Thoughts on this over-reaction article?

Virginia needs to stop playing boring basketball or they’ll keep getting upset in the tourney (msn.com)

Not even bothering.

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Don’t waste your time

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Definitely not giving them a click. Our style isn’t an issue. I do wonder what our problem with the first round is though. In 8 tournament appearances under TB we’ve played up to our regular season standard once in a first round game. That Hampton game. Fair to question if we are handling the mental build up to the tournament well. Especially since we seem to be fine once we get to the second round and beyond.

Hope TB is reaching how to guys like Boeheim and Altman who have outplayed their seeds in recent seasons to see if there is something they are doing in the week between Selection Sunday and the first round that he can learn from. Obviously being able to practice would help so maybe it’s no fair to lump this year in with the other sluggish starts but it’s hard to ignore how much lower our first round play has been than our typical level.

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I’m sorry but the pace absolutely contributes to our struggles in the first round. When you reduce the number of possessions you are increasing the variance that can occur

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Was wondering when this “hot take” would pop up

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I’ll trade a two to three early exits for a final 4 every three years

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That’d be nice if we grow to that in the future. That’s not the trade we’ve seen so far though.

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You notice that these types of articles only crop up when Virginia slips early, look at all the high seeds who have lost who got to practice and didn’t have to overcome the adversity we did before the game. Pundits are still sore that we won the chip. Probably cost them a few mortgage payments betting against us in 2019!

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Guess we’ll see in 2023 :thinking:

Pace does contribute to higher variance but that aint why we lost yesterday

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I will say it…aside from 2019, UVA has choked or been embarrassed in the NCAAT essentially every year we’ve made it under Bennett.

It’s just a true statement. Yes, you can add the clarifier of the regular season success but it doesn’t make that statement any less false.

I would take a 11-7 ACC season and an inspired run in the NCAAT over any first place ACC finish as a fan personally.

Edit: and not saying pace is the reason. But there’s something we’re missing most years and it doesn’t make sense.

Edit 2: and by inspired run, I mean not losing to a double-digit seed in the first two rounds, not getting blown out by twenty, not blowing a 12 point lead

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When you shoot 35% from the field, you’re going to lose more often than not unless you play 2019- 2020 UVA defense.

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Agree with post above re slow pace. Upsets often feature: (1) slow pace with relatively few possessions which minimizes athletic/size advantage for favorite; (2) the dog winning winning some offensive rebounds and either turning favorite over or at least avoiding turnovers, any of which increases shots/possessions. This year’s squad was perfectly designed for an upset on a bad shooting day. Glacially slow pace, and awful in offensive rebounding percentage and generating turnovers. So an underdog that generally takes care of the ball and/or shoots well had a very decent chance in getting a win. To make matters worse, we had no creators off the bounce if shooting was off. Last night Ohio didn’t even take good care of the ball. But our jump shots were off from start to finish, so they had a more than fighting chance if they shot at least as well as we did. Does anyone think Harris/Brogs/Gill era squad would have let last night happen? Not a chance. Would have started driving and feeding the post, and asserting athletic/size advantage.

If Deandre doesn’t get injured in 2018, the tourney doesn’t get canceled last year, and we don’t get Covid this year, all of which were pretty much completely random events, this isn’t even a conversation.

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If a frog had wings he wouldn’t bump his ass when he hopped.

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What coach who makes the tourney every year consistently lives up to his seeding?

For example - Coach K (since Bennett hiring)

2009 - 2 seed - Lost in Sweet 16
2010 - 1 seed - National Title
2011 - 1 seed - Lost in Sweet 16
2012 - 2 seed - Lost in 1st Round
2013 - 2 seed - Lost in Elite 8
2014 - 3 seed - Lost in 1st Round
2015 - 1 seed - National Title
2016 - 4 seed - Lost in Sweet 16
2017 - 2 seed - Lost in 2nd Round
2018 - 2 seed - Lost in Elite 8
2019 - 1 seed - Lost in Elite 8
2020 - No Tourney
2021 - Missed Tourney

He’s 5/12 (41.6%) on meeting or exceeding expectations based on seeding, and that’s with getting multiple 5 stars every year (something Bennett has never had).

In 25 years when there’s a statue of Tony Bennett outside of JPJ, you know how many people are going to be talking about him losing to Ohio in Covid-ridden 2021? Zero.

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Immediately after we lost, a thread popped up on the Indiana boards titled “Bennett’s available now!” It was mostly intended as a joke, though posters posted about what you’d expect. One post kinda caught my eye. They posted:

“2018 - 1 seed, upset in first round
2019 - 1 seed, Champions
2021 - 4 seed, upset in first round

I’d take it in a heartbeat, but what’s up with that?”

Us, too, man. Us, too.

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True, but the point wasn’t a [what if] and we would go far, but random events beyond CTB’s control certainly have contributed to early exits (in our losses to Florida we were really limping down the stretch). Justin’s tonsils may have cost us the natty that year. Runs contra to the systemic failure of Bennett’s system argument that talking (or writing) heads and recruitniks like to espouse.

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It’s part of it, right? If we had 10 more possessions at the end of the game yesterday I think our chances of winning go up