If you think that Va Tech is a bad team, you'd be wrong

Last night Oklahoma State beat #2 Missouri (Missouri beat Baylor at their place)



Va Tech beat Oklahoma State not once, but twice.



Va Tech also has a win on the road against #17 Virginia; which is light years beyond our best win of the season.



We need to bottle up what we did right last night (playing Harrison and Winder for better perimeter defense, hitting all our free throws, minimizing turnovers) and improve what we know we should be able to do (feed the ball in the post and pass out when we're doubled then hit our outside shots)



The biggest positive in this game, was that in spite of it being on the road against a very athletic team, we saw our freshman guards excell in defense. I was so happy to see Winder and Harrison not only get minutes, but take great advantage of them.



(and if you didn't get the chills seeing Harrison go up for that rebound early in the game... then you weren't paying attention)

Wish I could have seen the young guns do their thing yesterday



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About time Winder and Harrison get some min. As long as they play under control on offense and get stops on defense they should see their minutes rise. Winder defense in particular with steals to stop VT runs was invaluable.



Had we shot even close to our normal 3pt percentage we would have blown VT out.



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Gunk wrote:
About time Winder and Harrison get some min. As long as they play under control on offense and get stops on defense they should see their minutes rise. Winder defense in particular with steals to stop VT runs was invaluable.



Had we shot even close to our normal 3pt percentage we would have blown VT out.



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ESPN was using VT homers as the play by play announcers and they were talking about VT's defense being the reason BYU was struggling from 3. Well, I do credit VT's defense for being tough to score on but BYU was missing wide open 3's. Not sure what this slump is all about with them but we need guys to start hitting these 3's again. When you are wide open, it should splash the nets more often then not and right now it is bricking more often then not.

frdbtr wrote:

About time Winder and Harrison get some min. As long as they play under control on offense and get stops on defense they should see their minutes rise. Winder defense in particular with steals to stop VT runs was invaluable.



Had we shot even close to our normal 3pt percentage we would have blown VT out.



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ESPN was using VT homers as the play by play announcers and they were talking about VT's defense being the reason BYU was struggling from 3. Well, I do credit VT's defense for being tough to score on but BYU was missing wide open 3's. Not sure what this slump is all about with them but we need guys to start hitting these 3's again. When you are wide open, it should splash the nets more often then not and right now it is bricking more often then not.

I have been thinking about the 3pt percentages. First of all we are missing great shots about half the time. As the level of our competition has increased our passes to open 3 pt shooters often aren't right on target. So the shooters can't just catch and shoot in rhythm cleanly. Also the shooters are rushed because they know the close out defender is coming.



So you miss a couple because of the defense and poor passing and your confidence is in doubt. And their confidence has just continued to go downhill.

One thing those VT announcers were right about was Carlino's shooting. They noted that he was not square to the basket. In the two shots he finally made late in the game, he was squared up. I'm not a basketball player (or at least not since church ball a long time ago. Where are the 5'6" and under leagues?), but I even noticed that he was shooting completely off-balance. Maybe this is something they'll be working on in practice?

IowaCougar wrote:
One thing those VT announcers were right about was Carlino's shooting. They noted that he was not square to the basket. In the two shots he finally made late in the game, he was squared up. I'm not a basketball player (or at least not since church ball a long time ago. Where are the 5'6" and under leagues?), but I even noticed that he was shooting completely off-balance. Maybe this is something they'll be working on in practice?

As much as Carlino may not want to be, at this point in his career he's a spot up shooter.

Gunk wrote:

One thing those VT announcers were right about was Carlino's shooting. They noted that he was not square to the basket. In the two shots he finally made late in the game, he was squared up. I'm not a basketball player (or at least not since church ball a long time ago. Where are the 5'6" and under leagues?), but I even noticed that he was shooting completely off-balance. Maybe this is something they'll be working on in practice?

As much as Carlino may not want to be, at this point in his career he's a spot up shooter.

He can get underneath and make some pretty spectacular twisting layups. Needs to do more of that. He does take too many off-balance jumpers.



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