🙏 appreciate that! We are grateful for the opportunity and I've always believed that all he needs is the opportunity. I think this is his year and he has worked extremely hard this offseason.
@spiderman please note that Grace is starting at the 4JOC with the scrimmage report...
Nelson, Goose, Burton, Grace, Quinn as starters. Burton led the way of course, but Nelson shot pretty well in 27 minutes though that assist to turnover ratio isn't great. Sounds like Bigelow and Bailey shaping up for prominent roles off the bench.
On Spiders team with overall height, 5-10 Jason Nelson holds own in first scrimmage
Redshirt freshman Jason Nelson seems to have passed his first test against outside competition on the collegiate level.richmond.com
No, he is not.
that's where I'd expect him to start. now let's hope he knocks down shots.
Or our team is not that great at shooting. He could shoot 35% and lead us in shooting as well from 3.
I thought Grace was pretty good defensively when paired with Grant last year. I like him better defending a forward than a center. I'd love top see Walz earn the backup 5 time.
Agreed. Grace gets backed down by bigger centers too easily. The question I have with him defending a forward is will he have the foot speed to keep in front of quicker players. I don't know.
he might get beat on the perimeter some but at least Neal's behind him.
I think that is the problem with both Grace and Quinn playing a lot of minutes together. In today's game, at VT notes, not a lot of traditional bigs out there - lot of perimeter oriented lineups. That seems like it could be an issue on D at some point. I guess the flip side is that we can take advantage of those lineups in the post. In the covid year, we seemed to be most effective going to Cayo and Golden low early and getting buckets inside, opening things up for our shooters.
I think would be very good for future years if Walz can get some meaningful minutes this season. Will be interesting with Reed coming in, b/c Reed certainly seems like a stretch 4 type, but also looks like a classic TJ/Golden type in the high post, scoring, passing, making decsions - moreso than Walz.
In keeping with the tone of this thread, I believe we either outrebounded them or were outrebounded by them. It depends who you ask...
Cayo is not the kind of player that would concern me if Grace was covering him on the perimeter. that's actually the perfect matchup.
Right. Grace could play off of him because he has zero outside shot. Grace will struggle more with athletic forwards who can shoot. He will have to play them tight but runs the risk of being beat off the dribble, when he does. Definite concerns on the defensive end in certain situations with these two on the court at the same time. There will be times though when it certainly plays in our favor as well.
Grace did fine at times in certain match-ups in a reduced minutes center roll last year. Much different playing starter minutes at the forward this year, where he will be matched up against typically quicker and more athletic players.
But, who though? It's not like we will be playing teams that have 2 Tyler Burtons out there.
athletic forwards who can shoot from outside could be problems.
?
agreed. there's 10-15 minutes at the 5 when Quinn is out which goes to Matt unless Walz earns some of it.
As usual, you are assuming every team will have a PG, SG, SF, PF, and C. How many "bigger forwards" would we really have to worry about here? This PF position you talk about so often is just not that common anymore. And most big guys who are super athletic are in the power conferences anyway. With Goose and Tyler out there, we should be in good shape guarding opponents' athleticism.
you just asked who he'd have trouble guarding! you asked "But, who though?" I didn't realize that was rhetorical. I went to A10 teams' projected starting lineups. these are some guys who Matt might have some trouble defending. they're the bigger forwards starting on their teams. he has to cover someone and he's starting next to Quinn. who do you propose he cover on these teams?
I define positions 1 through 5 by size not by skills or what they are asked to do.
OMG. Are you really going there after YOU were the one who was wrong in that debate? That is unreal. My, goodness I cannot believe what I just read.
Okay. This is crazy, so I have to respond. I never said anything about 3 guys playing the 1, and you didn't either. I never said any "nonsense" about no one having numbered positions during that debate. Never! What you said was we always will have 3 guys playing the 5, so we have to offer a big after we offered Smith. I said, no we don't. That was the debate. We did not debate how many 1s we should have and we did not debate numbered positions. I said 2 bigs is plenty and we should get the best guy here, not focus only on a big. I mentioned we have done fine with 2 bigs for a few years now. You said we wouldn't even offer a top 150 guyin Bizjack because after Smith, we had to have a big. That is when I was thinking you were way out there with this. You mentioned that we always have 3 and recuit for 3. I said, what? Get any 3rd big who might not even play instead of Bizjack? You said yes. You then said some nonsense about how Sal was our 3rd guy to guard a big. ??? Yes, all 180 pounds of him? If Mooney recruited to always have 3 guys guard a big like you say, I seriously doubt he would have been factoring in Sal for that spot.
Sure, there will be a 2nd biggest player, but what rule says Grace automatically has to guard him? I thought we could find our best match ups and guard accordingly.
