VT Post Game Thoughts

[Wrangor]

1. CMM and Devin both played incredible ball games. I give both of these guys a hard time some of the time, but yesterdays game was incredible. The difference in coaching between last year and this year is so plainly evident. I don't think either player forced a play the entire game. Both played entirely to their strengths 100% of the time (I am certain on CMM, and I can't remember Devin making a bad decision). These two are the reason we won, and will be the reason we win in the future for the rest of this season. Bravo to our two leaders.

2. BSD sent me a PM asking why Rountree doesn't play more, and to be honest I am not sure. He is over aggressive sometimes on defense, but his positioning and strength are much better than Leonard. His offensive skillset (particularly passing from the high post) is much better than Leonard. He can't shoot, but he makes a lot of really nice plays on the offensive side of the ball. He made one really poor pass yesterday that resulted in an easy steal, but outside of that I thought he played well for the time he was in the game.

3. VT is not a bad team. They have pretty awful talent as well, particularly no post presence, but they have several really good shooters, and they play good team defense. It would not surprise me in the least to see them knock a few teams off the rest of the way. Once the real BZ gets some players they are going to be just like Marquette.

4. We certainly made some mental errors with our switching strategy this game, but it was really fun to watch us employ a new defensive strategy as compared to the last game. The game previous we played a hard hedge and attempted (often unsuccesfully) to switch back. This game we switched everything primarly (I would guess) because of VT's lack of a post presence. We didn't do it perfectly, but that is not completely surprising considering this is Manning's first year. The key to defensive success is being able to have multiple years in the same system (unless you just have a slew of McD's AA like Kentucky). Next year when we play a team that requires switching, we are going to see a better team defense, and we weren't terrible yesterday.

5. Manning dropped the ball with the timeouts at the end of the game in my opinion. Up 3 points with 11 seconds to go is NEVER a time to use your final timeout when the other team is out of them. For one, he gave Bz a chance to set up a player. Secondly, what happens if VT makes that wide open three pointer they took? We would have had no timeouts to set up a game winner. Really bad move in my opinion. I am pretty sure he will look back at that one and learn from it. I understand his sentiment. He wants to make sure we are prepared no matter what, but you just can't give the other coach a free timeout when they need it the most.

6. I texted my brother at the beginning of the second half and said 'this one is going to be a free throw shooting contest....uh oh', and that was a pretty good guess. Refs were terribly tight with the whistle. Ruined the entire flow of the game. I was a little surprised we pulled this one out considering how often the refs blew the whistle. I still cant believe that MJ hit two free throws with 11 second left to force VT to take a three pointer. He would have never been able to do that last year.

7. Speaking of MJ, he played a really good game. He got into some foul trouble, but he is being very aggressive on defense which is exactly what we need. I would love to see him drive and get to that 10 foot area and shoot it more often to be honest. I have been like a yoyo on MJ on all year. He has just been so inconsistent. Perhaps he is finding his niche. I am glad to see him playing less minutes, as he has been more effective that way.

8. Wilbekin is a fun guy to cheer for. He really needs to work on his explosiveness off the dribble, but he is a really solid bball player. Dinos hit some huge shots as well. Can't imagine where we would be this year without his shooting. Our best games have been the ones where he has been effective from the perimeter. Dino's defense is still pretty terrible though .

Thats all for now. Anyone else?

 

[DeaconSig]

Thomas had one horrible pass from the top of the key in the first half, but otherwise had a fantastic game.

I really don't see what Rountree brings to the table. His defense is not good. While he is a decent passer, his ballhandling and shooting are so terrible that nobody really has to guard him. That, in turn, reduces his effectiveness as a passer.a

Agree on the timeout usage. Manning has a lot to learn about game management, but I think it is something he can (and will) learn. He may need to find a former head coach to add to the staff to really help with that development.

 

[Wakeforest22890]

Tree plays the right amount IMO. MJ has improved after embracing his own limitations

 

[Deacsfan27]

Thoughts on not fouling up three?

 

[Strickland33]

Thomas had one horrible pass from the top of the key in the first half, but otherwise had a fantastic game.

I really don't see what Rountree brings to the table. His defense is not good. While he is a decent passer, his ballhandling and shooting are so terrible that nobody really has to guard him. That, in turn, reduces his effectiveness as a passer.a

Agree on the timeout usage. Manning has a lot to learn about game management, but I think it is something he can (and will) learn. He may need to find a former head coach to add to the staff to really help with that development.

The worst thing about Tree is that his awareness on both sides of the floor is bad. IMO, his overall basketball IQ is quite low. I could live with him playing a lot if his defensive rotations were perfect and he readily moved without the ball on offense.

On defense, he either noticeably blows rotations or overplays his man one-on-one (and is probably the worst gambler on our team outside of Madison), which leads to all sorts of positional issues that put a ton of pressure on our SF and C, not to mention whoever gets stuck with the resulting mismatch. While he occasionally makes a big play due to his length and activity-level, he is responsible for far more grief than meets the eye, IMO. On top of that, his potential is limited by the fact that his lateral quickness leaves a lot to be desired.

Outside of Darius, he's the worst offender of sitting and watching on offense, which makes no sense because the only way he's remotely useful is if he moves without the ball, cutting or scrapping. His strengths basically replicate Devin's, and he doesn't add ANYTHING, IMO, outside of the occasional entry pass.

I'm coming around to the view that we just have nothing at power forward. At this point, I can't understand why we don't utilize Greg like we utilized Travis for his first two years. He makes up for his lack of height with length and hops, and is already a better rebounder than either Tree or Darius.

 

[simosfrostyone]

Agree with the comments about Rountree. He has lots of energy but it is often misdirected. Like Leonard he only gets minutes because of our talent deficit.

I haven't thought a lot about it, but I can't see that Tech's talent is superior to ours. So we should beat them at home. But it goes without saying that if name redacted is on the bench we lose the game by at least 10. So that is something to be thankful for. The improvement in Thomas, Jones, and CMM is coaching. And it also would have been a different story if DM hadn't snagged Mitaglou, Hudson and Wilbekin with very little time to do it in.

 

[SC DEAC]

Next year, jones and roundtrees minutes go way down due to adding some talented freshmen. Jones will still probably get 10 mins or so but unless Collins is way over his head then I just don't see roundtree getting more than 5 mins a game , if even that

 

[Rafi]

I haven't thought a lot about it, but I can't see that Tech's talent is superior to ours. So we should beat them at home. But it goes without saying that if name redacted is on the bench we lose the game by at least 10. So that is something to be thankful for.

Last year we won at VT by 6 (we didn't play them at home). The year before that we beat VT at home by 11. The year before that we beat them at home by 3.

 

[Maztal]

Last year we won at VT by 6 (we didn't play them at home). The year before that we beat VT at home by 11. The year before that we beat them at home by 3.

Who can forget this classic Bzz vs VT moment?

 

[Deac83]

MJ, FWIW, leads the ACC (in ACC games) in Asst/TO ratio.

 

[Ball State Deac]

Maybe I'm not paying enough attention, but I see Roundtree has having great court visions and a really good handle. He's pretty long and gets into passing lanes. I dunno, I like him.

 

[mebanedeac]

I'm a 'Tree fan; but disappointed that he still gets lost on defense and is too loose with the ball. He has great court vision and makes some really good passes. He also throws the ball away a lot.

 

[Deac83]

Tree like most of our players has a role, his is not in half court offense or defense.

 

[MrBojangles]

From an offensive standpoint, Tree adds a lot more than Leonard does at the PF. He's not as good as DT, but I doubt Aaron even thinks he's as good as Devin. I feel like on the offensive end, Rountree makes the other guys on the court better (which is a really great thing). If he'll move a little bit more to get open and set screens, I think he could get as much as 12-15 minutes a game and be extremely helpful.

Defensively, on the other hand, I think Aaron has the opposite effect, in that he makes the guys around him look worse. He's been out there with Dinos or Darius quite often (instead of Devin), so I'm not sure it can be blamed entirely on Aaron (since those two guys are bad at defense too), but his gambling on the defensive end of the court results in everyone else being out of position and leads to lots of easy baskets for the other team. He seems to be deceptively quick on offense, yet seems to be a step late on defense. I wish he could figure the defensive end of the court, because if he did, then I think he could fill the same role that we want Greg to play (the garbage man, cleaning up the misses by CMM, DT, Dinos, and Wilbekin). We've got to have one of those guys on the court at all times and I thin Aaron is a good fit.

 

[FckVwls]

I love Rountree as a teammate but really hate him as a player and would rarely ever play him if I was picking rotations. Kinda liked the lineups better when he was hurt. But that's just my opinion, not saying it's a fact.

 

[sailordeac]

VT played well enough, especially on offense, to win at the end. They repeatedly hit big shots and were excellent at the line. And they twice got the shot they wanted at the very end.

We played reasonably well too, and basically luck was momentarily with us at the end.

Right now both MJ and 'Tree are playing better than Leonard and should get more playing time. Darius is helping little and should play less until/if he is able to adjust and turn it around.

 

[Wrangor]

My point on rountree isn't that he is a great player I just think he is at least as good as Leonard. He is certainly. Better rebounder and a better passer. Worse on help defense because he gambles and obviously a worse shooter.

But he is excellent in the open floor and if he got a little more floor experience could be valuable to us this year as a gap filler in the post when Leonard isn't hitting. I think we forget that this is rountrees first year in the post. [Redacted] played him primarily on the wing.

 

[bym051d]

What does everyone thing about the refs stopping the game multiple times at the end to check possession and clock, effectively giving VT two more time outs?

 

[PTownDeac]

I'm of the opinion that Roundtree needs to get all of Leonard's minutes at the 4.

 

[sailordeac]

What does everyone thing about the refs stopping the game multiple times at the end to check possession and clock, effectively giving VT two more time outs?

The refs did a poor job the whole game. The constant video checking at the end was just frosting on their misbegotten cake. Unfortunately, poor officiating has become standard practice with Jamie Luckie. As soon as you see him in the building, expect poor officiating. The other two were hardly better.