A couple thoughts. I think only 4 (5 if you count Gertrude) of the 15 players (if you include Lang and Roberts) have been coached by TB in a game and now they never will so I feel really bad for them. But I think the players on last yearās team were a very close knit group. Remember Bond and Harris didnāt want to leave initially. It wouldnāt surprise me if this years team is the same. I think they will hang together and play hard for Sanchez. Of course no one knows (them or us) if he will be good enough. I also think that a bunch of them will not automatically head for the door until they see how the season goes and who the coach is in 25-26.
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I hope Tony is right about what he sees in Sanchez because I certainly donāt get it. I have a ton of concerns about his ability to do this at a high level.
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I wish I had screenshotted TheSabre when we announced Bennett as HC.
He was a national coach of the year and a proven winner at Wazzou, and folks were pissed that a Midwest guy in the PAC-10 with no VA roots would be coaching the Hoos.
Seemed everyone had other favorites ā and Bennett wasnāt one of them.
Iām in wait-and-see mode. If he wins and embraces the new landscape in a way Bennett didnāt, then letās do it.
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Yeah, I mean thatās the thing. Once I did 5 seconds of research and realized he had won national coach of the year, then I thought it could work out really well. I think the initial Sabre response has always been a bit exaggerated. Folks hadnāt heard of him.
Iāve heard of Sanchez and Iām looking at his record in forming my opinion. Could he be good? Of course! But we are not in āoh wait, it says here on Wikipedia that he won national coach of the yearā territory.
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Iāll admit I was disappointed in the hire. Tubby was a big name. To me, Tony was a no-name. I saw he had a S16 and NCOY at Wazzu, but that was back when players stayed 4 years, so I thought he won those with āhis dadās players.ā
I was completely wrong, and obviously very happy to be so!
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If Sanchez doesnāt work out then at least we get flight tracker season followed by gassing up the new guy followed up by one of the most intense and active portal seasons we will have seen.
If nothing else the content will be flowing as the pillars crumble in the background
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Good thing they shortened the transfer window to 30 days then? Have to hope we have our coach named before the end of the NCAA tournament.
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What will the Sanchez Hoos look like? Here are his Charlotte teams (with the year before for context):
Takeaways:
- Very solid improvement from #308 to #106
- Very slow pace like weāre used to
- All over the place with ORtg and DRtg, certainly not showing the CTB touch for coaching defense
- much more willing to play people with 2 fouls in the first half than CTB
- CTB-esque low OR% and high DR%
- Percentage of FG attempts that were 3P attempts was all over the place, but generally higher than CTBās
Anything else jump out?
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Howās everyoneās excitement level for the season now? Completely shot? Meh? Still excited?
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iāll say this for cbb as a whole iām excited for uva basketball im at the meh and still trying to take this all in stage right now
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Even more curious but even less sure what to expect
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Iām def still excited. This group + the new wrinkles on O is very intriguing. The team wonāt really have Ronās stamp on it this year. I am more interested to see Ronās in game management, adjustments, line up usage etc.
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https://www.instagram.com/p/DBSEUtJRmR5/
Warley also expecting? Is Sanchez going to get carried to the finish line by pure dad energy?
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Something Iām going to keep an eye on is developmental minutes. If Sanchez was assured to be the coach next year, we could hope heād play some of the young guys a little bit to help them develop for next year even at the possible expense of current year wins. But since keeping his job depends on winning this year, heāll be more likely to play his best guys this year possibly to the detriment of young guys developing for next year (and possibly leading to more transfers than otherwise).
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I am very excited but I think the new coach is going to struggle with the pressures of being an ACC coach. TB mastered the ACC (to a fault in my opinion). Ron is an awesome guy but I just dont know he is cut out for this and I dont see players that can matter of factly make it happen
We shall see
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Well, makes sense why Warley was āhey guys Iām coming to Virginiaā basically sight unseen.
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For the record it isnt the men who are expecting. And I have 4 kids
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Wow you got to the 7th picture and actually zoomed in to see that? Iām lucky if I get past pic 2 most of the time.
Sometimes they have hidden practice clips. Tony has taught me to be thorough in my social media. I donāt know what I would do with myself if we ever have a coach that just gives us content on a platter
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To answer my own question, I think Iām just as excited for the season but more anxious now. I really like this core group and want us to build off of it ā obviously a successful season increases the odds of getting the retention necessary to make that happen.
We had our frustrations with Tony but nothing like weāll have after losses with Sancez. He hasnāt earned that benefit of the doubt, and itās really hard to follow a legend. So losses will be magnified. Theyāll be a referendum on Sanchez, and there will probably be a lot more handwringing and underlying anxiety about future transfers. Weāll be analyzing body language more than ever lol.
Above all though, I just really want a successful season for the players. They took a lot of shit last year, and their HOF coach just retired two weeks before the season starts. I want them to come together and prove people wrong, and have some fun along the way. LFG Hoos!
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