Great article today by David Cunningham on the differences in the last 6 games vs first 9, I wanted to add a little color to that as well.

It would look like, from the data, that its easy to say VT is simply being more aggressive. Theyre getting to the FT line more and getting fouled more than they were previously due to driving the ball more.

So why is that? Did VT just not value driving the ball earlier in the season? Was there an emphasis put on driving it? Is it (as Justyn Mutts put it) an "edginess" that has crept into their game?

There could be a little of each of those but the biggest thing that has helped driving the ball has been shooting the ball. Shooting the ball and knocking down shots not only pulls your defender to you quicker on a close-out, it also keeps secondary defenders tied to the person theyre guarding once you get by that first level.

VT had a reputation early of hitting threes from a myriad of positions. It made life difficult when trying to decide how to guard VT. So many teams tried picking up full court to both throw VT out of rhythm and make VT play with a short shot clock. This worked for a couple games, but VT still got open looks.

Then a drought happened. First Storm for about 3 games, and then Alleyne for about a month. Teams couldnt adapt quickly enough to account for Murphy by the time he pulled out of his slump, but they often dared Alleyne to beat them. And there were a couple performances shooting less than 15% where he obliged.

So that was the book on VT. Pressure them, by physical, and then in the half court if youre going to leave someone, leave Alleyne and help cover drives as well as sit in Aluma's lap with an extra defender.

It is no coincidence that VTs swing back to playing good basketball coincided with Alleyne finding his consistency. VT had also been playing against pressure defense for 2 months, so it started to get easier, culminating with a 6 TO performance against UVAs defense.

So now, how do you guard VT? Well you cant leave anyone. So what does that open up? It opens a ton of room for Aluma. Aluma is averaging 15.8 on the year, but he is averaging 18 ppg in the last 5 games (20.7 in the last 3 games).

Justyn Mutts has gotten a triple double because of the extra space to operate. David NGuessan has looked better in the last few games as well though he is still passing up wide open looks.

VT played inside out for the majority pf the cold streak. Throwing the ball inside and being stagnant. The shooting slumps allowed defenses to run bodies at Aluma and they didnt have to pay for that strategy.

Ever since FSU, VT has become outside-in...but its being done with their best player on the interior. So defenses are having a hard time trying to figure out just what the primary threat is within the offense. You absolutely have to get out and guard VT on the perimeter, and you cant just let Aluma beat your brains in for 40 min.

This is exactly the way this group was envisioned at the start of the year, but for too long of a stretch VT went cold and it changed a lot of things both strategically and mentally.

The way VT has been playing in the last 7 games (yes Im including Miami) theyre a top 15 team. Have to hope that continues to play out throughout the end of the season.

If youre a 6 seed or a 5 seed and you see VT as your opponent and you throw the film on youre going to be pissed at the Selection Committee for what would be a horrible seeding if not for the body of work in Dec/Jan

Its unfortunate VT didnt hit shots throughout the year, this could have been a special time for VT basketball