Tony has to be extremely unhappy with where this team is at going into conference play. No punch whatsoever. I expected nothing from us in this game, but it was even worse than I expected. Team continues to disappoint.

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Face it. This team STINKS! 37% from the FT line?!? 10% from three?!? This team can’t hit the side of a barn. Give me a team with no defense and good offense over this garbage any day of the week

(12-22-2018 03:14 PM)Tribal Wrote:  Nate is the only one who can score

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Hmm hmm. He has to be thinking about his situation after this season.

Take that how you want.

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(12-22-2018 04:19 PM)Tribal Wrote:  

(12-22-2018 03:14 PM)Tribal Wrote:  Nate is the only one who can score

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Hmm hmm. He has to be thinking about his situation after this season.

Take that how you want.

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Been thinking/worrying about that for awhile.

(12-22-2018 04:05 PM)Tribester Wrote:  Face it. This team STINKS! 37% from the FT line?!? 10% from three?!? This team can’t hit the side of a barn. Give me a team with no defense and good offense over this garbage any day of the week

So give you a team with no defense and a good offense over a team with no defense and no offense? That’s crazy talk!

I’m pretty sure everyone on the board would take that.

(12-22-2018 03:50 PM)Tribeheart Wrote:  So, UVA up 26 with 3 1/2 minutes to go, and Bennett continues to play his starters and run plays to exploit our mismatches, as well as, run a 3/4 court press. Sorry, for all the good things about Bennett, that is inexcusable. He waited way too long to call off the dogs.

Don't like it? Score more points. Play better. Bennett did nothing wrong.

Top flight teams have perimeter players who extend their defense, keep players in front, and get in the other guys s..t. This disrupts everything and adds pressure to those in the paint. They’re just better; it’s that simple. How about a little Christmas cheer?

(12-22-2018 04:05 PM)Tribester Wrote:  Face it. This team STINKS! 37% from the FT line?!? 10% from three?!? This team can’t hit the side of a barn. Give me a team with no defense and good offense over this garbage any day of the week

Thanks for showing up for your usual post-loss rant.

At least this didn't happen: https://deadspin.com/towsons-solomon-uya...1831279191

(12-22-2018 08:25 PM)TribeInTheBurg Wrote:  

(12-22-2018 04:05 PM)Tribester Wrote:  Face it. This team STINKS! 37% from the FT line?!? 10% from three?!? This team can’t hit the side of a barn. Give me a team with no defense and good offense over this garbage any day of the week

Thanks for showing up for your usual post-loss rant.

Ignore button.

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That was a hard game to watch. UVA can play some D. I don't think I've ever seen a W&M team held to 37.5% free throw shooting before.

I'm happy with only 7 TO's vs UVA, the effort expended on D, and in Nate's play, but that's about it.

I'm hoping that Pierce is good to go Friday, but looking at him on the bench I'd be surprised, even if he plays.

I'm not sure what's missing here. This should not be a team that is 3-8 vs D1 competition and shoots 10% from 3 vs UVA and under 32% for the year.

I guess there are some folks who have very different expectations about the team, but UVA is a top three team after the polls come out. I personally thought that this year would be a very good team with over 20 wins and a conference championship. I was clearly wrong. Some of the players who I counted on this year to improve and take over have regressed. Now it's time to see how we do against our conference.

We are not a good three point shooting team. Let's get it inside to Knight and ride on his back as long as we can. I don't think there is anyone in our league who can stop him, and clearly UVA couldn't.

(12-22-2018 09:09 PM)Tribe32 Wrote:  I guess there are some folks who have very different expectations about the team, but UVA is a top three team after the polls come out. I personally thought that this year would be a very good team with over 20 wins and a conference championship. I was clearly wrong. Some of the players who I counted on this year to improve and take over have regressed. Now it's time to see how we do against our conference.

We are not a good three point shooting team. Let's get it inside to Knight and ride on his back as long as we can. I don't think there is anyone in our league who can stop him, and clearly UVA couldn't.

This. I know its a radical change to our offense from last season but why not play to our team's strengths? Also our shooters will get more space as teams collapse on Nate.

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(12-22-2018 09:20 PM)zablenoise Wrote:  

(12-22-2018 09:09 PM)Tribe32 Wrote:  I guess there are some folks who have very different expectations about the team, but UVA is a top three team after the polls come out. I personally thought that this year would be a very good team with over 20 wins and a conference championship. I was clearly wrong. Some of the players who I counted on this year to improve and take over have regressed. Now it's time to see how we do against our conference.

We are not a good three point shooting team. Let's get it inside to Knight and ride on his back as long as we can. I don't think there is anyone in our league who can stop him, and clearly UVA couldn't.

This. I know its a radical change to our offense from last season but why not play to our team's strengths? Also our shooters will get more space as teams collapse on Nate.

I agree with this change in approach. Unfortunately, Knight won't be under control as much in some games as in others and so he will be on the bench a lot and/or foul out. That equals losses. But it is still the best approach to try to get wins. We are not a 3-point shooting team (well, we shoot them but we just don't make them).

I am very concerned about the bad free throw shooting. However, that is totally under their own control to correct. Just practice, practice, practice.

As far as I am concerned, the season starts Friday. Just erase the non-conference bad vibes and let's start fresh. I am still hopeful that this is a top four CAA team and, if so, anything can happen in the CAA tournament.

Pierce is (and has been) hurt, the freshmen are inconsistent, and Milon and Rowley forgot how to shoot. The record reflects all of that. We don't run an offense that allows us to focus on one player. The whole offensive system is designed to treat all players as basically interchangeable and trust that we take the best shot available. When we were deeper at the top of the roster, that mostly worked. We're deep in potential right now, but without Pierce we're a one-man show. Against UVA, where he was the only one scoring, there were still lots of possessions where Nathan never touched the ball anywhere but on the perimeter. That's not a bug in the system, it's a feature. There isn't much of a solution likely to come other than hoping the guys make more shots. We haven't seen any kind of indication that Coach Shaver will make changes to the offense. The good news is that almost all of the freshmen will have ample opportunity to grow as players for the rest of the season. If that jump can come in-season, we have a chance to make some noise in the tournament. If not, I hope it happens before next year's tournament.

Last year the team relied on Cohn driving and creating open shots off rotations for our shooters, which they shot well on. This year, we don't have that PG that can drive and create shots for others, so our shooting percentage has taken a nose dive as a result. We just don't have that type of player on the roster currently from what I have seen - maybe L.J. can, but I think he is more of a slasher.

Knight needs to be touching the ball every possession and probably needs to play 35+ minutes, which is asking a lot out of a big. The way we have been playing, we are looking at a 7th-10th place finish in the conference. It is alarming how we have progressively looked worse every game...

(12-23-2018 01:05 AM)WMtribe17 Wrote:  Last year the team relied on Cohn driving and creating open shots off rotations for our shooters, which they shot well on. This year, we don't have that PG that can drive and create shots for others, so our shooting percentage has taken a nose dive as a result. We just don't have that type of player on the roster currently from what I have seen - maybe L.J. can, but I think he is more of a slasher.

Knight needs to be touching the ball every possession and probably needs to play 35+ minutes, which is asking a lot out of a big. The way we have been playing, we are looking at a 7th-10th place finish in the conference. It is alarming how we have progressively looked worse every game...

Regarding the last statement I agree however, that indicates to me that what is going on is either: 1). due to physical injuries/ailments; or 2). is mental/emotional/motivational. Those issues are fixable, as anyone who witnessed the turn around at the St. Joes game can attest. It may not happen, but I'm still looking for this team to break through the fog and into the sunlight.

If you apply last year's average shooting % to yesterday's game a 32 point loss becomes a 1 possession game in our favor against a top 4 team.

There are no more teams the caliber of UVA on our schedule. Given the level of CAA competition, I can still see a path to a top 4 finish in the CAA.

(12-23-2018 01:05 AM)WMtribe17 Wrote:  Last year the team relied on Cohn driving and creating open shots off rotations for our shooters, which they shot well on. This year, we don't have that PG that can drive and create shots for others, so our shooting percentage has taken a nose dive as a result. We just don't have that type of player on the roster currently from what I have seen - maybe L.J. can, but I think he is more of a slasher.

Did you resubmit my post from 2 months ago?

This team is what it is at this point. I would have hoped for steady growth and improvement. Unfortunately, the consistency hasn't been there. As mentioned, the big head scratcher for me is the free throw shooting. Cohn and Burchfield are great and all, but their departure shouldn't tank our team free throw shooting. I, like the rest of us, hope they can find this mysterious switch and figure out how to play team ball by conference time. I think that hope is fading.

My new hope is just to be able to build some consistent play and improve.

Shaver is a great coach but I imagine he's not used to coaching up 5 true freshmen for significant game play. So, he's also adjusting and I think we need to recognize this is a burner year for players and coaches.

The fact that Nate dominated UVA when they knew he was the only threat is amazing. If at least two guys don't step up and help him....man.

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I for one don't think Knight has played to his potential all the time, but let's just look at what he has done.

He leads the team in:
Scoring - 19.3
FG% - 58.2
FT% - 77.1
Assists - 34
Blocks - 17
and yes.......turn overs - 31 (many are offensive fouls)