First half they did hit a ton of pretty well contested ones. Second half was hitting less contested ones. Seemed like it evened out. Defense is woof.
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Aye thereâs the rub
Did anyone expect something different from this squad, at this point in the season? Even if Coach Bennett was still on the bench, it would still be just a collection of talented players. It has not yet become a team. There are too many new parts. I doubt that we will know if they will become a cohesive unit until late January. For now, it appears to me that too many of the players arenât really connected to the others on the floor, and I suspect that only time will correct that. At least, I hope that time will correct it.
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Nope but still fun to talk about
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Saunders is not showing his defensive prowess yet. Ahem. I would say same for Ames, Power, Taine, and the rest. Rohde, gotta give him credit. Much better all over the court so far.
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Yeah I donât really get peopleâs reactions to some of the early outcomes. The games in the Bahamas, particularly the St. Johnâs game, yes I get being frustrated with those performances. But we were double digit underdogs in both games. If youâre viewing this team through the lens of a 2014-2021 UVA squad, you are setting yourself up for disappointment.
Does that mean weâre going to win 10 games and get blown out by any team with a pulse? No, almost certainly not. But as 73 said this is a new roster and one with flaws. We all knew that. Idk what kind of impact Warley would have had but itâs not a stretch to say that we might have won very easily last night if we had his defense.
Rohde and Ames are objectively improving. Will they get good enough to help us do what we want to do? Who knows. But I think some of the reactions are a bit extreme, especially in the games where we have won and led by double digits for the vast majority of the game. This version of a UVA team just isnât going to beat teams by 25-30. Frankly even if they did that probably wouldnât be helpful to them. At least now they know what they need to work on to get better.
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Rohdeâs defense has been a pleasant surprise. Kinda of wild that he and iMac might be the two best defenders we have. DD is improving. The issue of course is with the bigs, Saunders, Power and Cofie are all still lost. BB trys hard but gets caught out of position a lot with causes him to have to recover to shooters or cutters or makes him out of position for the rebound.
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Might be the weirdest +/- Iâve ever seen.
The team was a +9, but there were no players above it, and only one player at it.
We broke it!
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I think all of thatâs very fair. But also I donât think people can as easily shrug off poor performances with âWell weâre building and improvingâ because of the weird situation this season is. The two-year plan is out the window. This is a win now season for Ron and probably a lot of the players who are going to leave us next year. Just naturally makes it a little harder to try and take the broader perspective.
I think youâre broadly right, I just think the vibes are going to be pretty negative/on edge this season no matter what. Nobody knows what next year brings so this year is being looked at in a different light. Itâs also just going to be a season where people are going to be sad that Tony is gone and dealing with that in various ways, including venting frustrations about the past few years and how that great period of basketball came an end.
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What do we make of the shot distribution? So far weâve taken lots of threes against the P5 teams and lots of 2s against the Q4 teams, with Coppin St a zone-fueled outlier. The postgame quotes in the Jeff White article certainly make it seem like it is a point of emphasis.
Charitably, pounding the paint is a good variance-reducer when youâre the favorite.
Less charitably, maybe we take more 3s against P5 teams because we canât really get things going in the paint against better teams.
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The charitable interpretation is Ron is trying to develop that skill for the better teams. The less charitable interpretation is âlol wut?â
Also, I feel like if Manhattan had beat us by 100 points or if a rainbow monster had stolen the ball and forced the teams to play patty cake instead or if Rohde started dunking from the free throw line and doing 360s, Iâd STILL have to read the âwell, what did you expect?â-ers.
Me? My ability predict the future remains bad.
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Seems like mostly a function of a very short rotation.
I usually make fun of the âcanât take out the group thatâs struggling⌠because ⌠we are strugglingâ sentiment, but I donât think rotation management is a terribly big issue on this current team / current circumstances.
I guess I should mention that Iâm of the opinion that unless something truly remarkable happens, it makes sense to cut ties with the Bennett era at the end of the year and start fresh. That was pretty clear to me from what happened in the Bahamas.
But at the same time, Iâm still rooting for this team to succeed. In my mind Iâm separating the fact that Ron is auditioning for the job from the reality of what this team is. I want this team to be the best version of itself, but even if it accomplishes that, I still would probably support making a change. I just think the system doesnât make as much sense as it did 10+ years ago.
Edited to add: Not saying that people arenât rooting for the team but I feel like people are holding the team to an unfair standard (aka what they need to do for Ron to get the job). Thatâs not really what they ever were supposed to be this year.
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Tbh, I was kinda pumped about seeing Tony try something new and different. Basically, to see if he could make one more run under the current rules/norms/shifts/etc.
To appreciate this year, you have to be totally in the moment, which isnât always the easiest way to enjoy something youâve been following for a while and will continue to follow. I find it easier to be in the moment with teams I donât care much about.
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Ron appears to be a solid coach but he wlll never be as good as Tony was at teaching and coaching our system. We will need a clean break if we want to find excellence again.
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âWhen you get beat by 20-plus [points] two times in a row, itâs hard to come back the very next day after a long road trip to the Bahamas and get back to practice,â junior guard Isaac McKneely said Tuesday night after UVAâs 74-65 win over Manhattan at John Paul Jones Arena.
âThatâs probably the last place you want to be, but I think we all had good attitudes about it,â McKneely said. âWe knew we had a lot to work on, we watched the film, we took it to the chest, and I think the two practices that we had leading up to this game were really good.â
I donât call people soft. Not my thing. But there are a lot of you who called or implied that Shed was soft. If youâre someone inclined to call people soft on the internet, I submit the above evidence for your consideration.
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iâll stand by itâŚif Rohde is the best player on the floor this season is not going to go very well. Just like if the tropical fruit IPA is the best beer left in your fridge its not going to be a good night.
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Doesnât mean both statements canât be true.
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Agree with this completely. I am also not really sure what the actual threshold would be for retaining and continuing with Ron as lead. If I were in Carlaâs shoes- it would have to be the right combination of on court success (NCAAT berth at minimum), but also clear articulation from Ron as to what his vision is for navigating the current state landscape. Everything from truly being self-reflective about offensive/defensive philosophy, to NIL structure, to staffing resources (I.e. GM) to make sustainable success possible. If I heard a message of âsame old, same oldâ with minor tweaks, it would be a no-brainer decision.
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Totally! Iâm a big whiner and like 95%+ of the things I whine I about are true, too.
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