I have been as disappointed as anyone by the poor showing we have had this year, but thought I would look for a positive perspective to give me hope on this gray day.
From 1990 until Tony Bennett arrived in 2009, UVA was a bottom half the conference team most years. The prior three coachesâJeff Jones (now at ODU), Pete Gillen and Dave Leitaoâall âresignedâ from UVA because of poor results. When Bennett came in it took him 5 years to get above 4th in the conference, and it was only the second time since 1999-2000 that had happened. UVA had become long-term irrelevant. Sound familiar?
In Bennettâs first four seasons at UVA they were 32-34 in conference, and I am guessing that was not the turnaround the Cavaliers were looking for. At that point most of their fans probably didnât care too much, because it was what they were used to. Then the system took hold, and Bennett has gone 115-26 in the ACC, finishing out of the top 2 only once in the next 8 seasons (currently #1). That is amazing to me, because I would have said that the first two slots were locked up before a season ever began, and everybody else was playing for 3rd, but not Tony Bennett.
Will Sanchez have similar results? Who knows. He seems to have the mediocre results part down pat, so maybe if we hang on winning trophies is almost here.
Iâm having a hard time being that optimistic but I guess there is some hope left when you look at Bennettâs record. To me the most concerning thing is do the players like Sanchez and like playing his style. If they donât, it doesnât really matter if he is the best xâs and oâs coach in the country. He will never be successful if the players donât buy in. I really hope he can turn things around like Bennett did at UVA. We need and deserve something like that as a fanbase.
Iâd love to see some footage from Bennetts third year UVA squad because we look nothing like UVA. Watch two games side by side and the scheme, especially on offense, is unrecognizable.
To me itâs simply we cannot create enough situations to shoot threes, and when we do get wide open looks, WE MISS THEM. Game over, even if we hold the other team to less than 60-70 points. Excruciating to watch the process and lose too.
Hereâs there NCAA tournament game from that year (first thing I could find on YouTube). Lost to Florida (but this was uncharacteristically a blow out). 2012 NCAA Virginia vs Florida 720P x264 - YouTube
They did struggle coming home - lost 4 of their last 5 (and 7 of their last 11), including first round losses in the conference tournament and the NCAA tournament. They went to the NIT the following year.
Loyola Chicago is another team that prioritizes defense. Porter Moser took over for a fired Jim Whitesell. Moser went 7-23, 15-16, 10-22 in his first three years, finishing no better than 7th in conference. Obviously, what theyâve done over the last 4 years is fantastic (Final Four, etc., and theyâre ranked again this year). Loyola Ramblers men's basketball - Wikipedia
Wait, I thought it was impossible to turn a program around in three years. They had the most wins in 17 years and snagged a 10 seed year three?
They won 22 games that year. We are on track to win somewhere between 11 and 12. Half.
Trust the process guys! RON SANCHEZ 4LIFE! And with the way Mike Hill doles out extensions like Oprahâs favorite things, that is a literal statement.
I am shocked at how much UVA looks just like us in this game. They got off to a strong start and it looked like Florida was in for a long day, but the Gators started picking the defense apart and making up points. UVA did not have good scorers, and Florida started picking up momentum after they got the lead.
The biggest thing I noticed with UVAâs offense is that their 5 did not touch the ball at the high post as much as ours do. He would go out to the foul line and look for opportunities to set picks, but the ball handlers did not pass it to their 5 as often as we do, which made their passing around the horn much faster than what we see. When our 5s get the ball the motion stops, and they generally hand the ball to our guard as he brushes past them instead of passing it. If UVA had had better shooters this would have been a different game.
Now I need to go watch a recent UVA game to see the difference.
Serious question: From a basketball Xâs and Oâs standpoint, is there anyone on here that can highlight the changes theyâre seeing in the plays our offense runs - this year over last year? Iâm not astute enough to understand the reasoning, but it really seems like we moved the ball a hell of a lot better last year, and Iâd like to know why. We had success running plays with Bamba at the top of the key last season. Not really seeing anything like that this year (granted Iâm not watching closely anymore). I get nothing out of listening to Sanchez try to explain it away.
Hinges on the quality of the big man and thereâs been a massive drop. Our bigs donât seem to get the pass to a cutter idea - only really seen Garcia look for incisive passes.
Bumping this because Ron deserves it. 5 straight horrible Lâs heading into March, and no sign whatsoever that this team âis growing or learningâ.
Weâre right back to the caliber of play that he was expected to come in and save us from - which is honestly amazing considering Fancher didnât have back to back #1 CUSA recruiting classes to work with.
His firing is inevitable. Might as well get it over with now.