By looks of Buzz's tweet yesterday, looks like we had a scrimmage against George Mason? Simply basing it off colors and teams within driving distance. Anyone with #sauces know how it went?
Needed a rep of a 'Road Game' 📸, so we ask all of our friends to join usRealized after the fact, that somehow the officials snuck in too😜😂 pic.twitter.com/TTBHlN9PZJ— Buzz Williams (@TeamCoachBuzz) October 29, 2017
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Yup, looks like Mason to me. Hopefully this will lead to away games in Fairfax. Would make it easier to see VT in person. Soon would be nice too, I get in free as long as I'm a grad student at GMU.
Another thing to note is that I don't sy Sy in this picture.
word on tsl is that hes back at the community college. anyone have a #sauce on that?
This is BAG. But he isn't coming back
What happened to the old account
Nothing it's still there. Just forgot my password on my phone. I'm too lazy to figure it out
Scrimmage #sauce — comfortable win by the good guys.
I can't wait to see what weird wrinkle the lineup Buzz implements this year that makes no sense but somehow works. Mueller at power forward a few years ago and LeDay and Allen both coming off the bench last season like after the first media timeout if not sooner come to mind.
Honestly would not surprise me to see KJ at the 4 with Clarke at the 5
That would explain why I saw a Mason bus parked on the Drillfield while walking to the Duke game.
So I noticed that our court is pretty much the same design as the Cleveland Cavaliers (logo placement, outlines of buildings, etc). Is there some design firm going around selling that idea to everyone?
Buzzketball unofficially tips off today!
blackshear looks like he still got that limp going up and down the court, thought that was fixed?
No, he's had it all his life. It's his gait
So the scrimmage against USCw is on watch ESPN if you want to watch. Right now the head coaches are being interviewed while the game is going on in front of them. Interesting concept to raise money.
And now they're piping the interview in over the arena sound system.
Any commentary on the game those who watched?
Hard to see details, there wasn't a play by play guy the entire time so I don't know the players well enough to comment on how they played but it was entertaining.
Chris Clarke just hit a 3 in rhythm, so that's something.
NAW (13 pts) and Bede both just ooze talent. Clarke, much to my chagrin, looks pretyy healthy and seems to have worked on his shot while hurt. If we can compete on the boards, we wil be in every game this year.
Am I missing something?
Quick thoughts:
- No Bibbs (injured, not sure how serious)
- NAW is All-Acc Caliber. Kid is unreal and will fit in just fine.
- Blackshear looks like the player we need him to be.
- Freshman guards (Jackson, Bede) will be solid depth. Both up to the speed. Offense game needs to click for them though.
- Was super high on Horne. Love what I saw today.
Agree on all these but Bibbs isn't injured. Just in the doghouse.
They look good as fuck I'm looking forward towards the season
Just going off what Berman reported.
Yeah he thought he was hurt as well but turned out not to be the case
Fake News Berman.
3 game suspension.
Agreed on all that. Clarke looking healthy is huge also. Was limited to 15 minutes by the staff but didn't look physically limited at all in his time on the court.
Says we won 86-67. I know it's an exhibition and doesn't really mean much but it's better than being on the other end of that.
We looked very sharp.
Well I was trying to temper expectations but now I'll settle for nothing less than a final four.
I'm sure that's /s, but any expectation more than going one round better in the NCAA tournament would be really stretching your expectations.
Yeah definitely. I would be ecstatic with a NCAAT win. But you definitely have me more excited than before. I didn't know it was being televised.
The replay is on ESPN3.
http://www.espn.com/watch/schedule/?endDate=20171105&startDate=20171029&...
Watched a little over breakfast. Will have to start over tonight. Looked like a pre-season game, as both teams looked sloppy, but we looked better from what I saw. I thought we played harder, especially on defense, but not a lot of rhythm on the offensive end. Nice to see us get the early wins. At this point in the season I am just hoping to get back to the dance, and remember too many years when an early loss against a so-so (or bad) team came back to haunt us on the bubble.
looking at the replay...good for an exhibition, but definitely an exhibition. Buzz won't tolerate some of those decisions in a game that counts
impressions of the new guys:
Walker: smooth player, not quite the "stick" I saw in HS film. great stroke. great IQ. rushed his shot a little (not unexpected)
Pig: extraordinary athlete, not much of a shooter but handled the ball very well (best pass of the game), tough defender, rugged around the basket. i think he came off the bench before Bede in both halves
Bede: quickest guard at VT since Reggie Steppe. smooth. would like to see a little more zip on his passes (right now he's kind of like Robinson was as a frosh)
Horne: physically mature, good hands around the basket
Fullard: actually played good position D. nowhere near his listed height [edit: i am obviously wrong about this based on the team photo]
O wasn't particularly sophisticated...just attacked the basket no matter what. On D...inside the arc, opponents will put the ball on the floor at their own risk; but defensive rebounding was awful (no surprise). Doubt we'll ever see it for real but it was fun watching the micro-lineup of Robinson, Bede, Jackson, Hill, and Fullard for a few minutes.
So we just blew out a team who plays five guys over 6'9", including two 7'ers.
Our size is tough for big teams to match up with too. We saw great floor spacing today, good transition looks and group rebounding.
I hope Buzz has a plan for our height issue because we only have two guys over 6'7" and one of them being a walk on.... Even looking into the future, our big mean recruits are only 6'7" (Mack & Nolley)
I love our athleticism and combo guards/forwards but we have to get more size.
Have seen Mack listed at 6-8 to 6-9
great if true, but I still think we need more than that. Foul trouble happens and if/when that happens to Blackshear this year, we are going to be hurting on the boards
size for size sake doesn't matter...when will people stop with the size thing.
We just beat a team with more "size" than us by 19. Granted, their best player Silva only played 8 minutes, but the others that had "size" didn't do anything.
If you don't think size matters, then I don't know what to say to you. It's the lack of size and lack of size depth has and will hurt us many times. One of the main reason why we were bounced out of the tournament last year is because Wisconsin dominated us on the boards (37-25) and got many second chance points.
I never said we can't win against teams that have more size than us but it is going to be our biggest weakness because after Blackshear (who gets in foul trouble sometimes), there isn't really a good backup with LeDay and Sy gone.
And the main reason we were in the tournament is because we played small ball and let our best players do what they're best at. Sure, there are games where we will miss Sy being able to play a few minutes. Blackshear is back and gives us what he needs. Foul trouble will happen. When it does, we go small and play it to our advantage.
Small is what we are. It's what Buzz has always been. His track record speaks for itself. We can't attract blue chip big men. We just aren't. But when you have the option to take a 6'5 wing that can do a whole lot of things (Clarke, Bibbs, Med) you do it over a 6'9, 6'10 player that isn't skilled enough to play in the ACC (Sy, Satch).
Edit: And regarding the Wisky game, Hayes was the one doing all the damage. I think he is maybe 6'7. Had it been Happ, then I'd give you size, but Hayes just willed himself to get a lot of those rebounds. Need players like him. And we get our two best rebounders back who were injured for that game (Clarke/Blackshear).
I know small ball is what our forte is but you still need size and depth at the forward position.
Yes we get our best rebounders back but we still don't know what we are going to get with Clarke being back from injury and Blackshear is the lone big man, so if he goes down (injury or foul trouble), you lose your only height.
All I am saying is that I would like to see more depth at the forward position. Too many times we were beat on the boards and gave up too many 2nd chance points. You can agree to disagree, fine, but not many teams go far in the tourney without a rotation of 2-3 big men that run 6'8" or taller.
re: depth, the only potential liability on the roster is Fullard (who is as good or better defensively than Sy, imo). the other 10 can hold their own and I think they'll all play. we'll miss Outlaw, though
I can't comment on Fullwood since I haven't seen him play and didn't see him much against USCe. And being a walk on, I don't really expect much tbh
Do y'all mean Fullard or is this someone new?
you are correct.... leg for you
yes, my error
Golden State has been lighting up the NBA even before Durant with Darymond Green playing center at 6-7 230. Last season their true centers combine for 20 min / game with Green at center the rest of the time. Everyone else outside of West and Puchilis is 6-3 to 6-7
I can't believe I have to say this, but you can't compare a small-ball lineup in college to an NBA one, especially if Draymond Green is the crux of the argument.
Zach Lowe has called Draymond one of the smartest defenders he's ever seen. What sets Draymond apart from every other small-ball center is his defensive instincts, and there's a reason he's been All-Defensive First Team for three straight years and last year won the Defensive Player of the Year.
Those types of guys don't come around very often, and very rarely is a college player going to have an outsized impact on the defensive end.
He does. He demonstrates his plan every game. He spreads the floor, forcing their bigs to guard our guys in space. He makes the other defenses guard our drive game in space, getting to the line more than his opponent.
He doesn't have his guys crash the boards (like so many of us learned in high school) because he wants them back on defense first and foremost. Buzz's goal is to make up the disparity in size in the transition game and help defense.
And, again, we just blew out a team with five guys in their rotation over 6'9" because they couldn't guard us. It's not going to work every game but this is the plan.
And if you look back over the course of our big losses where teams kill us and everyone goes "size" "size" "size," there is always another factor: Elite guard play.
Carolina - check
FSU - check
Wisconsin - check
NCSU - check
Elite guard play + above average big men give us all sorts of troubles. But, that combo gives everyone all sorts of troubles so it's not really that smart of a point.
Great point....and this disadvantage can be confronted with better guard play on our end.
We look really good on the the wings and at point. Yes, we lose Allen's go-to, but we also get rid of his defense. NAW looks the part. Rob continues to grow into a scorer. Hill looks quicker. Wilson is an important player.
This
The size argument can work both ways. A 6'8 and up forward or center is going to have to come out to guard a smaller quicker player, who is likely a better ball handler and can take his man off the dribble. Yes it would be nice if we had a 7' center but we will be fine with what we have.
I agree that we will be fine overall but after watching the game yesterday, what a difference having a 6'9"-6"11 skilled PF/C can do (like Blackshear) to guard the other team's big and prevent second chance points. I think Buzz is pushing hard to get Flo Thamba who is 6'9"-6'10" and can develop into that role as Blackshear finishes his career in the next couple years.
Any word on Bibbs. Is Buzz being tough on him because hes supposed to be the leader of this team or did he F up?
Yes, from the free side of TSL.
So I would assume the exhibition is not considered one of the 3 games? Would be interesting to see whether he travels to NYC as he would be eligible for the 2nd game of the tourney.
correct.
What are the odds hokietapes posts this game? Because I don't have the SEC network...
Posted about an hour ago 🏀🏀💪💪
Just watched the game. Very encouraging to see 2 big men in Blackshear and Horne who can actually catch a pass under the basket and make a shot.