Virginia Postgame

[Newhouser]

One thing I noticed was that Donnie let guys get past him far more times that JJ did. Small consolation, but they kept it close for a while.

Donnie was horrendous on D today.

 

[PhatOrange]

Eh, he really lacks athleticism. He’s crafty, but he‘sclikely going to need to be a volume shooter to put up numbers.

That’s a tough combo…

I don’t agree. I think he’s very athletic and fundamentally sound. He needs a coach who’s going to push him ( and who’s not afraid to). He obviously needs to get stronger and then learn how to play at this level where he’s not the man. The expectations he’s trying to live up to are unreasonable. But I see huge upside. I’ll go out on a limb and say he’s going to be outstanding junior year.

 

[PhatOrange]

Donnie was horrendous on D today.

And his hands are like JJs.

 

[sufan59]

I don’t agree. I think he’s very athletic and fundamentally sound. He needs a coach who’s going to push him ( and who’s not afraid to). He obviously needs to get stronger and then learn how to play at this level where he’s not the man. The expectations he’s trying to live up to are unreasonable. I’ll go out on a limb and say he’s going to be outstanding junior year.

Plenty of freshmen out there that also need to get stronger still contributing on good teams as well….

 

[AZOrange]

Per Donna, Red said that he didn't play because of the matchups and UVA's mature lineup.

Like freshmen have never played against seniors before. Oy.

Oh I think Red answered the Kiyan question in the answer about Bryce

 

[CuseFaninVT]

I can't recall too many sons who have followed in the footsteps of their Hall of Fame father and got anywhere near that level of success. Most, at best, were probably average or above average
at their craft. They had the advantage of being exposed to the best of the best, but also were probably brought up in a financially privileged homelife where athletic success was never an essential to their well being.

Have no idea about Kiyan's mindset or his motivation, but from my perspective it almost seems like Melo has more of himself invested in Kiyan's success than his son does. People I know who have met him (briefly) say he is a nice kid and is comfortable to be around. That's not too shabby a label for a young kid in today's world.

The Harper boys are doing very well right now.

 

[PhatOrange]

Plenty of freshmen out there that also need to get stronger still contributing on good teams as well….

My 2 quibbles would be that those kids are not playing with an ounce of the pressure that Anthony is. His dad is one of the greatest basketball players to ever play the game and Kiyan plays like he's always trying to live up to that.

The second thing is that he's playing for one of the worst coaches I've ever seen in my lifetime.

 

[DilemaCuse]

Unable to watch the game but this came up, sums up where we are

 

[Newhouser]

My 2 quibbles would be that those kids are not playing with an ounce of the pressure that Anthony is. His dad is one of the greatest basketball players to ever play the game and Kiyan plays like he's always trying to live up to that.

The second thing is that he's playing for one of the worst coaches I've ever seen in my lifetime.

That's my biggest complaint though. That pressure should be leading to effort mistakes via over trying. The nonchalance he plays with is frustrating.

 

[Scooch]

Why would I give Red the benefit of the doubt on this one?

Because pretending it’s an injury and not a punishment is wayyy easier to deal with? You think Red’s covering for an injury?!

 

[Bill Orange]

Unable to watch the game but this came up, sums up where we are

I'm seeing a NIL $$ opportunity ahead for Donnie.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Because pretending it’s an injury and not a punishment is wayyy easier to deal with? You think Red’s covering for an injury?!

Ah, we were talking about different things. I was referring to giving Red the benefit of the doubt that to improve Kiyan needed a full game benching. Why would I give him the benefit of the doubt on that when his sub patterns have been strange?

 

[IthacaMatt]

Donnie was horrendous on D today.

There was a fast break during the first 10 minutes or so of the game, and he turned away from the guy dribbling the ball, who laid it up uncontested. Reminded me of Eddie last year.

 

[PhatOrange]

That's my biggest complaint though. That pressure should be leading to effort mistakes via over trying. The nonchalance he plays with is frustrating.

I don’t disagree that’s part of being coached up. He needs a coach on his butt who’s going to push him. He’d be diving for loose balls if Hurley or coach K was his coach.

 

[sufan59]

Amazing LOL

 

[Otto21]

At no point did I ever feel good about this game. Even when we made our runs… I mean, they were missing wide open shots, getting 3-4 chances every offensive possession. Sometimes we made tough shots. The quality of our shots never compared to theirs. It’s like others said- they didn’t play well, if they did, they blow us out.

No Kiyan and hardly any Sadiq? Maybe the former is understandable today as our guards played okay, but Sadiq? When Donnie played like he did today?!!

 

[DilemaCuse]

Might be different if Anthony had a body suited for high end basketball, could play defense, shoot consistently, and wasn’t always looking to play hero ball. Glad Red finally recognized that.

Question for you, are you one of the guys in you avatar?

True story, I was part of a project and got to know one of those guys in the avatar.

 

[Briancuse]

We could still win the ACC Tournament

 

[DilemaCuse]

JB, Red needs 5 years
4 weeks later and countless losses

 

[sufan59]

I think a good plan is to take a step back and laugh then go into how to fix it.

 

[DilemaCuse]

I wasn't able to watch today. Based on what I'm reading it's sounding like the players don't really care anymore.

My speculation is Autry has been notified privately this week. Do we think Autry has kept that private or did he share the news of his fate with his players privately as well.

Of course players know and hear what everyone else is saying.

 

[Eric15]

Kiyan not playing is the second to top story on ESPN.com right now.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

We have no strategy. Another game where we never looked good or even competent. Vegas nails the spread again. Is it March yet?

It’s unfathomable, how many possessions where it looks like we have zero concept on offense of how to create good shot opportunities. When I count how many times I saw ‘movement’ that wasn’t just a player running around outside the 3pt line just to receive the ball from someone else at the 3pt line who had just struggled to get inside the 3pt line, the number is None. None times. It’s as if when something that resembles a play happens, it was entirely accidental. I like Kyle, but I’m entirely sick of seeing him with the ball at the top of the arc with decision making and ball handling responsibilities.

On defense, I don’t know what happened. We had fantastic defense in early season games, against higher-ranked teams. And now the zone today… like, the first three VA possessions were layup, three, dunk.

For the first time since 1985, I no longer care if I finish watching a game or not. Never thought I’d say that.

The only thing that is heartening is seeing that we may just be in the in-between stage before becoming good again. A number of programs went from successful coaches to a lame replacement and then to a new successful coach. As I used to say back when I wanted JB to retire, it is going to be a process, and there’s no way to know whether the first step in the process will be happymaking, but we have to go through it to find out and then to advance to the next step.

It’s up to the AD to minimize the duration of pain.

 

[Cusefan95]

Alienating Melo is an absolutely terrible idea. You're smarter than this.

I’d think if this was a decision that could impact Melo’s relationship with Syracuse long term, Red should be fired tomorrow. I’m close to 100% certain he won’t be fired even if that is the case.

 

[swish7]

Guessing Red doesn’t want to play him just because his last name is Anthony. He needs to be better.

Hunh. If hes not injured, could it be about the SMH, & sinking ship, as much as Anthony's play?

Agreed, he should be better, but so should half the team.