On Benny Williams...I changed my mind...

[rrlbees]

i didnt say he turned it over. i said he couldnt get the ball past half court. he couldn't get open.

Nice side step. Saying someone couldn’t get the ball over half court kinda means dribbling. Go back and watch it. Nobody could get open and they denied Joe the ball. Even K wasn’t open and had to tight rope the sideline and did a great job of it. Whatever we were trying to do to break the press the last 30 seconds was poorly designed. Putting it on just now and saying he could get the ball over mid court was weak.

 

[rrlbees]

I did because admittedly, it was an anxiety inducing experience so my recollection could have been affected. I dont know how you can say it wouldve over. A pg needs to get the ball and get it over half court.

When the other team is full court pressing with all 5 guys it’s more than one players job to break a press. It wasn’t just how against his man. Was Sherman bad at breaking the press? Coleman broke it several times. Many of our forwards have over the years. Bergan, KJo, etc. Did they all play with bad PGs?

 

[jgeorge322]

Nice side step. Saying someone couldn’t get the ball over half court kinda means dribbling. Go back and watch it. Nobody could get open and they denied Joe the ball. Even K wasn’t open and had to tight rope the sideline and did a great job of it. Whatever we were trying to do to break the press the last 30 seconds was poorly designed. Putting it on just now and saying he could get the ball over mid court was weak.

Kadary got open and got the ball past half court. Its not side stepping that you read something wrong.

 

[jgeorge322]

Listen I am not a Girard defender by any means, but Marek made a lot of mistakes down the stretch that had nothing to do with Girard. I get narrative though.

No doubt. But thats all in the past anyways. We won. Im not fully comfortable with Joe against certain defense late in games. Hope I am wrong.

 

[jgeorge322]

When the other team is full court pressing with all 5 guys it’s more than one players job to break a press. It wasn’t just how against his man. Was Sherman bad at breaking the press? Coleman broke it several times. Many of our forwards have over the years. Bergan, KJo, etc. Did they all play with bad PGs?

Melo brought it up a lot too. Every situation is different. I am looking at what I see with the individual player. I hope I am wrong. Maybe Joe will be an AA. That’d be great.

 

[rrlbees]

Kadary got open and got the ball past half court. Its not side stepping that you read something wrong.

“Girard couldn’t even get the ball to half court against the WV press.”

There’s no reading something wrong with that statement.

And we obviously changed how we were going to attack the press that last possession because K came in for Braswell who was ko longer in the corner where Marek kept passing it.

 

[Orangezoo]

Kadary got open and got the ball past half court. Its not side stepping that you read something wrong.

Kadary got lucky and almost stepped out of bounds. He also caught the ball in a bad spot. Kadary almost got his pocket picked by Deuce in the first half too.

We did poorly against the pressure at the very end it very much was game plan more than individual play. I've watched that WVU game more than a few times. We got lucky to have had a big enough lead to cushion the awful effort to break the press late.

 

[Sherman20]

We were a mess for long stretches of last season, but the way we started playing down the stretch, and especially in the UVA loss, was top 25 caliber - which is why I was really excited and hopeful for the dance (and we did not disappoint).

It had to do with both how we were playing defense, and how the offense became suddenly (thank you BB) functional. Setting aside the opponents - this team looks offensively functional right out of the gate. They have a good idea of what they want to do, and the ability to do it. I think the unknowns are Benny and the O that he can ultimately bring, and how to properly incorporate what Jesse has become as well. Defensively, we have work to do, but I like the length and the parts.

Bottom line, I think we are light years ahead of where we were last year - and will throw some sophisticated offense at our opponents right out of the gate. And there is serious upside as Benny and Jesse (and dare I say, Sid) come online.

I disagree we were a mess on offense.
We were more than “functional.” For most of the season, we were in the top 50 on offense and then rose steadily from there. By the end of the regular season, we were a top 20 offense, and then we rose even higher during the tourney. Did you not see the UNC, Clemson and NC State games? It wasn’t just UVA. Yes, we had some clunkers like against Pitt and Duke, but we were never bad at offense. The defense was always the issue.

 

[jgeorge322]

Kadary got lucky and almost stepped out of bounds. He also caught the ball in a bad spot. Kadary almost got his pocket picked by Deuce in the first half too.

We did poorly against the pressure at the very end it very much was game plan more than individual play. I've watched that WVU game more than a few times. We got lucky to have had a big enough lead to cushion the awful effort to break the press late.

Lots of almosts for one post. JB described Kadary as the play of the game.

 

[jgeorge322]

When the other team is full court pressing with all 5 guys it’s more than one players job to break a press. It wasn’t just how against his man. Was Sherman bad at breaking the press? Coleman broke it several times. Many of our forwards have over the years. Bergan, KJo, etc. Did they all play with bad PGs?

Told you he can’t bring ball up against pressure.

 

[Bulldog04]

You guys are all seeing exactly why I said he is not going to have an impact. Coach isn’t going to give him a leash to play free. He turns the ball over constantly. Everyone needs to stop putting so much stock in high school basketball. JB will not allow freshman to go “ball out”. It’s not going to happen

 

[dasher]

You guys are all seeing exactly why I said he is not going to have an impact. Coach isn’t going to give him a leash to play free. He turns the ball over constantly. Everyone needs to stop putting so much stock in high school basketball. JB will not allow freshman to go “ball out”. It’s not going to happen

And in this case, he shouldn't. I am really surprised at Benny. And not in a good way.

 

[kjb120]

I can see it already, Benny will transfer at the end of the year sadly.

Just resigning myself to this fact so I’m not upset when it happens.

 

[SUintheVille]

Is he afraid to shoot, can’t shoot, told not to shoot, not in the offensive flow to shoot, or just giving way to those who shoot all the time? Or all of the above? I like his aggressiveness on the defensive end.

 

[jdubs30]

Is he afraid to shoot, can’t shoot, told not to shoot, not in the offensive flow to shoot, or just giving way to those who shoot all the time? Or all of the above? I like his aggressiveness on the defensive end.

JB has said in pressers he wants Benny to drive and not shoot

 

[STEVEHOLT]

JB has said in pressers he wants Benny to drive and not shoot

He hardly touches the ball .. so when he gets it.., he’s cold and uncomfortable . Give the kid license to make mistake after mistake .. he’ll figure it out .. it’s not like we’re winning these games anyway

 

[jdubs30]

He hardly touches the ball .. so when he gets it.., he’s cold and uncomfortable . Give the kid license to make mistake after mistake .. he’ll figure it out .. it’s not like we’re winning these games anyway

I agree. He’s explosive with the ball.

 

[oTTo113445]

He has a nice widestep crossover but not ready to knock the midrange down consistantly yet. If he was he could of put up 18 tonight the way we were going.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Benny should start. JBIII will start because hes a son. I just hope it doesn’t cause any drama.

Jimmy has been the better player so far. Swider is too tight, trying too hard. He's way better than this. He just has to relax. Benny doesn't have any offense right now. He kind of stands around a lot.

 

[jgeorge322]

Jimmy has been the better player so far. Swider is too tight, trying too hard. He's way better than this. He just has to relax. Benny doesn't have any offense right now. He kind of stands around a lot.

Jimmy has been ok. Give you that. Just a tad too unathletic like the rest of the team.

 

[jdubs30]

Jimmy has been better than I expected and thank god for that because most everyone else is worse than I expected (slight pass here to Buddy and Jessie)

 

[IthacaMatt]

Jimmy has been ok. Give you that. Just a tad too unathletic like the rest of the team.

Jimmy is giving us 15 points and 6-7 rebounds a game. He's making threes and he's brave in the lane. He's even tipping balls on defense. He gets to the line. He's the player who has been our best forward so far.

 

[jdubs30]

Jimmy is giving us 15 points and 6-7 rebounds a game. He's making threes and he's brave in the lane. He's even tipping balls on defense. He gets to the line. He's the player who has been our best forward so far.

Jimmy has been our best all around player, which says a lot. A lot of people (including me) were worried he’d eat into too much of Cole and Bennys PT, but at this point he’s the only forward who consistently brings it. Is he a high level ACC player? Probably not. If Jimmy is our best forward all year, we will finish under .500

 

[CousCuse]

Jimmy has been our best all around player, which says a lot. A lot of people (including me) were worried he’d eat into too much of Cole and Bennys PT, but at this point he’s the only forward who consistently brings it. Is he a high level ACC player? Probably not. If Jimmy is our best forward all year, we will finish under .500

Jd, your a reasonable observer, which is very refreshing on this board. So, I think the schedule isn't doing any favors for this team. This team needs to play together a while longer before they get the wrinkles ironed out, which won't be enjoyable, but I think they will get on track. Swider is too good a shooter to keep flailing, he is the key to things turning around.

 

[tipphill]

I’ve said since last year that Benny was too good not to start. But, I could definitely see Jimmy starting and having Benny come off the bench as an infusion of athleticism. I only think this now because Benny seems incredibly unselfish and I can see him agreeing to that strategy. The only issue I see is, if Benny and Symir come in together, while the athleticism goes way up, we will have to take two shooters off the floor. I thought Benny’s shot looked better in high school, but he has some minor adjustments to make before he can be considered a great shooter. Luckily, he does everything else well.

benny should start in place of ? . maybe cole would be better off the bench temporarily.