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February 18, 2014

Winning ugly...

...is so fucking beautiful.




5 comments:

  1. I love this team's fight and clear belief in itself. But the one thing that was clear to me from this game is our complete lack of outside shooting. We do not have that deadly outside shooter that the elite teams have. Our best 3-point shooter (Joe Harris) is really more of a volume outside shooter if you look at his career numbers than anything else. Going up against a more athletic zone like a Syracuse I see being really tough. I love the defense and dont see us being out of any game but down the stretch we need someone to consistently hit outside shots.


    Oh and hitting free throws would be nice

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    Replies
    1. It's true. We need a #3 perimeter shooter to step up. Last night, it was (miraculously) Justin Anderson. But down the stretch, I think it will actually be London Perrantes who'll need to shoot more. Given his rep coming out of HS, taking a little of the scoring burden is something he's comfortable and competent in doing. That siad, I do worry about his defense down the stretch this season. We can't have good dribble-drive PGs tearing us up like that. London can't play if he can't defend.

      Against the 2-3 zone, I like the high post stuff with Mike Tobey. We just need him to stop being such a defensive liability on pick and rolls. (I actually like seeing Darion Atkins on the floor a little bit more, trading off Tobey's O for Darion's D.)

      Nathan's right --- we won a game last night that any UVA team of the last 18 years would have lost. We're winning ugly games, close games, on the road. And I don't care what RPI the conference carries, the ACC is tough as shit. We absorbed BY FAR the best shot Virginia Tech had to give, and came out on top. There's something to be said for the ability to simply survive. In fact, "survive and advance" is the name of the game in the NCAAT.

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  2. It's true, Justin, but any of Harris, Brodgon, Nolte, and to a lesser extent, Anderson or Perrantes can get hot from deep. I liked what I saw against the VT zone, with Malcolm slipping inside acting like an in-the-paint distributor. We'll need something like that to be effective against 'Cuse. First things, first, though. Two must-win home games.

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  3. Generally, though, this is a game most UVA teams of years past would've lost. And that is true of a handful of games this season. The team is so ugly at times, but with consistent defensive effort, particularly in the last 10 minutes of a game, we win games. We're a tough out right now.

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