SMU was thisclose to falling to 1-3 in ACC play, saved at the buzzer by a halfcourt shot from point guard Boopie Miller, a 92.5 percent free-throw shooter who had missed five charity tosses earlier in the night, before hitting the stunner to beat Virginia Tech.
That first name, by the way, Boopie – can we not try to go with his government name, Kevin?
You know he’s not going to be, like, 70 years old, and still calling himself Boopie.
Meh, it’s none of my business.
Miller is one of five guys averaging in double figures for coach Andy Enfield, who is 37-15 in his second season in Dallas.
None of the others have silly nicknames like Boopie.
SMU (13-4, 2-2 ACC, NET: 32) is in the thick of the NCAA Tournament race, with wins over North Carolina (14-3, NET: 30), Texas A&M (13-4, NET: 48), Murray State (15-3, NET: 60), Butler (10-7, NET: 61).
The rotation
Miller, a 6’0” grad senior, is scoring 20.8 points a game and dishing out 7.1 assists per game, shooting 47.5 percent from the floor, 40.5 percent from three, and 89.3 percent at the line, on 7.6 free-throw attempts per game.
He also leads the ACC with 34.8 minutes per game.
A really good college player who will not play in the NBA, because he’s tiny.
Virginia coach Ryan Odom will want to throw his point guards, Dallin Hall, at 6’6”, and Chance Mallory, at 5’9”, at Miller in waves.
The key: obviously, avoiding foul trouble.
Miller, per KenPom, draws 6.3 fouls per 40 minutes, ranking in the top 100 players in D1 – for reference, there’s around 5,000 guys in that category.
So, top 2 percent.
From watching the SMU-Tech game the other night, the other guy that you really need to account for is 7’2” sophomore Samet Yigitoglu (11.1 ppg, 8.3 rebounds/g, 63.5% FG).
Enfield runs some actions isolating Yigitoglu in the post.
You might see Odom change up coverages from time to time, leaving his seven-footers, Johann Grunloh and Ugonna Onyenso, on Yigitoglu one-on-one, with the changeup being an occasional double-team.
Other contributors:
- 6’5” senior Jaron Pierre Jr.: 17.2 ppg, 5.1 rebounds/g, 45.3% FG, 34.4% 3FG
- 6’3” senior BJ Edwards: 13.4 ppg, 5.5 rebounds/g, 5.4 assists/g, 46.9% FG, 31.4% 3FG
- 6’6” senior Corey Washington: 11.9 ppg, 5.4 rebounds/g, 51.2% FG, 40.8% 3FG
- 6’10” freshman Jaden Toombs: 8.8 ppg, 3.7 rebounds/g, 58.5% FG, 33.3% 3FG
- 6’5” freshman Jermaine O’Neal Jr.: 5.1 ppg, 49.3% FG, 43.3% 3FG
Analytics
Data: KenPom; rankings: among 365 D1 teams
Offense
- SMU: 1.234 PPP (17)
- Virginia: 1.235 PPP (15)
Defense
- SMU: 1.041 PPP (79)
- Virginia: 0.975 PPP (18)
Tempo
- SMU: 69.1 (120)
- Virginia: 66.2 (264)
Bench minutes
- SMU: 22.0% (352)
- Virginia: 36.0% (99)
Keys to Odom Ball
Data: KenPom; rankings: among 365 D1 teams
Threes (offense)
- SMU: 35.7% (79)
- Virginia: 37.0% (38)
Threes (defense)
- SMU: 31.6% (87)
- Virginia: 28.6% (10)
Rebounds (offense)
- SMU: 35.9% (44)
- Virginia: 40.3% (5)
Rebounds (defense)
- SMU: 68.7% (191)
- Virginia: 69.8% (149)
Turnover rate (offense)
- SMU: 16.2% (121)
- Virginia: 15.7% (85)
Turnover rate (defense)
- SMU: 18.7% (96)
- Virginia: 16.6% (215)
Game Details
Virginia (15-2, 4-1 ACC, NET: 14) at SMU (13-4, 2-2 ACC, NET: 32)
Time: noon ET
TV: ESPN2 (Jay Alter/Jim Boeheim)
Forecast
- KenPom: Virginia 78-77
- BartTorvik: Virginia 79-76
- ESPN BPI: Virginia +0.3
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Chris Graham
