Yeah I know…but will he be a BVP type of defender (which is fine), but takes ALOT of experience and saavy or will he be a shot blocker? If you recall during the summer he was getting into a lot of foul trouble so that means his D may *not be as good as we hope.
To summarize- we need someone who has been able to pick up our defense as quickly as Ryan Dunn who also has the size and athleticism at their position.
I also want to clarify by saying Im not saying Kon is bad.
Kon is very very good. Just in terms of his weakness playing into our lack of packline identity the last few years.
Then maybe y’all should talk about them as top targets lmao all I’m seeing is ‘not Kon’ without alternative recommendations for who could fill that sniper role. So fine, prefer more of an athlete at the 3/4 and save the stud shooter role for a SG. Who are those elite shooting 2 guard targets that we are in contact with? Who is on our staff’s radar that is shooting 42%+ from 3 on volume? Without alternative names it just comes across as a different (and I would argue incorrect) interpretation of what makes UVA’s system work.
Those guys are so much easier to find lol and we’ve already heard finding a guy like that in the portal is probably going to be the top priority in the spring
Jalil Bethea 40% from 3. Nick Janowski. Travis Perry. Christian Bliss it feels like from his recent games.
Forwards it feels like Drew McKenna and Zion Sensley would be in that 35-40% range while also not being defensively liable.
That Shaedon Simpson kid was shooting 42% from 3, including 48% from 3 over a 3 game tournament stretch.
No they are not. They are incredibly hard for UVA to get out of the portal. They go to the best pay which is why its important to get them out of HS. If they were easy to get why is Kadin the only one on the roster? And we are shooting 40% from 3 as a team. So its easier to find shooter it would seem.
I realize we say “defensive liability” all the time, but for some reason this slightly different phrasing made me realize it’s kind of funny. Now I’m imagining UVA fans suing Sam Hauser because our defense was subpar.
We have not targeted them the last several years. Not a one we’ve been seriously involved with in either the portal or high school. Hard to land them if your don’t try to. We’ve already heard that is not going to be the case this spring. I have zero concern about Tony finding one now that he views it as a priority.
Is Bliss a pg in the mold of Ty?
Appreciate the names. Really do. Would love Perry and am intrigued by Simpson. Don’t know anything about Bliss. McKenna is very intriguing as well but would be a good guy to pair with Kon vs replace him as a target. Other guys seem like worse shooters with the same defensive questions
I think so but I could absolutely be wrong.
https://twitter.com/JExlerNERRHoops/status/1614434364330229762
This seems like a good time for a @Hooandtrue updated wish list power rankings. Fair to say Shaedon Simpson at #1?
Well the ones I want are moreso for the dream recruit threads than on our radar thread LOL. (like that D2 kid at NW MO state freshman pg).
But I also think that im okay with the 1 and 2 spot being defensively weak because those spots are easiest to hide in the packline. I feel like the 3 and 4 spot are super important for packline stability.
Id abandon that dream for the Jaidon Glover kid at Kyrie Irving’s alma mater. Kid is the closest to Kon Knueppel shooting with athleticism and play making.
For the most part, none of the players you listed created their shots in isolation. They scored within the context of the offense. There were occasional exceptions, but that’s all they were: exceptions. Virginia runs a deliberate offense. Coach Bennett appears to be building the offense around shooters, and Knueppel is a shooter. Maybe that’s not the way you would do it, but, from afar, that appears to be the path the staff is taking.
It could be worse. Villanova board’s recuiting talk is about how they barely have a 2023 class and no solid returning pieces with like 5 open scholarships for next season and no momentum with Neptune in approaching the transfer portal.
And every Wisconsin recruiting thread turns into a “Why do we always have a walk-on in our rotations damnit.”
Yea I think fundamentally this our disagreement. You think 3-5 need to be good defenders and I think only the 5 and either the 3 or 4 need to be great defenders. You can hide Ty at the 3 if you have Dre at the 4 and Mamadi at the 5. You can hide Joe at the 3 if you have Akil at the 4 and Brogdon to handle tough assignments.
You can hide Kon at the 3 if you have Ryan Dunn/Leon Bond at the 4 and Gertrude at the 2? That’s my optimistic projection at least.
But there are plenty of shooters in this day and age. I am being mindful of how we run our offense. A lot of players who run and catch and shoot off screens. All the players I listed also shoot shots created not for themselves but set up by play calls.
I think this is it. Just a difference in philosophies.
If we somehow do get Kon Ill still enjoy and appreciate him as he leads us to our third national title.
But everytime he misses a defensive assignment or has a slow close out
And everytime a long wingspanned wing makes those same mistakes
