My college roommate’s preview for tonight…
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They haven’t issued a decision on Efton’s Reid’s waver? NCAA is really something
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We have a podcast going up from Lief…Figured I would also put the full transcript here. This is a transcript, so it may have some errors…apologies in advance. The full podcast will be up soon.
This is leaf to lean breaking down Virginia versus Tarleton State. The opener is just hours away as this is dropped. I can’t wait for college basketball. I don’t know about you guys. I assume if you’re listening to this you feel the same way. I’m really excited to be on here talking with you guys and we got big things coming here at locker room access. I will be hosting some shows both on the national college but the sport of college basketball which I adore and also which appeals to you guys on the Virginia Cavaliers and this is the opener against Tarleton State and here are some thoughts and some keys to the game that you may not know about T state and what to watch for as a fan of Virginia and what why what I’m about to say is going to matter throughout the season for Virginia.
All right, first and foremost, I think Virginia should win now that goes without saying you face the team that went seven that finished seventh in the whack. Some of you guys may not know what the whack is that features teams? Like Utah State Grand Canyon a few of these smaller schools. Excuse me, Utah Valley and Grand Canyon. Those are two of the best teams in the wac. Charleston state has a coach that you may have heard of though is a big name coach Billy Gillespie. He has some some narrative about him that aren’t necessarily good ones. I won’t go too far into that. But what he has done is coach at a very high level and he was formerly at Kentucky that said they were 17 17 last year 8 and 9th in the wac. They also lost a lot of production. They lost Freddie Hicks who scored 16 points a game. She scored Daniel 8 points a game Shamir bogs nearly 10 points a game and tiger Booker about seven points again, they bring in a ton of new players.
They have eight freshmen, seven Juco players, two D2 transfers, and a few returners. I don’t know how they have 21 players on their roster, but I counted up they do. All right. Virginia should win. Let’s get back to that point. Reese Beekman is going to be an All -ACC guy. We saw that last year. I’m curious to see if he can win the ACC Player of the Year. I’m curious to see if he can be a national, like, All -American type of guy. I’m not necessarily assuming first -team All -American, just because I don’t think Virginia plays fast enough to get him the pure stats of doing that, but I think he has a candidacy to being a true All -American. That’s something that you don’t see terribly often, like Kyle Guy was a third -team All -American a few years ago.
All right, let’s get into this. What am I watching for for Virginia? And then I’ll get into the the pace of play some of the stuff. You may be curious about in a team in Tarleton State that has caused issues to ACC opponents before What I would be looking for is who starts and how those lineups? Following the starters when the substitutions come in what those lineups look like what I anticipate will happen in starting based off what I’ve read based off a game notes that says projected starters is respe Speakman. That’s a known commodity. He’s going to start he started for three years. He will start again. It’ll be Speakman Isaac mckneely and Ryan Dunn. Those are three starters. I am 100% certain will start.
Assuming they’re healthy, obviously. Those three will start and what I assume is going to happen is an offensive minded unit. That is led by Andrew Rohde at the three or the two depending if you think McNeely plays the two or three, so that’s there. That’s the backward a three-man back court of Beekman McNeely and Rhodey. The four spot will be occupied by Ryan Dunn who I think will be prime for an all defensive team season, and should he score? Some offense could be in all ACC tape a guy and I think he’ll be a first round draft pick. That should be something you guys should be excited about Ryan Dunn is going to be someone to keep your eyes on me because this is his offensive game goes Virginia season will go.
But I think that’ll be the lineup and then I’m curious to see what the substitution pattern is Will the senior who Tony Bennett often leans towards playing in Jordan Minor a transfer from Merrimack who put up Audacious numbers at a mid -major school. Will he play will be the first be off the bench Will it be Blake Buchanan who’s drawn rave reviews as a freshman out of Idaho? He’s athletic. He’s strong Can he handle the physicality of college basketball the rigors of being a five -man in Virginia’s system? which is extremely difficult both on offense and defense playing the blocker mover on offense and And on defense playing as a hedge guy someone who hedges really hard on ball screens who protects the rim Along with Ryan Dunn, I’m curious to see what happens
So the first thing I’d watch for is who starts that’s pretty self-explanatory is Dante Harris going to play with three speak when I’m really pressure the ball but maybe sacrifice the outside shooting. I think they’ll play together a fair amount. Obviously Reese played with Kihei for a long time and he’ll be accustomed to having someone who’s to meet even nature a playmaker and is reliant on speed more so than being a true outset shooting threat. I think they will put together and I wonder if he’ll be the first substitution into the game. I wonder if it’ll be Dante Harris free Speakman. Isaac mckneely Ryan Dunn and maybe you can and maybe minor and then the first sub in the front Court out would be Groves who? I’ve got some questions about growth playing the five. All right. so that’s the first thing I look for this second thing I look for in this game is
can Virginia Shoot the three. at a level that is not just Isaac mckneely shooting the three and what I mean by that is, you know, Isaac mckneely, he may have off games, but you know, he’s going to be a bona fide 3-point scoring threat. Who else on Virginia’s team can do that even at times last year Bennett Vander plus could Armand Franklin started off the year with monsters performance is at the start of the year that he was a threat from three Kihei though. I just said he wasn’t necessarily the guy that you’d be like. Oh man, we’re gonna be screwed if he shoots a ton. He was a threat from three you saw a teams have to bend their defense a little bit. Who else can add from three is it is it is that the reason that Jake grows would be a starting as a five minute. He did not start at the five man at Oklahoma. That was his older brother Tanner gross. He did not start at the five minute Eastern Washington his first stop those older brother Chandler grows. He was more of a wing and an Off the Bench player. So that’s why I have some
Little bit of concern about him being the starting five -man Jordan Miner comes with the concern of him playing just it with Mary Mack in a smaller smaller league He’s not very big, but he was a rebounder. He was tenacious on the glass We’ve seen players be successful in that mold in the ACC like Northshad Amir fits a lot of those same patterns But I think Northshad Amir Is a better athlete than Jordan Miner now can Blake Buchanan come in and rebound so a lot of that stuff is Some is reliant on how well The interior defense plays but like I said first thing to look at is who starts and how that lineup plays and the second thing would be What is the substitution pattern after?
Who starts and how does that team play? And do you think once you play bigger more talented teams than Tarleton State that that team is more reproducibly able to play the way they did because I think it’s going to be a little bit gimmicky. It’s a team in Tarleton State that’s biggest player that that figures to play a lot is about 6/8. Blake brinkmeyer is about six eight two twenty five and he’s a redshirt Junior. Who is a transfer and has no no real stats. He’s from Kirkwood Community College. I think Virginia will be just fine the front court against him. That said I mentioned that they Charleston States giving some issues to teams in the past. They they led by double digits against Boston College.
And have beaten some good teams in past. I watched them for those of you don’t know and didn’t listen to the record prediction that I did for Virginia where I had Virginia with the with a solid record, but it may not be as high as the illustrious standards that you guys have become accustomed to I recommend you listen to that but I talked about some of that type of stuff where if Virginia has a really good season. They’re going to need to figure out. some of these things but but this game in particular Tarleton State Tarleton State is a team. That that because they play. A defined style they last in your mind. And so I’m a die-hard Stanford fan. That’s what I mentioned in the other primer, but I I watched it on of basketball. I’ve watched tons and tons of Virginia basketball because when I was in high school, I fell in love with the style that Tony Bennett’s team played. and It was so.
It was so methodical. It was so clever. When I was in high school, Kyle Guy was someone I really looked up to. And then when I was in college, my freshman year, Virginia won the national championship. And I was all aboard their train by this point. And when I initially found that I loved the way Virginia played, it was London Perrantes at the one, Malcolm Brogdon at the two. Reason I bring this up is they play a particular style. And in my mind, Tarleton State, at a far lesser degree plays that same methodical offense. But I think it’s because their defense wears on their body so much they cannot push the pace. I’m wondering if Virginia can, if, and this is the third key, if Virginia can stray from what they know as a slow team and maybe push the pace against the Tarleton team, that’ll struggle to score regardless.
But also against what should be a good defensive team in Virginia. So one with all the principles that Tony Betts instilled in this team for years. They should be good defensively. I wonder if they stray from their comfort zone a little bit tweak with the lineups. Maybe play a fast lineup with Dante Harris, maybe play re speaking and Beekman and him together. Push the pace shoot faster, maybe run a little less block remover run some pick and roll. I’m curious to see what adjustments Tony Bennett has made to make this team more sustainably difficult to defend. I think there were times where last year Virginia did this where they let Reese Beekman go to the rim and this is when they were their best when they beat, Illinois when they beat Baylor teams that very well throughout the season for Virginia did their best when they let attack the rim and isolate and come off picking roles.
Here they lost Kadin Shedrick. They lost Venit but Bennett vanderplas. I understand that will they play to the athleticism that that is on their team and maybe stray a little bit from what we’ve become so enamored with and myself included in the pack line on Defence and the blocker mover on offense. Maybe there should be more pick-and-roll. Maybe they should push the pace and shoot more threes and transition which embracing modern basketball and I’m just that’s the thing the third thing to watch for against the team that is under talented in Charlton state, but will has the defensive principles that are so set in stone can Virginia out athlete a team that is going to play at a similar pace and put them away as a post to playing with their food and kind of winning by 15 points as their projected to do and and just because they’re more talented.
But if they shoot poorly, that allows for teams to play against Virginia. And I know I’m picking at an open wound, but I think because of the pace, and this is the same thing with St. Mary’s, another team that’s very fun to watch for me that plays such a structured style. They play so many close games that allows for non -conference opponents that don’t have the same talent level to trouble Virginia. Just in the same way Virginia troubles really talented teams that are not used to playing at that pace, I’m wondering if Virginia can use their talent level and their athleticism this season to play a slightly different style that makes them more sustainably difficult to guard as the season wears on. All right, that’ll do it for my first game preview. There’ll be more of these from me, especially against some big games coming up. Florida is the next one.
Wisconsin on the schedule soon, Texas A&M and the ACC SEC challenge, which is different from the ACC and Big Ten that used to be I’m really excited to be talking to you guys and I hope you guys will join me for not only Virginia coverage but ACC and college basketball alike. Thank you for listening. It’s been fun to be on here with the locker room access. I’m Lief to lean if you want to follow me. It’s at least you lean l e i f t h u l i n on Twitter and I will engage with you about college basketball all the time, and I I wish you the best and hopefully a Awesome regular season opener with Virginia coming away Victorious. Let me know your thoughts on this episode and your thoughts about the game and I’ll talk with you guys soon.
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Goodman’s tweet says “Josh Primo” instead of Primo Spears for FSU, which threw me for a loop for uh…reasons that are clear when you google “Josh Primo”.
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Awesome!
Duke injuries are N/A? And we thought CTB played it close to the vest.
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Can confirm that my mom will be in attendance tonight. Section #106.
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That is true. The Virginia app takes you there when you choose to sell.
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SInce this game is streaming and not on a designated channel shared with other teams, there shouldn’t be any delay.
There shouldn’t be.
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I think face mauls will be down this game vs. last year. No Papi to face maul them and no Kadin to get face mauled…
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I wish I knew how to embed the “that’s what she said!” meme.
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TWSS
Would serve me better to read all of the posts - that’s what she said.
Ahhh you’re right.
Ran into this exact issue with our opener last year but I believe it was on ACCN and not ESPN+/ACCNExtra or whatever the hell they call it.
2 teams - soccer practice tonight for state tournament… will have to watch recording late night - ugh… but proud of the boys!
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Lol from DBR on the ACC slate tonight.
"The three possible upsets we see are Georgia Southern at Georgia Tech, Niagara at Notre Dame and Tarleton State at Virginia. And while we’d love to see Greg Paulus’s Niagara team do it, the best chance might be Tarleton State. Here’s why: Virginia has a lot of new players to master a subtle and complex system and Billy Gillispie is building the Texans from the ground up. He’s a nasty piece of work in many ways, but it’s his last chance to remake his legacy and Tarleton has been improving as it transitions to D-I ball.
It’s not likely but it seems like the most likely upset. Of course, other than the nasty bit of work comment, much of this would apply to Notre Dame as Micah Shrewsberry gets his program off the ground."
Kinda wild they forgot the actual upset of UMBC - Louisville (unless they consider UMBC the favorite so not an upset)
I do think this game might be a rough first half but Tarleton offensively (no 3pt shooting) aint like the mid majors that usually beat us (3pt shooting)
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Line up confirmed. Expect some Reece Dante time on court together at some point.
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And the lineup is…?
Reece, IMac, Rhode, Dunn, Groves.
Elijah redshirting…
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