I’m. So. Excited! Year two of Cuts from The Corner kicks off and, once again lovely readers, we have fresh cuts for the viewing from our UVa men’s basketball team! At the beginning of a season, I like to ease in with some general likes and dislikes – typically a little more scattershot because so much is new and we’re just starting to find out things about this team. Unfortunately, this means there will be some things that we don’t get into, or cover in as much depth, but I’m sure that we’ll tackle more as time goes on.
It was nice to get an easy, comfortable, 30-point victory over a team that has played some major opponents tough over the previous two years. Tarleton St. is unique in that they do not take a lot of three-point shots, they pressure the ball (and have a high foul rate) to try to create turnovers, and they draw a lot of fouls themselves. Their tallest player who got time was 6’7″ and that was a guard, with most of their forwards being 6’6″; so it was hard to get a great read on what, likely, will our biggest challenge will be this year – defending the paint. Some of what we did this game that was very positive, like playing Leon Bond at the 4 (sometimes even alongside Groves), may not be viable against larger opponents. On Friday, we’ll get a better look at this against a much larger (and more talented) team in Florida. That being said, the ease and different ways in which we scored the ball, especially in which we were able to use our offensive sets to create quality spacing/shooting opportunities, was very encouraging. Unlike recent years, we seem to have no shortage of guys who can make a play for themselves or for others, and there was a freedom on offense that was refreshing to see.
So, we’re going to get into it below and, first and foremost – I apologize for the audio on these clips! I mistakenly recorded an echo which is very distracting (will be fixed for future Cuts) and recommend watching these clips without sound.
And now for the elephant in the room. It’s impossible to start this off without a discussion about the big news before the game even started – the decision to redshirt Elijah Gertrude. So, if you’re inclined to want to avoid the redshirt topic altogether, please feel free to skip the next section, which I will label. Okay, here we go:
The Redshirt Discussion
Dislike: Redshirting Elijah Gertrude
I don’t want to spend a ton of time on this because we have actual, live game action to digest, but it is certainly a continuation of the topics we’ve covered this past offseason. It should come as no surprise that I disagree with the decision to redshirt Gertrude for the upcoming season. But, while I do disagree and will make that case below, it’s not as adamantly as you (or even I) might think, given some of my work this past offseason.
Both Bliss, who reclassified to get into the system a year early, and Robinson, who was recruited as a raw talent with that very intention, were givens to take the redshirt year, and I’m fully on-board. I’ve seen a little chatter that Robinson might be able to help some this year, which is certainly possible, but I think the redshirt program will help him a lot and I don’t think he would offer as much, or more, than Minor; which seems to be the rotational bar at the moment. But there has always been an important difference between the players who were brought in assuming that they would sit a year vs. those who may have been told it was a possibility but who had every intention of betting on themselves and contributing in that first year. Gertrude’s injury certainly complicated this decision but, by all accounts, he still planned on recovering and returning for this season. Back in March he said as much and, after being cleared to play and taking part in offseason scrimmages, said 7 days ago that his timetable to play/not to redshirt was medically driven and was looking good. So we know it’s not an issue of him not being able to play now, medically. After CTB had “the talk” with Elijah about his prospects to play this year and his long-term outlook, that changed and, although he certainly “made the choice himself” it was definitely a disappointment and one made from the information provided to him. The way that’s framed always feels like semantics, to me, anyway, but there is always the Ryan Dunn option of just betting on yourself to win time.
Now, to be very clear, this is NOT the same situation as Isaac Traudt was in where, despite the clear disappointment at the redshirt, the odds were very good that he was going to leave no matter what. That being said, we covered how the situation being different than it was when he committed and the unexpected redshirt certainly didn’t help any minimal chance at retention we had, and also kept him from being able to help our program last year (as he almost certainly could have, especially late in the season). Conversely, when Dunn decided not to redshirt despite the role for him being ambiguous at best, he was able to carve out a significant (and important) role for himself last season and CTB even said on media day that they were glad they didn’t redshirt him. So, there certainly IS agency regarding the player and their ability to bet on themselves even if the picture being painted to them isn’t overly optimistic. Perhaps that outward display of confidence is what CTB is looking for anyway – we know how much the Dunn potential walk-on situation impressed him.
This is different first and foremost because of the injury. While Elijah has been cleared to play, and has done so in both internal and external scrimmages, he’s not fully back to his pre-injury athleticism or explosiveness (something CTB has said outright in pressers). It’s hard to know with these kinds of injuries exactly what that timetable looks like. It might come in a couple of weeks, it might come mid-way through the season, it might not come at all this season (but, in all likelihood, it should at some point). So, this very likely explains the bulk of the decision as well as the tentative language that CTB has used. He’s said that that was the “plan right now” and they could be “called into action.” This is true of any redshirt and presumably speaks to the potential of injury, harkens to some language used last year, etc. But my hope is that it could also just mean, if Elijah seems fully back to his pre-injury self, we could bring him into the fold.
I’ve also been advised that, even though it likely does come as a disappointment, that Elijah does not appear to be a big transfer risk for a variety of reasons, the most of which are that he and his family believe in the program and what it has to offer and are open to rolling with that.
So, even though we’re still really one of the only programs still doing this with such highly recruited/talented players, and even though the transfer portal is so volatile, I do buy into the premise that it’s a relatively lower risk move that does have some upside if you end up with more developed/explosive Elijah Gertrude time in the program.
I still disagree with it.
For one, even though the risk is minimized compared to a player like a Traudt (or even potentially like a Buchanan who is so far away from home), you ARE still introducing risk of loss with such a valuable and talented player. To those who say, “but you are if he doesn’t redshirt and doesn’t play, as well,” fair. That’s why we should play him! Even 80-90% of Elijah Gertrude is good! We’ve seen him and heard about him more than holding his own in scrimmages and practices. There’s room for him to get run – specifically, and I don’t mean to be too blunt about this, but I’m confident there are many more reasons we’d want him on the floor than Taine Murray at this point. You can shave a few minutes from Dante Harris, you can find 10-11 mpg for an athletic plus defender who can make plays off of the bounce, distribute the basketball, shoot it a bit, and finish way above the rim. If you work him in a similar role as Dunn had last year (remember that frontcourt seemed VERY crowded at the beginning of the year), not only are the rest of your guys less run down as the season progresses, but he’s already got that game experience under his belt for whenever he does fully round back into peak athletic form. And having THAT guy in your arsenal, already having been game tested, would be incredibly valuable at the end of the season.
That’s the biggest reason – he can help you now if you let him and that should become even more apparent as the season progresses. But, additionally, it’s not ideal for his development to miss two full seasons of competitive play, either. Sure, he’ll be practicing against our team as a part of the green team and pushing them, but it’s not the same as shaking the rust off in games that count and that come with real pressure/experiences in hostile (and friendly) environments. I think it will also be helpful to play alongside a player like Reece Beekman; to feel the game flow through him, how he controls it, distributes, his defensive intensity, etc. Again, yes, you can approximate that a little in practice and guarding him is part of that, but there IS real value in seeing and feeling that with him against real opponents in live action.
And so that’s that – I said I wanted to keep it short so you only got… twelve-hundred words on the matter? But, at least until something else significant happens, that should really be all there is to say on the topic for a while. I hope something happens to reverse it but, until then, let’s focus on the now:
End of Redshirt Discussion!
Liked: Offensive Sets and Spacing
The thing that most stood out to me when combing through this game and what I’ll focus on the most today is how our personnel allowed us to adapt a variety of offensive looks and, with some lineups (most notably those with Jacob Groves on the floor), provide excellent spacing. I did some loose charting of our offensive possessions (didn’t count anything after Tristan How came on the floor and may have missed one or two while getting caught up clipping/logging), but we ran all three of the major offenses that we ran last year in this game. We ran Sides around 58% of the time, Flow around 34% of the time, and Inside Triangle (3-man) around 8% of the time. Coming into this season I would have said that Sides is probably the least effective offense available to this roster and would only be best utilized if Jordan Minor and/or Blake Buchanan were in the game. But, they did a few cool things out of it and the ability of our forwards to flare outside of the 3 point line did a lot for our shot creation and ball movement. Let’s take a look:
(Really quick disclaimer – I apologize for the audio on these clips! I mistakenly recorded an echo which is very distracting (will be fixed for future Cuts) and recommend watching these clips without sound.)
This is the first offensive possession of the game and, first of all, if you had asked me what the ideal first points of the season for our squad were before the game, a Ryan Dunn three-pointer would have been high on that list. This is our Sides offense but notice how high and wide both Groves and Dunn are setting their screens. This isn’t uncommon for the system as a whole, but often it’s mixed in with some more screens mid-range on the lane or lower so that the screeners can pin and post, etc. With both forwards being perimeter-based players and with a lot of the screening action happening out wide, it creates a lot of spacing for dribble penetration (something we’ll look at later) and also kick outs. Here, Groves is setting repeated pin down screens on the top wing and Dunn is setting repeated flare screens on the bottom. After Beekman runs his pin down he takes the opportunity to drive the lane, Dunn is right there at the three-point line to step outside, take the kickout, and show off that (hopefully) improved part of his game.
Here’s the next possession, below, out of Sides again. Both of the forwards are setting their screens very wide. Again I want to emphasize, it’s not like this is an abnormal spot for this screening action to ever take place within the offense. It happens all of the time. But normally, it’s not so intentional and there are some spacing differences ranging from the more subtle where these outside screens can be set just a little farther inside the three-point line, to the more extreme where some are set much closer to the paint, even on the block at times. Both Dunn and Groves are setting ALL of their screening action with a foot on the three-point line or just a step or two inside of it – so keep an eye on that in these next couple of clips. The other notable thing from this play below is the range from which Rohde spots up and launches that shot. He’s well beyond the three-point line which makes the close out when his man helps on the Reece drive much harder. If Rohde is right on the line there on that return pass, he likely either doesn’t attempt the shot or it’s a much more contested look. Great range and spacing that lead to 3 points.
Another great look, below, resulting in what I believe will be the best shot we can get this season – an Isaac McKneely three. We should also note – this is the fourth possession of the game and one was a Reece Beekman break away. This is the kind of offensive blitz, ease of shot creation, and diverse scoring threats, that we rarely saw the last two seasons even against under-matched teams. This is another look out of Sides, but at the end the only player not outside of the perimeter is Jacob Groves who just drove from there. The beginning of this play highlights something that I want to touch on because I won’t highlight it specifically and it’s something that happened a couple of times successfully later in the game where Beekman scored off of it. We’re in Sides, but there’s enough spacing for the point to drive right down the middle of the lane. Now, here, Tarleton St. reacts well enough to help on the drive and force a kick out, but later they didn’t always – and this isn’t often a common point of attack for this offense; certainly not getting all the way to the hoop. It’s an interesting wrinkle to the offense that will allow both Beekman and Harris to attack downhill while still having the option to pop right back out to more standard Sides action, as Beekman does here. The ball goes back out to Dunn and then resets, and then back to Beekman again (he’s going to be so dangerous this year) who immediately probes the lane while Dunn dives. Beekman draws three defenders, which you can see if you pause at 14 seconds, including Groves from the opposite wing, so Beekman kicks it out (he also might have had Dunn on a lob). Here, we can see that Groves is pretty fluid off of the bounce after his pump fake, getting to the block and finding Dunn who flares back outside on the catch and immediately finds McKneely on the rotation for the clean look for three. Very good and crisp dribble penetration and ball movement. A quibble – I’d kind of like Dunn to just take that pass from Groves on the block and go up and finish; especially against such a small team – but the end result was better and we’ll cross that bridge if it becomes an issue later.
Okay, it’s still very early in the game and the next clip is a look out of Flow. This is exciting as it’s the offensive set many, including myself, thought would be the best fit for this team and we did run it around 1/3rd of our possessions. We see Dunn set this up with the ball screen well outside of the three-point line for Beekman and notice how McKneely, Rohde, and Groves are all fanned around the perimeter at the beginning of the clip. As Beekman drives, if you pause at 3 seconds into the clip, you can see that between he and Dunn’s dive to the hoop, they’ve forced all five Texan defenders to react to them. Beekman’s man is attempting to get back into defending position, Dunn’s is racing back to try to get to Dunn, IMK’s man has pinched down to help on Dunn, Groves’s man is trying to disrupt the dribble, and Rohde’s has sunk into the lane to make sure that the drive is stopped. All three of our guys on the perimeter are clean to take a kick out, and Beekman makes the easiest pass to Rohde. As the defense adjusts, Rohde immediately fires it back out to Groves who puts his comfortable handle on display again as he drives the middle, draws IMK’s man again on the help, and kicks it out to IMK for the wide-open look. Really well executed all around.
One more look at Flow in this section before we wrap here, this one later in the game but with the starters on the floor. After an offensive rebound Dunn kicks the ball back outside and watch the team just fan around the arc. The ball movement is so good and quick. Rohde to Groves, down to IMK, back to Groves, pump fake and one dribble, back to Rohde, down to Beekman (while Dunn fakes and slips a ball screen), Beekman drives to the paint, kick out to IMK, back out to Groves for the three (and notice the subtle Beekman lingering in the high post to shield off the defender who could contest). It’s quick, it forces the defense to keep reacting, it’s a threat to shoot from anywhere OR get to the bucket. It’s exciting.
As I wrap this section, I think there are a few points to be made. For one, Jacob Groves is a pretty big upgrade for these style off offenses. The accuracy in his shot making alone is a huge deal, but he’s also just a more fluid ball handler and so his ability to take a couple of dribbles and draw defenders along with his quality passing and quick decision making keeps things flowing more crisply and forces gains important fractions of seconds that ultimately yield quality looks. It’s not just the addition of Groves, though. I believe the starting lineup we played last night is a considerably more effective small ball lineup than we ever fielded in any iteration last season; and here’s why I say that:
For one, all of Beekman, McKneely, and Dunn are better versions of themselves. This is most impactful with Dunn who started to get more timid from outside later in the year and teams started sagging off of him from outside, and whose handle seems markedly improved, but it’s also notable in Beekman’s improved outside shot which has been mentioned by CTB despite not yet showing up in the game. Beekman is also healthy again, and really wasn’t when we were most commonly using the small ball lineups last season, so his driving ability should be more potent. McKneely is in his true position at SG and deferring less, allowing him to get more shots off over guards and not small forwards. There’s the Groves upgrade over BVP that I’ve touched on, but Andrew Rohde is also a big piece in this. He only shot 2-8 from the field in the game, and I believe he will need to adjust to a lower volume/usage role than he had at St. Thomas (that’s real, playing with usage flow vs. not). But the range he adds, both from depth and in his length, opens up the floor and improves the spacing even more. I was also really impressed with his vision and passing in this one. He has a keen sense of where to go with the ball, moves it quickly, and throws some dimes across the court. I thought he really did a good job of ramping up the pressure on the defense through some of his probing passes. It remains to be seen if he’ll be an efficient scorer for us inside without the same level of reps but there was still a lot to like with how he fit into this offense. So, yes, I’m bullish on the offensive options associated with this starting line up but…
Disliked: Groves Defense
… there are trade-offs. I wrote in my preview piece on him that the quality of Jacob Groves’s defense can vary pretty dramatically. It was not in good form in this game. He got into foul trouble (finishing with 4), and you could see some challenges and that Tarleton St. viewed him as a place they could attack. Let’s look at a couple of examples:
In this first clip, we just see KiAndre Gaddy (#5), who is only 6’6″ use some isolation back-to-the-basket dribbling on Groves. He just kind of uses his dribble and the fact that he’s quicker (but I’d argue this wasn’t amazingly so) to create space get by Groves and then finishes on the other side of the rim. This is… not good post defense, and it might explain why we were SO aggressive about sending Ryan Dunn to double team for Groves early in the game (which created its own problems and we’ll talk about later).
Here’s a slightly less obvious look, but you can see that when he sinks to help Beekman on the drive, he allows his momentum to carry him too much and he over-extends; taking himself out of position to cut off the drive. Lue Williams (#4) of Tarleton St. is able to jump stop into the area that Groves didn’t cut off and draw the foul on Jacob as he attempts to get back into the play.
Here’s a look farther away from the bucket and we see him in a hedging situation for the first time. His hedge is more flat than hard here, but he does well to cut off the dribble but is pretty slow to recover. Buchanan does a good job rotating out to his man for the contest, but as Groves continues to recover and contest, he fouls the jump shooter. This is fine system knowledge, but a quickness/momentum issue. That being said, if he just pulls up and doesn’t let himself get carried into the shooter, a midrange jumper on the move over a long contest isn’t that bad of a look to concede.
Here’s another look on the perimeter where he leaves his man to help on the drive when Harris falls down on the screen. That part was good, but his recovery to the three-point line created a momentum issue again, and he’s blown by on the drive such that it’s a clear path and he has to foul.
This last clip touches rebounding, which is probably the bigger concern considering the lack of size of our opponent. Twice, he’s the largest guy in the paint and in good rebounding position, gets both hands on the ball, and has it deflected away. Beekman comes out with it at the end on the deflection, but when it’s all 6’6″ guys crashing the glass and we’re struggling to secure, I DO think that poses a long-term concern for our ability to defend size with this lineup (Groves at the 4 with Buchanan at the 5 or Groves with Dunn but Bond also on the floor might be different stories but we didn’t see a lot of those looks on Monday night)
So, this appears to be an interesting early point of tension to keep an eye on as the season progresses – the positive impact of Groves on offense vs. the interior defense/rebounding that we give up when he’s at the 4/5 (and also the strain that puts on Dunn which we’re about to tackle). For what it’s worth – we were +20 in the 15 minutes that Groves was on the floor despite this, which was the second highest margin on the team on a per-minute basis (behind Beekman), but I think we stand to learn a lot more about this starting lineup on Friday, given Florida’s interior size.
Disliked: Dunn Pressing Defensively/Foul Trouble
This point ties in nicely with the above section on Groves. Dunn was clearly very fired up for this game, which is great to see, but I think he was pressing a little bit to make his impact felt. Normally, this comes on the offensive side, but I didn’t see that much (there was one fast break where he took it himself as opposed to what appeared to be an open Beekman ahead of the play – but he still drew a foul and the pas wasn’t a gimme). Oddly, but also fittingly given how impactful we’ve seen he can be on this end, it felt like he was pressing more on the defensive end. He bit on a couple of pump fakes on close outs, was VERY aggressive about helping Groves on double teams in the post, in general just felt like he was overly eager. The result was that he got into early foul trouble and was pulled for a good part of the first half (I’m sure we’ll have that conversation at some point in the future), which limited him to 21 minutes of floor time (and he was playing pretty late) and felt like it took him out of the flow a bit.
Here’s the first of the two fouls early, where he fronts his man and stays home on a drive from the wing, but his close out on the three-point shooter is entirely too aggressive. It’s like he was trying to straight up block it. Tarleton St. got 3 shots and Dunn picked up a personal foul less than a minute in.
This next one was the second foul and it was also the one that caught my attention the most among a series of plays where he helped HARD for Groves in the post. The interesting thing here is that he really isn’t out of position when his man catches the ball on the perimeter, he just bites on the ball fake and gets beaten on the drive – but that seems very likely because he was amped and because he’d just completed such an aggressive rotation. But watch that help – Groves’s man catches it midway between the three-point line and the block, he’s not even that close to the bucket, and Dunn both helps and lingers almost entirely through the Tarleton St. player walking it back out to the three-point line. Now, in theory, I actually like this from Dunn as long as he can get away with it. Having him use his mobility and length to be this sort of menacing omnipresence who can still recover to his own man creates a lot of confusion and is a valuable deterrent. BUT, if he is going to do this he still has to play within himself, in control, can’t psych himself out, and can’t pick up unnecessary fouls that will keep him off the floor. He’s going to be too imporant for us this year!
Interestingly, Dunn’s lower usage this game obfuscated the Leon Bond situation a little bit, as did the nature of the size of our opponent. Bond mostly played either as a straight backup to Dunn at the 4, or alongside him for a short period as the 4/5. Does that mean that’s what his role will mostly be on this team, or is it possible he’ll be flexed out to the wing more against bigger opponents and with Dunn playing more? I’ll be more excited if he’s kind of the jack-of-all-trades who we will slot in a bunch of different places (I love the idea of him guarding Riley Kugel on Friday) depending on the opponent as opposed to being more of a static/back up 4. We will see. Speaking of…
Liked: Leon Bond’s Nose For The Ball
I loved what Leon Bond brought to the game Monday night and it seems that he just has a nose for finding the ball; and I don’t mean that in a lucky way. His athleticism/reach/awareness allow him to make those kinds of plays. What kind of plays? I’m glad you asked…
This was his first offensive possession and, while he looked unsure with the ball at first, and didn’t even look to shoot from outside when he had a little space, you see a lot of what he brings to the table. First he just backed his man down and found Buchanan for the jumper on that cross-lane pass. Then he grabbed the offensive rebound, then he kept another possession alive with the tip out of another offensive rebound out to Rohde (bonus shout out to Rohde on that immediate cross-court pass to Beekman for the open three, this is what I was referencing earlier re: his vision and ability to keep the pressure on a defense). The possession didn’t end in points, but Bond showed up again and again to make positive things happen and to create additional opportunities.
Here, he’s just right there to clean up for Minor (and went over a guy without fouling).
Here he has the anticipation and body control to blow up this fast break and get the ball back (and draw the foul).
And then there was this monstrosity (in a good way) of a put back!
So, yeah, I love how Bond plays. His energy, activity, athleticism, smooth midrange jumper, and versatility is all so valuable. He WILL likely have problems as a pure 4 in some matchups against larger competition, though, and this kind of team is very much an ideal matchup for him. One of the biggest continuing questions, for me right now, is how his utilization will evolve.
Liked: Offensive System Creativity/Competency
I mentioned that we utilized all three of our core offenses from last year in this game and the ratios in which we used them, but I really appreciated the flexibility and creativity in which we already used them in the very first game. Last year, returning our entire starting lineup, we heavily leaned on Sides to start the season and we ran it in a very traditional way. It was throughout the year that we worked in the other offenses more (sometimes shifting away from Sides entirely). This year, we already look like seasoned veterans re: offensive execution across all three, and that’s a testament to both our lineup flexibility/skillset and just CTB being CTB. Let’s do a couple of examples of what I mean from each.
Here’s the first look out of Sides I want to cover that isn’t especially innovative but highlights something Dante Harris is bringing to the table that I think will have an impact over the season. Harris is on the lower side with Minor as his screener. The best element to Minor’s offensive game is his pick and roll prowess where he’s both a solid screener and good at catching the ball fluidly. Here, Harris waits for and motions Minor to come set a ball screen and promptly rejects that screen, exploding baseline as soon as his man starts to lean into it. The space he creates is as wide as an ocean and he gets fouled on his jumper as his man desperately tries to get back into the play. We’ll see some more from him shortly, but a Harris rejected ball screen is a terrifying thing to have to defend – he’s SO quick. This will be something to keep an eye on when he’s in the game over the season because, especially when paired with a strong screener like Minor, or even Buchanan, Harris exploiting a two-man game should be an effective plan C, D, E, etc. when our primary offensive strategies have been slowed, we’re not shooting well, etc. This isn’t the most efficient play we’ll run – but it travels, and there aren’t many guards in the league athletic enough to shut it down entirely.
Here’s a neat little option out of Sides involving Leon Bond. He’s playing at the bottom side high post and motions from Rohde to come from the opposite wing to run ostensibly a pin down screen to free up at the wing. Tarleton St. attempts to cheat the play by having Bond’s man switch and potentially deny the pass to Rohde. Reading this (or maybe he’d seen this and planned for it), Bond cuts to the center of the free-throw line as Rohde nears, and takes the pass from Reece. Rohde’s man, having switched but not expecting this, runs up to try to steal the pass, misses, is entirely out of position, and Bond just smoothly takes the ball to the hoop, drawing the foul. You’d obviously have loved him to finish, but that’s beautiful, adaptive basketball.
This next one’s from a little later in the game but still out of Sides. Harris is in instead of McKneely and Bond is in instead of Dunn – but the spacing is still great and we see Groves cash in on his threat from deep. I really love the multiple double screen action at the bottom of the screen, which really acts as a decoy for a back screen from Bond on Harris. Harris draws a lot of defenders and makes an incredibly athletic pass back out to Groves who punishes the Texans with the deep ball. Groves really impressed me with his release and accuracy this game, but I really like that that pass didn’t hit him right where he wanted it, he had to reach and gather but was unbothered. I’m enamored with just about everything about this play, from the early distraction action, to how good that pass from out top from Rohde to Harris was, to how athletic that kick out from Harris to Groves was, to Groves being so reliable when he gets open looks!
Okay, let’s look at a couple of Inside Triangle looks. In this one you’ve got Harris and Dunn on either wing, which is pretty consistent with how they’d use Kihei and Dunn last year (I was expecting more Dunn inside this year, we’ll see on that). Groves, Rohde, and IMK are running inside. If comparing this to last year, this is Groves as BVP, IMK actually as Franklin, and Rohde playing more of the Beekman role. So you’ve got Harris as a legit threat to drive in the right clear out opportunity. Dunn to shoot or drive on a kick out, but your three best shooters on the interior screening for each other. You can actually see IMK holding up three fingers for “3-man” at the beginning of the play to get them into the set. Groves eventually feigns like he’s going to set a ball screen for Rohde and drops back into the post, takes the pass, IMK fades out to the three-point line for the kick out, then drops it down to Rohde who slid down and launches a good three. He doesn’t sink this one, but it’s good insight into how they’re viewing roles this year and, again, I like how the inclination is to get maximum spacing and find an open look.
But this is a much different Triangle look, below. We get the “oohs” and “ahhs” from Dante Harris’s explosive drive and acrobatic finish, but what I most like about this look is how you can see, here, the evolution of the Triangle based on personnel. At the beginning of the play, Harris is one side, Dunn the other, with Groves, Rohde, and IMK in the interior, just like before. They run screening actions that don’t lead to much, but then Rohde pops outside to the top wing, becoming one of the sides himself with Harris now filling into the interior. Rohde attempts to dribble penetrate from his wing position, and draws defenders with him, passing it back out to Harris up top with IMK now replacing at the top wing. Now Groves, Rohde, and Harris are the interior and Rohde goes to set a ball screen for Harris, which he just tells him to clear out. Groves clears out to the corner, and Harris beats his man one-on-one. This is where Harris thrives, and we hopefully recognize this look from last year where sometimes the Triangle would fan and Reece would isolate from the point… but the coolest thing was seeing how that top wing and Inside Triangle role rotated between Harris, Rohde, and IMK three times throughout that possession. That position is normally static when you don’t have as many versatile pieces, and it does make it harder for a defense to track how to defend even if they’ve scouted the offense well.
Okay, last one and it’s a combo as it starts out as Flow and changes to Sides. We did this some last year starting a possession out in Flow to probe and then switching to a different offense mid-possession. We see Groves here as the on-ball screener, with Rohde as a baseline runner. Beekman’s drive is foiled by an aggressive helper off of Harris, who turns down the three-pointer here on the kick out. I won’t be speculating on the Beekman/Harris fit much within this piece other than to say I was glad Harris first subbed on FOR Beekman, did note he played 24 minutes though, and do think there’s a lot we can do with his skillset which can make this work… but this was a good example of why there is a conflict in playing both because this could easily have been a three and an assist if Harris were a different player on the wing (or Reece wouldn’t have had to deal with as much help). Anyway, Harris brings the ball back out to the point and from there they are in Sides. Groves resets, both he and Bond still keep their screening actions wide, but you see them happening simultaneously. Rohde doesn’t make much progress on the top wing so they go back through the point and try Reece, who takes the screen from Groves, drives, draws both defenders, and hits Groves, who popped out after his screen, for the wide-open look. Notice how Beekman and Groves are the answer to a lot of questions the defense poses.
We do have a senior PG who has played in the system his entire career and Groves is a 5th year senior as well with a lot of games under his belt – but the fact that we’re already running all three of our offenses interchangeably and that there’s so much variance/comfort to adapt within them and react to what’s happening is a great sign, especially with so many new faces. When we talk about player development under CTB, we so often think of the weight training, the skills improvement via shooting/handle, the defensive concepts, etc…. But I think an incredibly underrated part of it is how well CTB teaches offense through his systems – reading the game, understanding what’s happening on the basketball court, and how to exploit it within the framework of a scheme. That’s so valuable at every level.
Liked: Blake Buchanan – First Player Off The Bench
Being necessity or not, I love that Blake Buchanan looks to be an integral part of this team. What’s most notable, and something that was coming out during the offseason but may have shocked those who weren’t as plugged into that stuff, is his position ahead of Jordan Minor on the depth chart. The other thing that’s symbolically encouraging, to me, is that CTB is not deferring to experience in the post in this instance. Moreso than in the backcourt, the frontcourt has had a bit of a priority on experience over the years, but Buchanan (and perhaps the adjustment to the defensive system from Minor who spent his entire career in the 2-3 zone) appears to have broken that recent trend. I do think that Minor will see more time in games against bigger teams, against Florida on Friday, for example, we’re going to need him to body some people, possibly along WITH Buchanan at times, but Buchanan appears to bring more mobility and reach and has adjusted to the system well. I’m fully on board.
Check out his role in our first (spiritual, not literal) Shotty Violache of the season. While fronting his man, he simultaneously covers two people when stopping Dunn’s man on the drive. He’s mobile in the paint, showing and bothering the next man with the ball, eventually forcing the offense to reset, and then when his man gets a pass on the block, he is active with his hands, physical without fouling, and absolutely engulfs his guy, forcing the back court violation.
Later, we see him having to defend on the perimeter and, while he reasonably gets beaten on the drive, he has the agility and speed to stay in the play, and the verticality to go up and completely erase the shot from behind. Shades of some of our great shot blockers over the years right here:
Contrastingly, Minor did appear to be a little slower with his lateral mobility, the most extreme example being below, where he gets beaten off of the dribble and concedes the assist when help side comes. This is what I called out in my preview article on Minor – that he tends to try to get into the body of his man and limit him with his strength. You can see him doing that here, but the offensive player is too quick and he can’t get back into the play.
While, I would say that Tarleton St. is an anomaly, Minor played in a league where he was the second tallest player; so he’s used to this kind of quickness and ball handling. The biggest difference is that, in that system, he didn’t have to extend to the perimeter to defend as he did here and/or on a hedge; he played center-field under the hoop and his sliding was limited to more situations around the paint. If he is struggling here, this likely explains why we’re seeing more Blake… and I’m not sure that will change if Blake just offers more defensive versatility, considering their offensive skillsets. But, again, I don’t think this means Minor doesn’t have an important role on this team, especially against Major opponents with bigs who are going to be attacking more inside/out rather than outside/in.
Liked: Pushing The Tempo
I swear, I watched this game and thought, “man, we’re really pushing the tempo here, for us.” At times, it felt downright chaotic but in a refreshing way… and then I checked Evanmiya.com today and we’re ranked 356 of 362 teams in tempo! So, maybe not? But it did feel a little more aggressive, right?
I’m thinking specifically about those break outs where IMK ended up firing away in transition here (and I love Rohde signaling the back pass and screening for this shot):
And here (even though we missed this one):
Something to keep an eye on since the data doesn’t appear to match the feel… but I did notice Harris run out really quickly after grabbing a board only to slow up, etc., so I’ll be interested to see if this is actually anything or, more likely, is just situational. I liked these shots, though. If you can get an open look from a good shooter, whenever, let’s take it – and it was good to see that we did without hesitation.
Okay, just a couple more quick hitters:
Disliked: Rohde’s Handle
Rohde was a little loose with the ball at times on Monday, like here:
And here:
He kind of put the ball out there for the taking on both of these, a bit. It might be nerves, it might be pressing a little bit, but it wasn’t super abnormal for this to happen when he played for St. Thomas – it just came on a much higher volume of repetitions. It’s certainly not something to call a concern yet – but it is something I’m paying attention to knowing how much CTB values ball security and given how I called out earlier how much I do think Rohde’s presence helps maximize our offensive potential.
Liked: Reece The Glove
There’s going to be a lot of time to feature Reece this season (I certainly hope), especially some of his offensive improvements and the offense functioning with him leading the way. There were a lot of cool offensive wrinkles, and I highlighted some above, within the same offenses… but some of what’s going to make us tick this year and likely our best play, at times, is just going to be having Reece take over. There was a good amount of that this game – but I’m also reminded of what a dominating defensive presence he is, such that he flashes so absurdly dominantly each game like with this pick-six (which, the Dunn celebration at the end is everything):
And this just absolutely overpowering plundering of the spoils:
It’s just a reminder that this season is the gift of watching another year of probably the most dominant defensive guard we’ve ever had during the CTB era in his prime… and I’m very grateful for that/looking forward to all of the highly skilled players he locks up!
In Conclusion
Happy start to the season! There’s a lot to like, a lot to keep eyes on, and a lot I wasn’t even able to touch on and have left for another time. This was a good performance that will hopefully build confidence especially around offensive fluidity and shot-making. The most encouraging take away, in my opinion, is how far along they seem in their offensive execution so early in the season. The game against Florida on Friday will start to illuminate a lot of things, I believe, with regard to exactly how malleable certain players roles will be this season and the type of variance we’re looking at with regard to their court time. How matchup-specific do we look to play? One thing I noticed on Monday but didn’t include above was how often we switched perimeter screens with our 1-3 position… was that because of Tarleton State’s size or was that something we feel more confident doing with our current personnel? How exotic are we willing to get with some of our player packages? For example, could we see Leon Bond or Ryan Dunn move up in the lineup and guard Riley Kugel on Friday or will we stick with the more likely scenario of playing Beekman on him? It’s a lot of fun as a fan right now because there are so many unknowns and we get to watch (and opine about) how the puzzle pieces come together. I’m looking forward to it!
Blog Note: I will be attending the game on Friday so Cuts for the Florida game will likely be delayed some. I’ll still try to get it out sometime before the game against North Carolina A&T but it may be tight.
Cuts from The Corner: UVA Hoops Musings 