I listened to some of the game on Sunday night and watched a replay the last couple of nights. Some quick observations:

1. Team is starting to play more the style that Byington wants; i.e., fast pace, getting off quick shots, driving from the wings to the basket.
2. It's definitely a guard-centric offensive philosophy. They're not looking to make entry passes into the low post, it would seem.
3. Radford is a bad team at this point. Norfolk State, to me, was far superior, although when those two clashed, it was a close game.
4. Not to pick on Harvey, but I agree with Cent. He looked good in the intrasquad scrimmage a year ago, but has not been productive in games. He's also not terribly quick laterally, which hurts him defensively.
5. Rotation will have to be whittled down over time. As guys lose playing time, I suspect Dukes will have guys transfer out following the season. Byington spoke highly of Christmas, saying he would be a big part of what they do this season. So far, hasn't been the case. Same applies to Taylor (DNR explained why in recent article) and we're still waiting on Fredericks.
6. Morse is not shy about shooting...it would behoove him to pass the ball more.
7. True test for Byington is whether his playing style can win at a high enough level. Just watching some P5 teams the last few days and those teams all have very tall players across the board with length. He prefers smaller players, as evidenced by his most recent recruiting class.
8. Even with new playing style, Lewis's shooting percentages are still about what they've been throughout his career. They're not at the level necessary to generate interest from the NBA (compare to Grant Riller and Nate Darling, for example). That's always been my knock on him.

I think in shooting percentages the NBA looks for 50/40/80 as a benchmark. So 50+ Overall, 40+ from 3 and 80+ from the stripe. Matt has a ways to go. At different times in his career he has had stretches where he shoots low 40s from 3.

(12-02-2020 10:38 AM)NJDuke97 Wrote:  I think in shooting percentages the NBA looks for 50/40/80 as a benchmark. So 50+ Overall, 40+ from 3 and 80+ from the stripe. Matt has a ways to go. At different times in his career he has had stretches where he shoots low 40s from 3.

I think you are a little high on your percentages, but the general thought is correct.

Average shooting percentage in NBA is 46% which includes big men so likely in the 44% range for guards, and a good 3-pt % is in the 37% range. You are pretty spot on for FT's as average is 79%.

With Lewis it sometimes seems his percentages would go up if he was a bit more selective with shots and dished off to others more often. I did feel he did a better job of that towards the end of the Radford game, but didn’t look at stats.

Two things in general the team needs to develop is better free throw shooting and rebounds. Probably my biggest concern with small ball is rebounding, though having Mensah on the team should help if he develops as expected.

I'm not sure I see Matt's shooting %s go up materially even if he's more selective.

Matt is a volume scorer. Sometimes that type of player fits for certain teams.

(12-02-2020 10:50 AM)jmu98 Wrote:  

(12-02-2020 10:38 AM)NJDuke97 Wrote:  I think in shooting percentages the NBA looks for 50/40/80 as a benchmark. So 50+ Overall, 40+ from 3 and 80+ from the stripe. Matt has a ways to go. At different times in his career he has had stretches where he shoots low 40s from 3.

I think you are a little high on your percentages, but the general thought is correct.
Y
Average shooting percentage in NBA is 46% which includes big men so likely in the 44% range for guards, and a good 3-pt % is in the 37% range. You are pretty spot on for FT's as average is 79%.

Just to clarify I didn’t mean the averages for players in the NBA - I meant the averages that NBA teams look for when scouting college players to determine if their games translate.

(12-02-2020 11:41 AM)NJDuke97 Wrote:  

(12-02-2020 10:50 AM)jmu98 Wrote:  

(12-02-2020 10:38 AM)NJDuke97 Wrote:  I think in shooting percentages the NBA looks for 50/40/80 as a benchmark. So 50+ Overall, 40+ from 3 and 80+ from the stripe. Matt has a ways to go. At different times in his career he has had stretches where he shoots low 40s from 3.

I think you are a little high on your percentages, but the general thought is correct.
Y
Average shooting percentage in NBA is 46% which includes big men so likely in the 44% range for guards, and a good 3-pt % is in the 37% range. You are pretty spot on for FT's as average is 79%.

Just to clarify I didn’t mean the averages for players in the NBA - I meant the averages that NBA teams look for when scouting college players to determine if their games translate.

To put into context Riller was on average a + 50% FG% guy in college. Shot between 35-40 for 3 and over 80 at the line.

Matt has been on average slightly below 40% overall. He is taller than Riller but Grant is quicker. Matt has said that the feedback from NBA personnel/teams going through the process focused on shot selection and shooting percentage. My guess is that he will have to show marked improvement in FG% - think 45+ in order to have a chance of being chosen in the second round. You can make the league without it- Bazemore for example but he was a plus defender and had better size.

(12-02-2020 11:42 AM)Anders Wrote:  

I wouldn't really call the GW win by Hampton a nice win as they lost to a bad Navy team.

Hampton and Norfolk St. play on Monday so we will have a good comparison there.

(12-02-2020 02:04 PM)jmu98 Wrote:  

(12-02-2020 11:42 AM)Anders Wrote:  

I wouldn't really call the GW win by Hampton a nice win as they lost to a bad Navy team.

Hampton and Norfolk St. play on Monday so we will have a good comparison there.

Navy is not bad this year. They beat Georgetown last night.


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Per Kenpom:

37 - MD
220 - Norfolk St
275 - JMU
306 - Radford

Others:
100 - Georgetown
126 - Winthrop
178 - Navy
332 - Hampton

And if anyone watched Duke last night versus MI State, they looked awful. Always fun to cheer against Duke.

JMU is <300? Sounds like a good start to the season.

Odu wins a mostly close game with norfolk state

(12-02-2020 02:59 PM)Dukes84 Wrote:  Per Kenpom:

37 - MD
220 - Norfolk St
275 - JMU
306 - Radford

Others:
100 - Georgetown
126 - Winthrop
178 - Navy
332 - Hampton

Just because I find the differences interesting...Massey ratings:

13 - MD
198 - Norfolk St
274 - JMU (only one off from KenPom which was surprising)
286 - Radford

Others:
107 - Winthrop
130 - Georgetown
162 - Navy
228 - Hampton

37 - Florida (meaningless after 0 games)
129 - ECU
133 - ODU
189 - Mason

357 teams or so now in D-1 for perspective.