2023 UVa Offseason Chatter

Yes. Danny should proly provide that but Danny gwona Danny. Dude finds cool stuff

3 Likes

Real GM lets you sort data by class. Rohde at 25 and McKneely at 30. Some names you’d recognize that also hit 50.

Brandon Miller (Bama) - 1, Gradey Dick (Kansas) - 3, Jett Howard (UMich) - 4, Keyonte George (Baylor) - 5, Aidan Mahaney (St.M’s) - 6, Alex Karaban (UConn) - 10, Taylor Hendricks (UCF) - 16, Brice Sensabaugh (OSU) - 18, Fletcher Loyer (Purdue) - 21, GG Jackson (SC) - 26, Zion Harman (only have him here cause he had some sick mixtapes in high school) - 29.

Honestly I’m more impressed now that I see some of the big names. All guys that are either now in the NBA, or were best player on their team, or huge contributors to best teams in the nation.

9 Likes

Simply put: I don’t know. This edition of the 'Hoos has eight players with no game experience in Coach Bennett’s schemes. On the other hand, it does have more meaningful game experience than the 2022 squad, and I thought that that unit seriously overachieved. It might have been Coach Bennett’s best coaching job at UVa. Beekman, Dunn, and McKneely (and Murray) represent a very nice returning core. There’s proven talent there. To my mind, there is a lot of potential talent in the remaining members of the team, but it is unrealized at Virginia, and I am a bit clueless as to what the expectations ought to be. I think it is reasonable, based on past history, to expect the staff to cobble together a competitive team. Outside of Beekman, Dunn, and McKneely, I don’t know who will play, who will come off the bench, or who will sit there most of the game. Or, when this team will begin to gel. We can all speculate, and while that might be a fun way to past the time until November, the accuracy of such has always appeared a bit fuzzy to me. That said, regardless of what I don’t know, I am so looking forward to another season of Virginia basketball.

4 Likes

The 2021-2022 squad was picked to finish 4th in the conference, but instead finished 6th missing the NCAAT and you think that unit overachieved and it was Tony Bennett’s best coaching job?

That a-hole on the left just farted.

2 Likes

Absolutely. First, I don’t put much store in preseason predictions. They’re sort of meaningless. The 2022 squad had little meaningful experience. Only Beekman and Clark had had extensive game experience at Virginia. There was also little playable depth. Only seven players had more than 8 mpg for the year. Gardner, Clark, and Beekman all played more than 30 mpg (Beekman and Clark more than 35 mpg). Franklin had more than 29. Essentially, Shedrick and Caffaro split time in the post which left Stattman as the only real sub off the bench. To my way of thinking this is probably the least talented team since Coach Bennett’s first two years. In the OOC portion of the schedule, UVa lost to both Navy and JMU. And, yet, I believe Virginia was on the tournament bubble until Matthew Cleveland hit the three point prayer to end the FSU game. I think for Coach Bennett to get that team from the Navy game to that point represents a brilliant coaching job. I don’t believe that there are many coaches who could have done it.

1 Like

I believe 19-20 was his best coaching job. Even if was a excellent defensive team nobody could shoot the ball. Tomas had a few games with a bunch of threes but nothing beyond that. They finished with 8 straight wins and if I am remembering correctly if ND hadn’t chocked away a big lead late against FSU they would have been know co-champs. We don’t know how they would have done in the NCAA’s but the grit they showed in those close 8 wins I think it is unlikely they would have lost early.

9 Likes

I think Tony best coaching job was the year we won the only hoops national championship in our history

25 Likes

And that’s a perfectly valid opinion. However, it does raise the question, “How do you evaluate coaching performance?” What part does assembling the talent play? What is the value of winning a national championship when there are six future NBA signees on the team? (And, are the NBA signings the result of the championship?) Do we say winning the national championship with a highly experienced, talented and deep squad is more significant than overachieving with a mediocre squad whose results are somewhat less? Certainly, we value the championship, and we should, but I believe that there is validity in both views

3 Likes

Yeah I mean it’s definitely the national title year. Then it’s probably the elite eight year. He doesn’t get credit for overachieving in the season with a roster he compiled beforehand. I’ll yield that the 19-20 year is an exception since the natty left the cupboard more bare than could have been anticipated

2 Likes

I take 73’s point, but just as a practical matter it’s pretty hard to disentangle recruiting and roster building/management from in season and in game coaching. And even if we could, I don’t think an NIT finish, before MSG, can go into any “best of” categories, short of competing with my old 7th grade CYO team, or something.

2 Likes

A perfectly reasonable opinion. So, what’s your take on Coach Bob McKillop, and his place in the coaching ranks?

Very good coach

1 Like

And, for what it’s worth, I am far less pragmatic than yourself. I can disentangle recruitment, development, and coaching quite easily! :grin:

2 Likes

No word yet on our preseason scrimmages?

Maybe in the pros if the coach isn’t the GM too. And how can one say a coach overachieved when he made coaching and playing time decisions that led to an unseeded NIT bid while also not developing any of the young guys…overplaying average talent older guys that never won a madness game.

Quite simple. I don’t believe under other coaches that that team would have even sniffed an NIT invitation. With most NCAA coaches, I don’t even believe that collection of players has a winning record. Among other things, I believe that the recruiting restrictions imposed by COVID were more burdensome for Coach Bennett’s approach to recruiting than to others. Some mistakes were made (despite the number of stars next to his name, I wonder if Jabri Abdur-Rahim would have been pursued if more fully evaluated). Additionally, the premature attrition, particularly Trey Murphy III’s, hurt Virginia. The end result was a 2022 roster which was one of UVa’s weakest in years. Given the ability which Coach Bennett has displayed thus far, I imagine if the younger players were ready enough to be developed for ACC play, he would have done so. I never once watched a Virginia practice that year. Presumably, Coach Bennett watched most, if not all, of them. You have to believe he had a pretty good idea of who was ready and who was not. The notion of a silk purse and a sow’s ear comes to mind. That he managed to work the new components into a viable unit is pretty amazing, IMO.

1 Like

He let the talent have a longer leash that year. Just more trust in the big three. I think he got more with less in 2019-20 and had to do more coaching to get that team to the top 20 that year. Hard to say which was his best “coaching” year.

2 Likes

The last time UVA Football started 0-5, the basketball team proceeded to go 29-5 and lost in the Elite 8 to the miracle Valvanos.
If you could choose, would you rather:

  • Take that for this year
  • Or not know what will happen?
0 voters

I Always pick “not know what will happen.” That’s what makes sports fun

3 Likes