TJP sucks but so do we. Nobody on this team is good at offense, certainly not to the extent of the minutes that we play them on a power 5 team. Nobody! (and Iām staring right at iMacās incredibly mediocre offensive stats as Iām underlining the ānobodyā).
The fact that weāve relegated him to green team minutes now is a communal failure as well as an individual failure.
Our staff apparently has absolutely no clue what to do with guys who are struggling with offensive confidence, other than exacerbate the issue.
I think thatās at least part of what all you expert effort discerners are seeing when you think you are doing your expert effort discerning.
I mean, none of this matters anymore. So maybe I should let it goā¦
And I say this as someone who thought TJP portaling here was a bad idea back before it even seemed like a possibility!
@haney i love your takes almost always, but I want visual evidence you were anti TJ Power coming here. We were collectively so excited about TJ Power because we had been burned by Perry and Jefferson and Amos and I canāt remember and and and so when we landed Power we made him the second comingā¦.
Was actually gonna do this, but then I decided I didnāt want everyone to smell my own farts with meā¦ but okayā¦ Iāll try to find it.
One year ago:
And no, I didnāt have the exact contours correct of how heād frustrate usā¦ and I had a brief moment of optimism back around the start of practice when (1) I thought Tony would be coaching; (2) I thought Warley would be here; (3) he was apparently doing some stuff that wasnāt just shooting.
Ok ok - amending my wine induced rant after a some self reflection and meditation.
I have been way too hard on him. He plays hard and heās trying. And kudos to his improvement. Iām off the Rohde rants for a while. There are still a lot of things I dislike, but am seeing more good things if Iām honest. Effort is always there and thatās a good place to start. Actually like him in the post, but get frustrated with the retreating possession dribbling and the over-emphasis on swinging the ball around the deep perimeter instead of attacking. But heās been much much better this year.
I donāt think he will be here, and I donāt think he thinks he will be here. Which is why I would experiment a lot more if I was in his shoes. A lot more. Starting with playing some zone occasionally. I think is time for experimentation on a much grander scale.
This was an oversight - forgot to include him. Heās obviously in this group.
Iāll die on this island alone I guess. Yes- part of it is Massachusetts love no doubt. But I do think he could be a good piece. Heās obviously struggling but I think there is something there. My guess is he was type-cast at Duke as only a spot of shooter and that crept into how he views himself. And how we view him. Just think thereās more there and will be rooting for him.
The moral of the story is donāt watch UVA basketball games, go out for dinner and drinks with friends, come home and start drinking wine and then say to yourself āIām just going to hop on Forum for a while to see whatās going onā.
Louisville is a pretty cool town. Lots of food options, bourbon, and stuff to do. Churchill Downs is a great tour.
YUM center is a pretty good venue - sort of a bigger version of JPJ, reinforces that JPJ is the best venue in the ACC.
The UL fans are pretty good - man they wear their colors . Cards gear on every living soul in that building and the merch shop was going gang busters. They were acutely well aware of of our record in the YUM. Several people in the section I was in were trash talking UVa early so I flashed V sabres at them. They all laughed and said let us have our fun, weāve been abused by UVa for too long. Knowledgeable fans (except for the one ignoramus 3 rows behind me who must have been related to TV Teddy, because he was screaming for a technical or a foul every possession). I assumed heād spent too much time at the Evan Williams experience pre-game.
My Louisville friend summed the game up pretty well - UL is an ok basketball team right now, but UVa was just physically overwhelmed by each Card player.
Was surprised that the fouls were roughly equal. Sure didnāt feel it. 1st half, refs let them āplayā - really felt for whoever had to guard #5 because he was allowed to just bang and bang harder on offense. Didnāt matter who was on him, coulda been Ryan Dunn, he just was allowed to lower his shoulder. 2nd half, Teddy and crew were determined to get back to a central role in the game, calling a number of quick fouls that were completely at odds with how the game had been called in the first half. Made it hard on us to get going - subtle but big shift in letting Louisville stretch the half time lead.
Donāt know how anyone defends DD being in the lineup. Brings nothing to the table, especially defense.
Donāt know whatās up with iMac. He was trying, contrary to popular takes to the contrary, just seems really frustrated. When he missed the open 3 in the cornerā¦ā¦in warm ups he was nailing everything. One thing - he brings the ball down to his lower chest. Think he is honestly concerned about getting blocked with the low release. He comes off a screen with room, but just wonāt pull the trigger unless he is really open.
Donāt understand the ARob love - heās still a project.
Buck haters are going to have trouble when he starts at Gonzaga next year.
Maybe itās his expression or the way he moves as to why he still gets crap, but Rohde is giving effort on every possession and at times, seems to be the only guy wearing a Virginia uniform with a sense of purpose on the floor. Heās got physical limitations but heās a valuable rotation piece at worst.
Sharma is the real deal. Donāt understand why he doesnāt get more run.
The staff seems dysfunctional. Shows on the court.
Weāre gonna pick Odom and itās not going to be pretty (trying reverse mojo here).
Great post. Was wondering more about this one especially:
Canāt pick this stuff up on TV. Can you elaborate because if you saw it, then the players see it and feel it everyday. Did it look different or is it structured differently than how CTB ran the staff during games? Just curious
Iām not sure why everyone is so convinced that Odom is going to be Brownell. Iām also not sure why everyone is convinced weād retain Brownell like Clemson has
Odom and Byington should both be in the same category, imo. Could be HRs but both learning to do it (and sustain it) at the higher level.
Odom is just more likely, given the timing.
I feel like we are in a good spot where itās unlikely we go past someone like Odom. If we do better than Odom, thatās gravy.
For those of you (so like pretty much all of you) who prefer Byington strongly, what are you seeing that Iām not? Whatās so preferable in the resume?
To me, Odoms resume is better. Not by a lot but at least a little. Two tourneys, including one at large, and one win vs. one tourney and zero wins.
Between the two of them this season, I think VCU has the better chance of making the tourney.
Utah St and VCU are two of the stronger mid majors that have history of making the NCAA tournament regardless of coach.
Just watching 2-3 Vandy games and 2-3 VCU games, I come across more impressed with Vanderbilt.
Byington off a 30 win JMU season inherited a Vanderbilt team in the absolute gutter and already has them on pace for above .500 season
Odom wouldnāt be a horrendous hire. Heād be solid (lol who knows the future he could be horrendous or the next John Wooden in hindsight). I just like Byingtonās vibes more. Someone make a vibes metric so I can sound smart making that argument.
But they make the decision yeah? The problem for Clemson isnāt that theyāve held on to Brownell a year too long. Itās that theyāve continued to retain him despite middling results
Iām half trolling, I would be ~fine~ with Odom, but Byington impresses me more.
I am a little suspicious that Ryan Odom with a former high major coach as a father is only getting his first shot at a big job at 50 (older than Shaka and Byington both) and like @Hooandtrue said-- Odomās had 2 short stints at places that are supposed to win their conferences. We havenāt really seen him do a sustained build.
What Byington has done at Vandy in a year is super impressive to me even if he doesnāt make the tournament.
Also agree with @Hooandtrueās vibes argument. I will confess the silly āeveryoneās a PGā stunt worked on me.
Some of this stuff is just as @Hooandtrue put it very vibes-y. Odom is suspicious b/c heās 50, but Byington getting his first big job at 48 was just right?
Odom was just riding the āalways goodā waves at programs where everyone wins but Byington was so good at Charleston Southern that he convinced JMU to build him a new arena before he got there?
Byington had a sustained build, but Odom gets no credit for what he did at UMBC?
It just strikes me theyāre both similar (and good!) candidates. I guess Byingtonās one-year head start in P5 is nice, but it also makes it much less likely heād leave.