Are we improving? Here are the numbers compared to this time last year in stats/per game.
Record: (Us/Them)
14-15: 8-5
13-14: 8-5
Scoring: Down from last year, but scoring D is doing better
14-15: 69.2-64.5
13-14: 74.0-69.2
Rebounds: (Total/Off/Def) Our rebounding is decidedly worse, particularly on the defensive end, but our opponents are doing no better against us
14-15: 32.6/9.2/23.9 vs 34.9/13.6/21.3
13-14: 41.4/10.9/30.5 vs 34.7/11.5/23.2
Assist/Turnovers: Down from last year, but not as bad as our opponents, due primarily to better ball control on our part
14-15: .855-.809
13-14: .914-1.198
Blocks: Down from last year
14-15: 4.2-3.4
13-14: 5.8-3.8
Steals: Nearly 2 steals per game better than last year, while holding the other opponents to almost 1 per game less
14-15: 4.8-6.1
13-14: 2.9-6.8
Comments
This is certainly a case where the numbers do not tell the story. Watching the team & coaching provides substantive evidence that what Buzz is doing is the right approach. The players grasp the system better & the system itself is superior.
This season was never going to be about the numbers, that was evident back in May and has been reiterated since then many times.
There is a much different style than last year. Buzz does not stress rebounding as much as keeping a faster pace and creating steals. Also this team is smaller than last year, we knew they would struggle in the rebounds and blocks dept. I did think we would score more points than last years team, so this is a little disconcerting.
Turnovers and free throws account for the point difference. Honestly I am not worried about any stat comparison to last year. We are a totally different team from last season. We are essentially playing seven freshmen on top of that. Lets wait to compare next years team to this year and that's only if Buzz schedules a similar OOC slate.
And Buzz has a plan implemented to improve the free throws.
He also has a plan to help me lose weight. The man is a genius. :-)
I need that plan.
Don't bogart that thing, man.
We are a better team this year than we were last year. The numbers don't show the full story.
We have a vastly better program. Those that only follow Hokie hoops from January until mid-March haven't paid attention, but the difference is amazing. We actually have hope & a reason for optimism for the first time in years.
It will be interesting to see how they respond tomorrow against Syracuse tomorrow after the terrible 2nd half against WVU. I believe Buzz will have them ready.
Buzz does what he can. How they respond will be shown on the court. It wasn't Buzz who was unprepared against AppState or Radford. Buzz said WVU could beat us by 50.
Now with the subtraction of JVZ, Satchel will have to play at the level not previously expected of him prior to his junior season.
Sorry but Satchel doesnt have it in him to play at that level. He is actually worse at taking bad fouls than JVZ so I expect we wil have to see a lot more of Beyer and Henry with Pierce fouled out. Its going to be painful to watch.
To me, Satchel has more potential than JVZ did, and I said that prior to JVZ's suspension. But, like I also always said with JVZ, it will take Satchel a while to grow into his potential. Just like the experts said about JVZ when he was being recruited. Neither projected to be stars, but Satch shows more potential on defense than JVZ did. As I referenced above, we essentially need the 2017 Satchel to show up starting tomorrow.
I should have been a bit more specific. Satchel doesnt have it in him to have his 2017 version show up now. The Syracuse game was a perfect example. Took bad fouls. Too tentative on offense. Plays somewhat solid defense. Not going to get it done in the ACC this year.
I know it's not rational to expect him to do that. I still hope for that miracle, though. I think he can project out to be a defensive presence for us, and serviceable offensively. I agree that logically we should all know he won't get there until two years from now (if then).