Good things that have happened in the last 6 weeks:
- Hall becoming a Swiss-army knife and being more aggressive on offense (driving the ball!) - Shayok becoming a more consistent scorer - Salt continually improving in his role as a paint defender - Wilkins getting confidence back on offense - Jerome stepping up big time in late-game moments
Not as good things that have happened:
- Guy's ridiculous shooting start has cooled off
Things that have happened that aren't great for the individuals but fine for the team right now:
- Thompson has become marginalized in this backcourt, though partly due to the emergence of Jerome and the improved and indispensable play of Hall and scoring of Shayok.
- Reuter is playing less and doesn't look like he will factor in much during conference play. I am not surprised by this, and don't think this is a bad development for the team as much as Reuter. Salt is doing a better and better job of defense and rebounding, and if Wilkins can hit some spot jumpers and garbage points (think Udonis Haslem) to go along with the rest of his game we don't really need Reuter to play except for foul trouble.
-Mamadi doesn't play anymore. This makes me sad as a fan, I want him to get his feet wet and become more comfortable out on the court.
Important thing that has happened this year:
- The main reason I am okay with our big rotation basically being two people is because I love our 4 GUARD LINEUPS.
- Our most talented and experienced players are guards. Perrantes, Hall, Shayok, Jerome, and Wilkins is a lineup we have played recently that has been doing awesome. I think come tournament time when the going gets tough you will see this lineup more and more, EXCEPT when we play teams that truly play 2 bigs all the time (ex. UNC always plays 2 out of 3 of Meeks, Hicks, and Bradley)
Rotating Guy and Thompson in for guards, and Salt for Wilkins, keeps our rotation at a sharp 8 players. I like that we seem to be doing this more and more as the season goes on. It's a different look for UVa than we're used to in the past 4 years, but definitely necessary as we had been unable to score enough (relative lack of offensive talent and scoring ability with our bigs this year) out of our basic Mover-Blocker offense where the 2 bigs screen and re-screen.
Super excited at the way this season has developed, Go Hoos!
Titus is the best.
ReplyDeleteGood things that have happened in the last 6 weeks:
ReplyDelete- Hall becoming a Swiss-army knife and being more aggressive on offense (driving the ball!)
- Shayok becoming a more consistent scorer
- Salt continually improving in his role as a paint defender
- Wilkins getting confidence back on offense
- Jerome stepping up big time in late-game moments
Not as good things that have happened:
- Guy's ridiculous shooting start has cooled off
Things that have happened that aren't great for the individuals but fine for the team right now:
- Thompson has become marginalized in this backcourt, though partly due to the emergence of Jerome and the improved and indispensable play of Hall and scoring of Shayok.
- Reuter is playing less and doesn't look like he will factor in much during conference play. I am not surprised by this, and don't think this is a bad development for the team as much as Reuter. Salt is doing a better and better job of defense and rebounding, and if Wilkins can hit some spot jumpers and garbage points (think Udonis Haslem) to go along with the rest of his game we don't really need Reuter to play except for foul trouble.
-Mamadi doesn't play anymore. This makes me sad as a fan, I want him to get his feet wet and become more comfortable out on the court.
Important thing that has happened this year:
- The main reason I am okay with our big rotation basically being two people is because I love our 4 GUARD LINEUPS.
- Our most talented and experienced players are guards. Perrantes, Hall, Shayok, Jerome, and Wilkins is a lineup we have played recently that has been doing awesome. I think come tournament time when the going gets tough you will see this lineup more and more, EXCEPT when we play teams that truly play 2 bigs all the time (ex. UNC always plays 2 out of 3 of Meeks, Hicks, and Bradley)
Rotating Guy and Thompson in for guards, and Salt for Wilkins, keeps our rotation at a sharp 8 players. I like that we seem to be doing this more and more as the season goes on. It's a different look for UVa than we're used to in the past 4 years, but definitely necessary as we had been unable to score enough (relative lack of offensive talent and scoring ability with our bigs this year) out of our basic Mover-Blocker offense where the 2 bigs screen and re-screen.
Super excited at the way this season has developed, Go Hoos!