I think the #1 thing people are overlooking is that they are not the coach and Tony is. It’s fine to point out that he has had some recruiting issues. It’s fine to criticize his offensive schemes. It’s fine to disagree with who he plays for how much time. Where it becomes a little less fine is when people start assuming they know more about the team, the players, and the game than a guy who is almost certainly a hall of fame coach.
I mean did you guys see the graphics they were putting up on the telecast? One was how Tony has one of the 3 winningest records in the game (I forget the start date they used) and one was about consecutive 10 win seasons in the ACC where he sits (with an active streak) between Coach K and Dean Smith (yeah I know the seasons have more games than they used to). The point is we are talking about one of the best coaches in the game here.
Tony sees these guys in practice. We do not. In fact, we have seen very little of Carson or Taine at all, which I understand is the complaint. What I do not understand is why the default assumption for some is that they are amazing players that would be helping this team win games now or in the future if they were getting more minutes. Why is it not a more reasonable assumption that the reason they are not playing is because they are not good enough, at least yet, to warrant the time? I remember all the gnashing of teeth over Jabri’s PT…well, turns out he’s not that good of a player despite his ranking. Turns out Tony knew what he was doing when he didn’t play him.
We do not know why they are not playing. Maybe they have shown no grasp of the defense in practice. Maybe they don’t hit any shots in practice. Maybe Taine told a coach off. Maybe Carson skipped a class. Point is we don’t know. The coaches do.
The preponderance of evidence suggests that Tony will play young guys or new guys when he thinks they can help the team win. He played London. He played Ty. He played Kyle. He played CASEY.HE PLAYED JARRED FREAKING REUTER
I do not understand how Tony has earned so little respect from some fans that they are willing to accuse him basically of gross negligence because we dropped one game we shouldn’t have. Do people honestly believe Tony has no concern for the development of the young players and how it might impact future games and seasons? Do people really think tony is not aware that players might transfer our if their expectations are not met? Those ideas are absurd to me.
Look, I want to see these guys play more too. I think the fact that we are not seeing them more tells us that they are not ready. Coach Bennett has earned enough respect from me for me to believe he’s doing what is best for the team and the program.
If you’re interested in placing blame, I suppose the responsibility lies with Bennett. But as good as Bennett is, he doesn’t have a crystal ball into the future success of every guy he recruits. The list of misses and transfer-outs goes way back. It happens. He just commented that he’d love to have the recent transfers still on this team, but he’s going to work with the guys he has. And he’s reiterated for his whole career the things he considers non-negotiables. So if you’re expecting him to change his stripes to get short-term results, you might as well start the “fire Tony Bennett” club now.
And I’m not saying that the Poindexter playing time is a long-term thing. But if you’ve been in coaching any team sport and tried to instill a philosophy or scheme but find that one player is so constantly lost that it messes up teaching everyone else, sometimes the best option is to take out the player regardless of talent. Once a system becomes better understood by all, the player can be re-introduced and better understand the structure. It’s a more orderly progression for everyone, when not everyone understands things at the same rate. It still has the same end-result in mind. I don’t know exactly when you stop trying to bring along everyone during the season, but I’m sure the cutoff isn’t in November.
The situation with Poindexter is intriguing - it’s like an exam question in a class about Bennett Philosophy 101.
Tony Bennet has decided to play a senior walk-on for approximately 5-10 minutes a game, ahead of two highly touted underclassmen at the same position, during several pre-conference games. The walk-on is a slight upgrade on defense, but a moderate downgrade on offense, as seen in both game and practice time. Answer the following questions in short-answer form.
Is Coach Bennett playing the walk-on to increase the team’s chance of winning now or is Bennett aiming to increase the team’s long-term prospects by sending a message to the underclassmen that they need to improve their defense to see the floor?
Based on your how you answered #1, do you agree with Coach Bennett’s decision? Would your answer change if it’s known that playing the walk-on over the underclassmen is hurting the underclassmen’s defensive development?
Should you just trust the Hall of Fame coach and erase everything you wrote for #1 and #2?
These questions are worth 30 points on your final exam.
To be fair, no man is perfect and Tony would be the first to admit that. Although I do agree it is silly some may claim to know more than Tony when Tony sees everyone day to day in practice. But we can still complain, and even with that advantage mistakes can still be made (and of course those who complain are no guarantee to do better if they were in Tony’s shoes LOL).
Still think Tony should have played Tobey more minutes vs VCU 2013.
I always compare the data to game film - I provide data to let people compare as well. It is usually representative of what the game film shows - though individual games may be outliers. I also like to compare guards to guards and bigs to bigs as far as the stats.
For example is a charge drawn counted? It counts as a team stop which the individual gets partial credit for.
Kihei for example drew 2 charges last night which should get equal credit as a steal. So add that in and his defensive rating would be better. Again - compare tape to stats to get a well rounded view. I re-watch every game at least once.
What’s really missing with the DRting are the most important aspects of defense— on-ball defense, off-ball awareness and help, knowing your team defensive scheme, and continuous full effort. That’s why it seems silly to me, at least, to use a player’s DRting to argue that one player is a better defender in UVA’s defensive scheme than another. Most of the time it’s only showing who’s taller and can jump higher.
Have to pushback against the idea it’s about who respects Tony. In fact I think many of us respect Tony so much we just can’t accept how bad his recruiting issues have been. That Carson and Taine might also not be good. That if Carson and Taine don’t work out then somehow the best shooter in college history and a surefire Hall of Fame coach went a half decade, in his prime, without finding even a mid-level ACC off guard recruit. It’s difficult to reconcile (especially during a game when the bourbon is flowing) and much easier to hope Carson and Taine weren’t yet more bad takes and just need opportunity to grow on the floor. Especially when the alternative is lineups with 3 guards and 4 players overall who can’t shoot.
Yea 2022 is great on paper. But so was 2020 and two years in we are still having the same offensive issues. Problem since the title hasn’t been getting the guys TB wants but that the evals have just been off. Feel better about McKneely than any other guard in that timeframe so hopefully he turns it around but I’m more nervous than his film would otherwise make me.
Kyle Guy, Ty Jerome and Dre would have been gone 2 years ago anyways- the real issue is that the players that have come after (specifically the ones that transferred) were coming in right after a Championship and were more foundational pieces. We haven’t had the top talent sprinkled in on top of those guys yet- hopefully 2022 is that team. We have yet to replace our point guard with a Ty Jerome/ London Perrantes type of player. We have 2 Kihei’s at this point (whom I like, and are places for those types of players), but we haven’t replaced the straw stirrer in Jerome or Perrantes.
Gotta get 2020 out of your head… that year was an outlier in my opinion. COVID restrictions and everything.
Trey Murphy is considered a recruit… def not a bust. Some times guys hit, some times they don’t. There are a lot of teams who recruit well but they don’t equate to great teams.
What? Those kids couldn’t be more opposite and would play well off each other. If Murphy was on the current team, with the way he stretches the floor, Gardner would have a field day in the lane.
