Thatās a great point. Hopefully they wouldnāt knowing heās essentially a first timer and possibly a transition guy.
Removing the interim tag benefits Ron and Ron only at this point. Not the basketball program. Plenty of people have been interims and secured the job. Steve Fischer won a Natty at Michigan as an interim. Itās not a stain on Ron or UVa. All it does is create interest in our program from the outside, which is what we want.
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Once Brad Stevens is named head coach we will all be able to relax.
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Stevens currently works for some nba franchise
Oh Iām not saying weād remove it midseason. Iām saying the conversation would switch heavily towards keeping him.
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I say this not to disagree at all but am just genuinely curious: can you say more about what you like that heās doing so far?
Just feels like weāre so early in the campaign that thereās almost nothing to judge on yet. Weāve basically been slightly underwhelming/OKish (depending on your outlook) in two wins over terrible teams. Just curious what youāre seeing or hearing that would push you to already lean āThis is the guy - letās lock him up.ā
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There is nothing to judge on yet. When Villanova trounces us on Friday we will have a better feel.
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Like how he has stayed with guys when they play well on O despite some mistakes on D: Cofie
Like how he let Taine play despite being as bad as he could be
Like he is giving Sharma his chances to earn consistent time and giving him green light (we shall see what Sharma does with that)
Like how he uses bigs to kinda initiate the offense in sotuations: Saunders and playing through Blake at the top
Like that he is 2 and 0 (ok that was a joke)
I hope I like that Dai Dai starts at PG on Friday or better said that Rohde does not start at PG
Also Dai Dai didnt play to āfit inā. He played his game it looked like. Cant wait til he gets Tād up soon
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I was surprised how poised Dai Dai played. He was like a seasoned vet under Bennetās tutelage. He was controlled and picked his spots. Iām probably over stating but I was honestly expecting someone more reckless.
I love Reece and this is no indictment itās just Reece is the most recent UVA PG but Dai Dai potential is higher than Beekmans from what I saw (heās not as dynamic of an athlete, heā has better all around potential).
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Heās used Cofie as a pressure release valve too and had him initiate the offense.
Saunders post-Coppin gave a quote that was like āDai Dai kept telling us we needed to push more in transitionā
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Let Ames cook!
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What exactly will it give us a better feel for, with respect to Ron? Friday or even the season in total?
Ron didnāt recruit all these players. Ron didnāt quit 3 weeks before the season, causing us to lose what could have been an important piece at what is now a weak spot in the roster, in addition to all sorts of other drama Iām sure. Ron didnāt design and implement all of the schemes we use, by himself.
Ron is now responsible for lineups, in game adjustments, dealing with player morale, etc., and he can choose to move this way or that with the offense or anything else, over time, but itās tough for me to lay either total blame or total credit at his feet based on how this season goes. He can only turn the battleship so much over the course of one season, especially given the fact that he started so close to the first game.
Now, I understand heās going to be judged off the results. Itās really the only thing weāll have to go with. But itās a little unfair to him. Itās a little unfair to everybody. And that cuts both ways. If he succeeds this year, how confidently can you attribute the success to him? Likewise if the team is meh or worse.
Thatās basically why Iām in favor, currently, of cutting ties with the Bennett era and making a new decision based on more complete information. If we hire an outside coach, we are doing it based on the results he was able to put together on his own and over time, including in game stuff, recruiting, putting together a staff, etc. You know, building and managing a program over multiple years. Kind of important.
All that said, if Ron knocks it out of the park objectively with wins and a tourney bid, or if we can build a reasonable subjective narrative around how heās adding significant value in season with a flawed team, then Iāll get behind captain Ron. Iāve got nothing against the guy, and to be fair heās literally never lost a game as the uva head coach. Although also to be fair the counter argument is he thinks rohde is the point guard, so thatās not good.
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Itās funny because I guarantee Villanova fans are thinking weāll do the same to them
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This from watching is where I think Ron and staff have done well. This far.
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And Cofie who is our best pick 2 guy and best in open court dribbler apparently ā¦
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Itās way way way WAY too early, but so far I see two major tough choices so far in Ronās tenure:
- who starts at PG when both options are healthy?
- how do we deal with the fact that we have no backup PG when one PG is unavailable?
Seems fair to grade him on those.
Cofie PT? I would not put that in the tough choice category. Saunders foul trouble + TJP looking like a Jon Scheyer development project seem to eliminate it from that category.
(And calling #1 ātoughā is me being charitable to Ron)
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Maybe Ron should stay up all night with Ethan and Mike C to do better for our players to not get hurt.
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I hear you, but earnestly, there are things he can control and those are the ones Iām judging him on.
(Now realizing this is a Scheyer referenceā¦ yeah, that guy is the worst)
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Oh Iām sure. I was mostly being facetious but it is funny to look at both of our programs. I would say a few years ago I look at both of these teams and think that they are likely stalwarts on the scene because of the lead whistle. Crazy how that changes overnight. Two recent programs with titles just rudderless at the moment.
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You made some good points, but after reading this sentence all I can think of is a mediocre Kurt Russell I saw one time when I was maybe 10ā¦?
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