Well, that was disappointing. Such is life as a UVa hoops fan, though hopefully things won't stay this way forever. Virginia looked atrocious on offense for the second time this season, and the Hoos proved just bad enough to let an unimpressive Stanford squad eek out a 57-52 victory. So the frustration continues for Virginia fans. In a society where just about everything is instant, the hopes and dreams of Hoonation were that Bennett's arrival would immediately usher in sweeping change. Wisely he warned that change takes time and things weren't going to be fixed overnight. Yet, with the program's revived attitude and Bennett's new defensive scheme, optimists (members of 7even Win Society included) figured one of the first signs of improvement could come in the form of eradicating Virginia's tendency to fall completely flat in games such as tonight's Stanford debacle. So far, no new developments in this department as these head-scratching and often painfully ugly loses continue to plague the program while frustrating fans beyond no end.
In Virginia's two setbacks, the Hoos have averaged just under 50 points, and no matter how you slice it, you cannot expect to beat very many, if any, teams when you score so few points. Anyone worried that the Stanford game was a prime example of the boring, grind-it-out brand of play known as "Bennett-Ball," fear not for that was just plain ugly. No coach in the country implements a system that strives for under 38% shooting from the floor with a severely unbalanced offensive attack. The wildly inconsistent play from Zeglinski, Farrakhan, Scott, and Jones proves both befuddling and frustrating. Speaking of Bennett's defense, Stanford managed only 57 points and shot under 39% for the game, and in most cases, that is generally good enough to get the win. In Virginia's loss to USF, the Cavaliers played poorly on both sides of the ball. While the defense looked much better against Stanford, it is a little scary to think the Hoos can still find a way to lose even when executing Bennett's defensive schemes effectively. Then again, scoring only 52 points will do that.
It would have been fun to see what Virginia could have done against Kentucky...well, ok, it could have very well turned out to be an ugly affair, but it would have at least been fun spending Wednesday anticipating the big match-up while dreaming and hoping for a big upset. Even a respectable outing would have sufficed, but Virginia first needed to take care of undermanned Standford team in order to get the opportunity. In failing to do so, Virginia fans are left to search for a moral victory of sorts against Cleveland State. It will be interesting to see if the Hoos can show the strength, composure, and mental fortitude necessary to bounce back and gut out a win in a game that is lackluster and completely uninspiring. It looks like that's what we can realistically hope for...at least for now.
Beth Lillie Wins Donna Andrews Invitational
4 years ago
The defense was good, except for Zieglinski. He couldn't guard you, cjhoo.
ReplyDeleteThe offense was another matter. It was passable in the first, dreadful in the second, where you got the sense that one good run would have won the game. Unfortunately, Stanford got that run.
The most disconcerting part of the offense is the relative struggles of Landesberg, who does not appear (at least at this point) to have developed his game enough to deal with the adjustments people are making against him to take away his drives to the basket. He's still their best player, but quite frankly, I expected more.