Final Exam Wilderness Journal: Day 2, 8:23 PM - Rations high but spirits already running low. The prospect of another ten days in this bleak and uninviting terrain has the entire party depressed. It was thought a brief soccer interlude might raise spirits enough to last the entire journey, but this proved futile. Scouts report another potential soccer interlude approximately a week's march away, but much of the party is apprehensive, as nobody knows how long it might last or whether it will even provide any relief. For the next week, however, we have no choice but to trudge on.
************************************
Yes, it's that time of year, and it's a little meaner this year than usual. UVA just finished two very entertaining basketball games in hostile environments, the kind of games that leave you wishing the next one was tomorrow, and instead we gotta wait while the players fill in blue books and scantrons. The perils of rooting for a school that behaves as a school.
As it turns out, I could easily have waited til after the VCU game to write anything about basketball, because it wasn't too far off a carbon copy of the Maryland one. UVA held the Havoc-ing Rams to 61 possessions, nine fewer than their usual average of 70. That actually means the game was 18 possessions shorter than the usual VCU contest. It's unsurprising that UVA would have more turnovers than usual against VCU, but the clash of styles is a UVA win when the possessions are a lot closer to UVA's average.
If, as I've said, each year's team takes on a new identity of its own, perhaps this year's is the newfound confidence this team exudes. Twice now the Hoos have gone into enemy gyms, neither of them easy environments, and played as if the place was empty. Even when Cavalanching hapless opponents last year, they didn't look quite as sure of themselves - it was as if the reason they were excitedly piling on the points was that they weren't sure when they'd get a chance to again. This year, they play like they know what they can do. Under a lesser coach this kind of confidence could get out of hand. Some teams, once they get to this point, look as if they don't mind losing because they assume it'll get fixed in the end, and look surprised when the clock runs out before that happens.
Tony Bennett, on the other hand, pushes a button and that's the end of whatever little run the opponent is making. UVA saw a double-digit lead erode to four, Tony called time-out, and in just over three minutes it was back up to fourteen again and the game was for all intents and purposes over. But of course it's more than that - Tony's mantra this offseason ("always thankful, never satisfied") is coming through loud and clear on the court. This team has no flashy five-star guys, no burger boyz, nobody who got a world of attention for not going to the NBA.** They're just a bunch of dudes playing ball. They're still KenPom's #3 team in his rankings, the best team in the country not named Duke or Kentucky. At this point in the season, I'll take it.
**This could certainly change once Justin Anderson starts getting credit commensurate with his play. KenPom has him as the 8th best player in the country right now. It's hard to imagine he can keep shooting .588 from three, but still - he's all over the court, he maintains a very low turnover rate, he makes nice passes, and he's clearly embracing the role of upperclassman and scorer.
-- It's awfully interesting watching the various free throw routines that these guys have developed, mostly over this past summer. Anthony Gill is the only guy I've ever seen who points his feet sideways. I keep waiting for the spin to go wrong on Mike Tobey's flip, and the ball go rolling at the ref. And Anderson's dispensed with the dribble entirely. But mostly I'm enjoying watching the ball actually go in.
-- The rotation twists and turns took an interesting direction against VCU; Marial Shayok saw just five minutes, Isaiah Wilkins none at all, and Devon Hall, who'd played 1, 2, and 5 minutes the previous three games, got in for 15. Looked pretty good, too.
-- A few of next year's OOC matchups are already coming out; UVA will play in the 2015 Charleston Classic, a perfectly solid tournament in a great location (not least because UVA is the closest school to the event.) Oklahoma State seems to be the other marquee team in the event, but actually it's Seton Hall that might deserve the most attention. The Pirates have several former UVA recruiting targets (Sterling Gibbs, Jaren Sina, Angel Delgado) and an up-and-coming team. UVA will also head to Madison Square Garden to play West Virginia. There's also the other end of the home-and-home with George Washington, plus of course a guaranteed Big Ten game (probably Maryland again, knowing our luck.) I highly approve so far. It might be nice at some point to take on a Kentucky or a Kansas, but I don't find the OOC schedule lacking without them.
-- Tremendous shame that Morgan Brian's career at UVA ends without a national title. It would've been more than fitting.
-- The men, though, get their crack in the College Cup next weekend. UMBC is the surprising opponent, having personally dispatched three of the four seeded teams in their bracket.
Showing posts with label vcu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vcu. Show all posts
Monday, December 8, 2014
Thursday, November 14, 2013
really late weekend review
I suppose propriety dictates I say some stuff about last night's VCU game. Fine then:
-- Some folks are calling it an ugly game. All the fouls and such. The clock screw-ups didn't help, but I like college basketball for all the different styles of play. Truth is, you see one NBA game, you've seen 90% of them. College lets two wildly distinct styles clash, and this was a perfect example. UVA was sped up faster than it wanted to be, even in the halfcourt, and VCU could not often set their press such as they'd like because UVA's defense was too good. Whatever you call that game, it wasn't "havoc," but VCU still found a way to impose its will at times. Give me a highly competitive game like that one over the ballet that some people seem to demand out of their hoops, I don't care how many fouls you have to call.
-- Is it possible to have such a massive free-throw advantage and still find the refereeing slanted too far towards the other team? I think so. It takes more than one crappy call to get Tony Bennett riled up, and riled up he was when Anthony Gill got called for a foul he didn't commit. Tony had to pull him, for reasons of three fouls early in the second half, but it was plain he didn't fault Gill. I could even read his lips as he sent Gill off with a pat on the back: "that's good D."
-- London Perrantes will probably be the starting point guard eventually this season. There's no hesitancy on Tony's part to put him in for important minutes. Tony did not do the same with Teven Jones (whose nine minutes against VCU, by the way, I mostly liked) last year at all. I don't think Malcolm Brogdon is doing badly, but he's not really a natural. You might think that Jones could work his way into the lineup as the backup PG, and he just might; the barrier to that is that Tony appears to want to play Brogdon quite a bit. So what, you ask. Well, playing Brogdon exclusively at the 2 means squeezing Joe Harris and Justin Anderson. A lineup with a point guard, Brogdon at the two, plus Harris and Anderson, that obviously leaves room for only one of our very talented frontcourt four. Or, you know, sitting Harris or Anderson. Giving Brogdon point guard minutes means not having to choose as much between him, Joe, and Justin.
-- Not gonna blame the loss on free-throw shooting when VCU was 6-for-15 at the line. You can't say "if we'd shot better but VCU has to shoot just as badly." On the other hand, hitting a couple more threes would've been nice.
At any rate, moving on. Losing is bad and all, but there's a winning streak ahead, a tournament of sorts, and a chance to pick up some momentum going into the Wisconsin game - a team which just knocked off highly-rated Florida, so they're no schmucks.
*************************************************
News and such:
-- Soccer tournaments: Unfortunately the ladies didn't make it through the ACC tournament, but they earned a #1 seed in the NCAA tourney anyway. As if there was any doubt of that. In fact all four NCAA #1 seeds are ACC teams. UVA hosts St. Francis (PA) on Friday.
-- Every damn year. For the sixth season in a row, the men eliminated Wake Forest from the ACC tournament. You might think I'm kidding, and I'm not, and one of those years was the national championship year when the Hoos booted Wake from the ACC tournament and then just for giggles also ousted the Deacons from the NCAAs. Could you imagine if in something more visible like basketball we lost to the same team in the ACC tournament every single year since 2008? Oh, and most of the time, including this season, we've been the underdog seed; 6 against 3, this year.
The next step is also on Friday, where UVA will take on Notre Dame in a game broadcast on ESPN3.
-- VT's nine-strikes-and-you're-out policy finally caught up to Cody Journell, whose many, many brushes with raging stupidity finally exhausted Frank Beamer's patience. Journell, you'll remember, broke into someone's house, using a BB gun, (to steal his weed back, as he amazingly admitted to police) and was given the services of slimy fixer Jimmy Turk to get his felony breaking and entering knocked down to a misdemeanor so Tech could continue to claim zero tolerance for felonies. Then he opened a can of pepper spray "by accident" in a BW3. Then he was suspended for unknown foolishness, earlier this season.
Every college team, including UVA, has players do dumb things that get the police involved. Some just are OK with that.
-- The ACC hoops tournament is in Greensboro this season and next, but the ACC announced that in 2015-2016 it'll be in Washington, DC, which I'm sure has nothing to do with the sudden lack of presence in that area when Maryland leaves. Regardless of the reason, it'll be nice to have it anywhere but NC for once and even nicer to have it close by our fanbase.
-- The 2014 recruiting board will be updated in just a second here, but interestingly (especially for lean times such as these) the 2015 board, when it debuts, will already have a commitment on it in the form of Altavista athlete Juan Thornhill. A commitment likely to stick even if the coach he signs for isn't Mike London, as Thornhill is a Virginia fan.
-- ESPN's Lions writer does this thing where he asks different Lions a different question every week. This week it was: what would you want a free year's supply of. Kevin Ogletree is no dummy at all: gasoline. It reminded me of another anecdote from way back that illustrates the naturally high intelligence of a UVa grad: I remember seeing a little local TV feature about the Lions rookies having to sing a training camp song for the veterans. Germane Crowell saw his fellow rookies get mercilessly booed no matter what they sang or how well they sang it, so his choice was the Star-Spangled Banner, figuring (correctly) that nobody would boo that.
*************************************************
I said last week there would be a recruiting board update when it became necessary, and it became necessary.
-- Added ATH Donovan Dowling to orange. I have said, have I not, that Mike London would probably fill out this recruiting class the same way he always does: with an instate athlete-type who projects to either WR or DB and who had not yet received any offers worth committing to. The Varina pipeline comes through here to fulfill the prophecy. No relation, by the way, to Ras-I.
-- Added DE Cory Jones to yellow. A late-late-bloomer from DC that regional coaches are keeping an eye on.
-- Removed RB Madre London (Michigan State) from yellow.
Chances are at this point that recruiting consists almost entirely of the guys above the yellow only, with the possible exception of Cory Jones.
*************************************************
Senior Seasons to wrap this up:
Upland 24, Rancho Cucamonga 6: The article didn't say any names, but it sounds very much as if Jeffery Farrar was suspended for this one for a fight during last week's game. Upland is 7-3.
North Gwinnett 44, Peachtree Ridge 22: Jordan Ellis's touchdown and 61 yards were nowhere near enough to prevent the blowout loss. Peachtree Ridge is 7-3.
Haverford School 27, Episcopal 7: Evan Butts caught a 73-yard touchdown, but that was his team's only score. Episcopal is 7-3.
Bayside 27, First Colonial 7: Quin Blanding scored two touchdowns - one running, one receiving - and Bayside snuck into the playoffs...but all they did was win the honor of being the first team to be reamed by Oscar Smith. Bayside is 6-4.
Central Catholic 37, Anclote 14 (Caanan Brown) - CCC is 8-2.
Shiloh 31, Central Gwinnett 14 (Darious Latimore) - Central is 2-8.
Jordan Matthews 37, Cummings 6 (Will Richardson) - Cummings is 3-8.
Oscar Smith 60, Hickory 7 (Andrew Brown) - Oscar Smith is 10-0.
Woodgrove 35, Loudoun Valley 0 (J.J. Jackson) - Woodgrove is 7-3.
King George 27, Chancellor 0 (Steven Moss) - Chancellor is 1-9.
Highland Springs 45, Varina 35 (Donovan Dowling) - Varina is 8-2.
That wraps up the regular season, and it's the end of the line for four teams. Episcopal plays in their own little private-school league, which doesn't do playoffs. Central Gwinnett, Cummings, and Chancellor had losing seasons, big-time-style, and will not make the playoffs. (Though, thanks to VHSL realignment, being 1-9 hasn't stopped some teams from being in the playoffs. Wut?)
Oscar Smith will host Bayside, so at least one season will continue next week (probably Oscar Smith's) and one will end (probably Bayside's.) The only other team to play in a playoff game and not host will be Peachtree Ridge.
-- Some folks are calling it an ugly game. All the fouls and such. The clock screw-ups didn't help, but I like college basketball for all the different styles of play. Truth is, you see one NBA game, you've seen 90% of them. College lets two wildly distinct styles clash, and this was a perfect example. UVA was sped up faster than it wanted to be, even in the halfcourt, and VCU could not often set their press such as they'd like because UVA's defense was too good. Whatever you call that game, it wasn't "havoc," but VCU still found a way to impose its will at times. Give me a highly competitive game like that one over the ballet that some people seem to demand out of their hoops, I don't care how many fouls you have to call.
-- Is it possible to have such a massive free-throw advantage and still find the refereeing slanted too far towards the other team? I think so. It takes more than one crappy call to get Tony Bennett riled up, and riled up he was when Anthony Gill got called for a foul he didn't commit. Tony had to pull him, for reasons of three fouls early in the second half, but it was plain he didn't fault Gill. I could even read his lips as he sent Gill off with a pat on the back: "that's good D."
-- London Perrantes will probably be the starting point guard eventually this season. There's no hesitancy on Tony's part to put him in for important minutes. Tony did not do the same with Teven Jones (whose nine minutes against VCU, by the way, I mostly liked) last year at all. I don't think Malcolm Brogdon is doing badly, but he's not really a natural. You might think that Jones could work his way into the lineup as the backup PG, and he just might; the barrier to that is that Tony appears to want to play Brogdon quite a bit. So what, you ask. Well, playing Brogdon exclusively at the 2 means squeezing Joe Harris and Justin Anderson. A lineup with a point guard, Brogdon at the two, plus Harris and Anderson, that obviously leaves room for only one of our very talented frontcourt four. Or, you know, sitting Harris or Anderson. Giving Brogdon point guard minutes means not having to choose as much between him, Joe, and Justin.
-- Not gonna blame the loss on free-throw shooting when VCU was 6-for-15 at the line. You can't say "if we'd shot better but VCU has to shoot just as badly." On the other hand, hitting a couple more threes would've been nice.
At any rate, moving on. Losing is bad and all, but there's a winning streak ahead, a tournament of sorts, and a chance to pick up some momentum going into the Wisconsin game - a team which just knocked off highly-rated Florida, so they're no schmucks.
*************************************************
News and such:
-- Soccer tournaments: Unfortunately the ladies didn't make it through the ACC tournament, but they earned a #1 seed in the NCAA tourney anyway. As if there was any doubt of that. In fact all four NCAA #1 seeds are ACC teams. UVA hosts St. Francis (PA) on Friday.
-- Every damn year. For the sixth season in a row, the men eliminated Wake Forest from the ACC tournament. You might think I'm kidding, and I'm not, and one of those years was the national championship year when the Hoos booted Wake from the ACC tournament and then just for giggles also ousted the Deacons from the NCAAs. Could you imagine if in something more visible like basketball we lost to the same team in the ACC tournament every single year since 2008? Oh, and most of the time, including this season, we've been the underdog seed; 6 against 3, this year.
The next step is also on Friday, where UVA will take on Notre Dame in a game broadcast on ESPN3.
-- VT's nine-strikes-and-you're-out policy finally caught up to Cody Journell, whose many, many brushes with raging stupidity finally exhausted Frank Beamer's patience. Journell, you'll remember, broke into someone's house, using a BB gun, (to steal his weed back, as he amazingly admitted to police) and was given the services of slimy fixer Jimmy Turk to get his felony breaking and entering knocked down to a misdemeanor so Tech could continue to claim zero tolerance for felonies. Then he opened a can of pepper spray "by accident" in a BW3. Then he was suspended for unknown foolishness, earlier this season.
Every college team, including UVA, has players do dumb things that get the police involved. Some just are OK with that.
-- The ACC hoops tournament is in Greensboro this season and next, but the ACC announced that in 2015-2016 it'll be in Washington, DC, which I'm sure has nothing to do with the sudden lack of presence in that area when Maryland leaves. Regardless of the reason, it'll be nice to have it anywhere but NC for once and even nicer to have it close by our fanbase.
-- The 2014 recruiting board will be updated in just a second here, but interestingly (especially for lean times such as these) the 2015 board, when it debuts, will already have a commitment on it in the form of Altavista athlete Juan Thornhill. A commitment likely to stick even if the coach he signs for isn't Mike London, as Thornhill is a Virginia fan.
-- ESPN's Lions writer does this thing where he asks different Lions a different question every week. This week it was: what would you want a free year's supply of. Kevin Ogletree is no dummy at all: gasoline. It reminded me of another anecdote from way back that illustrates the naturally high intelligence of a UVa grad: I remember seeing a little local TV feature about the Lions rookies having to sing a training camp song for the veterans. Germane Crowell saw his fellow rookies get mercilessly booed no matter what they sang or how well they sang it, so his choice was the Star-Spangled Banner, figuring (correctly) that nobody would boo that.
*************************************************
I said last week there would be a recruiting board update when it became necessary, and it became necessary.
-- Added ATH Donovan Dowling to orange. I have said, have I not, that Mike London would probably fill out this recruiting class the same way he always does: with an instate athlete-type who projects to either WR or DB and who had not yet received any offers worth committing to. The Varina pipeline comes through here to fulfill the prophecy. No relation, by the way, to Ras-I.
-- Added DE Cory Jones to yellow. A late-late-bloomer from DC that regional coaches are keeping an eye on.
-- Removed RB Madre London (Michigan State) from yellow.
Chances are at this point that recruiting consists almost entirely of the guys above the yellow only, with the possible exception of Cory Jones.
*************************************************
Senior Seasons to wrap this up:
Upland 24, Rancho Cucamonga 6: The article didn't say any names, but it sounds very much as if Jeffery Farrar was suspended for this one for a fight during last week's game. Upland is 7-3.
North Gwinnett 44, Peachtree Ridge 22: Jordan Ellis's touchdown and 61 yards were nowhere near enough to prevent the blowout loss. Peachtree Ridge is 7-3.
Haverford School 27, Episcopal 7: Evan Butts caught a 73-yard touchdown, but that was his team's only score. Episcopal is 7-3.
Bayside 27, First Colonial 7: Quin Blanding scored two touchdowns - one running, one receiving - and Bayside snuck into the playoffs...but all they did was win the honor of being the first team to be reamed by Oscar Smith. Bayside is 6-4.
Central Catholic 37, Anclote 14 (Caanan Brown) - CCC is 8-2.
Shiloh 31, Central Gwinnett 14 (Darious Latimore) - Central is 2-8.
Jordan Matthews 37, Cummings 6 (Will Richardson) - Cummings is 3-8.
Oscar Smith 60, Hickory 7 (Andrew Brown) - Oscar Smith is 10-0.
Woodgrove 35, Loudoun Valley 0 (J.J. Jackson) - Woodgrove is 7-3.
King George 27, Chancellor 0 (Steven Moss) - Chancellor is 1-9.
Highland Springs 45, Varina 35 (Donovan Dowling) - Varina is 8-2.
That wraps up the regular season, and it's the end of the line for four teams. Episcopal plays in their own little private-school league, which doesn't do playoffs. Central Gwinnett, Cummings, and Chancellor had losing seasons, big-time-style, and will not make the playoffs. (Though, thanks to VHSL realignment, being 1-9 hasn't stopped some teams from being in the playoffs. Wut?)
Oscar Smith will host Bayside, so at least one season will continue next week (probably Oscar Smith's) and one will end (probably Bayside's.) The only other team to play in a playoff game and not host will be Peachtree Ridge.
Monday, November 11, 2013
game preview: VCU
Date/Time: Tuesday, November 12; 7:00
TV: ESPN2
Record against the Rams: 10-1
Last meeting: UVA 86, VCU 70; 11/13/98, Richmond
Last game: UVA 61, JMU 41 (11/8); VCU 96, ISU 58 (11/8)
KenPom:
Tempo:
UVA: 63.1 (#340)
VCU: 68.7 (#81)
Offense:
UVA: 107.6 (#53)
VCU: 112.1 (#16)
Defense:
UVA: 89.7 (#4)
VCU: 93.2 (#17)
Pythag:
UVA: .8901 (#15)
VCU: .8923 (#13)
Projected lineups:
Virginia:
PG: Malcolm Brogdon (9.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 1.0 apg)
SG: Joe Harris (5.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 1.0 apg)
SF: Justin Anderson (5.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 1.0 apg)
PF: Akil Mitchell (7.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 3.0 apg)
PF: Anthony Gill (13.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 0.0 apg)
VCU:
PG: Briante Weber (9.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 8.0 apg)
SG: Rob Brandenburg (12.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 4.0 apg)
SG: Treveon Graham (14.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 3.0 apg)
PF: Juvonte Reddic (13.0 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 2.0 apg)
PF: Terrance Shannon (14.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 1.0 apg)
It's probably a good thing this game is so early. UVA fans weary of the pitiful showings in Scott Stadium have something to distract them from football, and have headed indoors to sell out the JPJA. Probably with a small assist from VCU fans, but something about a top-25 matchup essentially for supremacy of the state has got UVA fans interested in basketball. If the season goes as everyone expects, both of these teams will be in the NCAAs without a great deal of worrying about bubbles and such, but that also means both teams are good enough that the winner will have a really nice shiny prize on their resume. Always good in the seeding discussions.
-- UVA on offense
All that running around VCU does requires a deep bench, and the Rams had 11 guys going 10 or more minutes in their season opener against Illinois State. Which they won, handily. Nobody played more than 25, which may have been a function of the blowout score as much as the VCU style. But they really do have no qualms about frequent substitution. One of the upshots of that: they won't be as bothered as a lot of teams if they get in foul trouble from the tighter emphasis on hand-checks.
Last year, in the tournament, Michigan showed the whole world how to beat the VCU press: get a good point guard and a big man who can run the floor. Elite players like Trey Burke don't come around too often, and try as I might I can't find one on our roster, but then, we don't need to crush the Rams into fine powder like Michigan did, either. And we do have floor-running bigs. Probably not quite on the level (or size) of Mitch McGary, but we can rotate them just about as quickly as VCU can.
The point guard is the question. Malcolm Brogdon's abilities against this kind of press are a mystery, and London Perrantes has one college game under his belt. Joe Harris is a good ballhandler but gives up quite a bit of quickness to VCU's guards. Justin Anderson's athleticism could come in handy; breaking the press is a team effort, after all. Not that he'd play the point in a halfcourt offense, but one does not get picky when press-breaking.
Once settled, UVA should have a size advantage. VCU does have forwards to match the size of ours, for the most part, but in the backcourt, there are plenty of smaller guards. Brogdon may well be able to post up on a defender, and Harris should have little trouble shooting over them. While VCU does have some bigger guards - primarily Treveon Graham and bench player Jordan Burgess - UVA will usually have larger guards in the game, and VCU will usually not. VCU's halfcourt game suffers from simplicity at times since they work so much on the press and depend on it for points. And of course, Tony often preaches that he lets his teams run when the time is right to run.... but he also has no aversion whatsoever to draining every drop from the shot clock to limit another team's frantic pace.
-- UVA on defense
The best way to break a press is not to let them press, right? Don't let them score and they can't press - that's the usual mantra. VCU will go right into the press from their halfcourt offense, so the actual key is defending and following it up with a good outlet pass.
VCU is tough to analyze on offense because they get so many easy points from their press. It causes everyone's numbers to look really shiny. Offensively, the best players are Treveon Graham and forward Juvonte Reddic. Graham is a biggish wing, and can score a lot of different ways; Reddic is a low-post threat that can match ours basket for basket. The Rams will probably miss Darius Theus at the point; Briante Weber is decent enough but more of a threat on defense (he averaged nearly three steals a game last year.)
If Graham and Rob Brandenburg get hot from three, it could be a long night; there's not much that's more demoralizing than giving up a three, turning the ball over, and giving up another one right away. Ouch. UVA will likely lose if this happens no matter how well they break the press because of VCU's pick-me-up pace.
However, let's not forget that in the halfcourt, it's VCU that has to find ways to contend with UVA's stifling defense. The more time we spend playing halfcourt ball, the better we're going to like it. VCU's 38-point win over Illinois State was impressive; VCU should be equally wary of UVA's 93.9% defensive rebound rate against JMU and the fact that the Dukes only shot six free throws.
-- Outlook
This game is fairly easy to analyze. If UVA can take care of the press with reasonable consistency, they'll probably win. If not, they'll probably lose. The thing I don't know, and nor does anyone really, is whether yes or no. It's the early season and we're brimming with either bubbly optimism or laughable naivete, so let's go with yes.
Final score: UVA 65, VCU 59
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)