Not that I would ever suggest that members of the forum are overreacting, because clearly that never happensā¦. but, keeping the season in perspective is important. I actually (mostly) like what Iāve seen so far:
I saw more than one person state that we need to move past the Bennett era and modernize the offense. Are we not watching the same offense? Itās clearly more modernized. Sanchez is running different stuff, heās subbing differently, heās leaning more on young upside, heās pushing the pace a tad more, etc. I donāt know why people are so eager to push past a Hall of Fame coachās way of doing things. I think Sanchez has kept certain things and changed others, as he should.
Yeah, we got tossed around a little physically, which hurt our offensive output, but weāre very young, very new to our new offense, etc. Everything is new. That can lead to occasional offensive woes. They just dropped 70 on Villanova a few days ago. Baby steps.
Yeah, the defensive rebounding was definitely brutal. Thatās something Iām sure will be addressed. Lots of inexperienced bigs.
I kind of think the athleticism thing is overblown. First of all, there are several plus athletes on the roster. Iād consider Aimes, Saunders, Cofie, and Buchanan all plus athletes. The only ones that seem like subpar athletes to me are Rohde and Power, and I have a feeling Powerās minutes might dwindle anyway. Weāve seen plenty of good teams (Virginia or otherwise) with average to below average athleticism. Tennessee will make most teams look unathletic this year.
I know this might be hard for a lot of UVA fans, but relaxing and having a little patience with all the newness should serve well. Iām encouraged by several things Iāve seen. Ron is finding his way, and heāll continue to make adjustments.
Good post. I donāt see Blake as particularly athletic or skilled. More or less what he showed up with last year. But he does have a motor and that counts for a lot.
For his size, Iād consider Blake a fantastic, fluid athlete. He moves very well in space. He can get buried by larger bigs, and heās not an ultra-skilled offensive player, but heās a very fluid athlete.
Heās not an athlete on offense? Youāre either an athlete or not. You can say heās not overly skilled as an offensive player, though I have seen progress, but his athleticism is really not in question. Heās a very good athlete. Watch him run, slide, hard hedge, etc.
And what does Saundersās size have to do with his athleticism? First of all, 6ā8ā and 230 is not undersized for a 4 man in the modern age at all. Thatās the exact same size as Anthony Gill. Second, he clearly looks like a good athlete to me.
I also think Tennessee missed a lot of open shots and was also missing Jp Estrella and Cam Carr (solid depth for them).
I think its okay to be frustrated with 20 point loses and scoring less than 50 points the last two years, regardless of the context. Doesnt mean im out here committing acts of violence, but moreso just saying ābummer we suck right nowā
I did like the defensive effort last night, even while getting crushed on the boards the interior defense held up. Tennessee came into the game shooting mid 60% from 2 and we kept them under 50% from 2. Would give Saunders a decent chunk of credit, as we got crushed in the Buchanan-Cofie minutes, but each of them separately with Saunders held up fine.
Someone probably said this already, but against an overplay-style pressure defense, the main way to beat them is off the bounce/on closeouts and use the aggressiveness against them, but we are missing that on the perimeter. And I donāt think we tried to hit a back cut once, that needs to happen to keep those kinds of defenses honest. Itās like using playaction against a defense loading up against the run.
It depends on your definition of ugly. There might be games where weāre a bit outmatched, as is the case with most teams. 18-20 (maybe more) wins is attainable though, especially once the staff has accumulated game footage and is able to make more adjustments, and players adjust to their roles and have more time in the offense.
Heās averaging 2 blocks per game on the season. That sounds like pretty good rim protection to me.
And finishing has nothing to do with his vertical athleticism. He just doesnāt have great touch around the rim, though I have seen some semi-decent post moves from him. Heās developing.
Not even a slight on Sanchez, just doubt any adjustments can make up for lack of playmaking. If Bliss were healthy or on the verge of being playable for us, I would be more optimistic on season outlook even after yesterdayās drubbing
Agree with your other points at least roughly. Other than the patience thing. Patience is boring. Freak outs are fun, and make for better message board banter.
But I disagree with much of what I quoted. I said this somewhere else, but we are indeed running a completely new offense. But itās an offense we were running when Tony was still coaching way back in the halcyon days of the blue white game. So Ron is running different stuff than last year. But heās running what Tony installed. As youād expect him to! But point being - this is a Bennet modernized offense, not a Ronnovation (is that a Ron innovation or a Ron renovation? Dunnoā¦ could be eitherā¦)
Lots of folks are focusing on the new sub pattern. My basic view is : maybe? If Tony were dealing with a non-Warley roster, Iām not sure what would be so different. Itās ultimately unanswerable, but Iām not sure how much would change. Less Cofie? Perhaps, but heās played well and Power has played poorly. Itās not exactly counterintuitiveā¦ plus Saunders finds himself in foul trouble and cramping. And Blake loses effectiveness after 20-25 minutes.
Ron is not pushing the pace a tad more. Heās not pushing pace at all. Thatās a total mirage. Look at the stats. We are as slow as ever. We are committed to going slow, and that hasnāt changed.
The reason people are eager to push past the way our HOF coach coached offense is that it had become really really bad recently. Our HOF coach stopped caring about offense and then he retired so I donāt view ādo what that guy didā as a particularly sound short-term strategy.
The useful question for future decisions about coaching is 1) whatās in the scope of Ronās control now (really), and 2) how well is he doing on those things. Rather than playing in the abstract, just break it down into parts to evaluate the job Ron is doing by what is in his control.
Hereās my read on a few of the top things:
Offensive system: Heās running a newish offense, decided on by Tony for sure, but developed by ā¦ who? We donāt really know how options were tested and agreed upon in the off-season. But either way, he has to rely on it for at least a while now.
Roster construction: Tony. Ron played a significant role in some evaluations, but this was Tonyās micromanage. Warley leaving and TJ Power apparently getting negative development at Duke are two things that are a bummer for Ron and not really in his control.
Substitutions and āleashā: All Ron, baby. If you thought players played scared last year and now donāt, then this one feels the clearest like a Ron win. We are only three games in, though ā¦ so I need more data. We werenāt playing scared three games in last year either. My instinct is that Tony would have less patience with some stuff weāve seen than Ron has so far. I have no way to tell whether thatās a net good or bad yet, but should know more by mid-season.
I think thereās other stuff that you can evaluate: like ORs and pace / transition are not baked in like overall system would be, at the start of the season
