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Rev.Zeke Vodka
Joined: 01/05/2001
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Still time to get bigger…

But Coach Duffy might not prefer that style of play. If you have an impact, program changing Big, then yes by all means go after that player. But today you need athletes, you need length and you need defensive versatility. Need players capable of guarding more than 1 position. Ideally you want to be able to switch almost every ball screen and long athletes enable you to accomplish that goal. Traditional Bigs must be impact players offensively to combat their limitations defensively in guarding in space, and especially handling ball screens. Just look at the difficulty Tech had with the opponents 5 setting ball screens. Liz wasn’t good there, she couldn’t hedge, couldn’t hard hedge, she couldn’t push up so we just dropped her back into the paint and hoped our other defender guarding the ball handler could get over the top of all ball screens where the 5 was involved. But Liz made up for that on the offensive end obviously. Pressuring the ball and making opponents uncomfortable sounds like what Coach Duffy wants to achieve defensively. You can more easily do that with length, athleticism, and the ability to switch as many ball screens as possible. You can also do more things that way defensively from full court pressure, to traps, to trapping ball screens, etc. The goal being to impose your will defensively every game on the opposing team. As such, she might be looking at player additions from the standpoint of how they might fit in defensively first, rather than offensively. That wouldn’t shock me if that were the case.
Posted: 04/21/2024 at 06:26 PM ET
(In response to this post by JHokieD)

Thread Replies (29)

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Fast vs big vs fast & big ....
j9hokie 04/21/24 05:30 PM ET
IMHO either extreme is more easily beatable
VTCALS72 04/22/24 09:29 AM ET
Size matters, but Speed kills. Seriously, it's a tradeoff, but.....
vtbball80 04/21/24 08:34 PM ET
Yeah, GA was quick but she was prob the only one on the team. AND...
chagerma 04/22/24 10:14 AM ET
I always thought playing Wenzel more would have helped. Wenzel......
vtbball80 04/22/24 12:55 PM ET
That's a good observation.
chagerma 04/22/24 02:45 PM ET
with three ex-pro guards on coaching staff, I think our guards will be
j9hokie 04/22/24 01:39 PM ET
I would prefer 6-8 at 220 lbs with a 4.15 40yard dash time.
jonnyhawk 04/21/24 08:30 PM ET
Rather be a couple inches undersized at every spot than be less athletic **
soflahokie 04/21/24 06:38 PM ET
That's what Frank did when he built his team in the 90s.
EDGEMAN 04/22/24 05:39 AM ET
In the early days, Frank chose undersized with speed and Gentry…
ombandit 04/22/24 08:13 AM ET
Big and slow would lose to Miami every time.**
EDGEMAN 04/22/24 08:54 AM ET
Very true but also if they got going,
VTCALS72 04/22/24 09:38 AM ET
Honestly, some speed and the ability to finish a fast break was sorely
Enter Sandman 04/21/24 06:19 PM ET
And Ekh made it to KB's doghouse thinking LK could finish a fastbreak. HA!**
chagerma 04/22/24 10:17 AM ET
Most of our players must have known
crazylane 04/21/24 10:24 PM ET
💯 **
Enter Sandman 04/22/24 05:39 AM ET
At 6'5"
LkRidgeHokie 04/21/24 06:15 PM ET
I’d prefer 4 fast with a big rim defender, rebounder that scores around the
TabbHokie 04/21/24 05:52 PM ET
Yes which is what we had on the Final 4 roster with Soule and Traylor**
hokiepro 04/21/24 08:01 PM ET
Agree**
Hokie98 04/21/24 06:35 PM ET
Fast is superior in women’s game
HokieAl 04/21/24 05:52 PM ET
That PG for Baylor looked about 100 pounds soaking wet
The_Phew 04/22/24 10:02 AM ET
I agree for the most part
crazylane 04/21/24 10:27 PM ET
Agreed, and the athletic opponents gave us the most trouble **
TabbHokie 04/21/24 05:54 PM ET
I'm concerned about the lack of height, but she's got time yet.**
JHokieD 04/21/24 05:50 PM ET
Still time to get bigger…
Rev.Zeke Vodka 04/21/24 06:26 PM ET
Plus this year we lucked out in only playing one team that could make
King of Hokies 04/21/24 06:56 PM ET
The had a large number of season ending injuries early in the season**
j9hokie 04/21/24 07:52 PM ET
Liz was such an offensive asset that being aggressive on
Marooned 04/21/24 06:45 PM ET