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Everyone needs to come back

JA isn't ready to go pro.

We need all hands on deck next season.

Tony has to open up the offense. At least getting up points in transition. 10-12 points a game like that would do this team wonders.

Trice was better than LP today, but I think Tony needs to let LP attack one on one more out of the offense.

I feel let down, amazing two year run, but I feel let down.

Help Me Understand

Because I am a huge fan of our defense. 50 pts per game on the season and 52.2 per in ACC play including ACC tourney. But what good does that defense do if over the past 2 seasons in the NCAA tourney, our points per given up has gone up. Last year we gave up 59, 60 and 61 in tourney, but more concerning was this year. Giving up 60 and 67, for an avg of 63.5 per given up. Our offense is not used to having to score to win. I just don't see the point of being so shut down during the year when during the time of year that really counts our points per goes up considerably. And not every game in the NCAAs the past 2 years has been against offensive machines. Just worrisome. Don't get me wrong, i'm glad we have done well in the regular season, but in the grand scheme, it really doesn't mean that much. I would rather lose 8 games during regular season and make a nice run in the tourney. I am just having a really hard time that we couldn't even get to the Sweet 16 this year. I know things happen, but we played like total crap, doing ourselves no real favors.
This post was edited on 3/25 12:17 PM by dj08hoo

A fans's view: How UVa can tweak its offense next year

A member here and an occasional guest on our podcast, I asked Michael Pittman to share some of his thoughts coming out of Sunday's loss to Michigan State about how the Cavaliers might make some changes next year to help the team go further in the tournament. He makes the argument in the piece linked below that UVa would be best served to speed up the way it runs its offense and to be more aggressive in doing so. He's not advocating wholesale changes but rather a greater sense of urgency in initiating things.

Check it out and then sound off with your own points of view on what you want to see the Hoos change next season.

Fan view: Possible tweaks for next year

Baseball: Cavaliers win at Liberty 10-7

From UVa:

No. 14 Virginia Holds Off Liberty, 10-7
Haseley and Pinero each record three hits in win

The Virginia baseball team knocked off Liberty, 10-7, Wednesday afternoon in front of a Liberty Baseball Stadium record crowd of 2,841 in Lynchburg, Va. The game was the first of a five-game road swing for the 14th-ranked Cavaliers (15-8), who racked up a season-high 15 hits in snapping their three-game losing streak.

Adam Haseley (Fr., Windermere, Fla.) and Daniel Pinero (So., Toronto, Ontario) each recorded three hits, with Pinero reaching base five times. Matt Thaiss (So., Jackson, N.J.) and Kenny Towns (Sr., Burke, Va.) each picked up a pair of hits. The quartet, which made up the one through four spots in the batting order, combined to go 10-for-17 with seven runs and seven RBI. Towns drove in four.

Virginia starting pitcher Derek Casey (Fr., Mechanicsville, Va.) worked a career-long 4 2/3 innings, giving up four earned runs, four hits and two walks while striking out four. Casey earned his first college win and upped his record to 1-1. Liberty starter Michael Stafford (2-2) was tagged for eight runs (seven earned) and 11 hits in three-plus innings. He struck out two and walked two in taking the loss.

Virginia scored in the opening inning. Haseley led off with a single and moved around to third when a Pinero sac bunt was thrown away. A walk to Thaiss loaded the bases, and Towns hit a sac fly to center to score the run.

UVa scored two runs in a three-pitch outburst during the third inning. With one out Pinero and Thaiss hit back-to-back singles to left field. Towns cranked the next pitch into the left-field corner, scoring both runners to give the Cavaliers a 3-0 edge.

The Cavaliers sent 10 batters to the plate in a six-run, six-hit fourth inning. UVa methodically chipped away, going base-to-base in scoring the first four runs. After loading the bases with none out, UVa scored when Pinero singled to right to bring in Kevin Doherty (Jr., Laytonsville, Md.). Thaiss then blooped a single to right-center, scoring Christian Lowry (Fr., Chesapeake, Va.) and knocking Stafford from the game. Facing reliever Zach Clifton, Towns singled to left to score Haseley, and Pavin Smith (Fr., Jupiter, Fla.) hit a sac fly to center. With two outs, Ernie Clement (Fr., Rochester, N.Y.) singled to center to score two runs and push the lead to 9-0.

Liberty (14-10) answered with two runs in its half of the fourth. With one out, Alex Close and Dalton Britt hit back-to-back doubles. Becker Sankey then blooped a single to right-center to score Britt and cut the lead to 9-2. After Casey loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth inning on a pair of walks as well as a hit batsman, Rosenberger entered the game and gave up a two-run single to right from Close to shave the lead to five, 9-4.

The Cavaliers scored a run in the seventh when Pinero ripped a single to left to bring in Doherty, but Liberty countered with an RBI single from Ashton Perritt and a sac fly from Britt in its half of the inning to pull within 10-6. The Flames got their final run on a long, leadoff solo home run to left field from Perritt in the ninth inning.

Virginia heads to Notre Dame Friday through Sunday in the programs' first series as ACC rivals. Game 1 is slated for 6:05 p.m. Friday at Frank Eck Stadium; a live video broadcast will be available on ESPN3, while WINA 1070-AM and VirginiaSports.com will have the live audio broadcast.

One man's perspective about basketball program!

This is just me talking. I am 77, have been a student at UVA and longtime fan and sufferer but eternal optimist. I am down in the dumps about our sudden exit from the tournament for a lot of reasons. One is having to face another dismal football season next fall. This spring has been disaster in baseball(so far) plus our tennis teams while still good aren't as good. Our lacrosse teams are better but not like a few years ago.A resurgence in some of these sports in the coming weeks will help restore hope and spirits.

As far as the basketball team is concerned we lost to a better team on Sunday. I believe CTB and the players will learn from it and be better for it. We have a lot to be proud of, and the best is yet to come. We have a winning program not just a winning team. CTB has built the program for the future as well as the present. We are blessed to have him witness his COY award.

It is true our offense was off for the last part of the season. We need better three point shooting. We need JA to come back. His injury hurt our offense in some many ways. He was far from his normal self in the tournament. If everyone on the team works as hard as he did last summer to improve, great things are ahead for us.

Lastly, Michigan State put everything in our game last year and had nothing left in the tank. It will be interesting to see if they have anything left this year. If not, it shows that he put all his marbles in the Virginia basket last year and this year. Regardless, M State played a great game to beat us.

I do have a basketball hangover, but I have never been prouder of our team, our coach and our fans. Hold your head high
1

Baseball: UVa blanked by Georgetown 1-0

From UVa:

Virginia Blanked by Georgetown, 1-0
Cavaliers travel to Liberty Wednesday for 3 p.m. game

The No. 14 Virginia baseball team was shut out by Georgetown, 1-0, Wednesday at Davenport Field. The Cavaliers (14-8) were limited to a pair of hits in dropping their third straight game and suffering their first home shutout loss since Feb. 28, 2012, against Liberty. UVa was limited to its fewest hits ever in a home game at Davenport Field, which opened in 2002.

Virginia starter Alec Bettinger (So., Woodbridge, Va.) pitched five innings, allowing a run, four hits and two walks while striking out six. He took the loss and fell to 2-1 on the year. Kevin Doherty (Jr., Laytonsville, Md.) worked four innings of scoreless relief, retiring 12 of the 13 batters he faced.

Georgetown starter Simon Mathews (2-2) pitched five perfect innings to earn the win. Will Brown fired three innings of two-hit relief before David Ellingson pitched a perfect ninth inning to pick up his third save.

Georgetown (9-10) scored its lone run in the fourth inning when A.C. Carter hit a one-out home run into the left-field bleachers off of Bettinger. It was Carter's second home run of the season.

The Hoyas had a perfect game working until Doherty lined a ball through the legs of Brown with one out in the sixth inning. Robbie Coman (Jr., Lake Worth, Fla.) singled with one out in the eighth, and pinch runner Thomas Woodruff (Sr., Clifton, Va.) then stole second base with two outs, marking the lone time the Cavaliers advanced a runner past first base.

Virginia begins a five-game road swing on Wednesday at Liberty. Game time is 3 p.m., and a live broadcast will be available on ESPN3.

Wishful Thinking

I know I am whistling in the dark here, but I wish this board would just chill with all the expectations: "national champion", "final four" "deep run". I know it won't happen but it sure would be nice to just let it happen. I don't know if the players read these, but if they do, it probably just adds pressure to their thinking. My reading of TB is he is satisfied if they "do the best they can".

Perhaps I am overly sensitive, but

I thought that the sports page headline in the RTD was overly negative. The headline was "Fading down the Stretch." The secondary headline was a quote from Atkins, "Definitely, towards the end, we pulled away from our principles, the way we were playing early on. We weren't as tough... It caught up to us." I think that most UVA fans would agree that after our fantastic start, we did not finish as well as we hoped. We had a very tough string of games at the end of the year, and there is no way of knowing how much the loss of Anderson had on the team, both in terms of his loss of scoring and defense and also the necessary increase In playing time for our other starters.. It is certainly possible that this had as much negative impact on our poor shooting in the MSU game as their defense.

Buried deep in the article was an oh, by the way Bennett was the national COY. I guess that this is as much as we can expect when the RTD has a Hokie beat writer summarizing the UVA season.

Atkins issues statement regarding comments this weekend

From UVa:

The below statement is from Virginia men's basketball senior forward Darion Atkins:

"I would like to apologize for my inappropriate comments to the media in Charlotte. I let my emotions get the best of me during the NCAA Tournament and I did not intend to offend anyone. In hindsight I wish I had used more appropriate words to express myself. I've met with my teammates and coaches to express my remorse for this unfortunate situation. I want everyone to know that I care so much about this program, and I hope this does not become a distraction from all that we were able to accomplish this year."

My Daughter's Birthday

Today is my oldest daughter's birthday. She was born on March 23rd, 1983. That weekend, the night before we brought her home from the hospital, I watched NC State upset UVa and Ralph in the West Region Final. Ralph's senior year and the infamous Jimmy V National Championship. To this day I have never fully recovered from that blow! And now, I feel like it has happened all over again. I am truly devastated and thoroughly disappointed in this team. Like Ralph's last team, I felt this team could go so much further. What is it with Virginia Sports teams? We seldom overachieve, but seem to underachieve with regularity. I am a grown man and still get upset with Virginia sports. I have been working all day, and all I can think about is yesterday's game. I am a Wahoo for life, as they say on the Football scoreboard during the game, and today I truly am bleeding orange and blue. Sorry for the rant, I needed to let off some steam!! Happy Birthday, E, dad loves you!!

Why yesterday hurt

Last year when we lost I was so proud of our season. Even my Hokie friends rooted for us. This year they wanted us to lose and so did the media. I feel very letdown for some reason even though 30-4 is nothing to hang your head about, but will Tony look in the mirror and adjust his offensive coaching style? I already know the 16 class has changed the way he recruits, but the slow starts on offense killed us the last few weeks of the season.

Looking at next year's roster we could lose Atkins, JA, and maybe Hall or BJ if they choose not to stick around.

We add Thompson, Salt and baby Tyler, but how much do they help? The keys next season will be-

If JA returns?
Can Tobey man up?
Wilkins and MS taking the next step
LP becoming a scorer
Nolte being a 3 point threat
Transition offense

This is a top 5 team if all return
Top 15-20 with JA, but maybe being a 3 or 4 seed takes pressure off.

Boy if Seth Allen would have come to Uva. I think TB will adjust, but do we have a right to be hard on a program 61-11 in the last two years because of the tourney? Go Hoos.
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