Virginia rolling Miami

[GoHoosGo]

I am not sure how you can watch UVA and say the are not athletic. Atkins, Gill, Mitchell, Anderson, Brogdon are all very good athletes. It is actually the first time in many years UVA has had an edge in atheticism over most of their opponents. The matchups here are great...Ennis and Perrantes have similar games and a similar uncanny calm and responsible game for freshman; Brogdon v Cooney is an edge UVA on paper at this point, but given UVA's philosophy of no one gets to the rim and given that Cooney is too good of a shooter not to go off eventually, that one could go either way. I am not sure if Harris will mark Fair or not, I expect at least some, but that matchup is also great. All in all Fair is the better player, but Harris is solid across the board and at home, on senior night, against a team that will likely allow him some open threes, in the biggest game of his career, he is really dangerous and (like Cooney v Brodgon in reverse) it would not be shocking at all if he had the better game of the two; Mitchell v Grant, two great athletes, and Mitchell is another senior who always brings it but certainly will on senior night. If Grant is not 100% healthy I dont think SU can win, but assuming he is I cannot wait to see him battle with Mitchell, Gill and Atkins; and then Gill/Tobey v Rak/Keita. Tobey, to me, is the least impressive of the 4, so I like Cuse here but Gill is impressive and seems to be getting better and better. UVA almost certainly wont be slowed by foul trouble given how deep they go. I wish Cuse did as well, they certainly could go as deep...Roberson would see a bunch of time on UVA...but since Cuse does not, lets hope the refs swallow their whistle and let these guys battle. It would be nice to have DC in this game with all of the battling there will be down low, especially to avoid foul trouble. In the end, as is always the case with Cuse these days, they need solid games from 3 of their 4 "plus" players to win. They only went 2 for 4 against Maryland (in part because of injury) and the result was a near loss to a really awful team. I expect line will be UVA -4 or 4.5, which is about where it should be, and that winning team is the one that makes more shots from 15 feet and out (not a real bold prediction, I realize)...or first to 50. No way both teams get over 60 in this one. Its a huge game for both teams...for UVA puts a stamp on an incredible conference run (a lucky bounce away from being undefeated)...a marquee win to tell the nation they are legit top 10 and I would think gives them a chance for a 2 if get to ACC finals. For SU a win or even a close loss still gives them a decent line at a 1...but a double digit loss will confirm national perception that the team is on a bit of descent and, in my mind, require them to lose only once more the rest of the way (ACC tourney included) to have a good shot at a 1.

Best assessment of our team that I've seen here so far. Can't disagree with any of this.

 

[jncuse]

I think these Virginia posters are reasonable, and I have even liked a few of their posts. I think some people here are underrating Virginia. Either way, I have a hard time hating these chaps from Virginia.

A Duke fan comes on here, no matter how respectable, I want to punch him in the face repeatedly.

 

[jimsonjunction]

I think these Virginia posters are reasonable, and I have even liked a few of their posts. I think some people here are underrating Virginia. Either way, I have a hard time hating these chaps from Virginia.

A Duke fan comes on here, no matter how respectable, I want to punch him in the face repeatedly.

Yeah, they've been cordial, but I can tell they reaaaaaally like their team right now.

A little reality check on Saturday would make me very happy.

 

[JarHeadJim]

How is Virgina not undefeated? Didn't they lose to Tenn by like 30? Their fans make them sound like the 96 Kentucky team! What IS A WHOOOOOOOOOO?

 

[JarHeadJim]

I'm basing my expectations for CJ on how we've performed vs. the leading scorer of our opponents in league play. In 16 league games, only once has the leading scorer from the other team exceeded his average against us (McDaniels for Clemson - 24 vs. us against an average of 17 ppg). Additionally, that same game was the only conference game this year where the leading scorer against us was the same as the leading scorer for the season for our opponent (i.e. in 15 of 16 games our opponent's leading scorer on the season was not the leading scorer against us). We're pretty effective at shutting down the opposition's first option.

I don't think you'll make things significantly tougher on us in the post than most other teams, as the Pack Line defense is built for defending the lane/post. I'm guessing Akil Mitchell (6-8, 235 Sr) will be matched up with Grant (6-8 210 So). Although his scoring is down a bit this year, Mitchell was 3rd team All-ACC last year with 13 pounts/9 boards per game. He too is very athletic and is regarded as one of the better post defenders in the league.

It's funny reading this thread that in your opinion if Rak shows up you have 5 options to go with to score, while according to an earlier poster we only have two legitimate scorers. Rak's 5.8 ppg average would land him 7th on our team in scoring, so I'm not sure how that works. I'm not flaming you as I agree he can be an option, just pointing out the difference in perception when it's your team vs. the opponent.

 

[01 Hoo]

View attachment 8436

Completely serious - I'd love to know which part of my response was so unbelievable . . .

 

[JarHeadJim]

I haze the FNG's

 

[Cusejuicy]

This will be a tough game for us. Their guards are bigger and are shooting better from 3. They pretty much match us for size inside, but they have no back-up for Tobey at center, so using Rak and Baye effectively, should give us an advantage there. They don't have anyone with Grant and CJ's numbers, so that should be exploited.

I think we are definitely better and should win - provided we take control. Note: I doubt playing stall ball for half the game will get it done.

Had an interesting conversation with a UVA fan yesterday. He said the reason they are winning is that they are very deep. They can play 10 guys without much if any dropoff in play. This allows them run and play with a lot of fresh legs by the end of games. He said they just basically wear you down and pull away easily at the end of games. Given our limited rotation, this should be a concern for us.

 

['72 Orange]

View attachment 8421 Yes he is. He gives us at least one highlight reel defensive play each game. Last night he snuffed a lob dunk cleanly. That never happens.

The lob dunk that I recall was a nice athletic play, unfortunately the defender made a play on the ball but really bodied up the Miami player and clearly wound up bouncing him away from the basket. Should have definitely been a foul. I rewound it a few times just to be sure I saw what I thought I saw.

 

[mykeuva]

A Duke fan comes on here, no matter how respectable, I want to punch him in the face repeatedly.

Looks like our two fan bases are more alike than I thought...

 

[HooShotYa]

Hey it's not duke and unc playing for the title this year - it's going to the color orange one way or another.

Yeah, trust us on this one, Cuse fans--most UVA backers are VERY pleased to have you in the conference, even if we still want you to lose horribly in a dumpster-fire-style performance tomorrow. I think that's part of why you're seeing a surge of us Hoos over here. Anyone who isn't Duke/UNC is automatically out of the "I hope you die" tier of fan rivalries. Also, having another basketball-savvy fanbase to trash talk/trade analysis with is positively delightful. The last time the ACC added teams, we got VT, whose fans famously thought they could get a 2007 NCAA home game if they earned a high enough seed. Methinks you guys are a, uh, substantial upgrade over that.

 

[tee1222]

Yeah, trust us on this one, Cuse fans--most UVA backers are VERY pleased to have you in the conference, even if we still want you to lose horribly in a dumpster-fire-style performance tomorrow. I think that's part of why you're seeing a surge of us Hoos over here. Anyone who isn't Duke/UNC is automatically out of the "I hope you die" tier of fan rivalries. Also, having another basketball-savvy fanbase to trash talk/trade analysis with is positively delightful. The last time the ACC added teams, we got VT, whose fans famously thought they could get a 2007 NCAA home game if they earned a high enough seed. Methinks you guys are a, uh, substantial upgrade over that.

Decent first post and welcome. Looking forward to a good game.