Awesome coming out party

#nofear

This kid is a basketball player- pure old school. We lose this game tonight without Rueter. Think he is going to be a GREAT Hoo.

While I was waiting in the security line at LGA airport which takes a stinking hour to go through there is a vcu recruiter in front of me he checks out my hoo hat and tells me that hooland is getting one of the best players in the nation in Ty Jerome next year. We must have talked for 45mins about him, needlees to say that was awesome to hear got me pumped, also ran into about half of the Utah team walking around times sq. give them a big thumbs up for beating duke !! Go Hoos !!

#stonecoldkillers

#ruthlessassassins

I fully expect this team to drop at least 3 to 5 more games this year just because the grind can be that rough sometimes, but once we get past the fact that we will never hold most teams to less than 50 points a game because of the new rules we can get excited about why this team can make a run to at least the Elite Eight.

Depth- In years past our rotation has been very thin so we are one or two injuries away from being very vulnerable.

LP misses time
MS isn't 100 percent
Tobey is playing like Tobey
And we haven't missed a beat. Certain guys are stepping up on different nights and has allowed Tony to experiment with different lineups that gives us a chance against basically any team in the country.

Schedule- He knew exactly what he was doing when he put this together. It's funny how I get crap for the George Washington loss when most people don't realize that team could be a sleeper to the Sweet 16 depending on match up. OSU is better than their record, WVU is a Sweet 16 team, Nova is Nova, Cal has talent, yet every style of play led to the same result of us being able to weather the storm and play our game.

Defense and Scoring- As I said above the new freedom of movement rules will never allow us to play defense the way we have the last couple seasons, but that doesn't mean this team isn't playing effective UVA defense. I'm really not bothered by this because we finally have the potential to put up 70 to 80 points. That is been our Achilles' heel when playing Michigan State, but I would love to actually see that matchup this year when we have so many more different scoring options than in years past.

Small Ball- TB NBA background and studying the Spurs and Warriors same ball game plan has come in handy with with group. Allowing Wilkins to start gives us different options moving forward. With the new rule changes small ball against a lot of teams may give us the edge because of our depth.

Fact of the matter is the staff has figured out the near-perfect ingredient for us to make noise in March. Now anything can happen between now and then where the plan gets corrupted a bit, but it feels good to just have a staff that truly makes it happen and players who buy in no matter what.

Getting ready to get started with UVa's Tony Bennett here in a few. Check this thread for notes.

Is that considered inside receivers or offensive line? Or is there a plan for a grad assistant to handle those duties? Just curious.

Is there a word that you always misspell up here and have to correct? I mean every single time! I notice my buddy NJ often mistypes the into teh. Someone else spells ridiculous, rediculous. Now for myself, I swear I can not spell Louisville! I just had to concentrate right there like I was taking a final exam just to get it right! I always spell it Lousiville. Am I trying to call them lousy?

Anyway, just being silly. Getting ready to get on the road to Cville, have some school business and a game to attend to!

Any one else having problems getting onto Hoos Next?

It makes me keep logging on. GRRRRRRRR. And sometimes I cannot log on at all.

Maryland hired Pete Lembo as Assistant Head Coach and ST coach. Gives them three coaches with head coaching experience, including both an Associate HC position and an Assistant HC position. And they have an offer to Locksley to remain in an unnamed position.

I'm not sure I want to put my first time HC in that position. Sure, you want to give him people with some experience, but he better have a firm idea of his scheme and coaching philosophy and the resolve to stick firm in his decisions.

Also Oakland beating #1 Michigan St 24-12. (Oakland is our next opponent) Wake beating Xavier 26-15.
Great basketball tonight, of course the premier game is UVA vs Cal at 9pm
Buzz Peterson should becoming under pressure soon. He hasn't had any better results then James Johnson whom they quickly pulled the plug and they are paying Buzz 3 times as much!

Greetings from Charlottesville where No. 5 UVa will host Cal in about an hour and 40 minutes. I'll be back in a bit once the team takes the floor. But thought you guys would enjoy the following info.


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As always, have at it folks...

Oakland, our next opponent, leads Michigan State by thirteen at the half.

Only five players scored for UVA.. I thought that we might have a little more depth this year. I was wrong.

You gotta give alot of credit to coach Soderberg for his required "3-on-3" work this past summer with the team. You have to think that has at least been a contributing factor to our improved offense, especially in clutch moments of games. I know I was a little apprehensive when Coach McKay left, but as it turns out, it may have been serendipitous.

Just looked at the schedule again as I was perusing the latest RPI numbers (up to 16) ... a thought struck me. Previous years, UVa had a couple of "we should win these six in a row no problems" sandwiched between "these four are brutal" type stretches. This year is much more two tough, one easier or three or four "medium" difficulty games.

Case in point is the current stretch which had two really tough games vs. WVU and Nova, then the really solid games against Cal and Oakland (currently 86 and 87 in the RPI). The ACC season starts with top 50ish Notre Dame, road games against the Techs, and so on, where we seem to alternate winnable versus tougher games. There is one stretch I see starting with the Cuse game and lasting about six or seven games, but it's nowhere near the Tobacco Road + Louisville stretch from last season.

Do you folks see that as good or bad for the Hoos?

Because of the generosity of Paul Tudor Jones and some other donors, UVA has a basketball arena that has impressed virtually all who have seen it. The John Paul Jones Arena was built in 2006. Three years later UVA hired Tony Bennett to rebuild the basketball program. The combination of a beautiful arena and a wonderful coach has made basketball a source of enjoyment and pride for UVA fans everywhere.

It says on the site that will call opens 1.5 hours before game time for basketball, but during the week isn't it opened during the day? I'm hoping to pick up tickets when I arrive in town around 6:30 and run to grab dinner before the game instead of trying to run to will call right before the game and risk there being any sort of mix-up. Can anyone with will call experience provide any info?

I'm kind of assuming that it will close at 5pm and then reopen at 7:30pm

We all know that defense has been the staple of UVA basketball, and last year we became accustomed to seeing teams only scoring in the 40s. We were suffocating, but struggled offensively. This year we are scoring in bunches. You can certainly teach the movement that creates open shots, but offense is still based on "you either have it or you don't." This year we have it! Numerous shooters who can kill the opposition from anywhere - deep outside or banging low. Defense, on the other hand, is all about intensity and movement. We have been a bit sluggish in some of our movement and we can see that some of our new guys are often a step behind. Replacing Atkins and Mitchell on that end of the floor is a tall order, but my main point is that our defense will only continue to improve, and it's already top-10 in terms of efficiency. Just imagine the current team with a defense that will only get better and better as our new guys learn the system. If this happens without having a negative impact on our offense, I would really question if anyone can beat us unless we have a very off night. Sit back and enjoy! This ride is just at the start!

I had predicted that they would be around 5 or 6 after the loss of Kentucky, Duke, ISU and my buddies thought that Kentucky and Duke would drop maybe one or two spots; boy are they surprised!

how about his staff?

Predicting?

My Predictions going forward:

Philly loses today against Arizona, then against Washington next week in a close loss then lose to NY.

Washington beats them in a close one in Philly and wins a revenge game against Dallas.

Giants loses to Vikings. I'm hoping/betting on league reviewing his antics and #13 being suspended by the league for his abusive multiple attacks, especially the running up trying to lead with a helmet on a dead play on another player's head. He should have been ejected for it and if the league rules superstar status over rules then they have zero integrity. Without Beckham, NY will lose in Minn. but they beat Philly last game if he returns.

Dallas loses to Bills in Buffalo and to Washington at home. I predict Dallas will play Moore the remainder of the season to see what he has to offer and makes rookie/first year player mistakes that really wouldn't matter except better draft picks come April!

I am also predicting Dallas goes after the Memphis QB. San Antonio kid that Jerry will use to sell Jerseys especially in Texas and Romo is at the end of his career. The other QBs are more than likely on the way out. Depending on what Moore does going forward if he stays on as a third string down the road.

Washington 9-7
New York 7-9
Philly 6-10
Dallas 4-12

Just my humble opinion.