...and this was an absolute gem of scouting.
I've watched VaTech a few times and they STRUGGLE defending the post, which is why they are so danged grabby and handsy before the ball gets down there. Once we saw how they were gonna approach it, the staff was ready and it was an obvious practice point this week. On a day of meh 3-point shooting, this was won the old-fashioned way.
- Any time we saw Mando in a post before help was available we redirected to it, sometimes even in the Secondary. And in the second half we ran 3 different post-entry actions, all of which worked --- the old-school, iso wing entry, the backside baseline Flex-cut off ball reversal, and the quick P&R slip off the high up-screen to the Point (we coulda had even more on that one with some clean catches --- ALWAYS be looking when #2 has the rock),
- On that note, Mando looked way more spry today and flat took it to em, and was ready for kick-outs off doubles!
- We really had to toughen up after halftime. After a nicely called 1st half, it was predictable the foul numbers would go the other way, and they did. Their grabs caused more than one of our TO's and made it difficult to pull away.
- Speaking of tough, with so much of their attention on Mando, Ingram hit the boards like a grown-ass man and mostly finished strong on put-backs, using his width to clear space and going up strong.
- We missed some mismatches inherent in their 3-Guard lineup (a few times Withers had a Guard on him), but on the other end we were, except for unconscious #2 and Nickel (of course), able to contain their aggressive shooters. EC, RJ, Cormac, Seth and Woj all played hard D to make them work for most everything --- especially in the second half when we held them to 1/12 from deep.
- Also, there were a couple of times in the second half when our perimeter guys gave up fouls to protect Mando from getting #4 --- the subtle things that win games.
- Huge alpha play by RJ. With our continuity immediately stalled when EC went out late, RJ took on a perimter double and created a late-clock 3 just when we needed it most. And speaking of huge, Cormac's dagger 3 closed out any comeback chances.
- finally, our young Mr. Cadeau's next step of maturation into this level is to contain frustration, even when it's deserved. The last frustration foul (after being mugged like a Running Back vs a goal-line defense) was case-in-point. With a few exceptions, RJ is a good example to follow there. The little guy has taken more than his share of poundings over the years, but eventually realized that discretion is the better part of valor for a player so valuable. EC should follow suit. We survived it today (due to the reasons mentioned above) but Eliot was +19 in 23 minutes today --- we need ya on the floor, young fella!
Anyway, fun to watch a nice win utilizing old-school Carolina inside-out basketball! Now we have a week to prep for our nightmare arena --- time to change the narrative in Charlottesville, dadgummit!...
northcarolina.rivals.com
