Omier aside, team totally lacked both the mental and physical toughness needed to win, even in a weak ACC.
No on-court leadership, no PG, not enough inside presence, no roster depth in general, and nagging injuries didn't help.
Yessir. Especially a loaded team maybe one piece short where a guy like Clevelland could make a critical difference.
In other words, i the situation WE were in n April 2023. Unfortunately, we couldn't take advantage and now we're at the other end of that scenario. The team that gets raided...
Sure you are right on George!
What's your take on Poplar? Has he played himself out of being drafted, or still in play? Still shooting threes at a 44% clip (interesting that he shoots 3 balls with the same accuracy as he does shots inside the arc), great FT shooter. But ... he still lacks NBA...
I don't know that our "scramble D" ever made us a top defensive team. Better than now, for sure!
The Scramble just covered up for lack of ability to play sound man to man defense. Best part of it was it did turn the other team over, something we don't see enough of now. Wong got more than his...
I think what you say is part of the reason for UVA's success. The other part is he teaches that Pack Line and aggressive harassment on the perimeter very well, and his players fully buy into it. They know that if they don't, they are not playing!
What's the consequence for any UM player just...
Anyone notice (how could u not) how those UVA defenders of our perimeter jump shooters were always right up in the chest of our guys. How you hold a team averaging 81 ppg to 38. What a defensive clinic!
He was "developing" fine until the North Fla game when he rolled an ankle. Since then, not the same player. I have no way of knowing whether the injury is still hurting his game, or it's a mental thing trying to not re-injure himself.
You may be right. I don't think George may be that athletic either. Great skills though.
In the NBA it's another story. In college, I'll take a kid who can shoot lights out over an exceptional athlete who can run and dunk, but can't shoot, any day of the week.
I like Djobet's energy. Has not been afraid to shoot his jumper either (no small thing when you're not even an option on offense).
How "athletic" or unathletic is he? Seems to run the court well. Haven't had a good enough look at his jumping ability.
If L doesn't value the 5 position, he can join another 100 + coaches (and most of the NBA) who don't. Nature of today's game.
No question L is the best coach we've ever had. Not even close to being debatable.
Interesting that Djobet got 19 minutes yesterday against Pitt. Nwoko got 5 minutes and that was it for the bench. Wonder what L has been seeing from Djobet in practice.
Agree with what you say about Omier and our glaring lack of additional "size." But, wasn't all of that just as true about the team and Norchad last season when we went to the Final Four?
Swapping in Cleveland and George for Wong and Miller actually made us a bit bigger as a team. Senior...
After Elite Eight and FF appearances, no reason not to be very optimistic this season. That said, I think a bunch of us realized how close we came to going out against Drake in the first round of last year's FF run. All sorts of factors go into NCAAT success.
Tough remaining schedule. Gonna be very difficult.
Last night's win was very welcome but hardly impressive. With the exception, of course, of Norchad Omier who outdid himself. Just as was the case last season, he's the team MVP and easily our most irreplaceable player.