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Making the Big Dance

Notable highlights from the JOC article:
  • Starters: Hunt, Tyne, Tanner, Nescovic, Walz
  • 90 - 90 final score after 5 quarters (last quarter mostly deep reserve players)
  • We shot 17-33 on 3's (Glou was 4-5 from 3 and finished with 12 points)
  • Hunt was UR's leading scorer with 19
  • Another scrimmage against ODU planned before the season starts
It says 5 quarters but total minutes played was 200?

White (injury), Soulis, and freshman did not play?

Secret Scrimmage vs ECU 90-90

agreed. my biggest concern going from last year's team to this one is the defense. this score doesn't make me feel better.

AP, Tanner, Hunt and Dusan combining to go 13-17 from 3 is ridiculous ... but shooting like that should be enough to win. how often can we repeat that?

One scrimmage sample size here, so I’m not taking anything as set in stone just yet. I also know exactly nothing about ECU or what their strengths are, or if we run any kind of scout ahead of a scrimmage? Also how did ECU score so much, where did they attack UR’s defense?

If we don’t make any adjustments and keep allowing teams to run up scores as we progress, then that is an issue. We may well look to just outscore teams this year via an emphasis on offensive firepower, but to do so you need at least some stops.

Lot of guys getting first real run with UR - including Tanner and Graham really - so I’m far more generous now than if these guys were all here for 2+ years already.
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2024 FCS Preseason Top 25 Hero:Top 25(the analyst)

Absurd...Spiders unchanged in STATS at #18. Up two spots to #13 in coaches.

Making the Big Dance

Was my fear with all of our transfers. We knew they could score but you never really know how good a guy is on the defensive end of things because that is not talked about. If we made 17 3's and ended up tied with ECU that is not a positive sign. Again, I'm sure Mooney was experimenting with line-ups, playing a larger rotation than he normally would have and all of that, but still a cause for concern.
I agree with you here. ECU was picked 9th in AAC this year. I get that scrimmages should be taken with a big grain of salt, but if we’re shooting over 50% 3’s (especially at this volume) and not beating a team like ECU by 15+ then that’s a concerning sign regarding our defense. We can’t rely on the fact that we are going to make 50% 3’s every game either. Defense is what made us the most successful last year followed by King’s performance. In my opinion, a strong defense needs to be the foundation and a constant in our games. We can’t always rely on out scoring our opponents. There’s a reason why the expression is “defense wins championships”.

Making the Big Dance

called this lineup in the "opening night" thread back on 9/18!
I know ... not exactly picking longshots here but still.
If you are accurate, major kudos. The only assured starters I had were Hunt and Nescovic. I thought Beagle would be starting. The starting 3 position was as wide open as we always thought it would be. I do wonder with Tyne if he keeps that starting gig. I believe B Artis was injured and so he probably wasn't getting the reps needed to start. Not advocating for one over the other, I'm not at practice every day, just an observation based on B. Artis being injured at the NIL thing we did.

I do think whomever is our starting 5 at the beginning of the year, there is a large chance this year that that won't be the starting 5 at the end of OOC. With the exception of Hunt, all of the other starting positions have major competition and someone could not excel at starting (like Noyes last year) or similarly we could have a back-up just play his way into a starting position.

Secret Scrimmage vs ECU 90-90

Good to see Roche is playing - played 18 minutes which was 6th most on team. No Soulis, so injury is apparently persisting. Hope he is 100% healthy at some point early in the season. No McGlothin or Robinson?

Too lazy to add up the minutes, but guessing the posted box score was only for the first 4 quarters? If so, did Soulis, McGlothin, or Robinson play in the 5th quarter?
Seems my Robinson starting odds plummeted big time over the weekend ..

UVA's Tony Bennett is retiring

I don't think Bennett retired to anoint Sanchez as his successor. He retired because he lost the fire to coach anymore. I agree that retiring 2 weeks before the season starts really puts the team in a bad position, but the man has all the $$$ in the world, has accomplished everything a coach could possibly want to accomplish and if he doesn't feel he is up to grind anymore than you have to be true to yourself and your family.

UVA's Tony Bennett is retiring

Bennett was a great college coach. I still say this should not afford him the right to enforce/pick the new coach for UVA. I get the coaches that were directly before him were not that good, or in fact bad (Leiato and Gillen 32 games under .500 in ACC in 11 years). But come on, Sanchez was completely mediocre at Charlotte. If you are a UVA fan, you almost have to hope he falls on his face this season to re-inforce they need to go another direction.
Agree 100%. There's a reason why no one other than Charlotte wanted Sanchez or Williford to be their coach the past several years. UVA should be a very attractive job that some of the very best coaches out there would want. Just a selfish move by Bennett.

UVA's Tony Bennett is retiring

I said this with the Davidson hire as well, but any major D-1 program that just self promotes from within and does not engage in a full national search for the head MBB coach is not doing things right. Michigan FB is another example. TB put UVA hoops as a major player back on the map, it will be coveted position and should be treated as such. You get the best possible person you can get for that type of job. They can get a head coach who has either won big at a slightly lower level or a big time assistant.

Sanchez already had a head coaching gig at Charlotte and in 5 years had a below .500 record. UVA will have much better candidates than that to choose from. If Sanchez has a great season at UVA though, that will certainly way in his favor.
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UVA's Tony Bennett is retiring

Bennett was a great college coach. I still say this should not afford him the right to enforce/pick the new coach for UVA. I get the coaches that were directly before him were not that good, or in fact bad (Leiato and Gillen 32 games under .500 in ACC in 11 years). But come on, Sanchez was completely mediocre at Charlotte. If you are a UVA fan, you almost have to hope he falls on his face this season to re-inforce they need to go another direction.
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Making the Big Dance

Was my fear with all of our transfers. We knew they could score but you never really know how good a guy is on the defensive end of things because that is not talked about. If we made 17 3's and ended up tied with ECU that is not a positive sign. Again, I'm sure Mooney was experimenting with line-ups, playing a larger rotation than he normally would have and all of that, but still a cause for concern.
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2024 Presidential Election

I wonder if Trump has ever been in a locker room with Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods. It can be the subject of his next big speech.

The guy is off his rocker. He has dementia.
Its very disturbing that a candidate for President who has roughly half of the country supporting him is so fixated on Arnold Palmer's package. But even more disturbing are his repeated comments that he will use the military against the "enemy within", and he then refers to Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi as the enemies within. So he is clearly saying he would use the military, and certainly the Justice Department, to go after his political enemies and opponents.

Trump and some of his followers are the only politicians who have tried to overthrow our government when Trump lost the 2020 election. They are the true "enemies within" and they are setting the stage to try again to overthrow the election if Trump loses. As General Milley said "Trump is a fascist to his core" and the "greatest danger to this country".

Secret Scrimmage vs ECU 90-90

That is some really good shooting. On the other side of the ball though, we also gave up 90 points to them, which means that our defense probably needs some work.
agreed. my biggest concern going from last year's team to this one is the defense. this score doesn't make me feel better.

AP, Tanner, Hunt and Dusan combining to go 13-17 from 3 is ridiculous ... but shooting like that should be enough to win. how often can we repeat that?

UVA's Tony Bennett is retiring

I wonder if there was a fractured relationship between Bennett and the AD and maybe that played a part in his timing of this decision, which made them hand over "interim" job to Sanchez.

Sanchez was with Bennett for 9 years at UVA and a few before at Washington State, and then offered the Charlotte job in 2018. I wonder if Bennett asked administration to make an offer to keep Sanchez, or something and the school didn't meet his demands and let Sanchez walk. Then after Sanchez didn't work out at Charlotte, he is right back on the staff at UVA and gets to Associate Head Coach.

So I wonder if something happened when Sanchez left and maybe even when he returned that caused Bennett to do it this way as well.
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