You have just described most of Virginia basketball history.
We got lucky with CTB, but he certainly wasnât a âswing for the fencesâ hire at the time, and most Virginia fans would have been thrilled if all he gave us was a program that won and made the tournament consistently.
He was the national coach of the year one year prior! At a power 5 school before realignment started destroying everything! This is a retconning of that hire which was great, swing for fences type one at the time.
But agreed didnât expect a natty out of it.
I think thatâs what makes this hire so crucial though. Weâre in a position to build on success and prove that as a program we can stick around that level without Bennett. It may not work, but not going for it sucks worse than trying and not achieving it.
I think youâre being a little unkind about our basketball history with Ralph, a limited NCAA field during times we were very, very good etc., but OK, weâre not a blueblood, but we ainât Clemson by a long stretch.
I think CTB was a swing for the fences hire - good pedigree, but limited experience (although coach of the year) after following in his fatherâs footsteps. The âsafeâ route would have been to pick from the Coach Holland tree (Laranaga, Odom). We went for it âand ended up with something I and most thought weâd never see.
Ryan Odom would be dipping back into the Terry Holland tree. Assistant under Jeff Jones and Seth Greenberg, both Holland guys. Son of another Holland assistant.
Of course Odom also coached under Alan Major who was a Thad Motta assistant. Motta got his start under Herb Sendek who is a Rick Pitino guy.
Six degrees of Rick Pitino
For all the reasonable Ron criticisms, this is a strange one to hang on him. We developed into a grown-man team when he was on staff here, and UVA fell off in that area when Ron was in Charlotte. Tennesseeâs leading rebounder is Milicic, who got most of his development at Charlotte under Ron. If youâre critiquing our lack of strength when our front line is a So, RS Fr, and true Fr, thatâs not really a fair take. If anything, weâre starting to see some development there, and ARob is going to be something of a punisher. As upperclassmen, if those guys stick around, I can see a pretty formidable front line. Saunders pretty powerfully built too.
Tried not to hang it all on him - CTB and the rest of the staff are equally at fault. But we did get away from physicality, which was an outgrowth not only of recruiting, but of development in the system and, of course, Mike Curtis (we donât seem to mention him as much any more).
Is that what was left on the restaurant table after he finished?
Yep! Switching from bruiser PFs to stretch PFs was an immediate downfall. Switching back this year and we are seeing what having tough guys like Arob and Cofie are able to do offensively but more defensively as we are seeing by Arob.
During yesterdayâs game I loved seeing Arob roll up on a VaTech player, grab a rebound and get undercut by a player and fall on the Tech players back. Cofie head butted that Tech guardâŚ. In other words just physicality, you will feel our body contact.
Cmonnnnn man
Those not watching UVA baseball and want a 10% chance to watch the next UVA coach
Calhoun vs Pitino about to tip
Games I want to watch and the game leading up to it going to triple over time.
Name a more infamous duo
edit: omfg South Dakota St you idiots
edit 2: thank God both teams are idiots. Both South Dakota program coaches have been eliminated from UVA contention
Man Utah Stâs talent outside Martinez and Falslev is so dogshit and yet they are still a solid team.
If Richard Pitino could BOTH bring Dent and Washington AND Keep both Cofie/Robinson, Id be okay with it.
Think Calhoun is the better coach but Pitino is the better talent accumulator?
edit: man headband guys for Utah St are horrendous man.
Ron the goat Sanchez.
More-Rons have gone so insane they want animals coaching our basketball team. Seems like a bahhhhhhâd idea.
Calhoun with non-mormons would be who John Wooden thought he was
Man I really want Calhoun. Dude has a bunch of low major transfers being competitive.
Also Tru Washington, the other New Mexico guard, is the UNCLE of former Kentucky guard/NBA guard Tyty Washington.
someone at unc actually wrote a masters thesis on whether you should hire a search firm to run the search for a new coach. short answer is data is inconclusive.
Consulting 101âthe answer always boils down to âit dependsâ. (Just use 1000 words to state it.)