How are you feeling about UVA bball 4 games into the season? (0 being horrible and 10 being amazing)
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voters
1 Like
According to Torvik, Wisconsin has played like the 118th best team since the season started. All caveats about small sample apply.
Feel good about it if iMac is back. Iffy if he isn’t.
Suspect Wiscy will be a borderline top 50 all year. Dont want to drop a quad 2.
9 Likes
Yeah watching both of their power 6 games, they aren’t good. But they are big and their physicality could cause issues on the offensive boards and generating offense when plays aren’t working.
I still think even with McKneely out, you put Reece on Hepburn and Bond/Dunn on Storr and they literally can’t score. And their bigs are atrocious pick n roll defenders.
A game where if we had McKneely and an extra big body for depth we win by 20 pretty easily on a neutral court. Maybe McKneely is good to go by then and Minor showed enough to get a few minutes?
4 Likes
No imac than this could be 50-45 game and go either way. If IMac is back and close to 100% I think the Hoos 65-55.
6 Likes
If no iMac I imagine we’ll see Reece on Storr (their most dangerous player) and Dante on Hepburn. While you are right about the boards again and their physicality and I think they are going to have issues with Dunn and Bond.
Think it will be another slog in the 60s but we’ll need 3s to win. Don’t think 5 will cut it. If no iMac, Rohde and Groves shooting along with how BB does on the boards will be the difference one way or another.
2 Likes
I think this could work but Storr is a big bully guard who would struggle mightly with longer arms of Bond and Dunn. Also don’t want Reece picking up fouls even if he also can lock up storr.
Reece → Hepburn
Rohde → Klesmit
Dunn → Storr
Groves → Wahl
Buchanan → Crowl
And if McKneely is okay, play him limited minutes to match Essigan. And Bond vs their athletic Blackwell. Nolan winter also in their rotation. And Dante in for Reece guarding Hepburn/Klesmit. If we are to believe rotations are match up dependent Dante probably looking at a smaller role (hah) like 15 minutes vs Florida.
5 Likes
You are correct about Storr but I was assuming the same starters as last night and figured Dunn on Wahl. Maybe we go Rodhe on Walh then Dunn covers Storr. Either way I’d be surprised with the big line but would love to see it. Or is this the night Bond finally gets the start?
Reece → Hepburn
Rohde → Klesmit
Dunn → Storr
Bond → Wahl
Buchanan → Crowl
3 Likes
All I know is that iMac or no iMac, Wisconsin is going to be in hell trying to score against us. We just need to play decently on offense to win this assuming we don’t just get absolutely shredded by 2nd chance points. Really like how we match up against them.
iMac plays and I think we can win this by double figures.
6 Likes
Feels like we’ve discussed it here, but there’s something weird going on with Essegian and Gard. Should be interesting. But others say Storr is the new Essegian.
1 Like
Enough things aren’t clicking quite right that I wouldn’t even think of voting 9 or 10, but we’re comfortably above my pre-season expectations.
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Yeah, I posted a quote a week ago about how he was being weird about not answering questions about Essegian’s limited playing time/health. He said “you’ll have to ask him.”
3 Likes
Don’t see Dunn on Storr, just based on lineups. Wisconsin plays Storr basically 100% as their small forward, always with some combination of more traditional big men Crowl, Wahl, Ilver, Winter, and Gilmore. Maybe if Essigan gets out of the doghouse to play more minutes (we’ll see tonight), they can play Storr as a small-4, but it would basically be the first time they’ve done it all season.
From our side, then, Dunn hasn’t played a single minute as the 3 this year from what I can tell, even last time with our of our starting guards out, we’ve played exclusively with Dante, Taine, and Bond rotating in at the three perimeter spots. So if we wanted to play Dunn on Storr and Storr is still playing as their small forward, it means we either have to go jumbo (something we haven’t done once in four games, so I highly doubt we see it) or we have to trust one of our small forwards (Rohde/Bond/Murray) to guard someone bigger like Wahl, Ilver, or Gilmore. The latter is not impossible, I guess.
2 Likes
I think HGN alluded to (maybe jokingly) that Dunn is the 5th guard we are looking for.
There was a heavy stretch during the blue white scrimmage where we played Dunn at the 3 and Bond at the 4 with Buchanan at the 5 so it’s atleast in the playbook. And this is also the first “jumbo” guard/wing team we are playing
3 Likes
Torvik posted recently that UW’s 2pt FG defense is historically bad
2 Likes
Mr. Bond about to feast
10 Likes
Connor Essigan with barely any minutes vs Robert Morris wow. I thought he was their best player at times last year. Dog house for sure/no idea if he plays against us or what. So I guess that negates the possible mcneely loss.
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He got green teamed (kinda)
https://x.com/evan_flood/status/1725706496569123172?s=46&t=wAzMZR-0PRGT1LpN6U5x0g
Maybe it’s the back still, as Gard says? Some Wisconsin fans seem to be quite down on his defensive ability though.
2 Likes