TV: ACCNX
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Will be in the house for this one sports fans!
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I should be in as well!
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North Carolina Central lost 114-66 to NC State in their first game of the season. NCC had two players, 6’9” forward Khouri Carvey and 6’2” guard Gage Lattimore, who scored 20 points each. Lattimore played all 40 minutes. The two of them combined for 19 free throw attempts, and given the rate Virginia was fouling Rider, those two may set an NCAA record for FTA against Virginia.
Offensively, they want to play fast and shoot threes or score in the paint. As a team, they shot as badly from deep as Virginia, hitting just 27% of their three pointers. And they had 18 turnovers that led to 26 points for NC State. Their shot chart looks like something an NBA intern put together: all threes and layups, which the exception of a few bad midrange looks by Lattimore. In Lattimore’s defense, some of those drew fouls.
Defensively, NCC would make Tony Bennett cry. Their perimeter defense is atrocious. As a team, 40 of NC State’s 64 shots were from deep, and they made 48% of them. This could be the game Virginia finally gets their shooting on track. And NCC is small: Carvey is their tallest player at 6’9.” They will put up no resistance to the De Ridder/Grünloh show.
This game shouldn’t be competitive for long. NCC kinda/sorta kept up with NC State for the first 10 minutes when they were down just 22-16, but it was a bloodbath after that. NC State was up 54-26 at halftime. And then NCC gave up 60 points in the second half.
Predictions:
1. We’re going to see more Owen Odom
2. No excuses for Thomas, White, De Ridder, and Lewis shooting threes – they’ll face greater resistance during pre-game warmups.
3. Grünloh and Ugo will have the green light to shoot threes. They’ll be an easy 6 inches taller than any perimeter defender.
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Honestly will be a more interesting test for our defense. These guys want to shoot threes and layups which is what Odom’s defense wants to defend.
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Just hope Eli gets a chance to hammer one. Jacari overthrow crushed me, there was a vintage Eli jam coming
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If you’d like to feel a bit triggered before the game, head to espn and take a look at Bilas’ top 68 rankings
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Honestly, at this point of the season I’d rather be grumpy that someone thinks we’re worse than VT than overconfident.
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We’re #53!
The truth is that with all the roster turnover and a new coach, no one really knows how good we’ll be. But the sum of the parts, including Thomas, De Ridder, and Grünloh, and a coach with a track record of immediate success, says we’re going to be pretty good.
But when you’ve got Virginia Tech at #44, you’re picking a fight.
Jay Bilas is a pompous blowhard and a jackass.
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Bilas is a clown. I beat him handily in the tournament bracket this year.
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I’m definitely not triggered by VT being ranked ahead of UVA. Nope, not me.
In all seriousness, VT stinks. Avdalas was their only hope to take a major leap and he’s a mediocre shooter at best and is going to get cooked by faster guards
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VPI plays Providence this weekend. Should give us a better sense of where they’re at
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Let them be overrated.
It’ll just make it that much more satisfying to watch their team and their spirit crumble as the year goes on.
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I know where they’re at. They’re at a miserable little cow town in the middle of nowhere.
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My parents are big hokies and went to their season opener the other night. My mother’s review: Hansberry and Lawal are awesome and a lot of fun, Neo was disappointing and still looks really raw.
She’s normally all hype, so I was surprised to hear her down on him.
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Might actually watch that one. Should be a good matchup
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We let NCCU hang around in 2022. They closed it to a 2 point margin with 13 min left, before we eventually won by 12.
The 2023 game was the Elijah Gertrude coming out party. He had 13 points, including 1 3P FG (which is his only made attempt in his brief UVa career). Leon Bond (RIP) had 14 pt, 9 reb, 3 blocks and 3 assists.
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Isn’t Providence bad?
They’re pretty meh. Probably a similar team to VT in terms of talent though.
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Yeah, I’d be surprised if PVD is a tourney team, but they have a credible P5 roster. Jason Edwards from Vandy. Duncan Powell (with that weird hair fringe thing) from GT
Meh sounds about right. But it’ll be a decent first benchmark for the Hokies. Neutral site but closer to PVD (Mohegan Sun, site of our bubble loss to SF).
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