Our offense is built entirely around jump shots (Lacey & Turner), especially against a defense like UVA where Barber can't drive as easily. Just couldn't score the ball well enough without our jump shooters keeping it going the whole game. We hit two huge cold stretches in each half, but at least with the first half Turner got hot in the last few minutes to close the gap.

FT shooting was horrible, just like its been every year under Gott, but my biggest issue is that I'm not sure why Anya played so much. Washington had a decent to good game offensively and Freeman is at least consistent on the boards. Anya - other than his blocks - is borderline worthless on the floor as a scorer and rebounder. Really hurt that Abu got in foul trouble early - feel like he's our most well rounded big man even though its not like he's a sure bet either.

Also, I've only ever been to games at UVA (my 3rd was tonight), Wake & State so I don't have a lot to compare it to, but for a top 3 team I felt like that crowd tonight was incredibly weak. No noise unless UVA was making a shot to push it to a multiple score game.

[Edited on January 7, 2015 at 10:24 PM. Reason : TBDV]

1/7/2015 10:07:54 PM

It seemed like the weight lost made Anya worst. I remembered last year him dominating stretches of the game a la Tennessee. This year it seems like he gets a quick fouls and head straight to the bench. He has some nice squats but other then that it seems like he gets dominated by every average big man he faces.

1/7/2015 10:17:18 PM

Other than Washington our post offense is painful to watch. Washington should get more touches down low or at the free throw line. I am ok with him shooting a open three or two a game but he tried too many tonight. Cat didn't seem to do anything tonight.

1/7/2015 10:27:33 PM

I'd worry less about funneling offense through Washington (we shouldn't) and more about just rebounding.

Coaching mistake was leaving Anya in there for so long.

The best offense we have is having Lacey or Turner throw up shots and telling everyone to hustle for a put back. That's why you gotta like Freeman because that's all he does.

1/7/2015 10:35:51 PM

CAT NEVER DOES ANYTHING WHEN IT MATTERS. Almost all of his points are in games we already completely control or are completely out of. He's not a legit acc starter.

Abu has to stop fouling. I can't believe no one is talking about how bad the refs were.

the duke game will be ugly. they are virginia with nba talent.

1/7/2015 10:39:21 PM

1 point game with ~ 3 mins, not very ugly and I don't see any NBA players for Wake.

1/7/2015 10:45:27 PM

Good thing we're not playing Duke in Cameron Indoor this year as they'll beat us by 30+ again. Okafor will have a field day with our big men but they got no one to stop Lacey.

1/7/2015 11:04:22 PM

UVa was just tough defensively. I wish we wouldn't have held Abu out so long in the 2nd half after he got his third foul...but it seemed the refs were determined to call only touch fouls on him. I also didn't like doubling down on their big men. I know they're good, but they had a dude shooting 60% from three...and the other guys weren't too shabby either.

Other than that...I'm content with how we played. We played really tough defense. Offense wasn't great...but fuck, UVa is just really good on defense. We also missed some bunnies and had some bad turnovers. Our big men are HORRIBLE at passing out of the double team. At the same time, I don't think our guards give them good options either.

We've got some work to do...but that wasn't a bad game.

1/8/2015 8:12:06 AM

I really like having both Martin's on the court at the same time. Unfortunately that means Ralston or Cat has to sit and we sacrifice some offense but their size allows us to only have to play one of our not very good bigs.

Our best lineup IMO would be to go big
Lacey
Turner
Martin
Martin
Whatever big isn't sucking

[Edited on January 8, 2015 at 8:24 AM. Reason : ]

1/8/2015 8:23:51 AM

The thing about Abu is he is a defensive liability. You can see that other teams target him directly in the post, and they typically get an easy bucket or a foul. I expect that to change after a year of college level strength and conditioning, but it is what it is this year.

1/8/2015 8:35:05 AM

Quote :

"you do realize that 2 of those tourney appearances were with Sidney Lowe's recruits, right? "

yeah, the same recruits lowe couldn't even get to the NIT with

Look, I'm not saying Gott is a HOF coach. He has obvious flaws. But let's ease back from the ledge a little bit.

1/8/2015 8:46:08 AM

Are we really comparing the two in terms of coaches?

Quote :

"Unfortunately that means Ralston or Cat has to sit and we sacrifice some offense but their size allows us to only have to play one of our not very good bigs."

Are you fucking kidding me? I love it when Barber is out of the damn game and if Turner is on a cold streak his ass should be sitting too.



[Edited on January 8, 2015 at 9:51 AM. Reason : _]

1/8/2015 9:49:52 AM

Quote :

"Are we really comparing the two in terms of coaches?"

well...it's fucking stupid to do that and it's not even a debate about who is better. but when somebody says gott can only win with lowe's recruits then you're kinda forced to compare the two. but yeah - it's a ridiculous argument to begin with

1/8/2015 10:01:06 AM

Surprised you all aren't talking more about that 2-9 FT performance.

Quote :

" but when somebody says gott can only win with lowe's recruits then you're kinda forced to ignore the troll and continue oncompare the two. but yeah - it's a ridiculous argument to begin with"

ftfy

1/8/2015 10:32:40 AM

^yeah just ignoring him altogether would've been the better thing to do

beejay's stat line was horrific. 0/0 shooting, 0 rebounds, 4 turnovers, 3 fouls, 18 mins

1/8/2015 10:43:47 AM

1 block

1/8/2015 10:53:10 AM

Playing 1 big is a good idea for offense but that got us killed late in the game lastnight. We cant stop anyt j ing inside or get a revound unless we play 2 bigs. The starting lineup is our best lineup.

Its not a fair comparison because lowe was still a young coach at the time. We dont know how he would have grown with all those great players.

1/8/2015 10:56:20 AM

I don't think we played all that badly last night other than the stretch in the middle of the 1st half and at the end of the 2nd. We just rely way too much on Lacey & Turner hitting jumpers to have a consistent offensive attack, especially against a team that plays defense like UVA. Games like last night are why Barber has to find some sort of jumper - he just couldn't drive the ball at all against UVA's defense and wasn't a factor on the offensive end whenever he was on the court.

If Washington could learn not to be a complete black hole on offense I'd like to see him play more, but I'd really like to see the majority of our minutes in the post go to 1) Freeman and 2) Abu/Washington (basically whichever one of them that seems to be having a decent offensive night 5-10 minutes in).

Until Anya can come in and do something (rebound, score, defend well) other than blocking shots then I don't want him to see anymore time than he did last season. Its great he lost the weight, now he needs to learn how to use his frame and actually play basketball. He was terrible last night.

1/8/2015 11:47:18 AM

Freeman and Anya were abysmal last night and Washington had a double double while shooting 55%. His minutes need to stay where they are or increase.

Abu needed to come back in the game last night after picking up his third foul. We had nothing to lose.

1/8/2015 11:59:57 AM

I'll give Gott and the team a pass for this game. The three freshmen were clearly not ready for their first ACC road game against the #3 team. They will get better.

Freeman needs to play the most minutes. Don't understand why his are dwindling. He is the only big that rebounds worth a shit and plays the best defense. Just let him do the dirty work and get garbage putbacks. We don't need the bigs to score that much if Turner/Lacey are hitting.

1/8/2015 12:08:42 PM

I think Abu needs the most minutes, followed by Freeman. Freeman doesn't have any offense, but he's by far the best rebounder and a really good one-on-one defender. He also seems to have a much higher bball IQ than Washington or Anya. He'll do dumb things every now and then, but not nearly has much as the other two.

Washington is fine when he's shooting those FT line jumpers or giving effort on the glass, but he's a black hole in the post. He's going to throw up a horrible shot even if he's triple teamed. The few times he actually tries to pass usually result in a TO.

Anya is just worthless right now. Really sad. I think he was going to be a big part of this year's team, but he has no composure at all.

1/8/2015 12:08:49 PM

The thing that puzzled me the most about this game was why we didn't keep running plays for turner. he was hot as fire in the first half and then we just stopped giving it to him. As far as I am concerned when he is hitting, he needs to have the ball every time down the court until he stops making shots.

I know Washington had a good game overall, but I cringe every time that guy cranks a long shot early in the shotclock.

1/8/2015 12:31:24 PM

Quote :

"The thing that puzzled me the most about this game was why we didn't keep running plays for turner. he was hot as fire in the first half and then we just stopped giving it to him."

Pretty sure he was on the bench. Our run ended and he was getting gassed (and not rotating to his man) on defense. I think we kept both him and Lacey out for a few minutes too long...but it is what it is.

He was off in the 2nd half...looked tired. Dude was running around screens Scott Wood style.

1/8/2015 12:52:10 PM

You may be right, but I remember at least a half dozen trips down the court when he was on the floor where we didn't run a play for him. I actually only remember 1-2 plays run for him and I hardly ever remember him touching the ball.

1/8/2015 3:52:42 PM

They switched defenders and basically took him out of the game.

1/8/2015 3:55:08 PM

When we get in one of those scoring droughts, we need to just give it to Lacey every possession and let him create. Our team goes as far this year as he takes us.

1/8/2015 4:16:18 PM

Hard to run plays when you have one player that can move the ball and thats your main scorer. We could have been running plays all night but once someone else touches the ball it all breaks down.

I cant understand how cat can be so fast in the open floor but gets bottled up by any big mans hedge. Most pgs can dribble or pass out of a hedge wi th out retreating to half court.

1/8/2015 4:43:54 PM

^that is a very valid point. Cat, at this point, should be able to do something with that scenario. I wish we gave him more screens at the top of the key to try to create a switch or some separation. Its frustrating seeing him still not really fit into our offense night in and night out. I just don't get it...

I hate to sound like a guy that is settling, but for a young team like ours last night was a solid performance all in all. We competed with the #3 ranked team in the country through 37 minutes of game time. We had foul trouble that led to guys getting more time than was ideal....that happens. Our free throws continue to be the bane of our existence - we will never get anywhere as a team if we can't capitalize on free throws. It really has been our Achilles Heel since Gottfried started turning us around....seems so startlingly obvious and critical, yet we continue to come up short.

There is zero argument about what Gott has brought to the program. Anyone hating on him, get a clue. He may not be some legendary coach, but the guy is giving us all a great team to pull for - and we are deeper than I can ever remember. This team is solid, and its early - lets not overreact here.

Everytime the twins get on the floor at the same time I get excited. Those two are hell on defense with their length and athleticism, let them get some more game time burn and I think we have something very special in them. Their energy and heart are already obvious - chase down blocks, dunks, aggressive offensive plays in transition - for freshmen, I LOVE what I am seeing from them. Its not a bad squad with Lacey running point, and any combo of big men down low.

GO PACK. BEAT duke UNC!!

1/8/2015 5:14:27 PM

My biggest issue with Washington is that he needs to learn how to play within himself. Unless he's already hit a few shots I don't want him shooting anything past the FT line. Guy takes too many out of no where long jumpers early in the shot clock. If he can cut those out of his game then I'm a lot more okay with him still shooting it every time he catches it FT line and in.

Freeman may not bring much on offense, but when our offense revolves around Turner/Lacey hitting jumpers I'd much rather have him in for rebounding and put backs.

[Edited on January 8, 2015 at 5:25 PM. Reason : and yes. FT shooting was again terrible, no reason to expect anything else.]

[Edited on January 8, 2015 at 5:25 PM. Reason : TBDV]

1/8/2015 5:24:31 PM

Quote :

" Unless he's already hit a few shots I don't want him shooting anything past the FT line."

He hit a 3 before missing those next two tries (but yeah, his shot selection left a much to be desired there)

1/8/2015 5:53:54 PM

Quote :

"@lebrownlow · 4h 4 hours ago Checking out NC State-UVa box: Kyle Washington ended 34% of possessions when he was on the court. No one else on either team was over 28%."

That's a problem. Even though Washington had a fine game yesterday - there's no reason he needs to be taking that many shots away from Lacey and Turner.

1/8/2015 6:03:45 PM

I feel like Freeman's playing time would increase if he had a better free throw percentage.

1/8/2015 8:21:28 PM

and any semblance of an offensive game

1/8/2015 8:22:33 PM

yeah forget about freeman. we only give big minutes to guys who are reliable free throw shooters.

1/8/2015 10:23:04 PM

^
lol I thought this when I posted, but do other players on the team have as low of a free throw percentage as Freeman?

1/8/2015 11:21:05 PM

Freeman kinda seems to have regressed some since last year.

FT #s for our big guys

Anya 16/31 51.6%

Washington 16/22 72.7%

Freeman 12/26 46.2%

Abu 18/36 50%

They're all bad besides Washington. And he gets to the line the least of any of them.

1/9/2015 8:36:11 AM