On TV Don M stressed that it takes time to build a program and gave kudos to Fox.

Not an original thought here but the team looks 180 diff. from last year and while we should expect a challenging rest of the year, the 'direction' the team is going in is a good one.

TheSouseFamily said:

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From a philosophy/strategy standpoint, Fox teams are not gonna get many offensive boards. Fox wants to limit transition opportunities as a priority over sending guys to the offensive glass. And it seems to make sense just from a math standpoint. Tony Bennett coaches this way too at UVA.

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Right now UVA is 200th in OFrebs.

Bennett, year after year, gets the best of his players.....within his system.

My favorite this year is soph starting PG Kiher Clark 5'9 or so (only other offer from Davis)
Overall shooting : 37% but 92% from the line, 5rpg and 5apg.

Interesting that you mention Kihei Clark because I've thought of his role being similar to what Brown could hopefully evolve into. Clark is a great on-ball defender and having someone like that is critical to making the packline work. And back to the point about forcing turnovers, that's not really UVA's thing either. They're usually in the 150-200 range in terms of forcing turnovers. They'd rather just lock you down and get you to take low probability shots. And I think Fox's strategy is similar in some ways. He'll even use that packline concept situationally if the match up is right. I remember him playing some of it at Georgia when they played Kentucky.

In the post-game, Fox seemed to imply that the team had hit a wall with all the recent games as well as travel. He was not making excuses, IMO, but pointing out that as a young team they needed to learn to fight through emotional fatigue and stay focused. During the awful run in the 2nd half, he called a time out and just shouted at the whole team: "******* it! You're not competing!" No strategy, no play, just a message about intensity.

bearister said:

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Fox seen hydrating.

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He's a Cal head coach. That's what they do. Even on their way out the door.

bearister said:

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Grant was a beast on the boards with 11. The most any other player on the court got was 5.

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One of those other players who got 5 rebounds was Lars, and that was a career high rebound game for him.

TheSouseFamily said:

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From a philosophy/strategy standpoint, Fox teams are not gonna get many offensive boards. Fox wants to limit transition opportunities as a priority over sending guys to the offensive glass. And it seems to make sense just from a math standpoint. Tony Bennett coaches this way too at UVA.

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That's certainly a viable strategy, but so far Virginia is averaging 9.6 offensive rebounds per game with it.