HOKIES HOOPS CENTRAL: NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS (17-9, 10-6) VS #16 VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES (15-5, 9-4) 830PM ESPN
Let the games begin ✊#StoneByStone | #Hokies 🦃— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 11, 2021
GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: Mar 11 2021 830 PM
Opponent: UNCheat
Site: Greensboro Coliseum
Dan Shulman (play-by-play), Jay Bilas (analyst) and Allison Williams (reporter)
Virginia Tech Sports Network. Jon Laaser (play-by-play) and Mike Burnop (analyst)
Lot's changed the last year...Here we go 👊#StoneByStone | #Hokies 🦃 pic.twitter.com/VHmXsfjIaj— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 11, 2021
Return, Take Two
The Hokies will try to get their feet moving at the same speed as their heads and take on the North Carolina Tar Heels. The Hokies are 15-69 against North Carolina going into their 85th meeting. The Hokies are now 15-5 and ranked #22 in the AP Poll. The Hokies are coming off a second double digit delay and have to hope they come out better prepared than last time against Georgia Tech. UNC is fresh off a 101-59 execution of Notre Dame last night.
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The Tar Heels are coached by Roy Williams, who has been at UNC since 2003. His first season is the only year the Tar Heels have not won at least 20 games (19 wins) under his tutelage outside of Covid last season and may fall short this year. They have 15 NCAA Tournament appearances, and one NIT appearance. They have made it to the Elite Eight seven times, the Final Four three times, NCAA runner up once and NCAA Champion twice all under Williams. The amazing thing about Williams is that before coming to UNC, his Kansas teams also only failed to reach 20 wins once (19 wins), also in his first season there. He has a career 78% winning percentage as a coach and just recently reached 900 career wins.
Defensively, the Tar Heels run almost exclusively a man-to-man defense. Coach Williams relies on the talent of his players to win out in one-on-one matchups. Their defense is designed to drive their offense, as Williams like to tell his players that they need to be playing 94 feet of offense all the time.
Offensively, North Carolina runs a constant motion offense with the goal of being primarily a transition offense. Coach Williams tells his guys that if there are less than 2 defenders back they they should score with 2 or less passes. If more than two they need to move to their motion offense. Expect to see two bigs in play in the lane at the same time. They are trying to find the point where the defense lapses on one or the other and take advantage of it. The Tar Heels also don't focus nearly as much on shooting from outside, especially compared to the competition. The Tar Heels are twelfth in threes attempted and made in the ACC this year.
The most important part is the amount of movement in the offense. You don't see one guy dribbling the ball for 20 seconds while the other 4 guys just stand around and watch. When someone passes the ball, they immediately move to a different spot on the court, and another player moves to replace them. Even when guys are taking their man 1 on 1, the other 4 players are still moving to find open spots on the floor.
Tar Heels Backcourt
Caleb Love
#2 FR G 6-4 195 lbs
St. Louis, MO Christian Brothers (MO) 13 (2020)
10.6 Pts, 2.7 Reb, 3.8 Ast
Shooting 32% from the floor, 25% from the perimeter, 80% from the line
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RJ Davis
#4 FR G 6-0 160 lbs
White Plains, NY Archbishop Stepinac HS 43 (2020)
8.2 Pts, 2.2 Reb, 2.0 Ast
Shooting 35% from the floor, 31% from the perimeter, 80% from the line
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Kerwin Walton
#24 FR G 6-5 205 lbs
Hopkins, MN Hopkins HS
8.1 Pts, 1.5 Reb, 1.9 Ast
Shooting 44% from the floor, 41% from the perimeter, 94% from the line
Leaky Black
#1 JR G 6-8 195 lbs
Concord, NC Cox Mill HS 64 (2018)
5.6 Pts, 5.1 Reb, 2.5 Ast
Shooting 37% from the floor, 21% from the perimeter, 70% from the line
Andrew Platek
#3 SR G 6-4 205 lbs
Guilderland, NY Northfield Mount Hermon School
4.1 Pts, 1.8 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Shooting 39% from the floor, 33% from the perimeter, 83% from the line
Tar Heels Frontcourt
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Armando Bacot
#5 SO F 6-10 240 lbs
Richmond, VA IMG Academy 23 (2019)
12.0 Pts, 7.8 Reb, 0.8 Ast
Shooting 63% from the floor, doesnt from the perimeter, 67% from the line
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Garrison Brooks
#15 SR F 6-10 240 lbs
Lafayette, AL Auburn HS
10.6 Pts, 6.9 Reb, 1.4 Ast
Shooting 48% from the floor, 50% from the perimeter(Less than 1 attempt every three games), 61% from the line
Day'Ron Sharpe
#11 FR F 6-11 265 lbs
Greenville, NC Monteverde Academy 12 (2020)
9.8 Pts, 7.9 Reb, 1.5 Ast
Shooting 52% from the floor, doesnt from the perimeter, 51% from the line
Walker Kessler
#13 FR F 7-1 245 lbs
Newnan, GA Woodward Academy 18 (2020)
4.6 Pts, 3.2 Reb, 0.3 Ast
Shooting 62% from the floor, 25% from the perimeter, 53% from the line
What to expect from North Carolina?
Bacot, Love and Brooks come in averaging double digit points per game. North Carolina goes deep on the bench for significant minutes or contributions, regularly playing nine players each game for ten or more minutes a contest.
Opponents are averaging 70.7 points per game in ACC play. Opponents in ACC play are shooting 43% from the floor against the Tar Heels. UNC does better on the perimeter, only allowing 34.7% from the perimeter. They still have been allowing ACC opponents a third of their points from the perimeter on 7.7 (23 points) allowed threes per game.
The Tar Heels are committing 15 turnovers per game possessions or about 19% of their possessions. Every UNC starter is committing at least one turnover per game. Three players are committing at least 1.9 turnovers per game.
North Carolina forces 13.3 turnovers per game and average nearly 15 points per contest off turnovers.
The Tar Heels commit 16.6 fouls per game. Opponents have shot 15.6 free throw attempts per game so far this season. This accounts for 14% of opponent scoring. This may be a factor in this contest as most of the North Carolina opponents so far are not nearly as likely to get to the line as the Hokies have been this season but North Carolina commits fewer shooting fouls than most of the ACC. The Hokies average 19.1 attempts per game in ACC play. Four Tar Heels starters average at least 2 fouls per contest but Brooks is the most likely to foul inside.
As a team the Tar Heels are shooting 32.9% from the perimeter on 18.1 attempts per game. Walton shoots better than 41% from the perimeter while no one else is shooting better than 32.7%. Walton attempts more than a quarter of his teams perimeter shots.
North Carolina dominates inside on rebounding as you might expect with their large roster with a +10-rebound differential per game. They have four players, Bacot, Brooks, Sharpe and Black, averaging more than 5.1 rebounds per game. UNC outrebounded Notre Dame last night 54-31 which led to a 77-61 shot advantage.
Love, Davis and Black are the key distributors, averaging 2.4+ assists each. The Tar Heels average 16.9 assists on 28 made baskets per game, roughly 60% of all baskets are assisted.
We got five!Five of our players make the ACC All-Academic Team 🤓#StoneByStone | #Hokies 🦃 pic.twitter.com/Troh44kI2W— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 9, 2021
The Hokies
Expect to see the Hokies employ zone defense as the majority of the Tar Heels losses have come against Zone or Pack Line defenses. They struggle defensively against speed so that could also work in favor of the Hokies. The goal is to force the ball into the UNC guards hands to shoot but dont foul them and be prepared to foul the UNC bigs to not let them have easy inside baskets. Ojiako and Pemsl may both be called upon to knock their bigs around a little. The UNC guards struggle to shoot from the floor but are excellent at the line while their bigs shoot extremely well inside but are terrible at the line.
The two biggest things the Hokies must be prepared to do: preventing offensive rebounds as best possible and on offense, they must improve on their perimeter shooting. UNC is very tough on the perimeter and making perimeter shots is crucial in remaining competitive with a team that is dominant inside on both ends of the floor.
It does not appear that Cone will be a factor in this game. He may return in time for the NCAA Tournament but as of yesterday Coach Young indicated his sharpshooter is still sidelined by his ankle injury.
Tech's perimeter shooting will rely on Cattoor, Alleyne and Mutts going forward. 23.8 attempts per contest is the average. Wake is better defensively against the three but single focused shooters have been successful against the Tar Heels, as Wake tends to sag off the perimeter to clog the lane.
The Hokies have to hope they have corrected the sloppy passing we saw against Georgia Tech after the first layoff or Hokies fans could be in for a long night. The Hokies committed 19 turnovers leading to 19 points. That is something very few teams can overcome especially with how UNC dominates the boards already.
Highlight of the Wake Forest Game
We were firin' on all cylinders vs. Wake 🤟#StoneByStone | #Hokies 🦃 pic.twitter.com/6G5IAbJJ7H— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 1, 2021
Monumental win...
In Closing
The points of emphasis remain the same to beat any ACC team, Double digits: Preventing UNC from getting offensive rebounds, forced turnovers, offensive rebounds, made free throws, and FIVE scorers.
The Hokies speed and ability to shoot outside keep them hanging around, UNC bigs get in trouble foul wise opening the door for the Hokies
Hokies start to get their legs back under them but I think the delay and the momentum UNC has are probably too much to overcome. Its Tourney Time though so I will bet on Orange and Maroon. Final 77-73.
Two Popcorns- The Hokies have to show me they have shaken loose of the cobwebs before I can go higher.
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Congrats to JRob for making the G League Finals, although unfortunately Delaware is getting blown out tonight.
Check out @5Alive_ in the title game now on ESPN2 https://t.co/9oFi0NCWrr— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 11, 2021
Comments
Let's Go!
Hokies!!!
HOKIES!
HOKIES!
My confidence in this game is very low as well. UNC is peaking at just the right time for a great March run. I'm not sure we could have gotten a worse matchup.
Was our last win before the win-or-go-home tournament Wake Forest 2 weeks ago? Hmm
I'm in the blissfully confident camp for this one - we've made it through an extremely tough season (from a logistics perspective), finished way above pre-season expectations, and we're 2 wins away from potentially getting a chance to punch UVA in the nose for the ACC championship. Dont care who the machup is against - I'm taking the Hokies.
Give me a bourbon and all the tac spurtle commercials - GO HOKIES!
The bourbon is good. No Spurtle commercials tonight; the game is on ESPN.
LETS GET THE WIN FAM
LET'S GO!!!!
How does the game tip 25-mins early? Wtf?
Moved up due to Duke game being canceled.
Game was moved up to 830 this morning with the Duke forefeit.
Game was moved up to 830 this morning with the Duke forefeit.
Oh, was the game moved up to 8:30 with the Duke forfeit?
Oops....but so nice i had to say it twice!
Drinking now....
Haha. All good. I apparently missed the memo.
Our boys do NOT look rusty......they came to play today.
Loving the defensive effort this far hope it stays that way
Officials need to be consistent in the paint
We're playing UNC
How the f was that not a foul against mutts?
Remember we are playing UNC in greensboro
My thought as well....
But, unc.....
Eww this is fun!
I enjoy when Bilas calls our games. The dude knows his stuff and he gives us more love than most.
I'm getting vertigo from some of these camera angles!
If we lose this it'll be solely on inconsistent calls on the refs. I'm watching the ESPN3 "above the rim" telecast and the calls aren't consistent at ALL. Hopefully they can get better as the game goes. Let's go Hokies!
Yea we can't expect to get many calls tonight which might get frustrating
Radford is killin it. Again no foul on Pemsl though
Gtfoh
I turned the game on and then UNC went on an 8-0 run.
Sorry guys
Some of these calls are crap
Its getting ridiculous
Aluma was set for a full second.
These refs already sucking balls
Sheesh... these officials are straight garbage.
I would love to play UNC straight up sometime.
I hate Carolina! I really hate ACC refs!!! Playing 5 on 8 sucks! 😡😡😡😡
LET'S GO!!
Good start. Keep it going boys. I won't say what I think the different is so far...
Foul calls man. I hate the ACC mafia.
The UNC guy bull dozes into our players and calls a foul on us. This is sickening and I hate that UNC is getting a lap dance on ESPN.
Mutts is having himself a game
CMY is getting pissed. Every time we make a good play they negate it with a foul call.
3 fouls to 7. Seems legit.
I try to not bitch about reffing and don't love comparing foul totals because teams that shoot jumpers vs getting in the paint tend to draw less fouls, BUT we are LIVING in the paint, they are shooting a fair amount of jumpers and yet we have twice as many fouls, there have been some egregious no calls in their favor and touchy one's on us
Agree.
Btw-my legit should have had /s
Of course mike young is upset about the foul call. Most of them have been complete bullshit,
And yet our boys keep grinding with their heads up! Its beautiful. We are carving them up with the baseline cuts
We are going to need to get aluma going at some point to win this but everyone else is stepping up big
unless he keeps making plays off the dribble or shoots well this probably won't be his night, carolina is just huge and aluma isn't the tallest center
How much longer is Cone out? We'd be a lot better with another three point threat.
I don't care what happens. I love this team. Lots of fight. CMY is wearing them out on the inside and baseline. We better be able to make threes in the second half when unc adjusts in the second half
UNC only has two offensive rebounds. Great job HOKIES!
What is the O/U on the word "screen" being said during this game?
Why does Bacot kind of look like the purple Monstar from Space Jam?
Is it me or does Tyrece Radford look a couple of inches taller than his listed 6'2" height?
I really hope we duck Baylor and Gonzaga if we are an 8 or 9 seed. I like our chances versus a different one or any potential 2 seed in the round of 32, especially if Cone is back.
LETS GO! RUN THESE PUNKS OFF THE COURT! AND THE REFS TOO!
Dan and Jay legitimately seem surprised and disappointed that VT is leading this game.
Jeez, this camera work!
That might be the worst layup attempt I've ever seen... Keep driving Bede!
Finally a fuckin call! Awesome D!
UNC fans booing refs is priceless.
We gotta make the freebies when they do give em to us....
We might miss 30 FTs tonight at this rate
...Since we had all of 2 FT in the first half.
Hokies looking tired with 14 minutes to go, not good.
I think this game is about to turn in a bad way
Yeah Mutts especially looks gassed
Unfortunately this aged well......
Sorry, took a quick minute to work this one up.
We've left 7 easy points off the board to start this half... Bede layup, Radford layup, Mutts dunk/foul, and free throws... gonna be rough to lose a close one.
Would be a tie game with 2 minutes left if we made those 2 easy layups a half of Mutts free throws.
Aluma is having a horrible night.
Freakin ACC refs. That's was a clean block
Clean block, unc shooting free throws anyway.
Ughhh.
Game over, the tank is empty
That call on Aluma was terrifyingly bad. I mean of all the bad calls, that one is egregious.
well this is a complete mental meltdown
Cant. Miss. Free. Throws.
Rg Davis with nothing but arm on that steal.
If we could make a damn FT we'd be up 10 right now. We are just getting absolutely torched tonight at the little things.
We're 7/12 (58%) from the line. Just about every team shoots somewhere in the 65-75% range for FTs, so we're down 1 or 2 points there. That's not why we're losing.
Aluma is getting destroyed tonight. This is going to end up as a blowout
Welp this one is over
Carolina's size is taking over...
Even if we lose, we need a gif of that Mutts dunk!
We gotta keep fighting. This ain't over yet!
LET'S GO!!!
That was a clear block but of course it's a foul instead the officiating has been all baby blue tonight but we're leaving too many free throws on the line tonight. They're finally having their way inside and not much we can do it seems
We are going to make the NCAA Tournament, but it won't be a high seed, and we are likely going to be 1 and done.
From where we were throughout most of this season, this ending really does feel like a disappointment.
A Virginia Tech season ending in an unsatisfying way...isn't that our motto?
Hey, at least its not football, where the disappointment is spread evenly throughout. #ThanksFuente
They have too much size. Our Hokies played tough, but they are getting worn out. They need the 3 point basketball gods to shine down in order to win
Watch the way their bugs pull and grab. Then call us for a hand check foul.
Bacot takes 2 full steps after the "foul". Call it in the act and give him &one. These refs are just incompetent
Glad to see I wasn't the only one who caught that.
Everyone in the country noticed it.
...except the refs
He took two steps than shot after the foul! How could they count that!!
*drink
Just haven't looked like they've been even trying to get rebounds this half, and that's the difference. I'm sure it's fatigue, and I hate that they basically haven't been able to play at all in the last month.
What a joke no way that is an and one there. Roy williams has alot of refs to thank for hitting 902 tonight
In what universe can that be a continuation? This is horseshit.
i thought there was no continuation in college bball.... same foul happened earlier in the game and it was a dead ball yet here it counts.
lol at anyone who thought we weren't going to get a baby blue screwaroo by the ACC with UNC needing a win to get into the NCAAs
Mutts was shoved and punched in the back. Really late call. Totally didn't want to call it.
That exact same block was a foul on the other side, with less contact.
Yes, but UNC a player was on offense so it automatically is a foul.
Yep
Loved Jay's subtle "boy, that looked like a foul"
Could say that on most possesions it seems tonight
If Aluma was having 25% of the game Mutts was we are right there. Hate to pile on the guy, but a bad time to have such an awful game
Aluma is also getting crushed on the inside. Their "bigs" are pulling, elbowing and throwing him. Since they're not calling fouls, he's probably getting tired.
This. And we have to shoot and make the Damn free throws. Most of the season we have been good. What a game to go cold.
Bilas giving it to the refs subtly.....Bede drives "looked like a foul" sayeth Bilas....well yeah, to everyone except an ACC ref in Greensboro
I really despise anything UNC! Fucking slappers.
Awful possession
The biggest difference in the second half has been the refs.
I'd like to be doing some body banging...
We should go back and count the number of elbows and lowered shoulders to the chin hey have thrown and not been called.
...of course, I have no interest in rewatching this game.
They got their butts kicked by a better team. Let's hope they have their legs under them for the tournament, and their heads because it's been a sloppy end to this game
They were the only team with the double bye to lose and they got run off the court.
No moral victories tonight, this was a bad, bad result in the ACC tournament. They were better than this result this season. Tired or not, they were just not mentally ready for this one, and they got smoked because of it.
F$U technically won. But also didn't have to play.
Hard disagree on not being mentally ready and on "getting smoked"... single digit loss when we left two easy layups and many missed FTs off the score board isn't getting smoked... mentally we were sharp and in it all game but especially in the first half when the mental lapses are usually most evident. UNC was a bad matchup. UNC in Greensboro in the ACC tourny was a worse matchup. Not what any of us wanted but we weren't mentally unprepared or "smoked".
Agree. We lost tonight to a good team.
Notre Dame - they got smoked
This is also about as neutral of a court we can get outside of the Bahamas.
Disappointing but not surprised
lol first we are scared to guard the 3, giving them a wide open look, and then we have a lazy turnover that leads to another wide open 3, all within 15 seconds.
5 point deficit to 11 point deficit in the blink of an eye. And thats the ballgame.
Can't catch a break - we hit a big 3, they answer with a guy who's made 10 all season. Not super upset, but god I hate Carolina
I can't be the only one that wants to take a pair of scissors to No. 5's stupid front pony tail.
It does win stupidest haircut of the year.
God fucking damn it, great effort but I HATE unc
Muffing the rebound was the game. Over now.
How is a game that isn't supposed to have fans packed with Carolina fans?
I said it earlier, but I think this is a very good UNC team - at least at this point in the season. They are poised to make a run in the tourney.
They are but I think on a true neutral court or home court we would have won.
Ehhh... I might disagree with that. They are more talented with 1-10 than we are. They were simply better tonight, and likely would be most nights.
Remember that this tournament was supposed to be in DC and the ACC office seized the chance to move it to Greensboro.
Greensboro is where it should be played IMO.
We didn't lose because of the court we played on. UNC is a good basketball team with dominant big men. As cliché as it is, these freshmen are sophomores now.
I respectfully disagree. It builds in an automatic home court advantage for the Tobacco Road teams. I would rather it travel on a four year cycle between Orlando, Greensboro, DC and NYC. Even in Covid it was dominated by UNC fans as was obvious late in the game when they got a lead.
Whether that would have made a difference to me is irrelevant. I just get tired of events being UNC-Duke Centric for a conference this wide spread.
Really though, if it was played in DC, then all the UNC and Duke fans in DC would show up. Same with Florida, same with NYC. With teams that popular, location is basically irrelevant. I recall when it was in MSG, there were more Duke fans than Syracuse fans. I'd rather it stay close to the center of the conference. DC is fine, but G'boro is like an hour from my house, so I'm obviously biased.
Sucks we had horrible luck with the timing of our COVID problems. Just a reminder that all fans should take this season with a grain of salt when considering both successes and failures.
To be fair, I was more upset last night simply because I always want the Hokies to win and I can't stand UNCheaters.
Even if we are one and done in the Dance, it will not have an effect on my view of CMY or the future potential for this program in any way. I am more excited about our basketball team than football these days.
The Covid effect is hard to quantify. Yes it hit us a number of times this year, but it hit everybody. Would we have been better or worse off this season if Covid wasn't a thing? Tough to say.
Ugh! Why is at always about more 5* players. Proud of them Hokies. They balled.
Missed layups and free throws were the difference. No excuse for missing the easy ones.
Still, LET'S GO!!
Honestly we lost because of missed free throws, a couple of missed layups, a poor offensive night for Keve, tired/less conditioned legs, and a point guard who can't score for sh!t (31 minutes, 0-5 FG, 0 points). If Bede plays like that, we'll lose in the first round, 5 guarding 4 will always win. The refs didn't help but they weren't the sole reason we lost.
I'll disagree on the Bede bit he ran the offense well tonight hes not a scoring threat true but he doesnt turn the ball over and runs the point the best for us right now. Defensively he had some big rebounds and steals as well he played like a mad dog tonight. Cattoor looks to be the PG next year but hes a bit sloppy and it showed again tonight. This team needs Bede to have a chance at making a tourney run for what he does not scoring wise.
My comment wasn't a slight on Bede, I think he's a good point guard when it comes to ball distribution and defense; however, it's obvious that his scoring acumen is his biggest weakness. It's games like last night when you need a PG to score a bucket to stop the bleeding. JRob was notorious for doing this. Bede is no JRob, and that's fine, but at some point you have to make the opposing team pay when they opt out of defending you as a player on the court. I remember one sequence vividly when Bede drove to the basket, because the defense rolled off of him, only to throw up a terrible layup. Teams that make it deep in the tourney have point guards that can play the floor general role and score when a team needs a bucket to stop the bleeding. We relied on our wing players far too much last night. Once Keve went cold, it was 5 guarding 3 most of the game.
I also wonder if Jalen will play the point next year instead of Cattoor. I think Cattoor's length would prove useful against other 2's in the ACC on the defensive side of the ball. I'm with you though on the ball security front, Cattoor and Cone could both improve on that aspect of the game.
Exactly. Bede is a fantastic defensive guard, and an excellent passer and distributor. But every time he had the ball last night, I already knew that he wasn't going to score. If I know that, imagine what HOF Roy Williams coached his high end recruits to be prepared for.
I'm going to make an extreme analogy, but one that fits somewhat:
It's like being a 76ers fan. Ben Simmons is an elite defensive talent and distributing guard. But the dude can not/will not develop his shot. If he could nail down his form on a mid range jumper and teams actually had to respect it, the guy would be unstoppable, and the team would be even better for it because opponents couldn't shift too much focus to Embiid.
I'm not saying Bede is anything like Simmons, simply that if opponents had to at least consider that he could score in that range, it takes some attention off of guys like Mutts and Radford who clearly know how to score when covered, let alone given some spacing.
I'm glad that someone understood what I was trying to say (not a slight). I honestly love Bissa, I applaud him for sticking around after Buzz left, and I'm grateful that we had a floor general who was ready to hit the ground running when CMY got in town. Things would've been incredibly different if we didn't have a seasoned point guard on the roster.
Saying that, I totally agree with you, I'm super surprised that he hasn't taken bigger steps forward on the offensive side of the ball this season. I'm not implying that he hasn't improved offensive at all; I can remember certain games this season when he took shots outside the arc and drove the lane fairly well. That production has been inconsistent though. I think he has so many players around him that can make a shot for themselves that he doesn't feel the need to run ISO or doesn't feel the need to chase buckets. We'll need him to be more proactive though come tourney time.
On a side note, I watched CMY's press conference after the game last night, and man, I love that guy. He spoke to the conditioning challenges the team had, and how it's hard to push players too much (to mirror an in game experience) in practice in fear of injuries. But he refused to use it as an excuse, and said UNC was the better team. He also spoke so confidently about us being in the dance come selection Sunday. I love his subtle swag, as well as his old-school approach to coaching. Love this team so much, and looking forward to the coming weeks.
Nothing personally towards you I was more just defending how I look at Bede is all. I wish he would get a layup game but it is what he is. We would all love for a second coming of Jrob but those guys are rare and sadly we may be a bit before we see a guard like that again.
No hard feelings at all Nator. We both want the second coming!
If we had landed on the 4 spot, we likely would have made it to the finals.
Found a UVA insider here guys.
Gotta make some goddamn free throws to have a shot to win jesus
thats what only playing twice in a month will do, they were all breathing ragged with hands on the hips early in the 2nd half
Fellow Hokies! We will be a part of the real March madness. Loving that...... Go Hokies!!!!
Only two guys drove the ball all night and they both finished with 20+. Carolina will foul on literally every possession we were (mostly) just too scared to get to the rim
Two quick notes...those refs were fucking atrocious.
Mutts is a dude. How much eligibility does he have left?
Really proud of our guys!! Playing 5 on 8 is a real disadvantage. Even Bilas, had comments on the calls last night. We were gassed in the end and experts says free throws are hard to hit when the legs are gone. Love CMY, great coach.
I don't want to blame refs for our loss. But the foul calls were incredibly lopsided. In general, I thought they missed a lot of other calls both ways. I kept waiting on travels to be called. They let those slide.
We missed too many easy buckets. In the first half there were too many missed layups. I don't have a good count, but we probably left at least 8 points on the court from what should have been gimme shots.
We still make lazy passes. The team can look incredibly crisp 90% of the game. But then it's like we just go blank and lob a few passes around that get picked off. I'm not sure what's contributing to those lapses; it's consistently happened in every game I've watched.
Same amount of buckets for each team. Free throw attempts: Carolina 27, VT 16. Part of the is refs for sure but also they were getting fouled in the act of shooting because they were taking it to the rim and imposing their will. If Bede and mainly Aluma had just gone to the rim instead of passing it out several times that gap would close
Yup. We went up 6 early in the 2nd half and looked to be cruising. And then we came out of a timeout and just started jacking up long distance shots left and right and really disrupted our game to the point where we never recovered. We lost the game when we lost the balls to consistently drive the paint.
What he said. And I'd like to also add fuck UNC.
I thought the boys played their butts off last night. I also thought the refs had a really bad night of officiating. The calls were widely inconsistent. A foul one the UNC end was not a foul on the VT end (ie the Aluma blocked shot). That one particular call came at the most critical point of the game. VT has to make free throws. Last night, that part of the game was awful but I do think tired legs may have played a part in it. And finally, we are in dire need of a point guard who can score. Not being a threat to score or drive and get fouled is a huge hurdle to have to overcome night in and night.
Imagine if this team had JRob. And could hit free throws.
BTW - any update on Cone?
I have a solution at PG. Storm Murphy
Dude. I agree 1,000%.
Loluva out of ACCT. COVID.
By the guidelines they should also be out of the Dance. That's an interesting twist...sure they will find a way to get them in under the timeline.
This is why there was a lot of talk about teams skipping conference tourneys if they were locks for the Dance. Getting a case/contact during the ACCC could cause them to miss the first round of the Dance.
Copy and pasting from twitter as the user has his account set so only followers can see his tweets, so can't embed:
"UVA's NCAA tournament hopes all depend on contract tracing" + "The UVA player who tested positive played in the game against Syracuse"
Hm.
By that logic shouldn't Syracuse be in contact tracing then? Potentially eliminating them from the NCAA Tournament as well. Just another example of why they all should have been in a bubble environment at least 10 days prior to this tournament