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Jerry Ratcliffe
Photo: UVA Athletics
Reluctantly, Tony Bennett of Virginia scatters around the ACC, pointing out that he’s fast becoming the “face of the conference”…
A very reserved man, Bennett doesn’t enjoy the role. he has talked about it in the past. But with Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams gone, Jim Boeheim won’t be too far from his retirement.
Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes said after last weekend’s loss to Bennett:
“I think he’s a leader,” Forbes said of Bennett. “I’ve known Tony since I was in Washington state. My assistant coach Matt Woodley was Tony’s assistant. I’ve known Tony forever. Called me once, I was in Tennessee.
“I look to him for leadership and guidance in making decisions for the league. If you win at Washington State University, I know you’re a very good basketball coach. .”
Forbes believes Bennett has the ACC’s premier program, saying, “I think he’s the flag bearer of our league right now.
What about Shedrick?
Center Kadin Shedrick’s playing time has dwindled since Virginia switched to a smaller lineup at halftime against Carolina on Jan. 10. It’s somewhat unusual, but unprecedented, to see players who start assignments or at least have a lot of court time have their roles reduced, sometimes temporarily, for a variety of reasons. not.
UVA has guards and forwards Jaden Gardner, Ben Vander Plath, or even freshman Ryan Dunn, but a lineup of 3-4 guards and fewer forwards gives them more scoring power and protects the Cavaliers. I decided it would make things more difficult. The move was wise and correct.
Even Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes backed the move after Virginia ended the team’s 15-game home-court winning streak with a 76-67 Wahoo victory last weekend.
But especially these days, there’s always the potential for players to lose confidence, get cranky, or cause problems in the locker room when such moves are made. This was clearly not the case with Shedrick, as he approached the subject head-on.
Shedrick’s minutes came to 17 minutes against UNC when he only played two minutes in the second half. Since then, he has played a total of 11 minutes in his three games. At FSU he’s 5 games, against Virginia Tech he’s 4 games, and at Wake he’s 2 games.
Bennett does not get around this problem.
“[Shedrick] He’s a very nice young man,” Bennett said. “I hate this about coaching. I said it in front of the whole team. When you start, suddenly you’re out of the starting line-up and most of your minutes are reduced. It’s hard.
“I would like to admit that in front of the team because sometimes things are not said. I said it would be difficult for us, it was for Ryan (Dunn), but don’t be discouraged, keep working and opportunities will come your way.”
There’s no place in the new lineup for bigger players, but Bennett encouraged those guys to come prepared.
“That’s the hard part of being a coach. All the players love playing and training, so we want to honor and reward them. But always be prepared,” Bennett said. He said. “So all you can do in that situation is be honest. Kadin is a strong young man, he is good, he will keep working and chances will come for him and the other players. It’s up to us to speak the truth.
Meanwhile, with Dunn on the floor in the past three games, Virginia has plus-26 in 72 minutes and plus-2 in 48 minutes.
According to Brian Geisinger, UVA was plus 27 in 44 of the 72 minutes Dunn and Vander Plath played four and five positions together. Don’t be surprised that Dunn can get more time depending on the matchup.
ACC Quote of the Week
When Virginia coach Tony Bennett won his 400th career game at Wake Forest last Saturday, there was no big celebration, but associate head coach Jason Williford said he wanted to recognize the feat. I felt that something had to be done.
So Williford grabbed Bennett, lifted him up, and started jumping, just as he had done when Bennett won his 300th game. Later in the locker room, Bennett said to Williford:
“I remember when you picked me up at the 300… am I much heavier on the 400 than I was on the 300?”
I don’t understand Williford’s answer.
ACC stats for the week
Tony Bennett joined the luxury club last weekend after completing his 400th career win. That was his third season in Washington State before he took his UVA position. Bennett is in his 14th season with Virginia. He is the sixth current ACC coach to reach at least 400 wins, joining Jim Boheim, Jim Larrañaga, Leonard Hamilton, Mike Bray (in his final year at Notre Dame) and Brad Brownell. rice field.
In fact, Boeheim has more than 1,000 wins (1,112), followed by Larranaga with 684, Hamilton with 624 and Brey with 580.
Boheim supports expansion
The NCAA board recently recommended expanding the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments from 68 to 90 teams, but notes that the current 68 teams only make up 19% of the 350 schools involved. please. Add 22 more teams and it’s 25%.
Boeheim is a big proponent of expansion, but that’s nothing new. Boeheim has pushed for business expansion in the past.
“So many team claims are so wrong it’s hard to even comment because there are stupid people making stupid comments…I’m 68 now.”
“The team[playing DI basketball]has almost doubled in size, so it makes sense to expand the tournament. People say stupid things like that dilutes the tournament,” Boheim said. I was. “But bad teams are out quickly. In fact, we get better teams in tournaments.”
His point is that some teams that get automatic bids have little or no chance of winning, leaving many better teams that should qualify. The team loses quickly.
“There are only three more places that already have tournaments, so the teams don’t have to move. They’re already there. People say mediocre, but it’s not. It’s balanced and deserves more teams participating in the tournament.
“That’s how I’ve felt about it for 25 years, and no one is listening. I think it can’t be helped.”
Free Throw…
- Congratulations to Kymora “Mo” Johnson of St. Anne’s-Belfield on being named a McDonald’s All-American. She’s signed with her UVA, and she’s slated to compete at McDonald’s All-America her game in Houston on March 28.
- The fact that Virginia’s Reese Beekman isn’t on the list of 15 finalists for the 2023 Naismith Men’s Defensive Player of the Year award is ridiculous. Who is compiling this list?
- What happened to Virginia linebacker Nick Jackson and the transfer portal? According to On3.com, Jackson is still trying to make a decision and Iowa has a 46% chance of getting him. Oklahoma followed with 40.5%.
- Professional female golfer and UVA alum Lauren Coughlin, who still lives in Charlottesville, has added a putter for the season. Coughlin recently tweeted a photo of the bottom of a putter that read #UVASTRONG in memory of her three Cavalier football players who were murdered: Ravel her Davis Jr., Deshawn Perry and Devin her Chandler. Did.
- Clemson, who leads the ACC men’s basketball standings, is the only original member of the league (formed in the early 1950s) to never win a league championship. Here are two trivia questions for ACC fans 1) What was the only time the Tigers were number one in the league’s regular season standings, and who was that coach?; 2) Name the seven original members of the ACC. The answer is at the bottom of this column.
- Virginia is 47th among the top 50 basketball programs to record droughts, and no, that’s not a good thing. These rankings compiled by analyst Evan Miyakawa should actually be in reverse order. UVA has recorded his fourth-highest drought in the country (lasting more than four minutes), with a total of 459 minutes of drought he has 11 times.
- Duke Football just hired former Texas A&M assistant Tyler Santucci as its defensive coordinator. Santucci worked under Duke head coach Mike Erko at several schools.
- Clemson coach Dabo Swinney doesn’t use the transfer portal much, but he didn’t really need to. But if he were in a different situation, he would say: “If I had come to Clemson now, half the roster would have come from the transfer portal,” Swinney said. , it’s a different world than when I was head coach.It’s very different in college football.If I was named head coach at Clemson, probably half the people would leave? fans would have gone in and out of the portal, and that’s just the reality.”
- New rankings of US News and World Report’s academically top universities have been released. ACC school performance is as follows: 18 Notre Dame. 25 Virginia; 29 UNC; 29 Wake Forest; 36 Boston College. 44 Georgia Tech; 55 Florida. 55 Miami; 62 Syracuse; 62 Pitt; 62 Virginia Tech (three-way tie). 72 NC; 77 Clemson; 182 Louisville.
- Special “Hall Call” Interview Series: As a member of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame Class of ’23, I am honored to participate in the “Hall Call” interview series on Facebook Live (facebook.com/VaSportsHoF). ) on Tuesday, January 31st at 4:00pm, listen (I might ask you a question, I don’t know yet).
- Answers to Trivia: 1) Clemson finished first in the ACC standings in 1990 under coach Cliff Ellis, now 77 and coach of Coastal Carolina. 2) Formed at one of my personal favorite golf courses, Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, NC, his seven original members of the ACC are Clemson, Maryland, NC, Duke, North Carolina, Wake He was Forrest, South Carolina. Virginia was invited but joined later.
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