JB not on his game today

[kcsu]

Why allow so many 3 point attempts when we were colder than a German chick and Rak had a ten foot 500 pound advantage inside?

 

[dasher]

Why allow so many 3 point attempts when we were colder than a German chick and Rak had a ten foot 500 pound advantage inside?

It seemed he was just letting what happened, happen.

 

[Brooky03]

Rak was getting triple teamed at times and VT was really packing it in in the 2nd half. Cooney clearly has the same greenlight now that GMac had (GMac had a lot of shooting performances like this) and G shot pretty well from deep. Patterson's 3's hurt us a little bit, but it's hard to get a player to pass up wide open looks.

We weren't getting bad looks, which is where coaching comes in. We weren't knocking the good looks down, though, which is where the players come in.

 

[kcsu]

Rak was getting triple teamed at times and VT was really packing it in in the 2nd half. Cooney clearly has the same greenlight now that GMac had (GMac had a lot of shooting performances like this) and G shot pretty well from deep. Patterson's 3's hurt us a little bit, but it's hard to get a player to pass up wide open looks.

We weren't getting bad looks, which is where coaching comes in. We weren't knocking the good looks down, though, which is where the players come in.

Good post i still think that we should have really worked the inside especially to start the second half with the lead.

 

[Brooky03]

Good post i still think that we should have really worked the inside especially to start the second half with the lead.

I agree. I would have liked to see the ball go inside a little more. Some plays getting the ball to Rak and a cutter along the baseline would have been nice.

 

[Eagles20]

Good post i still think that we should have really worked the inside especially to start the second half with the lead.

There were a few times they worked it side to side and got christmas the ball late and where effective. Did not do it enough. Tech was fronting with help which limited his chance to get it on the high low or from the wing without ball movement.

 

[sabach]

It seemed he was just letting what happened, happen.

I thought the same thing. It was like he never thought we'd actually lose because our talent would win out in the end.

 

[Timonen]

Rak was getting triple teamed at times and VT was really packing it in in the 2nd half. Cooney clearly has the same greenlight now that GMac had (GMac had a lot of shooting performances like this) and G shot pretty well from deep. Patterson's 3's hurt us a little bit, but it's hard to get a player to pass up wide open looks.

We weren't getting bad looks, which is where coaching comes in. We weren't knocking the good looks down, though, which is where the players come in.

The way they were packing in on rak, I dunno why we didn't bring him out to the foul line. If they want to double him there, he can dump down to a cutter...or he could take them off the dribble if singled. We did let vt dictate way too much. It started right away with the 3 point tradeoffs. That ended up benefiting us but we seemed to follow them all day re: flow of the game.

 

[stuckinbig11]

Cooney clearly has the same greenlight now that GMac had (GMac had a lot of shooting performances like this) .

It didn't help that two of Cooney's made 3s were nullified because a foul was called off the ball.

 

[Ghost]

The way they were packing in on rak, I dunno why we didn't bring him out to the foul line. If they want to double him there, he can dump down to a cutter...or he could take them off the dribble if singled. We did let vt dictate way too much. It started right away with the 3 point tradeoffs. That ended up benefiting us but we seemed to follow them all day re: flow of the game.

Definitely could have been an option.

There were a couple times in the second half where G went to reverse the ball to Cooney and instead of taking the pass with Rak on his side he sort of just drifted down and stood next to Rak. Obviously waiting for a screen or something to develop, but Rak had just scored on a feed from G in the same spot - take the ball reversal and look to go inside. Otherwise it's just G and Buss playing catch. Just seemed odd.

 

[Flacusian]

The way they were packing in on rak, I dunno why we didn't bring him out to the foul line. If they want to double him there, he can dump down to a cutter...or he could take them off the dribble if singled. We did let vt dictate way too much. It started right away with the 3 point tradeoffs. That ended up benefiting us but we seemed to follow them all day re: flow of the game.

This is a very good point. There was no one particular thing which precipitated the early 2nd half malaise. It was a little of all the poisons which have affected this team this year. Poor shooting and most inextricably missing wide open looks, the team's inability to handle even a little bit of pressure bringing the ball up, throwing the ball away with What turnovers (the ones where the ball is thrown over the head of a team mate into the stands) and letting the opposition dictate the pace of the game.

Cooney obviously needs to play and be out there as much as possible BUT not to the point of becoming inefficient from exhaustion. It seems clear that he would benefit from a brief breather or two especially in the 2nd half of games. When he is fatigued he is unarguably a different player.

The attention which was being paid to Rak during the 2nd half could be best characterized as a continuous pressure bordering on assault and it was obvious he had his hands full just keeping his body upright and free from entanglement of Buzzys Brigade of Hokie Henchmen. When something the opposition is doing is becoming effective to the point of virtually shutting down the contribution of your best player you would think it would be best to do something strategically to change the metrics of the situation. Timonen's suggestion to bring Rak out to the foul line would certainly have had some type of effect on changing what was happening. It just seems that if Rak is going to be rendered ineffective by the other team there should be some type of contingent liability we could and should capitalize on as a result of it.

In the end we won and certainly that matters but the victory feels somewhat muted by the fact that we were essentially kicking their a$$es the first half and it came down to the last nano second for the win, The early first half excitement with respect to what appeared to be significant team progress was quickly dampened by the return of the NIT- itis fashion of play.

I'll take the win... and be happy with it. They bent but didn't break and that's a good thing. Next!

 

[hoopsupstate]

First of all, you shouldn't be tired when you have tv timeouts every 4 minutes. SU is not pressing or playing man to man, so fatigue should never come into play. No one you can bring in is better than Cooney. The same can be said for Rak and G. Everyone else is interchangeable. It's going to be hard to keep Roberson off the court if he keeps getting double doubles.

Their pressure took us out of our patience on offense. They quickened us up and it forced us to play faster on offense than we wanted. Give credit to VT. When you get pressured you have a tendency to settle rather than work the ball. It was pretty much that way the entire second half, plus we couldn't get the ball off the boards and run. There wasn't nearly as many loose balls in the second half that let us get out into transition. I had a feeling at the half that if they made a few threes in the second half and got the margin down to 10 or so, the game would be settled late. Momentum is hard to get back when you're on the road.

 

[HoustonCuse]

I think to get Cooney any rest, BJ or Chino is going to have to be able to be out there. That would allow Gbinije to move to 2G. I don't think coach will run a backcourt of Patterson and Joseph and with our current lineups he hasn't run much with X, McC, and TR along the back together.

 

[hoopsupstate]

Chino is not coming off the bench unless 3-4 players foul out. It's just not going to happen so we might just stop talking about it. I think we've seen the end of BJ. JB has confidence in Gbinije and he won't take him out unless he's forced to. Chino and BJ can't play at this level. Either one of them is the likely player to move on after the year. They have both already been recruited over. Down the road Moyer is coming in so BJ won't see the floor then either.

 

[81South]

Guys have covered it pretty well already...obviously we were trying very hard to go inside but it is not always possible and it is even harder when no one else steps up as an offensive threat. Buzz took Rak away and we barely scrapped out a win against a ACC bottom feeder in a half filled arena (I wasn't there but the tv shots showed ALOT of empty seats).