Would you look at that? After Tony Bennett tried picking his successor and him failing miserably, Virginia went out and hired someone who likes basketball in Ryan Odom. The Cavs are 16-2, 14th in KenPom with a top 20 offense and defense. They project as a Final 4 team in Odom’s first year.
While not as slow as Bennett’s teams, Odom’s team is still 287th in tempo. But it isn’t a methodical offense. The offense is 142nd in possession length. The defense just makes you work on your possessions. They have the 3rd best effective fg% defensively. They have 2 7-footers who are amongst the best shot blockers in the nation. Frosh Johann Grunloh and Senior Ugonna Onyenso, late of K-State and Kentucky.
Offensively, they’re 35th in effective fg% and 3rd in offensive rebounding %. That helps explain the longer offensive possessions. Only being a bad FT shooting team hampers this offense.
The non-con schedule was pretty bad. The best win is at Texas and they have a neutral court loss to Butler. However, they have won at Louisville, NC State and SMU, all top-35 KenPom wins. KenPom projects them to go 15-3 in league and 26-5 overall. They get UNC at home this Saturday and only play Duke once, later in the year in Durham. Yeah, they can win the league.
This is a balanced roster and solid club. I doubt it’s a Final 4 team, despite the current numbers but a Sweet 16 run in Odom’s first season won’t be a surprise.
No comments:
Post a Comment