reece4vt

though Alabama's defense is miserably bad despite their NCAT success

Has it been rumored (cough confirmed) on here as to whom? Mostly curious is all.

I don't doubt you. But also, there was a long time when sports was about acquiring talent, bringing them into camp and letting them decide on the court. Not about filling puzzle pieces precisely as you recruit/sign/acquire them. I know some of that is a bit of fantasy land - you know who's who. But interesting a coach would tell a player. Maybe I'm just taking your comments to the extreme and maybe it's more flexible then that?

him 3 more years to figure out this new world. It's worth that memory and he's earned that shot with me...

and if you happen to watch Big East basketball, St. John's hung 90 on UCONN in BEAST Tournament, and lead them the 2 regular season meetings at halftime... St. John's was very hot, late, and had they gotten in as an 11 seed, had deep run in em. It can be done. It's the new model...u get more money by moving. It's like a career. Stay where you are, get your 3--5% pay raise, exit to a new company same job, get your 15%, or whatever.

I've been a hoops fan my entire life, growing up with season tickets to St. John's games, then adopting the Hokies. I attended the ACCT Championship when we beat Duke, and was possibly one of the best team accomplishments I've ever experienced. What puts the women's game far ahead of the Men is the attitude on the court. The players just play. They don't whine at every whistle, they immediately huddle up, and move on. And the whistle is equally as inconsistent in both games. Of course there is emotion, of course there are reactions to bad calls...I'm talking about the frequency of those (and lack of in the women's game) My best most recent example...as Georgia went off yesterday, with every make, she looked at her own bench. Not an opponent, not the crowd, not the opposing bench, and not her self. Her own team's bench...that was where she garnered her emotion. So pleasant to watch...so easy to root for...and frankly, harder to watch us lose. Get well Liz. Go Hokies

I have zero rings. But I don't have an opportunity for one...so who am I to compare that decision?

offensive rebounding. Just a reality, ball bounced our way, we out-hustled/out-worked them, as well...both

spheres right now. Women's team has potential to match last year...starting to really come together. Not a slight against the men's team, just reality.

close games without a true point guard. That Miami game was largely a late game implosion. We outplayed them for 37 mins, had the rock up 1 and were mostly scoring at will...was in our hands to push it back to up 3. Then 10 seconds later we were down 5, game was over.

smiles

if we draw ND, LVILLE or a bottom feeder, MUST WIN. If we draw a bye then a Duke, it's a 'win and your in' game but won't knock us all the way out kinda game...

that's 3 more than Seth's teams usually had :) But agree, 2 in ACCT probably locks us in, 1 leaves us 50/50.

eye test. Those Greenberg squads had terrible resumes, could beat ANYBODY on the court. This team has a relatively low ceiling, not taking my chances with us beating anyone in the top 15. But with wins over Iowa St and Boise St, our resume is in solid shape if we can finish the year 7-3, tough task, but manageable schedule, we're probably in. WINS: @Miami, @ND, FSU, UVA, @PITT, Wake, @Louisville LOSSES: @UNC, @CUSE, vs ND???? We're probably favored in 7 of 10 to close out. Favored vs ND, Dog vs Miami...otherwise, we're likely favored in nearly each of the classified WINS above (@PITT starting to look funky, though). Win games, we're in the tuesday/wednesday play in. 7-3, +1 in ACCT I think does hte trick for us.

on the court all year is rarely a reality for any team. Of course Hunt's injury last year hurt. See 2019...J-Rob... Depth is a requisite to success for most. So sure, the narrative last year was different because our injury occurred to a very lean team and very early on. If/when it occurs this year, will our narrative mirror last years? PS: that 2021 team was on the very fortunate side of the injury bug if I recall...so that was unique, I admit.

but can't expect that kind of run every time the team struggles. The narrative was the same last year..."just look at 2021" and we certainly didn't replicate that trend. We have pieces. We need to find a way to get Pedulla moving in the offense, more, however...he's not thriving in his current role. Healthy or not.

the messenger. but it's a real reflection of our program that we ask if winning 5 games without going to a bowl game is a successful season...sheesh.

Winning cures...the students today have yet to experience a big win not to mention a big season. Expecting them to suddently vest themselves like we did 15+ years ago as students is unfair. Winning is a cultural thing. Build the culture...we're starting to win games, but we have yet to ESTABLISH that culture. That needs to come before holding 19 year olds accountable for leaving a 27 point blow out at halftime to resume partying...

Really enjoyed reading this and flipping through these guys - much thanks for the insight and perspective.

an explanation to a teams change in performance that 'irks' me. no team is ever 100% healthy from start to finish. There are levels of injuries and when an elite player is removed from a roster, of course that changes them. But my point is less around your point, just more in general - injuries are a part of the season...

I am SHOCKED how good they are right now...don't even understand how that was the same team. They were non competitive in that game. St. John's won by 9, game was not nearly that competitive.

I think the strain of having to be a focal point on offense created some slip ups from Mutts. He was in an optical position aside Aluma who was more comfortable on the block and an elite passer out of there which freed Mutts up. Basile was a different threat, and put more stress on Mutts, IMO.

I think Basile for as talented as he is, slowed the ball a touch for our traditional offense. But was certainly a "+" on offense. But he was a major liability on D...I noticed this very early. Pedulla shocked me - I thought of him as a good defender, I think I was wrong. Disaster, no. But close. This was a disappointing season, no doubt. Tons of the roster returned (yes some lost) and we filled from the portal fairly well. We should have been better then we were...injuries are a part of the season.

I hear it all the time in football, too. "if our left guard didn't get hurt." I mean, these seasons are a wear...teams suffer injuries.

Cause this past years team did not earn their way into any situation where they could choke. And last years team blew out two FInal 4 teams to win an ACC Title so not sure how they choked at any point. So maybe you can elaborate?

We were a wildly different team the first several weeks of the season. I know Catoor's injury was a big deal, but it felt as if we were sliding before that moment. We smoked OKST, we outplayed what turned out to be a VERY good Charleston team in their house for 37 mins (that Charleston team took SD ST to the wire in the dance). But even aside from the results, the eye test: We were lethal on offense early...running fantastic sets, dynamic, etc. And while defense was always a bit of a struggle, we seamed to get meaningfully worse throughout the season. What changed?

I think he's pushing them on that side of the ball....fairly hard. He's not usually bringing negative energy in any way...I saw it yesterday, and I don't mean that as an insult. It's clear he's had enough of the lapses on D...

Simple as that. Last year we got away with it to some degree...for about a 3-4 week window.

last year we got better, dramatically so. This year, we've gotten worse. We can EB better again, wouldn't shock me. But overall, just seems this team has lost it's cohesiveness. I thought our defense was atrocious yesterday. UVA is a top tier team, but largely driven by their defense, not their offense...

Seth could coach defense with the best of them, and we were always a difficult out...but boy were we mediocre on the offensive end...we had some good players, talented guys... but what cost us most in late game situations is we really struggled to run good sets. I think his ceiling for us was as a bubble team, in the NCAAT some years, out others. I don't think we could have done what we did in BK last year or had the team we had in 2018-19 with Seth...he wasn't quite that good. But he was damn good for digging us out of the basement...that he was great for.

the team that lost to Xavier's 2nd string roster and by 20 at home to Wake was really not very good. We have room to improve but if last years trajectory can be repeated (difficult feat) we'll end up as a 5 or 6 seed in the dance...a bit better than we were last year.