Svi is so careless with the ball

He drives me nuts with the careless, unnecessary, and very untimely turnovers.

Worst passer on the team.

That TO at the 12-min mark was a killer.

Wake up!!!

In retrospect, I was a little harsh with Svi in the moment there, since he wound up with only 1 TO and had a pretty good overall game.

The reason I posted that critique in the passion of the moment was that he seems to make the most turnovers of anyone on the team that are the purely "mental" or "entirely avoidable" variety.

I think he's still just adjusting to life as a starter or big-minutes guy. But once he cleans up that aspect of his game, and tightens his defense further, he will be a heck of an asset on the floor. He's getting there...

Rock Chalk...

Good stuff, Corpus.

I deliberately chose "careless" as it applies to his passing decisions. If someone were tracking just passing turnovers and differentiated between those caused by pressure or some other factor versus those that were just a bad mental mistake, I submit that Svi would lead the team. I've seen it far too often. So that's why I chose that term--it wasn't about his entire game, just his passing.

I do think "reluctant," tenuous, or hesitant would be a fair descriptor of his game at times. That and just some intangible like "not fully integrated or in the flow of the team." In some ways, I default to attributing this to cultural and language differences. Ukraine is a vastly different world than (demographically, culturally, etc.) than a tough town like Petersburg, VA (Frank's home), as but one example.

There are times when Svi will make a really stark mental error and you can see Frank or Devonte upbraid him as if to say "What the heck were you thinking?" That's where I get the sense of not being fully plugged in, in the "seamless" sense of that phrase.

That's not a critique of the young man at all, for I don't know the causal factors behind it. It's just an objective impression of what I see.

All that being said, he's a really important player and weapon on the team. And if he's knocking down threes -- particularly, as he's doing now, while in motion and without having to be planted -- driving the hoop with purpose, and working hard to improve his defense, then the occasional turnover can be overlooked. But just as poor team free throw shooting can come back to bite us when the games come down to single possessions going forward (and the stakes increase), Svi needs to tighten up the mental mistakes, particularly on the passing front. He has begun to do so on the ball-handling front (notable improvement there, but still progress to go), so I think the future is bright.

Last comment: Man, oh man, do I agree with the benefits of him staying as a senior. I think he could be a break-out player with one more year. And KU would CERTAINLY have a much better shot at #14 (if we get #13, of course!) if he did stick around.

Rock Chalk...

I totally agree, Corpus. I was thinking about that and talking over the notional roster with my son the other night.

Much depends on whether we make a run at the NC, of course, since successful runs where you win it all can propel mass exoduses. But even without putting that in play, I think it's a 50-50 proposition on Devonte. I'd put Svi more at 60-40 likely to return, but that's a normative ("ought to") judgment--not necessarily what he'll think or be told by suitors.

Regardless, I think we'll be in good shape. Concur big-time on the Cunliffe addition. He was very highly ranked coming out of high school, and will be huge -- though he won't be eligible to play until second semester (meaning right about now, this time next year).

Will it be good enough for a run at #14, if we win #13 this year? Hard to say--the league is going to be even better. But we can hope! Let's get 13 first, of course...