Why We Lost
Virginia had 86 points in 60 possessions. That's 1.43 points per possession. By comparison, the Creighton embarrassment in 2013-14 was 1.45 points per possession.
Virginia shooting
Virginia shot 56.5% FG, 66.7% 3-pt FG, and 86.7% FT. It couldn't miss. UVA has always been an efficient offensive team, and today, it took it to a new level.
Defensive rebounding
UVA missed 20 shots. It got 13 offensive rebounds. That's unacceptable.
I don't know if I should be impressed that we stayed in a game where Virginia shot lights out, or worried that we needed to shoot well just to stay in the game.
Other Thoughts
Jenkins
Jenkins did a great job getting to the foul line and keeping us in the game. His shot selection still leaves something to be desired, but most of his shot attempts aren't so bad that he can't make them. And when he does make them, he's lights out. I hope today is a confidence builder.
Daryl Reynolds
He's a complete mismatch in a bad way against good big men. Tobey abused him when he was in the game. He offers nothing offensively, and while he's a good rebounder, defender and shot blocker for his size, those skills are completely invalidated by his giving up 5 inches.
Ochefu
Good passer, and I like when we get him the ball. He needs to make quicker decisions though, and sometimes he needs to realize when he's underneath the basket that he needs to go up and finish strong. But we've said that for 3.5 years, so I doubt it's going to change.
Brunson
His defense needs to improve, and his offense will improve dramatically with a year or two in the weight room. For this year, I was happy to see Brunson go 2-3 from downtown, we're going to need him to shoot better than he has been.
3-point shooting
We took a lot of the same shots we took against Oklahoma. The difference is, today we made a much higher percentage of them.
Season Outlook
Right now, our only losses are on a neutral court to a top-3 team, and on the road at the No. 8 team (which should be higher). According to KenPom, UVA and Oklahoma are the No. 1 and No. 3 teams in the nation.
Getting back in the 1 seed discussion will be very difficult, but we've gone 16-2 back-to-back years in conference. I doubt that happens again, but if it does (or even 15-3 with the right wins), we're right back in the discussion.
This team definitely has some flaws. Our lack of size killed us on the defensive glass today. And that won't improve this season. The good news is that we won't face a team as good as Virginia or Oklahoma til the Sweet 16 at the earliest, if we get there.
Gun to my head, we finish with a 3 seed.
Virginia had 86 points in 60 possessions. That's 1.43 points per possession. By comparison, the Creighton embarrassment in 2013-14 was 1.45 points per possession.
Virginia shooting
Virginia shot 56.5% FG, 66.7% 3-pt FG, and 86.7% FT. It couldn't miss. UVA has always been an efficient offensive team, and today, it took it to a new level.
Defensive rebounding
UVA missed 20 shots. It got 13 offensive rebounds. That's unacceptable.
I don't know if I should be impressed that we stayed in a game where Virginia shot lights out, or worried that we needed to shoot well just to stay in the game.
Other Thoughts
Jenkins
Jenkins did a great job getting to the foul line and keeping us in the game. His shot selection still leaves something to be desired, but most of his shot attempts aren't so bad that he can't make them. And when he does make them, he's lights out. I hope today is a confidence builder.
Daryl Reynolds
He's a complete mismatch in a bad way against good big men. Tobey abused him when he was in the game. He offers nothing offensively, and while he's a good rebounder, defender and shot blocker for his size, those skills are completely invalidated by his giving up 5 inches.
Ochefu
Good passer, and I like when we get him the ball. He needs to make quicker decisions though, and sometimes he needs to realize when he's underneath the basket that he needs to go up and finish strong. But we've said that for 3.5 years, so I doubt it's going to change.
Brunson
His defense needs to improve, and his offense will improve dramatically with a year or two in the weight room. For this year, I was happy to see Brunson go 2-3 from downtown, we're going to need him to shoot better than he has been.
3-point shooting
We took a lot of the same shots we took against Oklahoma. The difference is, today we made a much higher percentage of them.
Season Outlook
Right now, our only losses are on a neutral court to a top-3 team, and on the road at the No. 8 team (which should be higher). According to KenPom, UVA and Oklahoma are the No. 1 and No. 3 teams in the nation.
Getting back in the 1 seed discussion will be very difficult, but we've gone 16-2 back-to-back years in conference. I doubt that happens again, but if it does (or even 15-3 with the right wins), we're right back in the discussion.
This team definitely has some flaws. Our lack of size killed us on the defensive glass today. And that won't improve this season. The good news is that we won't face a team as good as Virginia or Oklahoma til the Sweet 16 at the earliest, if we get there.
Gun to my head, we finish with a 3 seed.
