I felt like we might need a place to discuss this season for its own sake, especially as the Tennessee thread closes down.
I don’t really have much of a valedictory speech prepared, unfortunately. But here goes:
It was a fun season! It was great to be playing fun, meaningful March hoops again. Odom proved to be the best in class of the new ACC crop. Glad Tillis and Malik and Jacari got to experience the NCAA tourney and left within a win and thrilling second round game.
Odom and Griff did a great job on the roster build and Odom did a great job knitting the guys together and to UVa.
Most memorable moments for me unfortunately will be the ACC-T v Duke, home game v UNC, and last night v Tennessee. A bit bittersweet in that regard
Most memorable wins probably our destruction of Texas, and our season sweeps of NC state (three!) and Miami.
Favorite player moment either a Jacari heater or Chance pushing it to the hoop. Or how about a chance rebound in traffic!
My favorite memories were the Dayton and Miami games in Charlotte. Saw both live and then were just really fun games.
Got to see my boy @BDragon for the Dayton game after a UVA pregame at the Local, and the Spectrum Center was just popping with UVA fans who were in town for the ACCCG later that night.
Also loved effectively ending VT’s tourney hopes, sweeping Wade, the Miami game in Charlottesville (shoutout Jacari 3 at the end - most raucous we’ve seen JPJ in a long time), the ND and FSU comebacks.
The start of this season feels like a lifetime ago.
I legit forgot I was at the Dayton game until @Jerome brought it up. I also forgot the Hoos played Texas, until the final moments of their game Saturday night when I recalled watching that game.
Overall, I’m happy with the season. Like many have said, if you told me Virginia would win 30 games, finish 2nd in the ACC and win an NCAA Tournament game I would have signed up for that.
However, the problem with being successful is you’re always looking at that next mountain to climb, and I began sizing that up back in Feb. I think the team did enough to take care of business when they had to, but I also don’t think their opponents asked a lot of questions of them.
Clearly I don’t remember a lot from the season, the games that stand out to me are the first one against VT, UNC and the ACC Championship. Those ones stand out the most for me because they were all winnable games and the team failed to execute at key points. I have harder team being at peace with those type of games compared to the first Duke game where Virginia wasn’t on the same level as their opponents that evening.
Jacari was absolutely my favorite player on the team not named Eli. Chance is the sort of player you have to love when he’s on your team, and I’m glad he’s a Hoo. Ugo is a guy I was leery of coming into the season but his run down the stretch and in the ACC Tournament was special.
Staying in the moment - this season was a resounding success. Nailed the Odom hire and the guys won 30 games. Not only that, but they were fun to watch.
Highlight of the season for me is 3 parts:
Dayton game and Jacari going nuts
Just absolutely waxing NC State on the road. Fresh off a 3x OT loss, playing media darling Will Wade, and we dominated start to finish
Chance strip, pull-up at the end of the half against Miami in the ACCT. I haven’t jumped off the couch like that in a long time. Electric
Excited for what is next, but never in my wildest imagination did I anticipate we would win 30 games. Only the 6th time it has happened in program history. Remarkable season.
What was really missing during these games and something to improve upon in future classes was to have size and athleticism to throw at those teams Defensively. Ideally a Dre, Trigga Trey, or Braxton Key on the perimeter or down in the post for rebounds. I know offensively those type of guys would be lottery pics or otherwise very expensive, so even if not as offensively gifted if we had similar available as subs that would be great to sprinkle them in and guard the mismatches.
This year we had 2 of every player except the Sam Lewis 3 man (but with athleticism).
I am sad we lost yesterday… but pretty damn proud at 30 wins. I am also sad at the state of the game in terms of NIL and player movement… but also very proud of the players that represented UVa this season.
Was it a perfect season? No…
Were there frustrating parts? Yes…
Overall I had fun… which is much different than the past few years… so I’m excited to see how the next few years pan out.
From my perspective it was really fun to see it all come together. Watching how Odom used his teams at all of his previous stops, seeing the players he recruited, figuring out how they were likely to be used and then, more or less, seeing them deployed in exactly that way was fun and rewarding.
As someone who spends so much time getting into the weeds of all of it, it’s neat when the things that jump off of the screen as the clear things to do are the things that we actually do… consistently (for the most part)!
It was kind of a season of catharsis from that standpoint.
Otherwise, I just really appreciated how much the players bought in to the school and the community despite being mercenaries. That last clip of them still out there during the Good Ole Song after the loss and how hard they were taking it - that’s the thing that makes it really easy to root for the direction.
I will say this is the best I’ve felt about the program since probably the beginning of March 2021 (before the abrupt quarantine ruined what was until then a promising season with four during future NBAers in the starting lineup). That quarantine kicked off a long 4+ years of slow, steady backsliding and frustrating underachieving. But Odom did a great job this year not just winning but also getting the culture right and reconnecting with the fan base. The program is easy to root for once again, and for that I am thankful.
I just remember feeling so down after the Butler game that this season might be another wasted year without getting to enjoy the program I love competing the way they did for 10+ years recently. Grateful for the few months that followed and excited for more.
Elijah got an audition when Jacari got hurt. I think Odom hoped he could become either/both a defensive stopper or a defensive chaos maker, but it didn’t work, unfortunately.
It was frustrating because it felt like Elijah needed more floor time to tighten up but wasn’t getting more floor time because he wasn’t tightened up.
But it was a win, imo, just to see him out there and healthy and with quite a bit of explosiveness.
And the NC Stae dunk was a nice capstone on his season (and hopefully not his UVa career).
Interesting take because it was at that Greenbrier tournament that I realized that we were going to be something special. I was there and met a bunch of the players from our team and saw how good our players were individually. People forget that Butler lost their best player immediately after our game plus they were a team that returned a bunch of players. They had a head start on us. Meeting the UVA players completely changed my sour feelings about NIL and the state of college basketball. Odom and staff continued the tradition of recruiting quality people and that is so important when it comes down to wins and losses.
My favorite was watching Chance develop, and the surprising play from Onyenso. The other transfers and Euros played about how I expected, but Ugo stood out.
Totally agree with your overall point, but I’d argue that the backup 4 spot was a big weakness this year. I like Devin as a lockerroom guy, as a passer, his 3pt and free throw shooting, but he was a huge drop off from TDR that we didn’t see at other positions. Devin is not athletic or very strong or tall. His back downs and post game that worked at UC Irvine didn’t work here. He did some good things for us and is a smart player, so not meant as a knock on him, just is what it is (or was what it was, now).
Like if any of our starting guards were struggling, most of the time Chance and/or Jacari could come in and make an impact. Same with Johann/Ugo. If TDR struggled, it was either Tillis, or sometimes (rarely) we’d just go 4 guard with Sam at the 4.
If TDR does indeed return, and Barksdale isn’t ready, I’d hope we’d go after a stronger more athletic back up at the 4, who can shoot and rebound, as well as be able to body up and guard some of the stronger PFs out there.
I loved this team, it was hard to pick a favorite, but as the season went on, Ugo became that for me. He’s awesome and the post-game pressers were gold