For some reason this phrase made me chuckle out loud. But I get the sentiment in regards to Izzo getting to the final 4 but not finishing the job last 20 years
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Good chance we would have been physically dominated by San Diego State
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True, and the discussion on here wouldn’t be, “Well we reached the 2nd round. Great job.” I’m guessing 90% of the posts would be about the pitiful 2nd round performance.
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That’s one of the funniest and truest things… I’ve read on here in a while.
Guards Who look like they are in pain when they shoot threes
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Definitely something to this. BIG 12 is dumping all kinds of money into basketball.
They hope to cash in at the next tv deal by promoting themselves as the “SEC of Basketball”. Also the ACC teams by and large cut their budgets more in the year after Covid than most conferences. I think you see the results of letting multiple leagues pass us in budget on the court right now. Louisville is the outlier as their basketball budget is ridiculous but with nothing to show for it.
They will be showing it before long. I don’t know how a team has a year like Louisville did and then start killing it in recruiting
The NCAA is changing so much, so fast… it may now be the case that all the advice we have for improving the team pales in comparison to “provide a competitive salary”
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thats very easy to explain. its called $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
and this is why we can never get the top transfers/recruits…
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How much money is San Diego State and FAU spending on their team lol. I would do the 247 rankings for other teams. But next year we will have more top 100 talent on the roster than most of the teams in the round of 32/sweet 16.
And there are so many good players coming out of that 150-250 player range/player development is still a thing.
Talent or lack of isn’t an explanation for the 3 years without an ncaa tournament win. But again things are on the upswing and we have pieces moving forward that fit what Tony wants to do while also fitting each other.
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San Diego State and FAU are not going to win the NCAA tournament. Whomever wins, I promise, will have paid for players…
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Regardless of whether they paid for them or not, the talent they will have will be comparable to what we will have next year. And we do NIL as well.
And the kinds of players we have been missing are found on a lot of the midmajor teams in the tournament as well.
We need an Akil type. Every team in the tournament has one it feels like. And akil himself had 0 D1 offers when we offered him as his GW offer was pulled. Helped us to a sweet 16 with a bunch of players in that 75-150 range that aren’t getting bags.
I’m talking about forward-looking. Not an explanation for the last three years or even a statement about next year, but a developing trend. And of course there will be exceptions teams that do well every year (FDU) and not one observation will explain every outcome.
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There’s only so much money to go around and a lot of it will be an eye towards the portal. Tony earned his reputation on 1) talent evaluation and 2) player development. It should be his time to shine.
A lot of these teams have kids who are upperclassmen in that 100-200 ranking range who just developed.
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LOL
Basketball is just more available through trainers and resources. Kids not in the top 100 are getting more and more talented, as we have seen a growing amount of kids not 100 going in the first round of the nba draft the last few years.
There is a lot more talent out there to hone in on and develop. Just need to not be slow footed in the front court since we need our front court to be strong help side defenders for what we do. And need our guards to be able to shoot 3s comfortable; not exactly a unique skill. Dont ask why neither of our pgs can do it idk.
We definitely don’t need 5 star talent to beat a double digit seed; that’s where the conversation predominantly is. And then we can talk about the future.
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Yea I don’t know if we make a big enough deal over how many games Tony has won with sub 33% 3 point shooting and/or sub 40% overall shooting over these last 4 years. He’s basically had BC level guard play and managed 2 ACC regular season titles and another 2nd place out of it. And 2 of the years without having an elite defense to compensate. Remarkable really. Most coaches are looking for a new job with the guard play he’s had over the last 4 years.
That being said…it’s time to stop fighting with one hand behind our backs. We get it Tony. You can win without offense. Experiment over. Time to get back to having shooters
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Check out the T-Rank on his four teams after the 2009 Final Four:
Edit: came out a little blurry, so it’s:
2010: #20
2011: #35
2012: #75
2013: #45
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Just an uninformed opinion here, but… Due to the shutdown of recruiting evaluations in 2020, I think lots of mistakes were made, by both recruiters and recruits. I think the effects were especially detrimental to Virginia, as Coach Bennett typically needs to see a prospect playing, in person, before an offer is extended. At least, that is my impression. Obviously, the changes to the transfer portal’s rules have also altered the dynamic of roster management. I remain a bit skeptical that NIL is adversely impacting Virginia. I suspect the recruits who are attracted to the promise of big paydays were never going to consider UVa anyway. So…
Since the title, there have been a number of recruits who didn’t work out as well as everyone had hoped. Thanks to the new portal regulations, they were able to leave more easily. The departures of Casey Morsell, Justin McKoy, Carson McKorkle, Jabri Addur-Rahim, and Igor Milicic, Jr., regardless of how disappointing those transfers were, did open up scholarships for others. It does hurt depth in the short term, but, as a rule, I believe if a player isn’t earning 15 to 20 mpg by the end of his second active year, then it is a little less than hit or miss whether he ever becomes part of the primary rotation. Injuries not withstanding. Losing a player before their third year isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
It seems to me, and, again, this may be a misinformed opinion, that the negative impact of the covid recruiting shutdown ended with the 2022 class. It also seems that the lingering after effects of that shutdown are being addressed with the transfer portal. Going into the 2024 season, the 1st and 2nd yearmen are well represented on the roster, but, depending upon who might leave, the upperclassmen appear to be a bit lacking. Thank you covid.
So, having said all that, in this new era of NCAA basketball with all the OADs, with the G-League Ignite and Overtime Elite, and the new transfer portal, I foresee more parity than ever before. 14, 15, & 16 seeded teams winning opening round games is not going to be as uncommon as in the past. And, if Virginia can stay healthy, it should flourish in this environment. Or, so I think.
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Reminiscent of Dre teasing Ty that HE did not lose to UMBC.
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