Aren’t we UVA Fans fortunate we have a WALK-ON that contributed a bucket to this 1 Pt. WIN???..… Let me answer my own question here please. YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!
His bucket was the difference in the game plus he can play defense
Just Win! Big big one tonight
All that matters is you win. There’s no other metrics that matter. Only wins and loses.
If a kid is doing his all and contributing to the program and is not a jackass. Then I don’t care if they are 1 or 15 on the roster as long as they win.
Malachi gets a lot of crap from this forum sometimes. Personally, I love em. He wants to fight and play hard at every moment. His defense has been great. Im all for the Malachi love!
Very few if any are crapping on Malachi. We are crapping on the situation that we are 3 years removed from a national title and are resorting to a walk on for minutes in crucial games for us to even have a chance to make the tournament. That signifies struggles in recruiting and player development.
Kid absolutely has heart. And I would straight up rather he get minutes when Armaan is off. But I don’t think we brought in Malachi with the intention of him being in rotation. And if we know now that we may have to rely on Malachi next season we can address that now with another recruit or Transfer addition.
I understand the concern.
However, we have learned that, in general, Tony Bennett knows what he is doing.
I have trust in what Tony is doing based on what we can’t see behind the scenes.
Always expect the unexpected at UVA, nothing is set in stone.
When we sneak this one tonight and TB and staff has a plan we are all gonna be saying how lucky we are and have been to have our coach
I trust Tony knows what he is doing with what he has. This isn’t a question about Xs and Os its about recruitment and player development in the off season.
Malachi isn’t a part of our long term plans. Nor should he. And I can say that while appreciating what he does on the floor. He should shoot more when he is open.
Again it’s not an all or nothing situation. How many walk-ons have played heavy minutes for Baylor Villanova Gonzaga after their natty runs? We aren’t aspiring to be a team that has to win the ACC title to even make the tourney. Tony absolutely got the most out of this year’s team, especially since we only returned Reece and Kihei playing significant minutes from last season. But this season is not the mold for future seasons. Very few if any are hating directly on Malachi. They are hating on the situation we are in.
And again saying this, I absolutely enjoyed last night’s game it was fun. I can do that and also understand the bigger picture. Not all or nothing.
That’s a good take too. It’s sorta like picking your poison or baking the cake and eating it too. Even addressing that issue will send some into a frenzy. High recruits sat this year. Can we really expect the learning curve will be different moving forward? The game of basketball is hard on a coach, the hearts of fans and even harder on the competing kids.
Not saying anyone is hating on Mal. If so he isn’t feeling it anyway. It’s all about work, getting better and taking advantage of the personal opportunity to please self and to help those around you. Whether that’s a family member, stranger or teammate. He’s in a great spot making the most of it. Time will tell.
Anything without Hope is surely useless…
Tony decides PT, not the players. If I’ve ever been critical of Malachi (and I don’t think I have, tbh), it’s a critique (or, IMO, questioning) of PT decisions.
(Frankly, if we were going to play him a decent amount down the stretch, my question is more why we had him on the bench for 10 games in a row – though I suspect some of that was Covid).
My only slight critique of Malachi is that if he’s going to play key minutes in important games, I wish he made himself more of an offensive threat, which last night’s bucket showed he has the capability to be, but I also generally view this as a Tony issue.
There’s actually no way to know this…and I would disagree. Did he get the most out of those he actually played?? Probably. But let’s not pretend he got the most out of a team that had 3 very talented guys that didn’t play much.
Biggest margin of victory in an ACC game this year was 13. Last time that happened was 2007.
“There’s actually no way to know this…and I would disagree.”
I don’t know how to quote a post, but I found this funny.
Agree - this is the ultimate thing we all wound up debating this entire year, and I’m pretty sure the “trust Tony” folks still trust Tony and I know for a fact that I have a lot of questions about whether there was a better way to play this season.
Sorry to poop on the “Wins are good” / Malachi thread, but all of our disagreements didn’t go away just because we scored 51 points against a team that’s been trying to get to the offseason since January.
Beat UNC and maybe I’ll have fewer questions!