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Revised ACC Predictions

We are now 8-3 in the ACC. 3-3 on the road and 5-0 at home. We have 7 games left, 4 of which are at home:

DATE I OPPONENT I W/L OVERALL I W/L ACC I RPI RANK

02-09 Virginia Tech Hokies 12-11 (4-6) 109
02-13 at Duke Blue Devils 16-6 (5-4) 29
02-15 N.C. State Wolfpack 12-11 (2-8) 93
02-22 at Miami (FL) Hurricanes 17-4 (6-3) 16
02-27 N. Carolina Tar Heels 19-3 (8-1) 2
03-01 at Clemson Tigers 14-8 (7-3) 46
03-05 Louisville Cardinals 19-4 (8-2) 18

What do you see our final ACC record being as of today?

I think we end up 13-5. Not sure who the losses will be to, probably 2 of Duke, UNC, and Miami. I could definitely see 14-4 also. I also think 14-4 with a W over UNC could still win the title, assuming UNC loses tonight at Notre Dame.

Man oh man our role players and D is on fire!

Every last one of them contributed something except maybe Thompson and even he didn't make any mistakes I don't think. I counted 5 assists by Wilkins, Nolte with a three some rebounds and a great block, Tobey with a bucket or two and a great block, Shayok was doing some good driving and finishing, Hall with a three and a nice and one, even Reuter despite not being ready for that first pass by London played with great energy and had a solid block out rebound missing the shot but leading to Wilkins put back. The biggest difference is the D. The energy and fluidity is now on a whole other level. The past two games our opponents were held to 47 each. Today was no different, great D!
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Latest on Deandre Hunter

On February 2 Friends' Central defeated Moorestown Friends 59 - 36. Hunter scored 16 points. On February 5 Friends' won 62 - 54 over Cristo Rey. Hunter was the leading scorer with 23 points. I have noticed that there seems to be one stat that is fairly consistent about the UVA commits - the closer the game, the more they score. This would indicate that they step up in big games.

There is an interesting article by Jeff White on the UVA site.

Cam Collins competed in basketball, baseball, and track in high school, but his goal was to play D1 basketball. He received no offers so he enrolled at H-S where he played on the basketball team as a freshman. After his first year he emailed the UVA track coaches and expressed his desire to join the track team. After meeting with the coaches, he was offered an opportunity to join the UVA track team as a walk-on. He is now competing with the track team in the decathalon. It is difficult to not root for anyone who is living a dream.

Latest on Jay Huff

Voyager Academy defeated Research Triangle 69-24 on February 2. Huff scored 12 points and had 7 rebounds and 5 blocks. Based on the score and the fact that Voyager had 12 different players participate, it is probable that Huff had limited playing time. The following day Voyager defeated East Chapel Hill 71-58. Huff scored 21 points, including 10 of 12 from the foul line. He added 9 rebounds and 4 blocks.

CavsCorner Podcast: Episode 140

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In the latest installment of the CavsCorner Podcast, we break down UVa's 2016 recruiting class now that Signing Day has come and gone. We'll look at the various signees, the way they fit into Virginia's new schemes, and how coach Bronco Mendenhall's design for the program impacts recruiting. We'll also touch on the recent winning streak on the hardwood that the Wahoos have been on and how that impacts the forecast for the rest of the season.

The rapidly shrinking possibilities as hoops season winds down ...

UVa had its last truly RPI killing game of the season last night and remained at 6. That's a good sign going forward.

1) Beat VT and NC State and finish above .500 in the ACC. This would also likely wrap a top 4 seed in the NCAAs and top 6 of the ACCT. Too many good wins, too few "bad" losses, as any others would be to top 50s and/or on the road. Handling these two would also prevent any type of potential collapse scenario down the stretch (although I guess theoretically losing their last five would be possible with games @Miami, vs. UNC, @Clemson, vs. UL and an ACCT quarterfinal game against a tough opponent as a potential last five ... though two home losses seems highly unlikely regardless of the difficulty of the opponent).

2) Beat Pitt this weekend and in all likelihood get a double bye. Pitt plus winning one of UL or @Clem would almost assuredly guarantee it.

We would hold tiebreakers over both Notre Dame and Pitt for essentially two or two and half game leads over each after the weekend, even if ND beats Carolina Saturday. We would have a home game against UL to potentially get a tiebreaker over them and thus, only need to finish even with them. We've got a tough game at Clemson to try and get a tiebreaker there. There are almost too many other games between top half teams to drop below too many other teams if UVa takes care of the Panthers Saturday ... Miami, Pitt, Notre Dame, UL, Carolina and Duke play each other a lot, meaning someone has to lose, keeping them below us (i.e., if Miami passes us, Louisville, Pitt, and Notre Dame have lost to the Canes, etc.). Beating Pitt would give a lot of margin for error down the stretch.

3) If they win the next four (@Pitt, VT, @Dook, NCSU), the one-seed talk will start before we even get to Miami, UNC and UL again -- four (or five or six depending on Pitt and Duke) top 25 wins, 10 top 50 wins, multiple top 25 road wins, closing in on Carolina, etc. It would certainly test their ability to handle success given the super difficult home stretch, but an 8-1 finish plus an ACCT semi means this team gets a 1-seed. Closing 7-2 without a headscratcher (i.e. the losses are to UNC, Miami, Pitt, Duke, or UL) should guarantee at least a 2 seed.

BC Game thoughts 1st and 2nd half

1st Half

BC doubling the post early, but our ball movement was on point early.

Like us trying to get out and run.

Attacked the basket nice early. Gill looked very active first few minutes.

Defense really moved well to start the game. BC hit the first 3 that was covered.

No issues with IW taking wide open jumpers. That is his weapon and opens up things for others by doing so.

Devin Hall is giving this team another look. Love him pushing tempo which allows LP to play more off the ball.

MB looking to score more and quicker which leads to better shots imo. We don't do well getting shots with the shot clock running down unless the ball is inside.

TB needs to learn that subbing some guys in will cost us points. Yes we will win this game I am sure, but we can't afford to lose offense at times.

Uncle Malcolm is playing with an edge tonight.

Gill needs to learn you can't do anything until you catch the ball. Do that in the second half and he might finish the game with 20-10.

Halftime thoughts-

This game was never in doubt. We didn't hit good shots, BC hit some very lucky shots. Just need to keep moving the ball like we had in the first half and play defense with the same intensity. Should be a 12-17 point win if Gill and Tobey use our size advantage. TB can't get too cute with subs until game is for sure over.

2nd half

I know teams hit 3's, but it drives me crazy we let teams get easy looks up double digits. Just run them off the line or are teams just taking out of this world 3's?

Gill starting to go to work early in 2nd half. BC doesn't have the bodies to stop it.

Hall has a nice jumper and it seems improved from last year? More lift on jumper.

BC had no answer for our inside game. I still say for us to get past the 16, the inside game plus hitting open jumpers is the ticket, but you can say that about any team.

Happy to see everyone cheer so hard for Nolte after hitting that jumper. If the guy can just hit 1 or 2 a game.

We started toying with them in the second half. Our backdoor cuts were almost too easy :)

JR will be special by Year 3, love how big he is on the block.

Game thoughts-

Bad shooting will come back to get us, but the offensive flow was good.

IW and DH really keep growing.

Malcolm was on fire. We will need him to carry this club on his back most nights and that is ok.

TB was toying with lineups a little much early, but BC really isn't good so it didn't matter.

Great Nolte was able to hit a jumper, but we need one or two a game from him as the season goes on.

Our next 5 games are no joke. That Pitt game with be an old school NBA defense type of ball game. First team to 50.

Not worried about Tech, but coming out of Pitt alive will be a tough game. Defense much improved tonight.

18-4 7-3 looks better than it did with a minute to go in that Wake game :)
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