UMBC who? Somebody needs to buy Nathan Bain a plane ticket to the next UVA/Duke game. haha Nah our fans are classier than that. But I do confess, I really enjoy watching these upsets. The Kentucky/Evansville was also a great one. Not sure if they actually add up to anything in terms of benefiting UVA’s basketball program…but I enjoy comparing Bennett’s 5 year record to other successful basketball programs throughout the league. Anybody know where we place? Pretty sure we have one of the highest winning percentages if not the highest over the past 5 years…Last I heard I think Gonzaga and Villanova had us beat. I tried googling the data, and could only find win percentage over the entire history of a bball program.
In my mind, the better winning percentage we have in comparison to our blue blood recruiting competitors, the better our chances of landing top recruits. But someone with more knowledge please correct me on this. Obviously this is not the only issue that matters when it comes to recruiting, and Im sure there are other subjects that matter more, but it must mean something. Well done LUMBERJACKS!
If TB recruited and landed the “top” prospects year in and year out we dont ever get London or Malcolm etc for 4 even 5 years. I have thought about this a lot and my conclusion is that for the past decade and am sure his whole career Tony Bennet most importantly knows who he is and is very comfortable with it; and this has served his teams and players and fans very very well. I know they have some guidelines about cutoffs for kids they simply wont try and recruit. Like the point of offering the “family package” etc. Imagine the staff went over Ty Jerome and recruited and landed an perceived “better prospect”. Think this is why real Hoos have come to love our teams so much. Tony Bennet knows who he is.
And of course watching the upsets are lotta fun. is why the game is so great. Love when guy like Cal says afterwards that Evansville deserved to win and he was happy for them. He even said if UK had pulled that one out at the end they didnt deserve it. Real guys who have had big successes genuinely want the up and comers to do well. Like TB talking about UMBC simply deserving to win as 16 vs number 1 seed in that NCAA tournament so many years ago that no one remembers anymore…
Yeah, that is a good point. Our system doesnt really work well for 1 year players. I have to say TB has had huge success recruiting second and third tier guys and developing them further. Look at our record for the past 5 years. Even without winning a national championship, I’d have to say this is a winning strategy.
As a former player and now fan would rather see same players in system for 3 to 5 years and develop together while integrating and bringing up new guys. Nothing against guys who dont (cant) stay in school but thats just me
Haha instagram and twitter went crazy last night