Wiining it all is so so hard. Man you went through at such a cool time
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University Hall can’t hold a candle to JPJ. But those four years that Ralph was there, the place was electric.
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We can argue this point off line. UHall was incredible
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I agree. After his first two seasons at UVa (when Virginia was .500), Coach Benntt’s teams are winning at an overall rate of over 76%, and he has won 75% of his ACC games. If I am not mistaken, since the 2014 season, Coach Bennett has won the most games of any coach in the conference both overall and in the ACC. To have a bunch of armchair quarterbacks try and list his shortcomings seems pretty ludicrous to me. Whatever he’s doing wrong, I hope he continues to do it wrong if the wins keep coming, and I suspect the wins will continue to come. Go 'Hoos!!!
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Tony isn’t perfect. Again for the millionth time it’s not all or nothing. If you don’t like the thread you don’t have to open it LOL.
If it weren’t for the natty we would all have a very different view of where the program is. I would still love it and also still be critical of it.
Roster construction has been horrible the last 3 seasons. That’s on the coaching staff. Other programs have had the same issues (COVID, transfer portal) but have maintained consistency being a top 25 team and winning games in the NCAA tourney. I can say that and not have it mean Im calling for Tony’s head which is ludicrous.
If you are paid $4 million to be a basketball coach, it’s okay to be like “hey we haven’t had a real shooting guard for the last 3 seasons”. It’s okay for us to express frustration. It doesn’t mean we want the coach fired.
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We’re not even debating flaws, we’re talking about weaknesses relative to his strengths. If 6 of your attributes are rated 100 and the 7th is rated 99, the 99 is still your weakness. No one’s saying that it’s objectively bad, only not as good as his strengths.
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A 99 is still a relative weakness compared to 6 100s. Stop being so thin skinned.
Fine and if you think otherwise there are lots of other threads.
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What a goof
I mean, the man won a natty. His “biggest weakness” discussion is all relative. Nobody’s perfect but his strengths outweigh his weaknesses by a country mile.
Substitution patterns.
Clock awareness and management.
Way longer leashes for some guys over others for the same mistakes. - Decreases buy in from players.
Playing certain guys over others simply because of one skill when basketball is a net game - total on both ends is what matters to game results.
Overall it’s his insistence on talking about mistakes vs. being aggressive and not worrying about mistakes if they are aggressive ones and not passive ones. His post game presser after the UNC ACC loss was maddening - talked about how bad the defense was - when it was really good against a hot team while the offense scored 43 points.
Boils down to this for me:
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I’m willing to give TB a pass on roster management this year because it’s a totally different team with Trey Murphy. When he was brought in we didn’t know he’d be immediately eligible, or that he’d only stay a year. Trey would have given this team exactly what it needed…a 6’9 athletic wing, with a year in the system, who is lethal from 3. Give him the minutes Stattman got, and some from Franklin & Clark, and we might still be playing (and not the NIT).
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I’m confused by the Wooden quote. Apparently Bennett is making plenty of mistakes.
I agree - roster management is a red herring. We had some recruiting misses and Trey threw us a curve ball, but I don’t think Tony is generally bad a roster management. He constructed a national championship caliber team! I’m pretty optimistic about the incoming class too.
It’s more the other stuff people have noted - and for me the main one is that mainly once we get a lead, we’re very prone to fall prey to a momentum swing the other way (as someone else put it.) Even the natty team almost gave it away at least 3 times as we all remember.
Maybe the other weaknesses feed into this - a lack of flexibility to be able to handle the other team going into frantic mode (like the press).
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The quote refers to players. Wooden always coached his guys to be aggressive and didn’t yank dudes out because of 1 or 2 mistakes. He knew empowering them to make plays and not be afraid of messing up would have good returns in big pressure moments.
I actually heard him talk about just that at an event (I lived in SoCal from 1984-2008) - actually got a signed book from him. 
He talked about that aspect in life and at work - from a corporate and entrepreneur standpoint too. So important for management to empower their people to take risks and go for it.
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Totally agree with this philosophy. He was way ahead of his time in believing that.
Love all things Wooden… My favorite quote on the Pyramid of Success (attached) is:
“Be quick, but don’t hurry”
Here is his pyramid for those who are unfamiliar:
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Love the initiative box
and
The carrot is mightier than the stick.
Can we just inject some perspective into this discussion?
Until this year, Virginia had been to seven straight NCAA tournaments under Tony (would have been eight if there had been a tournament in 2020). Before Tony, the longest streak was four years.
Under Tony, we won two ACC Tournaments. Before Tony, we won one, way back in 1976.
Under Tony, we’ve compiled a winning ACC record in 12 straight years – yes, even including this “disastrous year.” Before Tony, the longest streak was three years.
And, yeah, under Tony, we won a national championship.
I get it. We’re all disappointed with this year. But you know what? This disappointing season pretty much compares to the BEST years under Leitao or Gillen.
It seems that Tony Bennett’s biggest flaw is failing to live up to the expectations that have been set by Tony Bennett.
No one is saying Tony is perfect, or immune from criticism. You want to complain about him? Knock yourself out, if that’s what makes you happy. And apparently it does. All I (and others) are saying is that maybe we should spend at least as much time appreciating the most successful coach in school history as we do dumping on him.
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My Dad gave me a poster of that pyramid. Had it hanging in my room throughout most of my childhood. Great stuff – and applies to so much more than basketball.
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Give it 5 years and they’ll all be begging for CTB to come back when the Hoos are stuck with NC State living too much in 82.
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