding foul trouble going up against Providence’s Watson. I don’t really think this will happen, but it will be a hugely important battle in terms of the game’s outcome. He should be fresh after playing so little yesterday, and he ended the game strong, so let’s hope that caries over.
- At least one more Igor three. Because it’s what the people want!
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Tony is playing for the future—he’s trying to max out the chances we beat ND and NC St in January. The decent shooting thing would help us more in March and next year. As to what would help us more right now? Who knows, but I’m not loving Tony’s approach if it’s a win now approach. I think it’s basically a “make sure you’re consistent enough to consistently beat the dregs of the ACC approach.” This is probably too harsh and maybe flat wrong but now I’ve typed on the internet what’s been swimming in my head for a bit.
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I see he is from Portsmouth, VA, so I expect him NOT to be finesse-y.
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If we gut out a gutsy win tonight I will feel a lot more optimistic. That’s what I’m hoping for. Providence seems like a 10 seed to bubble team or so, so a gutsy win would be a big positive. (I’m not getting optimistic about gutting out a gutsy win against Georgia)
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He is not. Will be a big test for Shedrick. We’ll need him to stay out of foul trouble because this is a game where if we see a lot of Caffaro then we are screwed
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