Things Happen: Virginia Falls to West Virginia - SCACCHoops.com

Things Happen: Virginia Falls to West Virginia

by UniversityBall.org

Posted: 12/4/2016 11:17:04 AM


Game Central

Game Recap

The fact of the matter is, without a genuine horse like Malcolm Brogdon, the 2016–2017 Virginia Cavaliers have a slim margin for error against good teams.

West Virginia — for all the disdain we can throw Bob Huggins’s casual manner toward academics or tarp-sized track suits — is a good team: athletic, dynamic, and as fiercely devoted to their defensive system as we are. Without someone who can will us a basket at any time, games where we go 7–13 from the line (including three misses of the front end of one-and-ones), commit 14 turnovers, lose the rebounding battle (even narrowly), give up 26 points in the paint, and get just six points (and many questionable shots) from London Perrantes are going to be losses. We may have been able to survive the presence of one or even two of those factors yesterday, but the combination of all of them (and the fact that we didn’t get many easy ones against the press and struggled against WVU’s constricting half court traps) did us in.

We are an inexperienced team in the eighth game of trying to fit everyone on the roster into a new role. Disjointed, ugly games like yesterday’s are going to happen, especially against opponents that hit on a lot of our traditional pain points. It doesn’t mean that we don’t have good players — we do, lots of them — and it doesn’t mean that we’re not going to get better or that we’re going to win 18 games or that Tony’s lost his touch or any malarkey like that.

I will put out there that I’m the slightest bit concerned about both London Perrantes and Isaiah Wilkins. LP — as suspected by some and confirmed by my Hard Hedge-mate Daniel — has changed the form of his shot since last year and doesn’t look as comfortable taking it as he has in years prior. He’s also taking shots — like the leaning, foot-on-the-line two early in the shot clock he uncorked yesterday — that should be taken by someone like Kevin Durant, but not by your steady, sound floor general. Isaiah’s been fine — his numbers are good, and he finally grabbed more than one defensive rebound yesterday (a whopping six!) — but his body language has been subdued and sullen, and that concerns me as much or more. This is something I hope gets ironed out during the two week exam break, because I don’t think it’s tenable for an entire season.

I questioned some of Tony’s lineup decisions yesterday, but I think there’s a lot of room for experimentation there in game eight with a team that has undergone this much flux. There was a lot of Jarred Reuter (who I am admittedly a champion of but is also a situational guy with his limitations and almost produced an 11 trillion yesterday) and Ty Jerome (who had no turnovers so he clearly did something right so I’m not entirely complaining here) and not as much of Jack Salt (who is probably our best pure defender around the rim right now) or Kyle Guy (who I know is still a work in progress on defense and folded against the press yesterday but can also get buckets).

I’m starting to get the slightest feeling in my gut that I’d be willing to absorb more mistakes from Mamadi and Kyle if it came with more minutes and more opportunities to reap their positives. They’ll develop faster that way, and I think the ceiling is higher with them on the court — we just might have to be willing to see Mamadi pin putback dunk attempts on the rim and Kyle forget to help on a backdoor cut every so often. They’re just that talented. Maybe it’s a gut feeling, or maybe it’s eating media food all weekend or having to watch Virginia Tech in a football championship appearance and it’s unrelated.

I hate it when we lose at JPJ. It doesn’t feel like something that happens in reality, which is the luxury we’ve been afforded by a group that has won something like 45 of 47 in that building over the last few years. Part of the love affair between our fans and this program is the idea that support can lift them past any obstacle, and seeing that idea rebuked is a slap in the face.

If you got worked up yesterday, take a deep breath. We have a great coach. We have a roster stocked with talented players. We’ll be fine soon. We’ll be better in February and March than we are today. ECU’s up next.

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