Tony Bennett is a very, very good basketball coach
- Thread starter Orangeyes
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Wahoowah
Walk On
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Thanks. He is a good one. The exciting part for us is that 8 of our top ten players are coming back next year and 7 of those are Soph/Frosh. This kind of thing is old hat for you all but it's pretty exciting for us. Looking forward to a very good rivalry with the Cuse for many years to come.
Orangeyes
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Good luck you're the only ACC team left. I always liked his dad's coaching too when he was at Wisconsin GB
Coach Orange
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Coach Bennett comes from a good coaching line--it's in his blood.
Watching them play defense is a treat--they aren't a "grab and chuck" defense like many of the so-called "great defensive teams" in college hoops today. They play the pack-line defense well, pressuring the ball while the other defenders help and recover effectively. They also rebound to finish possessions.
Likewise, their blocker/mover offense is so fundamentally sound, creating a variety of screening and cutting options. You can see that Bennett and his staff stress the fundamentals--nothing they do is difficult, but it is highly effective in how they play together as an unselfish team. I love how their movers make sure to get the ball to the blockers as often as they can--this motivates the blockers to set more and better screens. Additionally, their freshman point guard will be a handful to play against as long as he is there.
The question is "Will they be able to continue recruiting players that can keep them at this high level?" I have a feeling they will because they aren't likely to recruit the same players Duke, UNC, and SU will. Given their style of play, they will likely look for those players that stay in the program and develop over time, making for teams dominated by upperclassmen.
Watching them play defense is a treat--they aren't a "grab and chuck" defense like many of the so-called "great defensive teams" in college hoops today. They play the pack-line defense well, pressuring the ball while the other defenders help and recover effectively. They also rebound to finish possessions.
Likewise, their blocker/mover offense is so fundamentally sound, creating a variety of screening and cutting options. You can see that Bennett and his staff stress the fundamentals--nothing they do is difficult, but it is highly effective in how they play together as an unselfish team. I love how their movers make sure to get the ball to the blockers as often as they can--this motivates the blockers to set more and better screens. Additionally, their freshman point guard will be a handful to play against as long as he is there.
The question is "Will they be able to continue recruiting players that can keep them at this high level?" I have a feeling they will because they aren't likely to recruit the same players Duke, UNC, and SU will. Given their style of play, they will likely look for those players that stay in the program and develop over time, making for teams dominated by upperclassmen.
jr4750
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Depends on the run you make... maybe one of those underclassmen leave early? Also, those two seniors are big big components of the team. Look as a Cuse fan, I gotta find ways we can beat you next year in my head. The ACC is going to be brutal next year.
Duke
Cuse
Louisville
UVA
UNC
Pitt
NC State
and those are just the tourney teams... Still have FSU, Miami, etc.
This ^^^^. While you certainly need talent to compete with the top of the ACC (and I'd add Louisville to your list), we don't recruit with the same strategy as the elite programs in the ACC or the nation. I gave some Heel friends a hard time this year when they told me "just wait until we get the 3 top 25 players next year to add to what we already have...then you'll REALLY see Roy's system at work." My argument was, if the system is only successful when it's loaded with 5 star talent, is it really a system?
We've had 8 guys this year average at least 10 minutes per game. Using Rivals as the ranking reference, here's where those players stacked up before arriving at UVa...
1. Brogdon - #104/4 star (#107 was a 3 star, so low 4)
2. Perrantes - Unranked/3 star
3. Harris - #119/3 star
4. Mitchell - Unranked/3 star
5. Anderson - 4 star/#35
6. Gill - #144/3 star
7. Tobey - #76/4 star
8. Atkins - Unranked/3 star
Duke had 4 guys this year ranked higher than anyone on our roster, and 9 guys ranked higher than our #2 (Tobey). Carolina was pretty close with like 8 guys higher than our #2.
Tony gets guys who buy into defense, the team concept, and who are more worried about winning than padding their NBA resume. While losing Harris & Mitchell will certainly be felt, we've got Anderson & Gill ready to step in and play starter minutes next year, with some solid (not superstar, but solid) freshmen ready to play reserve minutes. 5 of the 8 above (Atkins being the only exception, he's a JR) are either FR or SO. One guy not even mentioned above, Evan Nolte, is a sophomore and given us some great minutes off the bench in the NCAA tourney so far as well.
Our recruiting star numbers aren't likely to blow you away on Signing Day...that said, I'd very surprised if there aren't 5 teams at the top of the ACC heap for the foreseeable future instead of just the 4 who have been elite for awhile.
pearl31
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not sure I'm getting this... over my head?
Orangeyes
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690West
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He left his heart in San Francisco.
pearl31
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Ahhhh, nice!He left his heart in San Francisco.
UVA fan here who registered just to give props for this. Well done!He left his heart in San Francisco.
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