It’s mailbag time. Drop your Virginia Basketball question into the comment section, or email me at [email protected].
Craig Bernick: Are there any fixes to the defense as the season winds down?
I have to think that Tony Bennett and the staff have been up late at night trying to figure one out, and they’re a lot smarter than me.
The Pack Line works because all five guys on the floor buying into the concept of five guys playing defense together is better than five individuals trying to play defense all on their own.
This is just an observation, but … it seems to me that Kihei Clark has been getting beaten off the dribble more than his reputation would suggest, that Kadin Shedrick blocks a lot of shots, but it’s mostly as a help defender, and when he doesn’t block the shot as a help guy, he leaves his guy free for the offensive board, and that Jayden Gardner isn’t quick enough to guard stretch fours, or big enough to guard post fours and fives down low.
Maybe something is wrong with Clark physically that is making him a step slow. Shedrick needs to learn discretion instead of trying to send every opponent shot into the seats. I don’t know what to say about Gardner. He’s a solid offensive player who just doesn’t appear to be a good fit in the Pack Line.
BillNCville: Has the sometimes very short rotation used by CTB in conference play actually hurt the Cavaliers’ performance, that is, by not giving the starters enough rest and the bench enough opportunities to contribute and develop?
The rotation in November and December was eight or nine guys, but Bennett has shortened it of late to basically seven, though he used eight, with freshman Taine Murray getting literally one minute, in the loss at Notre Dame on Saturday.
Murray had a brief run of floor time after scoring 14 points and hitting on 4-of-6 from three in 21 minutes in the loss to Iowa in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Nov. 29. He got 16 minutes (five points, 2-of-4 from the floor, 1-of-3 from three) in the win over Pitt later that week, then 12 minutes (one point, 0-of-4 from the floor, all on threes) in the loss at JMU just before finals break.
Since, Murray has played a grand total of 48 minutes, scoring 12 points – seven of those in the win at Syracuse on Jan. 1.
Freshman Igor Milicic Jr. scored 11 points in 13 minutes in the win over Coppin State on Nov. 19,a nd you had to like what you saw out of the 6’10” Croatian – he was 2-of-4 from three.
Milicic got double-digit minutes in three more non-conference games (the wins over Georgia, Lehigh and Farleigh Dickinson), but he’s only had meaningful action in one ACC game – nine minutes (no points, one rebound, 0-of-1 from three) in the loss to Wake Forest on Jan. 15.
Sophomore Carson McCorkle has had non-garbage time minutes in two ACC games – four minutes in the loss at UNC, two minutes in the win over Virginia Tech.
The bench, basically, is whoever doesn’t start at five between Francisco Caffaro and Kadin Shedrick, and then senior guard Kody Stattmann, who is averaging 15.4 minutes per game in ACC play.
Why don’t the 3Ms get more minutes? I can’t say for sure. I’d speculate that Bennett and his staff see these kids every day in practice, and apparently don’t deem them worthy of floor time, which isn’t saying much, particularly, for McCorkle, a four-star recruit who is in his second season in the program.
If McCorkle isn’t getting minutes now, he’s not going to get minutes at Virginia, and he’s probably going to be considering his options once the season is done.
The issue for Milicic, we were told early on, was that his late arrival Stateside was a factor in him not getting playing time in November and into December. Tomorrow is February, and he’s still buried, to the point that Murray, at 6’5”, is getting the minutes at four whenever Jayden Gardner gets into foul trouble in the place of the 6’10” Milicic.
My best guess here is that Bennett shortened the rotation because he wanted to go with more experienced players to see if he could somehow coax an improbable NCAA Tournament bubble run out of this group.
As that is looking to be increasingly unlikely, you may see him get the other guys some more minutes so he can see what they have to offer in a game setting ahead of his exit interviews with them following the season, with an eye on the boffo recruiting class that he has coming in this summer.
Story by Chris Graham
Share
Chris Graham
