I noticed Rohde playing some nice defense yesterday. People have been hard on him, but thereās a reason TB puts him in there.
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Was traveling, sort of able to follow the score but couldnāt watch. First thing I did was to read the Sabre, uhhh, I mean LRA, when I was able. Obviously, hackers had hijacked the accounts of many posters.
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Imagine being one of those refs and trying to explain to players when they ask what your partners are doingā¦
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Sorry if already discussed, but was surprised that Reece was not on George for a lot of the game. Was that by design or did I just notice it after a switch?
By design I think. They wanted him on Kelly, probably because heās the highest-usage player on the team. Though I think there was a chunk of the first half towards the end where they flipped the matchups and had Reece on George.
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Seemed like he was guarding Miles Kelly quite a bit, which does make some sense. Kellyās shooting numbers arenāt great this year but heās GTās best player and can beat you singlehandedly if he heats up.
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And if you think about what TB said in the postgame calling IMac out specifically as sliding on defense better in the second half, thatās about doing a much better job on George, which let them keep Reece on Kelly.
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Just had a chance to rewatch. Much more fun knowing the outcome and my 3 year old didnāt know the game wasnāt live and enjoyed jumping up and down after McKneely threes. āI like the blue teamā she kept sayingā¦ really fun morning.
Anyway, what a response from this team and could easily become a turning point moment in the season. Went down 12 and had that āsame shit, different gameā feel to it. But then, we had a legit cavalanche. So refreshing to see.
Minorās emergence is hard to overstate. Itās not that heās really good; itās just that heās exactly what we hoped. And man, it opens up so much. Second straight game weāve out scored teams in the paint. Rebounding looks better. And minor actually creates separation on his screens. Night and day difference with him playing well. Plus itās nice to have a grown ass man in there vs Groves at the 5 or Buchanan who is 25 pounds too small.
Everything else about McKneely, FT shooting, Reece!, etc has already been covered so Iāll just add that I thought Rohde played really well. He takes such good care of the ball and played well defensively from what I saw. We can live with his 5 points when others are stepping up and heās creating. One three went halfway down and outā¦is that something with his shot form because it happens too often? This isnāt a Casey morsell situation where heās throwing up brick after brick. The form and the shots look good. Keep shooting it!
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One thing that Minorās emergence now allows us is what Iād call a āreturn to centerā. What I mean by that is before when we didnāt really have him as a trusted option, it felt like we had to try funky frontcourt lineups more out of necessity and actively searching for something that could be a game to game solution for us. Now, we can still try those lineups but itās less out of desperation and more out of wanting to present a different look for the opposing team. We went to a Bond/Dunn frontcourt where we started switching all ball screens, and it was a great end of the half lineup that we werenāt forced to run for the rest of the game and then have GT adjust and exploit its downsides. Having Minor as that solid anchor at the 5 is so vital and opens up a lot of breathing room for our other guys at the 3/4.
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Agree with your comments down the line!
As to Rhodeās penchant for in and outs - I said the same thing during the game. Feels like he has had probably 8-10 like that this year.
Would love someone who knows more than me on shooting form to diagnose. Is it that sometimes his spin is a little off kilter when it leaves his fingers (as opposed to pure back spin like IMacās shots)? Does he have the ball too much on his palm versus finger tips??
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Could be tiredness, not getting the lift he needs, limiting his usual arch.
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Not an expert, but I think heās making an adjustment for better consistency. Remember last year when we were all āWTFās up with iMacās formā during the year, especially the first half (no elevation). I think that Uva tinkers with the shot a bit - makes them a bit āthoughtfulā for a good while. But it pays off - watching iMac have real confidence out to 30 feet now. I was at the first game and watched Rohde warm up. He really was uncomfortable and was plainly a bit frustrated as he took several attempts from the same spot. I really think that Ro dog will emerge as an above average 3-point shooter. Not in 40+% but certainly above 35%.
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There are many reasons to love what Minor is adding to the team, but one of the biggest is the ability to play the opposing big man straight up. Before this, we were getting caught in rotation and giving up open shots when we had to double the post.
I think itās insulting, though, to say āhe flipped a switchā or something like that, as if there was an āahaā moment when he just magically figured things out. Thatās not how things work: You donāt go from bad to good in one night. This is the result of a lot of hard work on his part and a lot of perserverance. And a great attitude. He deserve credit for that, as much as for his performance itself.
To all the folks here who have spent the season calling Minor āunplayableā and a ābig evaluation missā and were analyzing whether he clapped enough on the bench: Perhaps this might lead you to be a little more patient and a little less judgmental in the future. As Tony says, things happen in due time, but we never know when that ādue timeā will arrive.
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hanging head in shame
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Cple takeaways from last night.
*Been to McCamish 3 yrs in a row and that was by far the largest crowd Iāve seen. Thereās something in the water there.
*Along those lines the crowd was loud. Especially in the 2nd half whenever GT made a run. By far the loudest Iāve seen it there
*credit to the UVa fans for coming out. Iām always impressed by the showing at GT events.
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As of now, I still think this is an NIT team at best, but there is reason to be optimistic. Despite the losses, a bit of progress was shown in each road game, finally leading to a W this time. The next step is to find a way to start games without digging a double digit hole, but it was good to see the guys fight back and play with confidence this time. Another huge game coming up on Wednesday, Go Hoos
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However, it is true that he is not good or just plain bad on the elbow jumper off the curl. Liked when he took another step and hit a runner/floater just inside the FT line.
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Reece!! 933 steals pace adjusted!!!
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Great observation on iMac. He is getting way up on his in rythm step in 3s now. Maybe because he is shooting lots of em from further away. Whatever it is it seems to work for him
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The Rohde-Minor pairing seems to make sense given that Rodhe can use the screen effectively and then find Minor with a pocket pass. Itāll be interesting to watch the efficiency data with that pairing versus those two playing with others.
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