WahoozeCast - November, 11th

Hey there errybody. We're back to fill your brain with our delightful discussion of all things UVA sports. Enjoy our reflection on the start of the basketball team's season, football's upcoming game at Miami, and a few other things - like how awful NC State is.

Leave comments so we can discuss!





If you have issues with the stream cutting out or restarting, just right click the rotunda-looking thing, save the mp3 file, and listen to the download.

WahoozeCast - November, 6th

Hello again, friends of Wahooze.

We're back this week to with our EXTENSIVE 2013-2014 BASKETBALL PREVIEW. Get excited, if you're a fan of long rambling discussion because this is easily our LONGEST episode EVER. We're going to break down the men's basketball roster with player previews for all the returning and new scholarship players. Have a look here if you want to following along with stats/bio from the roster.

Things get a little weird at one point. You'll enjoy it, I promise


As always, leave comments! And pardon our amateurish sound quality. BASKETBALL STARTS TOMORROW. BASKETBALL STARTS TOMORROW. BASKETBALL STARTS TOMORROW. BASKETBALL STARTS TOMORROW. BASKETBALL STARTS TOMORROW. BASKETBALL STARTS TOMORROW. BASKETBALL STARTS TOMORROW.

WahoozeCast - October, 22nd

Good morning, Wahooze nation!

We're back this week on the cast to run some coaching candidates names/thoughts, as well as a few basketball-related celebrations. For an RSS feed for our new host, archive.org, it looks like it may be possible to create a feed searching for anything with "Wahooze" in the title. I don't know if this will work, but try: https://archive.org/search.php?query=title%3A%28wahooze%29#raw

We reference a few links that I'll post below the player. Enjoy! Leave Comments!

KENDALL'S LIST

ACC COACHES - MEDIA DAY MASCOT DRAWINGS

WahoozeCast - October, 16th

WahoozeCast is back this week with some ramblings, frustrations, hopes, and dreams following a couple of tough losses for the football team. Where does the blame fall on a disastrous first half of the season? What can be done to fix it? We even disagree on some things...it's riveting stuff, folks.

Leave comments! Discuss! Enjoy!

NIT #1 Seed, Tuesday vs. Norfolk State

Embrace it, Hoofans.  We'll put our 17-game home winning streak on the line.  That streak will either be broken, or we'll be advancing to Madison Square Garden.  GO HOOS!

Click to enlarge.

NIT

Boise State, Middle Tennessee, Saint Mary's, La Salle... SUPER FUCKING LAME.

But, we only have ourselves to blame for not receiving a bid.  We scheduled a crappy OOC slate, and then lost to the worst teams on our schedule.  We couldn't win away from home, and we faded down the stretch.  We had some great wins this season, but they weren't enough to cover up the blemishes.

The NIT Selection Show (yes, it exists) is on ESPNU at 9:00.  Again, I encourage all Virginia fans to embrace it.  It's our one and only chance to prove that we belonged in the Big Dance over the shitbag Broncos, Blue Raiders, Gaels, and Explorers.

Embrace it.

Selection Show...

...starts in about 5 minutes.  Sadly, we were a tournament team through February, but once the calendar turned to March the wheels fell off.  As of March 17th, I'd say we have approximately a 10-15% chance at an NCAA Tournament bid.

I'm ready for the NIT, but prepared to be pleasantly surprised if we're invited to the Big Dance.

Either way:

GO HOOS!

Learning to Embrace the NIT

Okay, yes, yesterday sucked.

And with Ole Miss coming back to beat Mizzou coupled with Maryland's stunning upset over Duke, we probably slid out of "last four in" territory and into the "first four out" or "next four out."  (Screw you, Lunardi.)  In any case, I'd be shocked to see Virginia in the NCAA Tournament bracket when it is unveiled tomorrow evening.

Yes, I'll be butthurt to see teams like Middle Tennessee State, La Salle, and mother-loving Boise State sneaking into the Big Dance while we are left out, but whatevs.  That's March Madness, right?  I just hope some of these shitbag mid-majors can give us good basketball games once the tourney action begins.

Meanwhile, we've had a good season.  Losses against George Mason, Delaware, the worst Old Dominion team in quarter century, Wake Forest, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Boston College, and Florida State kept it from being a great season.  But anytime you win 20 games, including victories at Wisconsin, at Maryland, and home against tourney-bound Tennessee, UNC, NC State, Florida State, Maryland, and Duke, it was a pretty good season.

I think it's important to remember what our expectations were earlier this season. This is what I predicted on December 30th: We get - and stay - on the NCAA Tournament bubble during ACC play. We end up either barely in the tournament or barely out of it. If we're in, we give our first-round opponent a scare, and if we're out, we advance deep into the NIT. Hoofans everywhere deem the season a success.  The first part of that pretty much happened, right?  Now it's time for the NIT run.

So as we slink off toward that destiny, I think it's important to note that there are really three types of NIT teams:

1) Regular season champions of mid-major conferences who lost in their conference tournaments (they get auto bids to the re-vamped NIT now, FYI), and hit the NIT with a chip on their shoulders and something to prove.  These teams are usually pretty good, if a little under-talented.  They are usually upperclassmen-laden, and play with a dangerous sort of desperation.  Think Stony Brook, Long Beach State, Niagara, and Robert Morris.

2) Power conference teams who realistically knew they wouldn't make it to the NCAAT but played hard to stay above .500 and earn a crack at the postseason.  These teams are usually flawed, even damningly flawed, but are proud to be playing in the NIT in a rebuilding season.  They are usually talented enough in enough key spots to be dangerous in a tournament setting. If one of their studs gets hot, they can beat anyone.  (Kinda like us with Joe Harris beating Duke.)  Think Arkansas, Stanford, LSU, and Florida State.

3) Teams whose bubbles popped.  These are usually the best NIT teams, but finding proper motivation can be an issue.  It's hard to get so deflated on Selection Sunday, and then try to bounce back to play an NIT game two or three days later.  But if these bubble-burst teams can survive that first game, they have a tendency to rise to the occasion.  Most of the time, a bubble-burst team wins the whole shebang in Madison Square Garden.  This year's crop of bubble-burst NIT contenders could include: Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama, Baylor, Iowa, and Arizona State.

Click on the pic to enlarge it and take a look at the 2012 NIT Bracket.

The NIT was re-vamped in 2006.  It's no longer the sprawling, all-inclusive 48-team garbage tournament it once was.  Now chiseled down to a lean, mean 32 teams, and with the auto-bids I mentioned above coupled with the dawn of parity in college basketball, there is quality in the NIT.  There is... not prestige... but a certain level of respect to be earned by performing well in this setting.

I have some questions about Tony Bennett's roster management and ability to properly motivate his team late in the season, in March.  I am not alone in leveling those questions at our coach.  Playing in the NIT will give him the perfect chance to answer those criticisms.  If we do well in the NIT, it's a springboard to next season's inevitable success.

If you're a UVA fan, I encourage you to not look down your nose at the NIT.  Remember, we failed to make the postseason - any postseason - in 7 of the last 11 seasons.  Take what you get and embrace it, I urge you.  Know that brighter days are ahead in 2013-14, but this NIT appearance can be an important part of that narrative.

I'll be watching the Selection Show tomorrow.  I'm not expecting us to get in, but I'll be watching. And if we miss out on the Big Dance, I'll be churning the internet for the midnight release of the NIT bracket.  Because I think it's an exciting tournament, and a fine place to be playing after a good season that fell short of greatness.

2013 NIT Bracket

Big Apple Buckets

NIT Bracketology: Champs and Chumps

Yep, that's right, NIT Bracketology.  It exists.

DOA

Welp, that fucking sucked.  Happy fucking birthday to me.

Tony Bennett's Offseason To-Do List:

1) Make Joe Harris shoot free throws.  No reason he should be missing so many.  90% or bust.

2) Develop at least one vocal on-court leader.

3) Fall out of love with Paul Jesperson.

4) Find a way to build an out-of-conference schedule that is tougher than the OOC schedule version of a wet queef.  (A "queef" is a vaginal fart, in case you didn't know.)

5) Petition UVA management to allow Jontel Evans into grad school so he can walk on to the football team and play the sport he should have been playing all along.  I don't know how the eligibility issues get resolved or whatever, but MAKE THIS HAPPEN.

6) Do whatever it takes to get the 2013-14 team (which will be absolutely loaded) ready to win in March.  Only March matters.

7) Do whatever it takes to get the 2013-14 team (which will be absolutely loaded) ready to win in the ACC Tournament.  I'm tired of this shit.

8) 2014 Sweet Sixteen or BUST.  (I'm not sure what "BUST" means, but I'm still saying it.)

Okay, I feel a little better.  Got some f-bombs out, potshots at Jontel and Jespy, used the word queef.  Yep, I feel better.

So now we hang on to our flickering NCAA Tournament dreams by pulling for nothing but chalk in all of the conference tournaments.  If you can bear to watch more basketball today (not sure if I can or not), we specifically need:

• UTEP over Southern Miss
• Duke over Maryland
• Kansas over Iowa State
• Vanderbilt over Kentucky
• Michigan State over Iowa
• New Mexico over San Diego State
• Mizzou over Ole Miss
• Anything else that is chalk in the conference tourneys

If I don't go seppuku on myself tonight, I'll give you a Bubble Update in the morning.  For now, I'm pacing around with the katana in my hand, trying to clear my thoughts while seriously considering hara-kiri.

And then...

...there is THIS.

God bless March Madness.  Long live insanity.

Six Days 'Til Destiny...

In our current status (see right), I am saying "we ARE the bubble."  What that means is that by my precise triangulation, we are either the last team in the Tournament or the first team out of the tournament.

Take a quick look at The Bracket Matrix.  Of the 92 on-line bracketologists they track, Virginia appears in 27 of the brackets.  That's 29%.  Which tells me, we have a shot if Selection Sunday were today.  But since there are more games to play, we have a chance to play our way to firmer footing... or off the bubble completely and into the NIT.

On Friday at approximately 2:30, we'll be playing the winner of NC State/Virginia Tech.  If it's the Wolfpack, it gives us a golden opportunity to notch another RPI top-50 win, on a neutral court, and I think a win puts us into the NCAA Tournament (regardless of what happens Saturday, unless we lose to BC or GT if either of them can slip past Miami.)

The homer in me says that this ACCT sets up extremely favorably for the Hoos, if we can carry our defense from the second half of the Maryland game to Greensboro, and can rediscover our shooting touch -- which might just be contingent on a little rest for some weary legs.  Anyway, NC State is extremely beatable, and I relish, RELISH another crack at Miami (who I will be sorry to see not receive a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament, as I was super excited to see the first-ever 16-seed upset over a 1-seed).

Anyway, we need to leave Greensboro with at least a win over State or Miami (or Duke or UNC if things go really wacky and we play VT and then BC/GT to get to the championship game).

All of that being said, here are the pros and cons of our current résumé:

PROS

• 21-10 overall record.  20 wins is no longer the gold standard, but this is still a solid record for a power conference team.
• 11-7 in the ACC.  Unless Virginia Tech did it in one of their spectacular tournament snubs, I can't really remember an ACC team that finished four games above .500 missing the NCAAT.  The committee "doesn't consider that," but still.
• Joe Harris.  He gained some national acclaim in the win over Duke, a little star power, a little marketability.  The committee says all they care about are blind résumés and fair bracketing, but I call horseshit on that.  Don't be naive.  It behooves them to create good, compelling television, and a rising star like Joe can help us make the cut.
• 4-2 against the RPI top 50.  No other bubble team can boast the wins we have.  We have the prettiest pelts.
• 8-3 against the RPI top 100.  This is a number of a 4-, 5-, or 6-seed, not a 12-seed play-in team.
• Eyeball test.  Yes, we've looked bad at times.  But the times when the eyeballs were really on us - in Madison, against NC State, etc. - we played well.  Nobody saw us choke on the ODU chicken bone, but everyone saw us beat Duke.
• Some of our bad losses - Wake, Clemson, GT, BC - are not as bad as the RPI indicates.  I think the committee knows that all four of those teams have flashed some impressive play at times, especially at home.  Wake beat Xavier, NC State, and Miami.  Clemson played Gonzaga and Arizona tough, and nearly beat Miami.  Georgia Tech took down Miami.  Boston College nearly sprung upsets over NC State, Miami, and Duke.

CONS

• Seven bad losses, including four REALLY bad losses and one PUTRID loss.  I could kill Old Dominion right now.  If we had won that game, I think we're talking about a 9- or 10-seed right now, instead of sweating the bubble.
• 6-4 in our last 10 games, which doesn't look so bad until you consider the fact that we're 4-4 in our last 8.  .500 ball down the stretch doesn't inspire the committee.
• Trouble away from home.  We're 18-1 at home, and just 3-9 away from the JPJ.  We won't play our NCAAT games in the JPJ.  (The good news is that all of our fellow bubble teams similarly suck away from home.)
• Style of play.  If I list Joe Harris and his rising star as a pro, I have to list our ugly-to-the-untrained-eye Bennettball system as a con.  Games played in the low 50s are not attractive on TV.
• Last year's nosedive against Florida.  They aren't supposed to consider previous seasons, but they do.  And we looked really bad in last year's first round game.

Add it all up, and I'm still pretty bullish on our chances.  Like I said, nobody else on the bubble can boast the wins we can.  And ultimately, I think that - plus a decent showing in Greensboro - will put us into the Dance.

Grit.

Win over NC State on Friday or not, NCAA Tournament or NIT, whatever...  I just love this effing team.  WAHOOWA.

Day of Reckoning

It is here.  Win, and our NCAA Tournament hopes stay alive.  Lose, and they die.

Bubblicious...

Along with Nathan's fantastic analysis in tracking the bubble scene (see his fine work in the comments section of the "Viewing Guide" post), there is THIS amazing piece from Streaking the Lawn.  Click and read that.  Right now.  Drop everything and do it.

Also, stumbled across THIS little beauty.  Seriously, it's a bracket nerd's paradise.  And the fun thing is that Virginia's super-wacky tournament résumé (great wins, horrendous losses, meh RPI, generally passing the eyeball test, but not always) is giving bracketologists everywhere something to talk about.

So tonight... is pretty much a must-win.  My cable is still out as of right now, so I might not even get to watch.  Bodes well for the Hoos, being the giant drippy jinx that I am.

Go Hoos.

FUNDAMENTAL!

Viewing Guide

My friend Nathan made us an awesome Bubble Viewing Guide!

Clickslap HERE to take a look-see.

Thanks Nathan!

You are now a Lobos, Bulldogs, Wildcats, Longhorns, Jayhawks, Runnin' Rebels, Bulls, Buckeyes, Cornhuskers, Cowboys, Mountaineers, Gators, Colonials, Billikens, Tarheels, Horned Frogs, Tigers, Thundering Herd, Golden Knights, Fighting Irish, Golden Eagles, Rams, Hoyas, Trojans, and Bruins fan.

GO BILLIKENS!

As you know, we're on the bubble... after two blissful days as a tournament lock after beating Duke.  Losing to BC yesterday has cast us in with the 27 teams listed below, fighting for what will probably be 10-12 tournament spots, depending upon how the various and sundry conference tournaments play out.

These teams listed below are our enemies.  Listed beside them are their opponents down the stretch.  Since we want our fellow bubble teams to lose, we need to see their opponents win.  Makes sense, right?  Thus, we are now Lobos, Bulldogs, Wildcats, Longhorns, Jayhawks, Runnin' Rebels, Bulls, Buckeyes, Cornhuskers, Cowboys, Mountaineers, Gators, Colonials, Billikens, Tarheels, Horned Frogs, Tigers, Thundering Herd, Golden Knights, Fighting Irish, Golden Eagles, Rams, Hoyas, Trojans, and Bruins fans.

Bubble Team -- Remaining Opponents

Air Force -- SDSU, New Mexico

Alabama -- Ole Miss, Georgia

Arizona State -- Arizona

Baylor -- Texas, Kansas

Boise State -- UNLV, SDSU

BYU -- n/a

California -- Stanford

Cincinnati -- USF

Illinois -- Iowa, Ohio State

Iowa -- Illinois, Nebraska

Iowa State -- Oklahoma St., West Virginia

Kentucky -- Georgia, Florida

La Salle -- George Washington, St. Louis

Maryland -- UNC, UVA

Oklahoma -- West Virginia, TCU

Ole Miss -- Alabama, LSU

San Diego State -- Air Force, Boise State

Southern Miss -- Marshall, UCF

Stanford -- Cal

St. John's -- Notre Dame, Marquette

Saint Mary's -- n/a

Temple -- Fordham, VCU

Tennessee -- Auburn, Missouri

UMass -- Butler, Rhode Island

Villanova -- Georgetown

Washington -- USC, UCLA

Xavier -- St. Louis, Butler

Meanwhile, beware the dreaded 'bid thief,' shitbag mid-major schools with good enough tourney résumés to gobble up an at-large bid even if they lose in their podunk conference tournament.

Akron

Belmont

Bucknell

Louisiana Tech

Memphis

Middle Tennessee State

Hate them, but pull for them to win their conference tournaments so we don't see the at-large allotment drop for the bubble teams.

And there you have it, your college basketball viewing guide for the next two weeks.  Pull for the Hoos to win - obviously - pull for the other bubble teams to lose, and pull for the potential bid thieves to win their conference tournaments.

Worth 1000 Words

Unfortunately, I haven't had time to talk about Quin Blanding or the SUPERHUGE upset win over Duke, but there is at least this:

And this:

Great, great win last night.  And how about Joe Harris?  Best game I've ever seen a UVA player have, it was just awesome.  Every dead ball, he was walking around breathing in big angry, heaving gulps, like he was turning into a werewolf or something.  As Doc Walker might say, maybe Joe was transforming into a psycho ninja cyborg werewolf.

As I was saying on the 247 message board, it's definitely time for us to start considering where Joe ranks among the list of UVA greats, especially over the course of the last 15-20 years.

I'm still in a swirl of euphoria from last night, but I don't think I'd trade Joe for Mike Scott, Sean Singletary, Roger Mason, Travis Watson, or Curtis Staples right now. Getting into that '95 team that went to the Elite Eight... that's where my mind is right now. How does Joe stack up against key cogs on that that team? Junior Burrough?

Bryant Stith was a special, special player. Best UVA player I've ever seen (Ralph was before my time). But Joe has a chance to at least match Stith's stature.

Joe is only a junior. He has this coming postseason and then all of next season to define his ultimate legacy. But best player since the mid-90s I think is firmly in his sights.

In any case, I definitely see a jersey retirement in Joe's future.

Anyway, that was a huge win.  We're off the bubble and safely into the Tournament, I'd say.  Still, can't afford to shit the bed in these last three games.  Need to win two of them.  At BC on Sunday could be tough, coming off of the high of beating Duke.

Watch the video.

(At the 0:39 mark, I'm pretty sure Justin Anderson is saying: "Don't you realize? The next time you see sky, it'll be over another town. The next time you take a test, it'll be in some other school. Our parents, they want the best of stuff for us. But right now, they got to do what's right for them. Because it's their time. Their time! Up there! Down here, it's our time. It's our time down here. That's all over the second we ride up Troy's bucket.")

Will UVA Get a Bye in the ACCT?

If any of the Wahooze faithful don't frequent the fantastic UVA sports blog that is Streaking The Lawn, make sure you check out this great recent post of theirs:

ACC Standings Update: Will UVA get an ACC Tournament bye?

In it, you'll find that UVA shapes up well vs UNC and NCSU in the tiebreakers used for seeding the tournament. Basically, if we beat who we should beat in the next few weeks, things look good for a top 4 finish. Tonight, of course, would go a long way to an even better result. GO HOOS

UVAMBB Power Rankings -- 2/16/13

Previous editions:

• UVAMBB Power Rankings -- 1/31/13
• UVAMBB Power Rankings -- 1/15/13
• UVAMBB Power Rankings -- 12/21/12
• UVAMBB Power Rankings -- 12/4/12

At regular intervals during basketball season, I will unveil the power rankings for all of the players on the basketball team. This is essentially a relative measure of how they've been performing in recent games, coupled with an in-order listing of each player's value to the team moving forward with the season. On with it...

(It's probably asinine to do this right before the UNC game today, but this is the first suitable chunk of time, inspiration, and energy I've been able to find this week.  The UVAMBB stars aligned!)

#1 Joe Harris (previous rank: #1)

Joey Buckets has the top spot on lock for the rest of the season, for obvious reasons.  So in this space, we can spend some time considering some interesting questions:

• Is Harris an All-ACC First Teamer this season?  It'd burn me up to see Erick Green make the First Team ahead of Joe.  Green scores a ton, but which player makes their team better?  Which team is any good at all?
• Would you trade Joe Harris for another year of Mike Scott right now?  The fact that you even have to hesitate to consider this one speaks volumes about Joe's play right now.
• By the time he graduates, will Joe Harris be one of the top ten UVA players of all time?  Top five?

#2 Akil Mitchell (previous rank: #2)

With Atkins and Tobey out, BIG FUNDAMENTAL is holding down the fort inside, and he's doing quite well with it.  Dealing with Carolina's bigs will be a tall task this afternoon, but with some help from Justin Anderson, Big Fun should be up to it.  In any case, Mitchell is an indispensable player for us right now.  Can't win without him.

#3 Justin Anderson (previous rank: #5)

He's arrived, and I think he's here to stay.  Last time, I called him "the straw that stirs the drink," and now I'm ready to declare JA as the liquor that makes the drink stiff.  (Go ahead and ponder that metaphor for a while.)  Virginia Basketball: Potent Potable.

#4 Jontel Evans (previous rank: #7)

Begrudgingly, I rank him here.  The thing is, he's just an important piece to the puzzle... especially if he can keep making those contested quasi-layups off the tippy top of the backboard when he dribble-drives.  Also, it's ugly, but 8 assists is 8 assists.

#5 Paul Jesperson (previous rank: #4)

He plays D and now he's making shots.  Second half shots.  Big shots.  I love it when he takes it to the hole, also.  Drive the lane more often, Jespy -- you're a surprisingly good finisher.

#6 Evan Nolte (previous rank: #6)
He can shoot it, but lately his shot's not falling with as much regularity (9-for-24 from 3 over the last five games, still a good .375 from downtown, but nowhere near the 50% he was shooting earlier in the season).  Nolte lost his starting spot to Anderson, but still offers a nice offensive weapon off the bench.

#7 Darion Atkins (previous rank: #8)

You get the sense that he'll be back from his shin splint soon, hopefully today.  It's been a concentrated month of healing, and he crept back into the rotation against Maryland and Virginia Tech.  We could really, really use him down the stretch as we make this NCAA Tournament push, and Akil Mitchell badly needs - and deserves - a break.

#8 Teven Jones (previous rank: #10)

Still seems to be in the doghouse, but he's averaging 9 minutes per game in Evans relief over the course of the last three games.  He's part of the rotation, and has a chance to solidify a role.

#9 Taylor Barnette (not previously ranked)

He's back to seeing some minutes, and he's bagging some 3s when he's in there.

#10 Mike Tobey (previous rank: #3)

Mono?  Are you effing kidding me?  Only at UVA.  I'll be surprised if we see Tobey again this season.  Can't risk popping his spleen.

#11 Doug Browman (previous rank: #9)

It looks like Tony Bennett finally wised up and is going with Teven Jones as the backup point guard.  I love Dougie, I love Kate Upton doing the Dougie, but the player has serious limitations.

HUGE game at UNC today.  A win does a lot of work toward helping our bubble status.  A loss wouldn't kill us, but it certainly won't help.  We need this one, guys.

GO HOOS!

Bubble Watch, 2/14

From ESPN's Eamonn Brennan:

Virginia [18-6 (8-3), RPI: 72, SOS: 198] This is still one of the weirdest at-large profiles in recent memory. I mean, 6-0 against the top 100? A win at Wisconsin? What's not to like? Unfortunately lots: six sub-100 losses, 0-3 against the awful CAA, a bad RPI, a worse SOS, an even worse nonconference SOS of 320 (one game in Madison does not a noncon schedule make). You'd like to see UVa handle UNC in Chapel Hill Saturday, give Duke a run in its own building Feb. 28, and above all avoid more bad losses down the stretch.

See the entire Bubble Watch piece, HERE.

Stay tuned for a Bubble Rooting Guide to appear in this space, soon.  (Here's an example of what to expect, from last year.)