Did someone say that or are you just overreacting?
I was at the game, so didn’t read all the takes above (sorry!), but I think it was noticeable how decisive our guys were in half court offense for most of the game. Taking the first open shot, catching off the screen and looking to attack; they just weren’t in a ton of late shot clock situations.
And in those Dunn-Groves lineups, it was very noticeable that anytime Reece (or anyone else) got a step or two with the ball inside the arc, there was always a kick out available for an open three.
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My optimistic take is for a team of guys, the vast majority of whom have never played in a UVA uniform before, they looked good against a bad opponent and the upside for this team looks tremendous. Hoping the FT issue was just inexperience/jitters but the pieces to be a solid team defensively with a diverse offensive skillset are all there
Edit: for anyone curious, that win put us at 27 in KenPom with 37th overall offense and 20th over defense
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Fun game to watch.
This team seams to have earned more freedom. TB hinted at that in the post game presser. Seemed confident.
Ceiling of this team dependent on Buchanan and/or Minor. With Groves at the 5, Tarleton State’s game plan seemed to be to draw Dunn out to the perimeter and attack iMac and Groves. More physical teams will be more direct and gonna feast on Jake.
Zero points on the paint for our 5 against a really undersized team. Somewhat fluky? Maybe.
More confident in Blake getting there defensively - he looked way more comfortable than Minor. Unfortunately, Minor looked very unnatural trying to position himself - Jabri like.
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Yeah it’s not that we looked good randomly. We looked good returning only Reece and McKneely and some dunn.
in 2021-2022 we returned only Reece and Kihei… and well we saw what happened.
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I really hope so, they had a few moments where they could have gone for the fast break and had easy points or drawn more fouls but they clearly second-guessed and decided to pull it back. This team has plenty of speed and athleticism and needs to be able to take advantage of it
Imagine Hunter doesn’t redshirt 2017. He proves his NBA talent after two years and heads to the NBA after 2018. UVA enter the 2019 season with only two of the big three. Unlikely UVA wins a championship in 2019.
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Another random thought from seeing warmups: I will never quit my residence on Taine Murray Island because goodness gracious his jump shot is so pure in warmups.
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Or we win it in 2018 since we won the Acc by 4 games and the ACC tournament, and everyone goes pro early.
Bottom line, I’d rather us PLAY the talent that we have at the same time. What’s the point in not maxing out the talent we have at the same time? So we can be perennial 4 or 5 seeds instead of everyone clicking and the cream rising to the top and us being a 2 seed?
Do you box with one hand behind your back?
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Nothing uncomfortable at all.
He said that as of now the plan is to redshirt Robinson, Gertrude, and Bliss but that could change should there be a need.
Had conversations with each and thinks that each player is ok with it. Specifically mentioned that it was always the plan for Bliss because he should be a senior in HS.
Freeman’s interview with Bond was great. Bond should be a redshirt salesman (for the right fits for them, that is).
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Love it! And I think this actually has some information value for predicting the future over and above the final margin. I think some predictive rankings do incorporate some version of average margin over the course of the game in their ratings.
Edit: the predictive stuff incorporates actual average scoring margin, but looking at the projected margin is fun too.
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Because we win one in 2018 while also avoiding the history that was made that year.
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Let me get this straight. If Dre had played as a freshman, he’d have learned how to not break his hand?
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In the morning comes joy!
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Was at the game. When I saw him in sweats, my thought was not that he was redshirting but rather that they (whoever that is) decided he should give the knee another month or so.
Tony announcing the redshirt pooh poohs that idea, but I would bet Elijah may, at some point this season, temp Tony a lot to pull the shirt.
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Guys, it was the first game. Every single one of these players will improve as the year goes on. The negativity of some posts already…
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Simple answer: you can only put five players on the floor at a time. If a frosh is only going to play 4 or 5 mpg, it’s a waste of a year of eligibility, and I have a suspicion that Coach Bennett has better idea of how the minutes will be distributed going forward. Back in 2016, I thought it was a bad decision to redshirt Diakite because I thought he’d go pro early. I was very wrong then, so I don’t second guess these things now.
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Amen. If I wanted pointless incessant negativity, I’d go hang out on 247 and read the football threads. Praying to Jeebus and HGN that I’m not signed up for months on end of redshirt whining here.
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This is a really cool way to visualize the trends of the game.
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