🏀 Virginia at Louisville, L, 81-67, 8-10 (1-6 ACC), Saturday, 18 January 2025, 1200, ESPN2/U

[tonyburnertt]

Yeah it’s definitely vibes-y, I’ll admit to that.

When you put the 48 vs. 50 thing like that it sounds silly, but I do think the ‘his dad was a power conference coach for 20 years’ part makes it different. He has the resources and connections to be on the fast track, and instead he’s slightly behind his peers. I think its fair to ask why that is.

Also Byington has one 7-year stint and one 4-year stint. Odom only has the one 5-year stint and then two 2-year ones at the moment.

[htraylor]

No real insight, just ittle things/vibes - during the National Anthem, the team is locked shoulder to shoulder, JWilly, KG, Sodie are sort of together, but Sanchez was nowehere in sight. Bench interaction is different - I’m thinking staff clearly understood their roles and had a rhythm/comfort zone for interacting with CTB. Doesn’t seem as roles are defined. Sanchez seems to be separate in some way from the staff - looks like he is wearing the weight of everything and the team reflects that headed back to the huddle. This team is NOT having any fun.

EDIT - big reason why next coach should assemble his own staff.

[SlickAce]

@chavlicek15

You should go to church tomorrow and then confession. If we continue to play Rohde 30 mins we will win three or four games in the ACC this year.

I have lots of thoughts on this, but if Rohde continues to play for 30 minutes a game , we’re not going to win more than 4 games in the ACC. And everyone will transfer on our roster

.And Ron will be fired. And the only person that stays at UVA is is Rohde - because he knows he wouldn’t play these minutes anywhere else.

We will continue to lose if Rohde plays this many minutes. It’s not all on him, but opposing coaches don’t worry about Andrew Rohde playing 30 minutes. Fire up anyone else. 5 points and a million retreat dribbles isnt cutting it.

Keep Robinson, Sharma, Gertrude, Power, and Dai Dai. And I like Buck too but it’s a hard one for me.

Wise man here fellas.

Everything but the Idaho fella . Keep Cofie instead.

[SlickAce]

@haney

Some of this stuff is just as @Hooandtrue put it very vibes-y. Odom is suspicious b/c he’s 50, but Byington getting his first big job at 48 was just right?

Odom was just riding the “always good” waves at programs where everyone wins but Byington was so good at Charleston Southern that he convinced JMU to build him a new arena before he got there?

Byington had a sustained build, but Odom gets no credit for what he did at UMBC?

It just strikes me they’re both similar (and good!) candidates. I guess Byington’s one-year head start in P5 is nice, but it also makes it much less likely he’d leave.

I just HOPE we hire a HC that emphasizes offense. I swear if we go the Wisky/(slow) Ivy League slow pace regime… I will turn back into the old Slick (joking kinda)

[dave92]

@chavlicek15

don’t watch UVA basketball games

[haney]

@SlickAce

Wisky/(slow)

I will say, Wisky has great offense this year and has gone from 300s in tempo to 150s!

Gard also played a little faster when he had Johnny Davis.

Which is all I want from our staff: play to your personnel. Unfortunately, however, this year that means playing in the Patriot League, I think.

[zh00s]

As a long time JMU watcher, Byington was really impressive. He and his staff had a great eye for under the radar talent. JMU as a march madness 12 seed was kind of unthinkable until he was there. The athletic department never prioritized basketball. All the chips were in football. It’s like Earl Grant getting BC to an 8 seed. Byington had mostly gradual improvement while there. Also seems to really be a nice guy and players loved him.

Odom’s time at UMBC was a bit up and down in contrast. Just harder to tell what things would look like long term.

I’m not anti Odom. He’s a good coach. And he wouldn’t be a disaster hire. But I think Byington has at least the same floor and a higher potential ceiling.

[haney]

@zh00s

The athletic department never prioritized basketball.

Then why did they open a nice new building the year he got there?

Which, to be clear, is great! I think you need a good platform to be successful.

(And if there’s an honest answer, I’d love to hear it. I’m a snarky bastard but I also enjoy new info)

[haney]

I think it’s fair to criticize Odom on the vibes front: or, what I’ll call: “shit we don’t know”.

Why did he stick around UMBC, in one of the lowest major conferences, for 5 years? Did he interview poorly? Did he have meh recs in coaching circles? If so, that’s a mark against him.

But I think he stacks up pretty well against NE conference coaches except for John Becker. And maybe we should look at John Becker!

Byington has been in a mid-major conference his entire career until now, never a low major. Again though - maybe that’s because he’s always been more well regarded…

[zh00s]

Not really a choice and had been in the works for a while (with leftover money from the new football stadium). Old place was falling apart.

[UVApride7]

Yeah it was less a move saying “We’re investing in the basketball program” and more that the old place was basically a field house and they figured fuck it we might as well do this while we have the funds.

JMU has always been football first, in fact for a long time I’d say their women’s basketball program drew more eyes from their athletic department than their men’s basketball program did.