[old spanish trail]

Quiz question: What is the only ACC men's basketball team with an all-time undefeated league record on their home court?
Answer: Stanford - now 1-0 in ACC action at Maples.

Can Stanford move to 2-0 vs. UVA?  The Cardinal is favored by 8 with an over/under of 127 (implied score of 67-1/2 to 59-1/2)  .  Stanford is 10-5 (2-2 in ACC). Virginia is 8-7 (1-3) with 4 losses to Top 25 teams. They are 0-3 in true road games.  Stanford is ranked better than the Cavaliers in all 5 of the ratings I look at, including #83 vs. #93 per Massey.  Obviously, it would be big for Stanford to win and get to 3-2 before a trip to Wake Forest & Duke next week.

Virginia has had a disappointing season after being picked 5th in the preseason poll.  But soon after that, Coach Tony Bennett retired.  Bennett spent 15 years at UVa.  Following a 2-year rebuild, Bennett led the Cavs to 10 NCAA tournament appearances over the next 13 seasons.  They won 6 ACC regular season championships and 2 ACC tournament championships.  In 2019 they won the NCAA championship.  His calling card was a defense-first mentality and tempo control.  Associate head coach Ron Sanchez assumed the reins, so the style of play is similar - a big reason for the low over/under.  

Soon after Bennett retired, Jason Warley left the team - he had transferred to UVa after 3 years at Florida State and was expected to see a lot of playing time as a point guard.  Since then, other than wins over Villanova & North Carolina State, there hasn't been much to cheer about.  Some of the problems have been negative margins in rebounding & turnovers, and following up competitive 1st half play with 2nd half let-downs. 

Virginia is led by 2 players who have started all 15 games.  #2 Elijah Saunders (6'8"/240 Jr F), a transfer from San Diego State leads the Cavs with 12.1 ppg & 5.3 rpg.  #11 Isaac McKneely (6'4"/195 Jr G), in his 2nd year as a full-time starter is scoring 11,7 ppg and dishing out 2.9 assists per game.  He is their biggest 3-point threat with 42 3s (3rd in the ACC) on 96 attempts for a percentage of .438, which leads the ACC.

The other 3 starters vs. Cal were: #4 Andrew Rohde (6'6"/200 Jr G) another full-time starter last season, who averages 9.4 ppg and leads in assists with 3.1 per game; #5 Jacob Cofie (6'10"/232 Fr F), 8.1 ppg and leading rebounder with 5.5 per game; and #10 Taine Murray (6'5"/208 Sr G), 4.2 ppg.

Other "bigs" in the rotation include #0 Blake Buchanan (6'11"/227 Soph F, 5.1ppg & 4.6 rpg) and #23 TJ Power (6'9"/221 Soph F) a transfer from Duke.  #21 Anthony Robinson (6'10"/250 RFr F/C) has played only 46 minutes this season, but some posters on The Sabre.com basketball message board are suggesting that he could be used to body up Raynaud.

In the backcourt, the rotation includes #7 Dai Dai Ames (6'1"/190 Soph G, transfer from Kansas State) who has started 11 games, and #9 Ishan Sharma (6'5"/192 Fr G) who hit 3 3-pointers at Cal.

It will be interesting to see Stanford's rotation.  As always, they will depend heavily on the Big 3.  Kyle Smith had some praise for Ryan Agarwal & Donavin Young after the Va Tech game - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87pdOWmYOuA.  Agarwal seems to have secured a spot in the starting line-up for now.  Smith called Young "our best front-court athlete", adding that he has the quickest feet and is the best defender.  I wouldn't be surprised to see Young in there as well.  Beyond that they need to get some quality minutes from some others - Cammann, Stinson, Gealer, Okpara and/or ???

Good Comments.  Preseason, I figured this game would be very tough to win, now it looks like a game we should win.  You are right about Argawal, he tough play even though his shot isn't falling is keeping him on the floor. It would be a very big deal if either he or Benny can recapture their shooting mojo. It would also make it very hard for them to double Raynaud. Blakes may get an opposing guard in this game where he is the quicker player.  Clemson and Pitt gave him a hard time. Maybe Stinson or Young will show they deserve more time. We need to win to go on the road feeling good aobut ourselves.

I was happy to see Okpara in the starting lineup last game, but then he couged it. He tried to do way too much the first 3 times he had the ball, and he was removed...for good reason. He plays so hard and can actually hit an occasional 3, and brings strength and tenacity on D. I hope the coaches tell him he must pass the ball first on his first several possessions.

[old spanish trail]

Quiz question: What is the only ACC men's basketball team with an all-time undefeated league record on their home court?
Answer: Stanford - now 1-0 in ACC action at Maples.

Can Stanford move to 2-0 vs. UVA?  The Cardinal is favored by 8 with an over/under of 127 (implied score of 67-1/2 to 59-1/2)  .  Stanford is 10-5 (2-2 in ACC). Virginia is 8-7 (1-3) with 4 losses to Top 25 teams. They are 0-3 in true road games.  Stanford is ranked better than the Cavaliers in all 5 of the ratings I look at, including #83 vs. #93 per Massey.  Obviously, it would be big for Stanford to win and get to 3-2 before a trip to Wake Forest & Duke next week.

Virginia has had a disappointing season after being picked 5th in the preseason poll.  But soon after that, Coach Tony Bennett retired.  Bennett spent 15 years at UVa.  Following a 2-year rebuild, Bennett led the Cavs to 10 NCAA tournament appearances over the next 13 seasons.  They won 6 ACC regular season championships and 2 ACC tournament championships.  In 2019 they won the NCAA championship.  His calling card was a defense-first mentality and tempo control.  Associate head coach Ron Sanchez assumed the reins, so the style of play is similar - a big reason for the low over/under.  

Soon after Bennett retired, Jason Warley left the team - he had transferred to UVa after 3 years at Florida State and was expected to see a lot of playing time as a point guard.  Since then, other than wins over Villanova & North Carolina State, there hasn't been much to cheer about.  Some of the problems have been negative margins in rebounding & turnovers, and following up competitive 1st half play with 2nd half let-downs. 

Virginia is led by 2 players who have started all 15 games.  #2 Elijah Saunders (6'8"/240 Jr F), a transfer from San Diego State leads the Cavs with 12.1 ppg & 5.3 rpg.  #11 Isaac McKneely (6'4"/195 Jr G), in his 2nd year as a full-time starter is scoring 11,7 ppg and dishing out 2.9 assists per game.  He is their biggest 3-point threat with 42 3s (3rd in the ACC) on 96 attempts for a percentage of .438, which leads the ACC.

The other 3 starters vs. Cal were: #4 Andrew Rohde (6'6"/200 Jr G) another full-time starter last season, who averages 9.4 ppg and leads in assists with 3.1 per game; #5 Jacob Cofie (6'10"/232 Fr F), 8.1 ppg and leading rebounder with 5.5 per game; and #10 Taine Murray (6'5"/208 Sr G), 4.2 ppg.

Other "bigs" in the rotation include #0 Blake Buchanan (6'11"/227 Soph F, 5.1ppg & 4.6 rpg) and #23 TJ Power (6'9"/221 Soph F) a transfer from Duke.  #21 Anthony Robinson (6'10"/250 RFr F/C) has played only 46 minutes this season, but some posters on The Sabre.com basketball message board are suggesting that he could be used to body up Raynaud.

In the backcourt, the rotation includes #7 Dai Dai Ames (6'1"/190 Soph G, transfer from Kansas State) who has started 11 games, and #9 Ishan Sharma (6'5"/192 Fr G) who hit 3 3-pointers at Cal.

It will be interesting to see Stanford's rotation.  As always, they will depend heavily on the Big 3.  Kyle Smith had some praise for Ryan Agarwal & Donavin Young after the Va Tech game - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87pdOWmYOuA.  Agarwal seems to have secured a spot in the starting line-up for now.  Smith called Young "our best front-court athlete", adding that he has the quickest feet and is the best defender.  I wouldn't be surprised to see Young in there as well.  Beyond that they need to get some quality minutes from some others - Cammann, Stinson, Gealer, Okpara and/or ???

Good Comments.  Preseason, I figured this game would be very tough to win, now it looks like a game we should win.  You are right about Argawal, he tough play even though his shot isn't falling is keeping him on the floor. It would be a very big deal if either he or Benny can recapture their shooting mojo. It would also make it very hard for them to double Raynaud. Blakes may get an opposing guard in this game where he is the quicker player.  Clemson and Pitt gave him a hard time. Maybe Stinson or Young will show they deserve more time. We need to win to go on the road feeling good aobut ourselves.

I was happy to see Okpara in the starting lineup last game, but then he couged it. He tried to do way too much the first 3 times he had the ball, and he was removed...for good reason. He plays so hard and can actually hit an occasional 3, and brings strength and tenacity on D. I hope the coaches tell him he must pass the ball first on his first several possessions.