For now … ish … 
HAve a good day everyone, I really am procrastinating something for real for real, which is why I’m on this here computer. I’m closing the tab … I swear.
1 Like
Wait, @haney before you go, let’s discuss “Take Me Home Country Roads”. That song is actually about Virginia!
Same page as you @haney
Removing the redshirt is great. Never should have happened in the first place given what he can bring defensively, rebounding and athletic upside. It’s kind of silly that he missed the cupcake schedule of early November to grow and then got thrown immediately into a Top 15 opponent and ACC game.
One step further but I actually think Tony misevaluated Dante’s role preseason as well. The injury spurred it but I am hopeful that Tony is reducing Dante’s role (we already saw the beginning of it with WVU) and seeing more minutes available.
7 Likes
In addition to the other arguments for pulling the redshirt … could be the coaches have come to the conclusion that Minor will not be helping on the boards at all this season and we need someone else who can go get it in traffic.
3 Likes
I think it’s fair to say both that it wasn’t the correct decision at first (I do think it requires a good deal of suspension of disbelief to argue otherwise), and continues not to be the correct decision strategically for top-level recruits (we don’t know something that the rest of college basketball doesn’t, but do seem to be adapting re: getting Bliss in a year early so that we can have our cake and eat it too) - and it’s also encouraging to see that we adjusted to this situation in a positive and decisive way that I wasn’t expecting.
18 Likes
Final consideration. Imagine if RD had accepted the supposed red shirt suggestion from TB last year. We’d have people re-telling the Hunter narrative that he NEEDED the red shirt year to develop blah blah instead of getting to the league a year early (current trajectory).
3 Likes
I hadn’t read this, but the first section I started clipping for was mostly about defense on McLeod.
1 Like
Love it. Not that they’re the same player but I think a lot of how he was played can be taken and used against other traditional bigs (like Bacot) who maybe can’t come out and take the ball from the 3 point line. It’s still early but I don’t think this team’s weakness is playing against good centers, I think the weakness is playing against good centers who can pass/dribble.
2 Likes
McLeod’s lack of mobility was a big factor that was more extreme than we’ve seen in some of the others, recently.
But I do think the defensive strategy can be sound/is enhanced by Groves playing much better defensively and Dunn (can’t overstate how much his playing at less than full health against Wisconsin hurt our ability to defend/rotate).
4 Likes
Dunn was not healthy against Wisconsin?
I think Tony pulled the shirt because he’s concerned he’s going to lose him if he doesn’t and I don’t buy that the Harris injury had nothing to do with it, he needed another athletic guard.
I believe we need Elijah because of some of the apparently gaps on this team and Elijah can help with those. I would like for him to get regular minutes of at least 10 per game if not more.
I have no idea what appears to be logical or not.
3 Likes
You’re not “procrastinating,” you’re performing a public service by sharing your thoughts. That’s the way to look at it.
1 Like
I really have to disagree with this. From watching in person at the blue white scrimmage and watching in person yesterday, he looks way more confortable with his knee. Blocking the three was cool but there were more times where things looked a little more sketchy.
Based on everything that was said about the redshirt and what ive seen I think its pretty clear that the ACL recovery was the major reason why that initial decision was made.
6 Likes
Was the fact that he looked closer to full recovery in early December than he did in in mid-October surprising to you?
I think a lot of you** view (1) rotation decisions and (2) redshirting decisions as mostly coterminous. If Elijah shouldn’t have been in the rotation by game 1, okay fine (I mean, how should I know, but sure, let’s agree to that), but Tony tends to change his mind often and background facts change often, too. So making a RS decision (for a top 75ish player) based on a rotation decision in early November seems short-sighted to me.
And when it played out that it WAS INDEED SHORTSIGHTED, you’re all like, nah, played out perfectly. I guess I disagree.
** which is fine – Tony and staff seem to share this view, too, and he’s going to the HOF, and they get paid bank to coach hoops, and I’m just procrastinating here, so you all should be honored by the association!
2 Likes
Btw, this exact same thing happened with Dre. He was dinged in summer/fall 2016. But by Feb/Mar 2017 Tony himself said that he questioned the RS decision. To this day, I read things telling me that Dre RS’d because he was dinged, just ignoring Tony’s own words on this.
If Tony were just making rotation decisions, Dre plays in Spring of 2017, and he’s better and we are better. But the RS factor just confused Tony, and it confuses all of you, and, most of all, it absolutely confounds me.
2 Likes
I mean that’s literally just your opinion, not a fact. How do we know what is “silly” or not 2 games in? We have way more examples of Redshirts that worked out than didn’t, and plenty of other examples of kids we probably wish we RS’d in hindsight (though maybe it wasn’t an option in the moment).
The reality is that Elijah has always been a player with more potential than production. I’m very high on him but there are too many fans that see a high ranking next to a kids name and act as if that means he can play from day 1. Elijah is an elite athlete whose athleticism plus the fact that he played next to a 5 star PG allowed him to generate offense without an elite offensive skillset. I think he can still be a great offensive player but it’s still probably going to be him out-athleting his way to points. I’d argue that’s particularly hard for a true freshman to do.
I was never “pro” RS for Eli but I get it. I just hope he doesn’t kill his confidence shooting/offensively this year when he misses shots (or inevitably doesn’t play for an entire game). I would argue that it seems like the RS year was effective for Leon because he came in with some of the same offensive flaws as Eli and appears massively improved and has a much clearer offensive identity.
All of this is to say that the only “silly” opinion, in my view, when it comes to Redshirts is those who say they are always right or always wrong. Obviously it depends on the player and situation.
7 Likes
Again the “he’s better/we’re better” is just an opinion and one I don’t agree with. I think that version of Dre would be weaker and less consistent shooting the ball. I truly believe Dre was an example where the RS year accelerated his development in a way that playing sparingly as a freshman would not have.
3 Likes
Yes! To be clear, folks. These are all my opinions! (Except for the ones I’ve stolen from other people and claimed as mine own)
2 Likes
This is a terrific post!
1 Like
I mean, no, it wasnt surprising. I am a little surprised he looks this comfortable just over a year from his initial injury, and it would not susprise me if he had hammy or other lower body minor issues later this season. But thats not the point.
The point was that he was initially redshirted because he was recovering from a major injury, and i dont think its any more complicated than that.
To be clear, I didn’t want him to redshirt at all. But I am very okay with how it has played out. I mean, if we werent told it was a “redshirt” and instead was told he was missing some time recovering from his ACL injury, I don’t think anyone would think its that big of a deal.
6 Likes