VTKev80

He’s an elite passer but not elite at getting open or catching the ball

I guess some high school and AAU coaches are just happy to have a great athlete and don’t want to risk breaking down their form to make correction. Med Hill was a particular one that comes to mind. He shot with his right hand with the ball to the left side of his head. Gurdak has great form on his free throws and I can see him making 3s later in his career. My high school coach completely changed my hideous form as a freshman and I’m amazed this doesn’t happen for others at that age.

house were such that getting home would have been too dicey…

% in ACC play is likely well below his 30% for the year. Defenders not being able to lay off him somewhat near the 3pt line could get him an extra half step on his some of his drives.

Drawing the best defender is really a huge point and I think many on here, including myself, do not take the importance of that into account. This makes Hammond, Bedford, Schutt, and Johnson (when available) more productive by having lesser defenders on them. Also accounts for some of the reduced shooting % we see from Neo. Explains why Neo gets frustrated as well as he likely did not get this attention in recent years in Greece. Definitely affects his shot which affects his confidence which affects his overall production. I hope his confidence comes back and may take as little as one good shooting night in ACC play.

I am seriously not being snarky or sarcastic and am good to learn what metrics make sense to compare productivity. There is likely some usage or adjusted offense number or something. I am an engineer and deal with data and stats every day and just need to be slapped in the face with the stats. :)

FG% NAW 45%; Neo: 40% 3pt FG% NAW 40%; Neo 30% And again, Neo expectations were higher coming in than NAW, in my opinion. And again*2, Neo is an outstanding talent and I’m very glad we have him but he has yet to meet the significant expectations that preceded him.

Note that I greatly respect your knowledge and posts and don’t want to be a subject of your ire. The poll was about whether he has met the expectations we had for him to date. I can only speak for myself but I am very happy Neo is a hokie. I also feel he has not yet lived up to what may have been unrealistic expectations. I can also speculate from his body language that Neo is also quite frustrated with his play vs his own expectations. Basically, if we were getting 14 and 4 from a “regular” 4 star freshman, we would likely be ecstatic but we were told (maybe unfairly) that he would be more. That he was not just a 19 YO but one who has been playing professional ball against adults since he was 15. That he was a first round NBA pick (I do not dispute that this will still happen, BTW). That he was likely the best recruit VT has ever had. It seemed reasonable to expect a player like that would not have the lowest shooting percentage of players in the rotation despite the 14 and 4. I love the kid and will continue to cheer him on but my answer remains that he has not met the expectations I had for him to date.

May be more than just a knee knock

The score was 21-14 and I think we had a 14-0 run with Neo out and Hammond in. I’m hoping that the deal with Neo includes less time running the point late in the season. Of course, Neo will also continue to get better running the point as the season progresses.

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Like he did with Rech…

Many are saying he was “off” due to illness but seems to me more likely he got himself deep into Coach Young’s dog house (with some lazy TOs). A couple of situations down the stretch of both regulation and OT where he could have been put in briefly for defense (being one of our best defenders) but there appeared to be no consideration for that.

2 missed shots and SC had a brain fart. We are really close to being 8-5 but there is something to be said for winning close games being more than luck (see Pry, Brent…)

Tobi, Neo and Dorn out from the start, Bedford, Tyler, and Amani on bench at the end. 5 on the floor plus those 6 out = 11.