I appreciate all of your insight (not only here, but all over the boards). Really enjoy reading the basketball knowledge posts you present.

I think it is obvious that Popcorn Young is still working on rotation especially after the Diarra opt-out. I do think he is gradually building depth that will pay off in the long run. It seems to me that all of the guards you have mentioned just need to build consistency. Which... is normal with so many young players. Again, HS much different, but I try to teach our kids to be aggressive and attack off the pick and roll and I think VT could try to do that more too. Maybe with time... it is still hard to remember how few games this group has actually played together.

For us... that is a pretty good assessment. For years I felt like we tried to do too many things offensively, with no identity... so we took a drastic change in strategy to do a few things and do them well. 2 years ago we had a set of twins that were 6'8", and a great point guard, and we ran a lot of the Kansas high low set. We would half court trap a lot and use our length. Last year we lost a ton, changed to a pick&roll attack because we became much more perimeter oriented and our "bigs" could more easily be stretch players. We went to a full court pressing attack and playing faster and the pick&roll fed into that. Though we lost a lot, we went 18-4, won some games we shouldn't, but didn't have the talent to get the big dogs. But blew it in the tourney early on a terrible shooting night. We return almost everyone, so excited for this season... if we ever get to play...

If we ever get to play our season, come on up and watch us play. 2 hours from Blacksburg!

CH