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OT - A look back at the women's USA basketball team

When the USA team was announced, I expressed my opinion that a mistake had been made by not selecting Caitlin Clark for the team. I admitted that there were always going to be controversies about such selections whether it is choosing players for the MLB All-Star game, the 68 teams to participate in in the NCAA basketball tournament, or the basketball players selected for the Olympic teams. I believed at the time that Caitlin Clark should have been selected for the team. The reasons given by the talking media and WNBA heads for omitting her were frequently strained while the reasons on this board were considerably more lucid.
I conceded that statistically her stats were not approaching what she had posted at Iowa, and the Indiana Fever was not playing well. As it turned out, not playing in the Olympics might have been the best thing that could have happened for her and for her team. The break in the schedule gave her an opportunity to have a break from basketball for the first time in over a year and a chance for the team to get use to each other. Since that break, the Fever has been one of the better teams in the WNBA.
In addition, her stats have continued to improve to the extent that she should be Rookie of the Year. She is already putting her name in the record book. She has established the record for the most assists in a game with 19, and she is second with the most assists in one quarter with 7. She is third on the career list for total triple doubles with 2. She is filling up the rookie record book, With several games to be played, she has the second most points ever with 692, first on most made 3 pointers in a season with 111, first with total assists with 306, first with pointers and assists double doubles with 12, and first with average assists per game at 8.5.
Lastly, she has attracted record numbers of fans to come to her games, to watch her televised games, and to purchase #22 jerseys, basketballs, and shoes.
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UVa announces four-year hoops series with Maryland

Full release:

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia and Maryland will renew their historic men’s college basketball rivalry in 2025-26 as part of a four-year agreement, the schools announced Wednesday (Sept. 11).

The Cavaliers will host the Terrapins in 2025-26 and 2027-28 in Charlottesville, and travel to College Park in 2026-27 and 2028-29.

“We are excited to announce a four-year series with Maryland,” Virginia Dean and Markel Families Men’s Head Basketball Coach Tony Bennett said. “I greatly respect Coach (Kevin) Willard and what he’s doing there. We’ve played some exciting games against Maryland in the past, and we’re looking forward to a highly competitive series.”

“Maryland and Virginia have a long basketball history and we’re excited to bring this series back to life,” Willard said. “Looking ahead, I think it means a lot to our fanbase to have our historic rivalries rekindled between Georgetown and now Virginia which has been outstanding under Coach Bennett.”

In 2025-26, Virginia and Maryland will meet for the first time since Nov. 28, 2018, when the Cavaliers posted a 76-71 road win in an ACC/Big Ten Challenge contest. Maryland owns a 107-76 advantage in the series that dates to 1913, but the Cavaliers have won eight of the last nine meetings. Bennett is 8-4 against the Terrapins at UVA. Maryland joined the Big Ten Conference in July of 2014 after competing in the ACC for 62 years.

Season tickets for the 2024-25 are sold out. Fans interested in becoming season-ticket holders can join the waitlist here. Single-game ticket information for 2024-25 will be announced in late September on uvatix.com.

Blue-White Scrimmage Date

Does anyone know the Blue-White scrimmage date for mens and womens basketball? Based on prior years I would guess it would be 10/12, but we have a home football game that day so thinking it may be 10/19 instead. However, cannot find it anywhere online. Want to book a hotel so we can make a weekend of it and spend some time on Grounds and around Charlottesville.

So I didn't buy into the NFL ticket this year for the first time in all the years. Glad I didn't; Washington's Defense flat stinks, AGAIN this season

So this season, I didn't buy into the NFL ticket cause I was thinking of a month Trip in the end of September and into October Back to Sydney Australia to just get away for a Month.

I'm glad I didn't cause I was checking out the game cast stuff on ESPN on line and Washington's Defense flat STINKS. They couldn't cover a pot of greens. The DBs are being thrown on at will and you got Tampa RBs and QB running straight up the middle with no impediments for big gains.
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Men's Golf with a big Inverness Intercollegiate tournament win

Following last year's finish, making the match play round at NCAA's - and losing to the eventual national champion for the 2nd year in a row - Men's golf is ranked 5th to start the season.

They lived up in a big way, winning the Inverness Intercollegiate over several other top-5 and top-25 teams (NBC Golf poll), including:

#1 Auburn (who beat the Hoos in NCAA's)
#3 Oklahoma
#4 Texas Tech
#6 Vanderbilt

The coaches' poll is a little different, but you get the drift.

Tony Elliott Presser: Maryland Week

Hi all! Trying out the transcript and video method again this week for the presser, and will have those posted as soon as UVa releases them to us. As far as newsy items, Elliott said that McKale Boley is still day-to-day, Kam Robinson has been limited this week and status is TBD for Saturday night's game, and Corey Thomas is full go after exiting Saturday's game. Will have the full update this afternoon. Also, if anyone has any feedback or thoughts on whether you prefer getting the video and full transcript slightly delayed or prefer the live updates, feel free to post your thoughts here.
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Column: Win at Wake bodes well for the Hoos

Column: We’ve seen how UVa has dealt with setbacks, @justin ferber writes. On the heels of a come-from-behind win at Wake, we’ll now get to see how the Wahoos handle success.

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Take Two: Looking back at UVa's 31-30 win at Wake Forest

Take Two: @justin ferber breaks down UVa’s 31-30 come-from-behind win at Wake Forest and grades the various units as the Wahoos start ACC play with a W and move to 2-0 on the year.

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I have frequently been wrong, but tonight I outdid myself

My super-secret prediction for the score of the Wake Forest game was that the Deacons would win by 14. When we lost several players to injury, I thought that I might have been a tad conservative. We put little defensive pressure on Richmond and had no sacks, and we had lost some key defensive players. In addition, our offensive running game was not inspiring confidence, and I took exception to some of the play calling decisions.
In spite of these danger signals, I watched with a little fear and trepidation as the team began to make some unexpected good plays on both offense and defense. I was still not the least bit confident after we took our first lead of the game with little time left on the clock. I attribute some of the pessimism to the fact that I was a student during our 28 game losing streak in 1958 through 1960.
I have seen many games when I was particularly proud of the effort made by our players. This game will be high on that list.

Big Griff strikes again

Not only another nail on the head score prediction - 33-27 vs the actual 31-30, but foreseeing the late game turnover:

“We expect UVa to outlast Wake in a great ACC football game on Saturday night. Colandrea and crew have a little too much offense for Wake Forest as Virginia moves to 2-0 for the first time since the 2021 season. These are two evenly matched programs, however the diversity of UVa’s offense keeps them ahead of Wake Forest the entire game and the defense seals the win with a late turnover.”

The Pick:​

UVa 33​

Wake Forest 27​

Visitors perspective

Two of my daughter's friends from the high school team she cheers for in Georgia were on unofficial visits to the Grounds last weekend. I talked to one of their parents before their game last night and asked about the visit. The parent said both players thought the Grounds were beautiful, but they raved about the new football facility. Said they were better than any they had seen and both have been on visits to several ACC and SEC schools. Hopefully all recruits react that way and it will lead to greater results on the recruiting trail. Go Hoos!

Preview: Hoos set to open ACC play tomorrow night at Wake

Preview: @BigGriff has our breakdown of tomorrow night’s matchup in Winston-Salem as UVa opens ACC play against the Demon Deacons.

Emma Navarro Advances to US Open Semifinals

Emma Navarro, who won the NCAA title in 2021, advanced to the quarterfinals of the US Open in NYC today by beating #3 seed (and 2023 US Open Champion) Coco Gauff. Emma's seeded #13 and the first NCAA singles champion to reach the quarterfinals in the US Open. She's had the best year of her young professional career - especially in the Grand Slams. She reached the third round of the Australian Open, fourth round of the French Open, quarterfinals of Wimbledon, and is hopefully on her way to the semifinals (or finals!) of the US Open. She won $1.7M of her $2.5M career earnings this season. She'll get another $1M if she makes it to the semifinals and she'll play for that on Tuesday against #26 seed Paula Badosa.

As an aside, our cheers for Danielle Collins have (largely) come to end. She had a great spring but struggled with some health issues again over the summer and departed the Olympics early and was knocked out of the US Open in the first round. She announced her retirement at the beginning of the season so that was her last Grand Slam. She's never been ranked high enough to play in the WTA Women's Championship at the end of the season so she's going to play in a couple more tournaments with the hopes of landing a spot there at the end of this season. The Athletic/NYT did a profile of her a few days ago after she lost. Here's an excerpt from the article.

She was forced to spend years too long convincing doctors of her endometriosis, as well as dealing with rheumatoid arthritis. She likes being at home. She wants a family. She wants an identity outside of tennis.

But not long after that announcement, she took off on a serious hot streak that culminated with winning titles in Miami and Charleston. Suddenly, she was a threat to win any tournament she entered, just as she had been earlier in her career, when she made the finals of the Australian Open. Didn’t matter, Collins said. She was done.

Collins can be the livest of wires. Not so Tuesday, when she spoke with a sadness and disappointment over not being able to compete in top shape. She’s had a ‘Ten Plagues’ kind of month, filled with illness and injury. She will play as much as her body will allow her to the rest of the season. And then she will move on. “I like the idea of not traveling 40 weeks out of the year,” she said. “That kind of sounds good at this point in my career with all the travel that I’ve done, even though I have enjoyed it a lot.”

Tennis got Collins what she really wanted, which was a college degree from the University of Virginia. Her mother is a nursery school teacher and her father had a small landscaping business. She is a product of public tennis courts and schools, who eventually sacrificed so much of the quiet time at home she relishes for the sport. It paid off, with nearly $10 million in prize money and much more in endorsement deals. Plus, the young woman who didn’t have a passport when she graduated from college ended up seeing the world
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