2024 offseason

slugboy

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RamblinRed said:
Bennett has resigned at UVA.
Basically felt like he wasn't the best coach for UVA in the new environment.

www.cbssports.com

Virginia coach Tony Bennett chokes back tears explaining decision to retire: 'It was time'

'I realized I'm no longer the best coach to lead this program in this current environment,' Bennett said at a press conference
www.cbssports.com www.cbssports.com

"I don't think I'm equipped in this new way to coach, and it's a disservice if you keep doing that," Bennett said. "I'm very sure that this is the right step. I wish I could've gone longer. I really do. But it was time."
"If you're going to do it, you've got to be all in. You've got to have everything. If you do it half-hearted, it's not fair to the university, and to those young men. So in looking at it, that's what made me step down."

"The game, and college athletics, is not in a healthy spot," he said. "It's not. And there needs to be change.

"I was equipped to do the job the old way. That's who I am," he continued. "But there needs to be change. It's going to be closer to a professional model. There's got to be collective bargaining. There's got to be restrictions on a salary pool a team can spend. There has to be transfer regulation restrictions. There has to be some restrictions on the agent involvement on some of the young guys."
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One of his assistants—Ron Sanchez—came back from coaching Charlotte in 2023, and will be the interim.

The situation coincidentally works out for Sanchez to get a trial run for the job
 
orientalnc

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slugboy said:
One of his assistants—Ron Sanchez—came back from coaching Charlotte in 2023, and will be the interim.

The situation coincidentally works out for Sanchez to get a trial run for the job
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When I heard he would be the interim coach I thought Bennett may have shared some of his thoughts about retirement. Sanchez did not have a great run in Charlotte, but I don't think he was under any pressure there. He and Bennett worked together for a long time at Washington State and UVA. Bennett's timing made naming anyone else almost impossible.
 
AUFC

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Jacket4Life said:
They have any high 2025 recruits? Going to be a bunch of kids jumping ship.
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Top rated Cville-based 5'9 PG who probably loves Kihei Clark. He probably grew up a big UVA fan but I would guess they are a less appealing destination with CTB out. I read that their current team has a 30 day transfer window also - not sure how that works, I am guessing they can't enroll until the fall semester is over at their next school. I would take TJ Power if he needs a new stop lol
 

g0lftime

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orientalnc said:
When I heard he would be the interim coach I thought Bennett may have shared some of his thoughts about retirement. Sanchez did not have a great run in Charlotte, but I don't think he was under any pressure there. He and Bennett worked together for a long time at Washington State and UVA. Bennett's timing made naming anyone else almost impossible.
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He wanted his staff to remain and he has a history with Sanchez. He wanted to reward loyalty and hard work of his staff. UVA administration may have an ethical issue with NIL which will hamstring the next coach. Their alums should be able to raise a lot of NIL money if they want it. Bennett had just signed a new contract. I suspect he went out on good financial terms for both parties. I hope he does decide to coach again somewhere like an Ivy League or lower division school. He is a good man and excellent coach.
 

TechPhi97

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orientalnc said:
That's incorrect. He is likely a good rebounder, but he didn't lead his team. It looks like he was asked to play inside his junior year, so his numbers were better then than at any other season. His 3-pt shooting that year was way down compared to the year before and after. He's not a star, but he should be good player for us. I'm thinking he will log 20+ mpg.
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Feels like a glue guy, like Clarence Moore from the championship team but with more potential production.
 
AUFC

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Javian McCollum has a cast on in his interview w/ Andy Demetra 😐 anybody know anything about this?




An aside, this "get to know" interview series with the transfers and freshmen is fun. The Shag Man's interview was hilarious

 
OG-T

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Just saw cast too 🤔; no question from Demetra about it. Looks the soft cast variety, so hopefully only twist or hairline/quick-heal fracture. Still, don't like to see that; without mention from CDS or others, maybe all good/precautionary. Like both these players; well spoken, seem very mature. Let's tip off!!!!!
 
AUFC

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OG-T said:
Just saw cast too 🤔; no question from Demetra about it. Looks the soft cast variety, so hopefully only twist or hairline/quick-heal fracture. Still, don't like to see that; without mention from CDS or others, maybe all good/precautionary. Like both these players; well spoken, seem very mature. Let's tip off!!!!!
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Love this year's profile picture update. Looking forward to the round you're buying the forum on the evening of 4/7/2025 in San Antonio.
 
78pike

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AUFC said:
Most media have us roughly 11th/12th. Haven't really seen anyone putting us as a potential bubble or Tournament team aside from Rothstein.
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How often are the media right with their preseason picks. Outside of the blue blood programs and the other top 4 or 5 teams I doubt these media types have any idea of the rosters put together by the other teams other than who they have coming back. For example, how in the world is Louisville picked 9th when they were at the bottom of the league the past two years, fired their coach and had their entire roster hit the portal and leave. The new coach from College of Charleston had to go out and get 12 guys to build his team. And looking at their roster very few of them are recognizable players yet the are picked 9th. I have to assume the media just looks at them and says they are Louisville so they can't be that bad. Ask FSU football how easy it is to play with a bunch of transfers.
 
AUFC

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78pike said:
How often are the media right with their preseason picks. Outside of the blue blood programs and the other top 4 or 5 teams I doubt these media types have any idea of the rosters put together by the other teams other than who they have coming back. For example, how in the world is Louisville picked 9th when they were at the bottom of the league the past two years, fired their coach and had their entire roster hit the portal and leave. The new coach from College of Charleston had to go out and get 12 guys to build his team. And looking at their roster very few of them are recognizable players yet the are picked 9th. I have to assume the media just looks at them and says they are Louisville so they can't be that bad. Ask FSU football how easy it is to play with a bunch of transfers.
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I don't have cold, hard stats on how often the media is right with preseason picks but for what it's worth, On3 has them as the #1 transfer class this year. They got Chucky Hepburn from Wisconsin who is a proven multi-year starter in the B1G and Terrance Edwards from JMU who put up good games against power conference competition last year, so they are probably in the top half of ACC backcourts. Not sure football is a great comparison because basketball is a more skill-based sport - chemistry is obviously still important, but there are less moving parts and you can succeed with pure athletes carrying the team. Programs have won 2 total basketball games one season, changed coaches, and ended up in the Sweet 16 365 days later. One team recently finished 2nd to last in their conference, changed coaches and flipped their entire roster, and was AP poll #5 by the following January. All this to say, I'm not sure how accurate Louisville at 9th is but them making the Tournament their first season after purging Payne wouldn't be groundbreaking at all.
 
78pike

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I don't have cold, hard stats on how often the media is right with preseason picks but for what it's worth, On3 has them as the #1 transfer class this year. They got Chucky Hepburn from Wisconsin who is a proven multi-year starter in the B1G and Terrance Edwards from JMU who put up good games against power conference competition last year, so they are probably in the top half of ACC backcourts. Not sure football is a great comparison because basketball is a more skill-based sport - chemistry is obviously still important, but there are less moving parts and you can succeed with pure athletes carrying the team. Programs have won 2 total basketball games one season, changed coaches, and ended up in the Sweet 16 365 days later. One team recently finished 2nd to last in their conference, changed coaches and flipped their entire roster, and was AP poll #5 by the following January. All this to say, I'm not sure how accurate Louisville at 9th is but them making the Tournament their first season after purging Payne wouldn't be groundbreaking at all.
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Not sure what criteria On3 uses to grade transfer classes but my suspicion is it must have something to do with sheer numbers because Louisville's entire team except for one player is made up of transfers. And since their entire team is transfers and they are supposedly the #1 ranked transfers in the country then why are they only ranked 9th in the ACC? I guess I'm just making fun of the whole preseason prognostication process because nobody really knows how teams will look before they have even played a game together. And I doubt that most of the media who votes in these polls even know anything about the players on most of the teams including ours. I certainly hope we end up better than the 12th best team in the conference.
 
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