The Men's Team
How much winning did the Men's team do over this past edition?
Though not for lack of trying, the Hokies lost all 3 games of the previous window by a combined margin of 9 points. In fact, the 5 losses are by a combined 16. If you don't think having your best defensive player on the court might cause your opponents to score 3 or more fewer points in a game, you don't know basketball.
Bad Bostonian brokers cost us 4 games due to the injury to Cattoor. I stand by what I said.
Fight me next time I'm in Massachusetts, because there's obviously no rules against throwing hands up there.
Now that that's out of my system, let's see how the team did, statistically.
Scoring
Yawn...Pedulla again leads, this time with 17 ppg. Dude's a baller and will be the bane of many ACC teams for years to come. Also in double figures are Mutts (12.67), Mad Ox (10.67)(good to see his game stepping up), and Basile (10). Kidd has done admirably in the starting C role, scoring 8.33 over the frame, and backup big man Poteat has added another 6 ppg. Collins is still consistently getting 3 per and Camden rounds out all scorers with 2 ppg.
Rebounding
Almost securing the double-double for the window is Mutts at 9.33 boards per game, followed by Kidd at 7.33 (again, filling in admirably). Pedulla has also gotten into the action at 4.67 per, followed by Basile (4), Poteat (3), Maddox (2.67), Collins (2.33), and Camden (1.33)
Assists
The Hokies finish this set with a pedestrian ATO of 39:36. Adjusted for steals, it bumps to a more respectable 39:25, but that still ain't great.
Best ratio and AATO ratio go to Maddox, who finished with a 6:1, but a stellar 6:-3 AATO. Pedulla has the most assists 15:10, and improved that to an AATO of 15:6. Mutts had the most steals (5), but also had the most turnovers (13), so his AATO is only 12:8. Collins had an ATO of 4:2 and Poteat had an AATO of 1:1. Kidd and Basile combined to have an ATO of 1:7
Experience/Depth
Minutes definitely ticked up across the board with the absence of Cattoor. Pedulla played the most at 38.33 minutes per, followed by Mutts (37.33), Maddox (33), Basile (23.67), and Collins (21.67).
This is where I'm starting to really like Kidd's productivity. He is 6th in minutes (16.67), yet 5th in scoring and 2nd in rebounding in this volume.
Also getting major minutes are Poteat (16.33), and Camden (13).
Next Window
I'm gonna have a short edition this time, namely because I will not have internet access for a full week coming up, which will make stat compiling and research a little difficult, so this is going to just be a brief look.
First, the Hokies will be heading up to the Carrier Dome and the annoying as fuck 2-3 Zone defense of Jimmy B. At 10-6 the Orange are somewhat struggling, but don't take their record without a lot of salt (No Nardouche here). Their bigger scoring threats are scoring about 54 of their 75 per game led by their two guards Girard and Mintz who are putting up 16.8 and 15.9, respectively. C Edwards also feasts, averaging 13.3. Speaking of, the 6-11 big will be tough on the boards as he is averaging a double-double on the year. They have a slightly good ATO at 14.7:11.9, but that improves drastically to 14.7:3.6 when you adjust for steals. They shoot slightly worse than the Hokies (-.6% overall but +1.1% from range) and are equivalent from the line.
Rounding out, the Hokies will Clash for the Commonwealth. The 12-3 Hoos come in with a number of scoring threats of their 3 guard lineup. Guards Franklin Clark, and Beekman all average in double figures (11.4, 11.1, and 10, respectively) while Forwards Gardner (10.7) and Shedrick (8.9) make up the rest of their starting rotation. Down low, expect another near 7'footer in Shedrick, although he's not the top rebounding threat (Gardner 5 per) LOLuva has a good ATO at 16:9.7, but that becomes ridiculous when adjusted (16: 2.6). The Cavaliers do not shoot quite as well as the Hokies, but are much better from range, but worse from the charity stripe.
Prediction
In case you haven't been on the Twitterverse recently, here's the gist of availability, re: Cattoor
Cattoor is expected to be back and he's bringing Rodney Rice with him. No telling if either are fully game ready, but the IQ of Cattoor should have him in better positions and the talent of Rice should be able to do some damage. But where do the minutes come from? Obvious choices are Camden and Collins, but even eliminating their minutes only frees up 35 minutes, which was what Cattoor was averaging before his injury. While I don't envy the game management decision making, this may be a good problem to have, getting veterans a few more minutes on the bench, and younger guys some more experience. It'll be a balancing act, for sure.
Overall, I really wish we were more apt to get steals on the defense to help the AATO. Also, the turnover numbers have to come down, especially against teams that play good defense, like Syracuse and UVA.
But here goes. We're 0-4 in games where Cattoor doesn't see the end of the game, 13-1 when he does. 2-0 Hokies.
The Women's Team
Two head-scratching losses, interrupted by 2 solid Ws, puts the Brooksketball squad at 13-3. Oddly enough, the 3 ladies' losses and the 5 men's losses are by the same number of points. Just for statistical musings.
At 137 wins, Brooks is now just 21 behind Henrickson for 2nd all-time. It also didn't occur to me until this moment, but among men's and women's coaches, he's 5th all-time
Scoring
We interrupt our regularly scheduled posting to point out that Amoore led all scorers with 17.25, instead of the usual Kitley (15.67). I don't know why Kitley didn't play against UVA, but she didn't and Amoore scored 22 total points more than Kitley. Also in double figures was King (11.25, and just missing were Soule (9.25), Gregg (8.5), and King (7.25). Those 6 were the only scorers.
Rebounding
Not used to this. Gregg (7.25 rpg) surpassed Kitley (7) marking this the only edition so far where Kitley hasn't been on top. Soule (6.25), and King (4.75) added a board per quarter, while Traylor (3) and Amoore (2.75) added at least one per half. Geiman (1.67) was the only other who recorded a rebound
Assists
For the first time in a long time, the ATO was negative. 55:57 isn't going to do any favors, but the adjusted 55:40 is somewhat better. Best ratio and AATO ratio are King (7:3 and 7:-1). Most assists was Amoore (16:11), and most steals goes to Traylor (6), which brought her AATO down to 12:4. Geiman (4:2) was the only other Hokie with an ATO in the positive, while the only other AATO positive was Soule (8:7). Kitley (3:10) and Gregg (5:11) really hurt the numbers.
Experience/Depth
Amoore played all but one minute. She's good, but give her a rest. Kitley (37.33), King (35.75), and Traylor (32.25) also got major minutes followed closely by Gregg (27.5) and Soule (26.75). Geiman (12.67) was the only other Hokie who averaged more than a minute per game played. We need Owusu back, but I don't know when that will be.
Next Window
As with the men, the ladies will only have two games in this window.
First will be the 13-5 Louisville Cardinals. Running the show in this 4-guard lineup is Van Lith, who averages a most impressive 20.4 per game clip. Carr (10.9), Jones (9.8) also are significant scoring threats from the perimeter, while Cochran (9.3) is the force down low. At 6-3, Cochran is also the sole big that Kitley will be dealing with for most of the game, although 6-5 Dixon will also be on the court for significant minutes. The team is in the red re: ATO at 14.9:15.2, but makes up for it with a lot of steals, adjusting it to an AATO of 14.9:6.5. They shoot well at 46.5%, from range at 35.2%, and from the line at 76.1%.
Finally, we have Pitt. At 7-9, they are the only team in the ACC with a losing record. To quote the late, great John Madden, "usually the team that scores the most points wins the game." Pitt is 151st in scoring offense, but 248th in scoring D. Only two players are in double figures in their odd, 4-Forward lineup, and three of the top 4 are Forwards. That being said, don't expect a lot of height, as the tallest player is only 6-2. Like the Cardinals, the Panthers are not sound with the ball, with an ATO of 14.1:16.6, but they are effective at swiping the ball, bringing their AATO to 14.1:7.9. Despite being Forward heavy, they shoot relatively poorly (41.6% overall) and very poorly from range (32.7%). They aren't much to talk about from the line (70.5%) either.
Prediction
Louisville is a coinflip to me. What version of the Tech roster will appear? The team that ran through 3 SEC teams like Hokie running backs through a Maryland ACC defense or the team that got shown up by Miami? Until I am convinced otherwise, the handling issues remain and we drop this one. The same cannot be said about the Pitt game. That should be a win. 1-1.
