I think we are a lot better than we play on our bad days. The FSU and UVa games was a let down. Classic look ahead low energy games.

Duke, FSU, NCSt ran us out of the gym. But that’s the top of the league, you might say. Yes. But UVA is not the top of the league, not even close. That one still eats at me and it’s easily our worst loss. But let’s look at HOW and WHY we are losing some of these games. UVA was more about physicality and desire than anything else. We really brain farted there, almost inexcusable. The other ones have been bad matchups before we even discuss physicality. This isn’t to say we should have beaten the non-UVA teams because I don’t think we have the talent those other teams have. But we should’ve been more competitive, should’ve course corrected earlier. Part of the problem with this roster is that the various strengths and weaknesses among the 9-10 players in the rotation are not complementary. And 2 of the ladies we need big contributions from, each have an individual bad habit. For Micheaux, it’s getting in foul trouble. For Wenzel, it’s playing out of control at times and not sticking to the assignment. That can impact the whole team’s approach. Definitely missing Suffren. Mackie Nelson is cool under pressure, I like what she’s all about in terms of seeing the floor and being a distributor but her defense isn’t great (yet) and she’s a somewhat inconsistent shooter. So that’s who we are. A flawed team, as all teams in the middle of the pack are. There will be better days ahead (and we’ve had better days, just last Sunday as an example). But overall, and I’ve waffled back and forth on this, as of today I don’t see this as a team that will make the field of 64. GT was a great win, but we’ve been pounded by everyone else at or near the top of the conference plus a bad loss to UVA at home. We really need to beat UVA at their place in a few weeks.

to let the other, taller, players score just to avoid the risk of a foul?

This team can’t hang with ranked teams or teams that are above avg. Just a very middle of the pack team…the talent just isn’t there. If we can’t recruit we are doomed to be a middle of the pack program.

Sheesh

people who understand the actuality of the VT roster compared to those 3 teams) ND is the next guaranteed loss. The only hope is that we can keep it close by being stronger willed and at least not giving away turnovers on weak passes vs heavily guarded players out front. If we do, then we can keep it to a margin of 15. If we don't then it will also be "ugly"

C-Hill. Probably would be an L in Cassell as well Our biggest quality win opportunity IMO is vs Cal. They’re a weird matchup but if we can utilize our overall quickness we can handle their height. They shoot a lot of 3s and got after their rebounds. They’re also MUCH better at home than on the road as a pattern so far. I think home on Sr day gives us a real shot. IMO, Must wins are home vs SMU, Cuse, Stanford, then 2 more from Cal, UVA, BC, Clemson Need to pack Cassell to give them energy to finish those home Ws then steal 1-2 (probably 2) more on the road ** Edited by hokiepro at 1/27/2025, 12:10:39 PM

6-3, which isn't terribly different from Rose and Carys. Also, neither is super physical, although Suarez does avg 7.5 REB, and neither goes to the line very much and they don't crash the offensive boards. Like you said, they shoot a ton of 3s, and are good at that. But they don't defend the 3 all that great and we actually shoot as well as they do. Also their guards are not physical and would prefer to shoot 3s rather than drive. Plus Cal turns it over even more than we do, while not garnering steals or blocks to make up for it. Again, Cal is a very good matchup for us. And we may be favored by the time that game rolls around. ** Edited by King of Hokies at 1/27/2025, 12:28:51 PM ** Edited by King of Hokies at 1/27/2025, 12:29:32 PM

Agree they’re our best matchup to get a higher rated NET win against

When we've played teams that are "better" than us, it's been double digit losses with the exception of our Georgia Tech 2OT win. UVA is the only game we "should" have won and is Tech's only single-digit loss 20 games into the Duffy era. (And even that game should have been a double digit loss were it not for a Hokie 3 right before the buzzer.) The "book" for talented athletic teams against the Hokies has been out there for a while. Pressure the ball relentlessly to get turnovers and generally take us out of our offense. Take the ball to the hole off the dribble against an undersized interior defense. Duke killed us that way. FSU killed us that way. NCSU killed us that way. Notre Dame will almost certainly do the same. We aren't a final four-caliber team at this point, but I'm encouraged that we don't really have any "bad" loss this deep into the season. (You might make a case for UVA being a bad loss given their record, but they don't pass my "bad team" smell test. They're 1-4 in their last five, with us being the 1, but that includes losses of 5 or less to Duke, NCSU, and Louisville.)

uva loss was not a "bad" loss. They are decent with one great player and another very strong player. Plus their coach is way, way better than the previous one.

Definitely an upset in our favor. I'm embarrassed to have not included that given that it was only a week ago today. I came into that game expecting a double-digit L and was pleasantly surprised to see us in control most of the way until it got scary at the end.

When Georgia and Liz were young We have a very young team overall. Start 2 Soph, and all four bench players are Freshmen. NCSt has at least 4 maybe more players who made it to the Final 4 last year

they learned a LOT in that game about what it was going to take to reach the next level. I would rather play a great team and get tough lessons than beat some of these G5s by 50 and think that we are great because of that. I am betting our schedule pre-ACC next year may be tougher than it has been in the past. Duffy wants our folks to learn through more trial by fire (my opinion). ** Edited by j9hokie at 1/27/2025, 9:36:58 AM