Player Notes -- Winthrop Game

I always have a hard time making the mid-November transition from football over to the weird football/basketball mix of the late Fall.  It's especially tough when the football season is going well... and at 7-3, this football season has been an unmitigated success against the backdrop of modest expectations.

Ah, the backdrop of modest expectations.  Not a situation the 2011-12 Virginia Basketball team will enjoy from yours truly.  I've said it again and again, and I'll keep saying it --- it's NCAA Tournament or BUST this season for the hoops Hoos.

I'm just glad basketball season is here.  I love basketball season.  And while I'm not head-over-heels in love with the aesthetics of Bennettball, I am 100% bought in with our coach's ability to build a successful program.  Ugly wins are still beautiful.  Year three, it's time to start tasting the sweet fruits of the labor.

I wasn't able to make it out for South Carolina State game on Sunday, but I was able to watch the entire game against Winthrop tonight.  I'll break down my thoughts in a player-by-player format, but first a few notes for the entire team:

-- 19-for-19 from the free throw line.  Outstanding.  You won't lose many games shooting one hundred freaking percent from the charity stripe.  You can tell that free throws has been a major focus for this team over the offseason.  Can't imagine that the disastrous ACC Tournament collapse against Miami did anything but assist that mission.

-- As a whole, the team did not shoot well tonight.  The last ten minutes of the first half and the first ten minutes of the second half were particularly dismal.  You can't embark upon a 20-minute slump and hope to emerge victorious against many higher-level opponents.  But that slumpability (hey, if "spurtability" is a word for Duke, "slumpability" is a word for Virginia) is a treasured trademark of Virginia Basketball.  Go Hoos.

-- The team seemed to lack confidence at times.  I think we missed Mustapha Farrakhan's swagger a little bit.  That will be tough to replace, because none of these backcourt guys really bring that sort of energy to the table.

-- The rebounding was strong for the most part, the defense was solid, the ball handling was sure, and the turnovers were limited.  Strong fundamental basketball, despite the poor shooting effort.  Very encouraging.

Now on to the player notes...

JONTEL EVANS

• Bub nailed two treys in this game.  Two.  If he can really shoot the three - not sure I'm buying it yet - this team will be able to play on a whole new level.
• He also knocked down all five of his free throw attempts.  Hallelujah.  Huge personal pet peeve of mine when the point guard sucks at shooting free throws.
• Let's just be honest.  Jontel Evans had a GREAT game.  The best of his Virginia career, that I can remember.  He was great on D, and brought a lot to the table on offense with his ability to drive the ball.  He was probably the difference between winning this game by 20 and potentially losing in a backbreaking upset.
• His 17 points has to be a career high, right?
• It's well documented.  I'm not the world's biggest Jontel Evans fan.  But if he can keep this kind of perfomance up, I will happily eat a huge plate of crow.
• All of that praise being heaped on, his two first half fouls were bad.  He needs to be smarter about that, knowing Sammy is out and the only other point guard option is a freshman.

MIKE SCOTT

• Good God, it's good to have this guy back for a second senior season.  We didn't run the offense through him nearly enough, but he was still dominant.  18 & 8, and that's about what I'd expect to be the norm from Scott in every game this season.
• Double teams came hard and fast.  A few times, he wasn't really ready to pass out of them.  He needs to get better about this, or we'll be forfeiting a bunch of open 3s.
• Money from the free throw line.
• I had the feeling that if Winthrop had kept the game knotted up til around the 3:00 mark, Bennett would have started feeding the beast.  I think TB wanted to see if his team could win the game and thrive without Scott being the focal point.  In some ways, Mike Scott can be a bit of a crutch for the rest of the team.  But unlike the terrible way Dave Leitao put a team around Sylven Landesberg, Tony Bennett is making sure there is real meat on that bone.  Mike Scott is the guy who will ultimately serve as the engine for this team, but despite his stellar numbers, he wasn't the main man tonight.  I think that was by design.

ASSANE SENE

• I do not say this lightly, because I'm a big Dream fan, but Sene looked an awful lot like Hakeem Olajuwon at times tonight.  At one point, he did a Dream shake and floated in a pretty left-handed hook shot from about five feet.  Similar to Bub, if Sene can score, we are going to have a whole different dimension this season.  I do not buy Mike's proposed pie-in-the-sky 10 & 10 average, but 8 & 6 seems realistic, and would be absolutely HUGE.
• One blocked shot tonight.  Was damn close to another two.  Altered countless other shots in the lane.  Keep it up, big man!
• 4-for-4 from the line, and the stroke was pretty.  He shot 56% last season, but this form looked like a 68-72% free throw shooter to me.  Very encouraging, because if he's finishing down low, it means he'll be going to the line... and if he can deliver from the line alongside Mike Scott's reliable 85%, there is no hack option for opponents.
• His defensive positioning was good tonight.  This was a bit of a bugaboo for Sene early in his career, and at times late last season.  It looks like the problem has been fixed.

JOE HARRIS

• His shot was off tonight.  2-for-10, including 2-for-8 from downtown.  He bricked a couple of wide open looks.  I'm not going to worry yet, because a lot of shooters struggle in the early season games... but keep an eye on this.  If he's not shooting well, we are not going to be nearly as good as we could be.
• I don't think he brought a whole lot of positives to the game.  His defense was okay, but he was also abused a few times by quick lateral moves.  He wasn't a force on the boards.  He wasn't making plays.  He definitely played hard, but his game seemed to shrink once his shot wasn't falling.  Concerning.
• ll of that being said, I'm not worried about Joe Harris.  Especially considering the two shots he drilled later in the game.  He's a plus player for us, easily our second-best player overall.  He'll have bad shooting nights, but his form is so pure, those slumps will never last.

KT HARRELL

• He struggled a little bit from the field, too.  But I thought he did bring a lot to the table.  He drove the ball and made plays, he played plus defense, he crashed the boards hard.
• I've been wondering about his psyche after not playing up to expectations last year, but tonight it seemed like he's easing comfortably into a "glue guy" type of support role.  Not everyone can be a star.  It's talented guys buying into their roles that can make a mediocre team good or a good team great.  I think Harrell seems to be embracing his role.
• The lost art of the mid-range shot.  I'll always be a KT Harrell fan, because he's a bit old school with those 8-12 foot jumpers.  That shot can break a defense down faster than anything, and Harrell can deliver the goods, as he did on a couple of occasions tonight.

AKIL MITCHELL

• I was impressed tonight.  He looks more like Mike Scott than he does the raw jumpingjack we saw last year, which is to say he's starting to get a little polish on his game.
• He's always been a good, strong rebounder, and he didn't fail to deliver on that reputation tonight.  I actually think he's the best rebounder on the team now, even better than Scott (who has trouble in traffic from time to time).  Mitchell just elevates, elevates, elevates, and then gets even higher.  He's like Calvin Johnson trying to catch an overthrown ball on a fade route.  If Mitchell's defense and free throw shooting can catch up with his rebounding, he'll be the ultimate lead-protecting big man.
• He dropped the best dime of the game tonight, a sweet little up-and-under to a streaking Mike Scott on the baseline.  Again, I was impressed with what I saw in his 20 minutes on the floor.

JAMES JOHNSON

• Only saw 5 minutes, all in the first quarter of the game.  I was a bit disappointed in that, but the game was in doubt until about the 6:00 mark of the second half.  Tony Bennett doesn't trust Johnson yet.
• He moved better than I thought he would.  Very good quickness, and a clear willingness to get up and down the court.
• You can see his potential, but he still seems very, very tentative.  Like he has to think before he acts.  This could be a hard learning experience type of season for him.
• The problem here is that Mike Scott and Assane Sene are both graduating after this season.  5 minutes per game isn't going to cut it when it comes to getting Big Red ready to take over major frontcourt duties next season.

MALCOLM BROGDON

• Not sure why I saved him for last.  Maybe because it was a fairly forgettable performance.  The good news is that he didn't make any terrible mistakes.  The bad news is that he didn't make any big impact plays, other than drilling a couple of three-pointers during UVA runs.
• He's smooth.  Glides.  Moves around effortlessly.  I won't say he's fast per se, because I didn't really see that from him.  But he was slick.
• Seemed passive at times, and seemed to have a very laid-back demeanor.  This can cut both ways.  You need even-keeled guys in the backcourt, but the best guards are the fiery guys who get really aggressive.  Maybe it's just a freshman trying to feel his way along, but I'd like to see a little more emotion in future games from Brogdon.
• He played 30 minutes, and took good care of the basketball (only 2 turnovers).  I think he played it a little too safe, but that's Bennettball.
• The bottom line is that the guy displayed a good handle, played solid D (for a freshman), and has a very good shot.  He clearly has talent, but was also clearly a freshman playing in his second college basketball game ever.

That was the rotation tonight.  Sammy Zeglinski didn't play, as he's still getting over a rolled ankle he suffered last week.  Darion Atkins is suspended for breaking team rules of some sort, but I think he'll play some minutes this season, for sure.  Paul Jesperson is redshirting, which I like... but we can't get too heavy with the redshirting, lest we allow ourselves not enough wiggle room with scholarships for future recruiting.

Overall, it was a good win.  Winthrop isn't bad.  I could see them finishing around 4th or 5th in the  Big South, which isn't a terrible basketball conference.  Of the early season creampuff games, this one was probably less puff and more cream.

I feel good about where we are right now.  I want to see Sammy back in the lineup, as his shooting will really be important this season.  I also want to see James Johnson get more minutes and do something with them, and I want to see Malcolm Brogdon get a bit more aggressive.  If Jontel Evans and Assane Sene can play like this all season, look out.

GO HOOS!