I'm not a degenerate gambler, but I do enjoy horseracing. I especially love horseracing terminology. Therefore, for this year's position-by-position look at the football roster and depth chart, I thought it would be fun to use the the "trifecta box" format. Some terms and their definitions, courtesy of the Horse Racing Glossary:
Trifecta - A wager picking the first three finishers in exact order. Called a 'Triactor' in Canada and a 'Triple' in some parts of the U.S. ('Tricast' in the UK.)
Win - The term used to describe a 1st place finish.
Place - A 2nd place finish, aka 'runner-up.'
Show - Third position at the finish.
Also Ran - The other horses in the race not finishing 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in the event.
Ante Post - Bets placed in advance predicting the outcome of a future event. Usually, ante posts are placed on longshot odds or for extremely specific prop bets. (In other words, "a fearless prediction.")
Now you know the format. If I'm betting a trifecta box on UVA's point guard position this basketball season, here's how I'd structure the bet...
Jontel Evans: A flawed player with some skills to get excited about.
WIN: Jontel Evans, sophomore
"Bub" is a walking contradiction. He's a phenomenal on-ball defender (his covers usually toss around the term "bulldog" in reference to Evans) and has excelled at heating up the ball at the top of the pack-line defense, but he has struggled at times to find his spot in that defensive scheme when he's not on the ball. He's got a plus handle and is adept at slashing through the lane and getting to the hole, but he hasn't been a good finisher once he's there. He's been a horrible jump shooter, who is always open (mostly because defenders sag off of him, daring him to shoot). He's been a defensive specialist on a team starved for offensive production and playmaking from its point guard position. All of this being said, I think Jontel Evans will emerge as the starter at the 1 for the Hoos this season. If rumors about his rapid improvement as a shooter are true, he might be starting to put it all together. One thing is certain -- his defense is an asset to the team, as is his physicality, athletic ability, and football mentality. He gives his team a unique sense of toughness that I don't see any of the other point guard candidates being able to come close to approximating.
PLACE: Billy Baron, freshman
He comes to Virginia amid somewhat modest expectations, sort of blending into the Six Shooters group of freshmen after being a late addition to the class. Baron is said to be a "power point," Which I assume to mean he's strong and willing to post up other guards. I also know that he's a good, rehearsed shooter... not at the level of his brother (former Rhode Island 3-point sniper Jimmy Baron) but still solid. What I'm unsure about are his pure point guard skills. He was mostly a scorer during his prep career, and so I worry about Baron really being a 2 miscast as a point guard. He's a coach's son, and everyone who has seen him play says that he exudes intelligence in his game, so I'm excited to see what we've got with this guy when the bullets start flying. I suspect that he's a combo guard with some nice niche skills, and I envision the love child of J.R. Reynolds and Todd Billet based on everything I've read about him.
SHOW: Mustapha Farrakhan, senior
I list Mu over Sammy Zeglinski here for three main reasons: 1) Sammy's injury, which will keep him out for 8+ weeks and necessitate a slow return to action, 2) Coach Bennett's clear determination to turn Sammy into a pure shooting guard, and 3) The fact that Mu has been pretty darn good at running the point when given the chance. Of course, having a battle-tested senior with the ball in his hand is never a bad thing, and I suspect Farrakhan will start the season getting more minutes at the point than Billy Baron. Like Baron, Mu is pretty much a combo guard. He's a good defender, a streaky shooter, and is willing to take the biscuit to the basket and create offense, which is always going to be an asset for a team that will likely struggle to generate points. He's had a tendency to disappear for long stretches and battling that inconsistency will be his challenge as a senior, because the team needs him to provide a positive presence, night in and night out.
ALSO RAN:
- Sammy Zeglinski, junior -- Once he's back from his knee injury, he'll resume his role as the part-time point guard... unless Evans and/or Baron really step up into the role, which is clearly the hope of the coaching staff. Sammy really showed some sparks as a sweet-shooting 2 last season, and I think that's the position where Bennett would like him to lay roots.
- K.T. Harrell, freshman -- He's mostly a 2/3, but has displayed some combo guard skills during his prep career. He'll play the point only if we experience severe attrition or ineffectiveness from the four players listed above him here.
- Joe Harris, freshman -- It's hard to imagine a 6-6 point guard, but Harris is said to have some of the requisite skills to play the position. I have to believe that Harris being forced to play the point is an absolute worst-case scenario for the team this year. He's a 3 all the way.
ANTE POST: I like Jontel Evans a lot and am certainly pulling for him to succeed, but he is what he is right now -- a defensive specialist with an offensive game in adolescent stages of development. The players behind him are all combo guards, and not true point guards. Maybe Billy Baron will end up being a fantastic player as a freshman who was simply underevaluated by the recruiting services due to the fact that he committed so early to play for his dad at Rhode Island... or maybe he's just another nice piece in an ensemble cast. Add it all up, and there are just too many question marks for me to consider the point guard position to be a strength of the Virginia basketball team this season. I think we'll get below-average scoring and playmaking from the 1s, which is a problem for which these players' strong defense won't compensate completely. We need a slick-passing playmaking point guard in the worst kind of way, and that's why it's one of the primary recruiting focuses for the 2012 class.
Position Grade: D+/C-
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