Posts tagged Tony Bennett
Hoos lose to South Florida
Nov 17th
Well, that was ugly.
Shot selection was simply horrible, and that’s been a problem with Virginia teams going back to Pete Gillen. I had hoped that would be one of the first things Tony Bennett would correct. Bennett preaches protecting the basketball; well, taking good shots within the offense is a part of that.
There were some rough individual “performances” as well, including Jontel Evans. As good as Evans looked in his Virginia debut last week, that’s how bad he looked last night. He’ll be fine, though.
There are positives, if you can believe it. The defense — effort and execution — in the first fifteen minutes was better than almost anything we saw during the Dave Leitao years. It didn’t last, for any number of reasons. One is that Mike Scott is the only inside presence on the team right now, and when he went out with foul trouble, Virginia just couldn’t match up on the defensive end.
Other “positives”: the offense, despite poor shot selection and poor shooters, is clearly being installed. The guys move without the ball, screen, flare, make UCLA cuts…all things we rarely saw before this year. Also, the players are playing very hard. Maybe they got down on themselves a bit in the second half, and maybe the execution was sloppy fairly often, but the effort was always there.
This isn’t a group of players that Bennett would’ve recruited to play in his system. It’s a square peg in a round hole, but I still firmly believe that we will be proud of this team by the end of the season. Bennett has them headed in the right direction.
Reflections on the basketball opener
Nov 15th
Okay, I’ve had time to reflect on the first game in the Tony Bennett era of Virginia basketball. The game itself was ugly; Virginia beat Longwood by the score of 85-72. Much has been made on the message boards about Virginia’s inability to close out a poor Longwood team, and about Tony Bennett’s post-game disappointment.
To address the first, I urge Virginia fans to be cautious. Yes, the Hoos looked very ragged at times. Yes, they had trouble finishing off Longwood. Let us not forget, however, that Virginia was playing without Assane Sene, Calvin Baker, and Jamil Tucker. At least two of these guys are going to be contributors to this team. Virginia was clearly undermanned.
As for Bennett’s comments:
“To give up that many points, that was discouraging,” Bennett said. “The guys did finish, but there’s no secret that we got a lot of work to do. It’s going to be a long journey that way.”
He’s right. This team has a long way to go. Defensive lapses like we saw on Friday night will bury the team when they get into the heat of the ACC schedule.
There were many encouraging signs, however. First among those was the fact that, even against Longwood, 85 points is a lot of scoring. The quotes from the players continually stress the fact that Bennett’s offense isn’t a walk-it-up system, and they all talk about the “freedom” they have in that system. Players like Farrakhan made the not-so-subtle point that no one felt like they had any freedom to just play under Dave Leitao.
(For the record, I liked Leitao, and I thought he was fired too soon. But I’m very happy with his replacement, at this point.)
Sylven Landesberg scored 23 points while pulling down 6 rebounds. Mustapha Farrakhan tied a career high with 17 points. Mike Scott had 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Perhaps the most surprising, and encouraging, development was the emergence of freshman Jontel Evans, making his debut in a Virginia uniform. Evans was fairly lightly-recruited out of high school, and Tristan Spurlock was expected to be the gem of this incoming class. That still may be the case; we won’t draw any grand, sweeping conclusions based on one game.
However, Spurlock played only 3 minutes, while Evans played half the game and made an impact immediately:
“The way (Longwood was) trapping and pressing, and his pressure on the ball helped us,” said Bennett, who wasn’t satisfied with his team’s defensive effort after Longwood shot 55 percent from the floor in the second half and outscored U.Va. 45-36. “I thought he gave us a nice lift in the first half. He got a (steal). He was very quick and got to the lane. For a first day under the lights — for our whole team, but really for him — I thought he did a nice job.”
The game wasn’t televised, so I can’t confirm it, but the people who were there say Evans if fast. It’s starting to look like Evans’ skill set is exactly what Bennett wants in a player:
“I never expected that many minutes coming in as a freshman, but I got them,” Evans said. “Coach called my name and he depended on me to do what I do — that’s play defense, not turn the ball over and create for other people.”
Ball-hawking defense will take Evans a long way under Coach Bennett. If he can protect the ball — and Evans had a couple of lapses in the second half — he will play.
All in all, I was happy with the opening night victory. This team has a long way to go, sure, but I’m satisfied that they are progressing in the right direction. Bennett has to play the cards he’s been dealt; we can’t expect him to turn all those cards into aces overnight.
The Tony Bennett Era Begins
Nov 13th
The Tony Bennett era of UVa basketball begins tonight, and I think we all have high hopes that it will end better than the “New Gillenium.”
Tonight, the Hoos will open against Longwood at JPJ Arena. Gametime is 7 pm. Not surprisingly, there is no television coverage of this titanic struggle, but Dave Koehn and Cory Alexander will call the game on the Virginia Sports Network.
Virginia is more short-handed than usual tonight, though I hope it won’t come back to haunt the good guys. Calvin Baker is out after having arthroscopic knee surgery. Assane Sene has been suspended. Jamil Tucker is, well, not here.
Fortunately, Sylven Landesberg is here, and I know I’m not the only one who is anxious to see how Landesberg performs in the new system. He’s a talented guy; I’m not particularly concerned.
I’ve never been more excited for a Virginia-Longwood game. That’s kinda sad.
Great News
Nov 13th
Welcome to The University, James Johnson!
This guy is a stud prospect, and he’s a great “get” for Tony Bennett’s first recruiting class…and it’s a class that’s shaping up to be much better than some had feared. Guess Bennett can recruit in unfamiliar territory after all.
Over at The Sabre, they’re also reporting that KT Harrell is expected to fax his letter of intent very soon. Harrell is another outstanding prospect.
Makes a fella excited to be a Wahoo basketball fan.
Jamil Tucker takes leave of absence
Nov 12th
Ummm…this isn’t good, especially for a team already lacking in depth:
Forward Jamil Tucker is taking an indefinite leave of absence from the Virginia men’s basketball team to focus on personal matters UVa head coach Tony Bennett announced on Wednesday (Nov. 11).
Tucker, a 6-9 senior from Gary, Ind., will not play in games or practice with the team during his leave of absence.
“Jamil has some things he has to deal with at this time,” Bennett said. “This leave of absence will give him time to deal with these matters.”
Tucker has a nice jump shot, but I always got the sense that Dave Leitao never quite knew how to use him. His skill set is somewhat unique for a player of his size. Of course, Tucker never wowed anyone on the defensive end, and isn’t a strong rebounder. That wouldn’t seem to make him a top priority in the Tony Bennett system, but what do I know? I haven’t been to a single practice this year.
Anyway, I don’t have any idea what the issue is, or when (whether?) Tucker will be back.
UPDATE: As noted by Ben from Dear Old UVa, in a comment below, I’m not quite correct about Tucker’s rebounding ability. He’s actually not a bad defensive rebounder at all, which I discovered after actually looking at his stats. Novel concept, huh?
That’s what I get for relying on memory/impression. I’m afraid my SABR membership card is going to be revoked.
Anyway, Ben has an excellent post on the subject here. I join him in wishing Tucker the best of luck, no matter where this leads.
More Love for Tony Bennett
Nov 11th
USA Today has a very nice article about Tony Bennett and the Hoos today. The excitement for the basketball season is increasing daily, and there are two primary reasons for that. First, we have a new coach and a new start. Secondly, with the football program circling the drain, fans are ready to move on to something else.
I did have a dream last night in which Virginia beat Boston College this weekend on the football field, 40-0. I’m afraid that’s just a dream.
Anyway, while we’re (still) on the topic of hoops, some of our friends from around the Wahoo blogosphere have been doing great work previewing the season. From Old Virginia is going player by player; here is part one and here is part two. Good stuff, as usual.
Then, Brian over at Streaking the Lawn has posted parts one and two of a three-part series previewing what he’s calling “Bennett Ball.” I like it.
Let’s talk hoops
Nov 9th
In the interest of trying to forget about football entirely, let’s talk hoops for a minute. I have a big stack of Virginia basketball links that I’ve been meaning to post (and I want to stay positive, so no discussion of the Assane Sene suspension), but I went out of town this weekend and am just now getting around to it.
Before the link roundup, however, a note about my expectations for the 2009-2010 men’s basketball squad. The Good Ol Blog is running a poll, asking for predictions on the number of ACC wins Tony Bennett’s squad will reach this year. I voted for 7, which seems to be a popular selection.
Seven wins would be a great result in Coach Bennett’s first season. The team is predicted to finish next to last, which I think is absurdly pessimistic. We don’t have top-four talent on this roster, but there’s enough there for Bennett to fashion a competitive squad. I think the Hoos are going to finish in the bottom half of the conference, but they will have at least one big ACC upset, and they will be blown out of very few games.
More than that, I think they will be fun to watch (something we can’t say about the football team, unfortunately). They are going to scrap and claw and fight to the end of every game. It’s their coach’s disposition (ask his Washington State players), and I really believe his players are going to buy into it.
I’m very high on Tony Bennett, if you haven’t noticed. (Take that with a grain of salt, however; I was high on Pete Gillen and Al Groh, too).
Anyway, on to the links:
–The poll above was prompted by Dear Old UVa’s interview with John Gasaway, of the ever-popular Basketball Prospectus (here is part one of the interview, and here is part two). Gasaway predicts that Virginia will go 8-8 in the ACC. That, my friends, would be a spectacular success, as far as I’m concerned.
–The Daily Press had a couple of outstanding articles on Coach Bennett this weekend, and they are both worth a read. This one focuses on the fact that rebuilding is in Coach’s blood, and this one is a collection of items about Bennett that didn’t make it into the main story. There is a ton of great stuff in there for UVa hoops junkies. Like me.
–Looking back at one of our favorite Hoos ever, JR Reynolds (some great video at that link). Although it’s looking increasingly unlikely, I’m still hopeful that JR will get a shot at the NBA sometime.
–Shifting over to women’s basketball for a moment, Monica Wright’s name is on the finalists list for the Senior CLASS award. That won’t be the last time we hear “Monica Wright” and “award” in the same sentence.
–Finally, it’s behind the subscription wall, but The Sabre has this interview with Jeff Jones, the key to UVa’s season, in my opinion.
Assane Sene suspended
Nov 8th
We all knew that the news out of the basketball program couldn’t remain all roses forever:
Virginia sophomore center Assane Sene has been suspended for the first three games of the 2009-10 regular season by men’s head basketball coach Tony Bennett for conduct detrimental to the team. Sene will also not play in the Cavaliers’ closed scrimmage with St. John’s on Sunday, Nov. 8.
“We have expectations for the individuals in our program that Assane has not met,” Bennett said. “He will not play in our closed scrimmage with St. John’s on Sunday and in the first three games of the regular season, but will practice with the team. My hope is Assane will learn from this situation as we move forward.”
We can only speculate as to Sene’s offense. On the one hand, I’m definitely glad that Coach Bennett has high standards, and he expects his players to live up to them. On the other hand, Sene needs the game experience more than anyone not named Tristan Spurlock.
Ugh. My fingers are crossed that Sene has learned his lesson and this is the last we hear of such nonsense.
The Hoops Schedule
Nov 4th
If you are like me, you love that funny video show that comes on television. Also, you are really excited about the start of the Virginia basketball season. I can’t wait to see how Tony Bennett shapes this team.
Dear Old UVa is pretty excited too, and he has been performing an exhaustive review of Virginia’s schedule. Previously, he had a two-part series on the nonconference schedule (one, two), and now he has begun reviewing the ACC schedule. Good stuff; go check it out.
More hoops
Oct 27th
Lots of great items in Jeff White’s UVa notebook:
–Sylven Landesberg isn’t happy about missing out on the pre-season All-ACC team; he finished sixth in the voting. Let’s hope he uses that as motivation.
–Another Virginia hoops star fared better in preseason voting:
On the women’s side, that distinction belongs to senior guard Monica Wright, who Monday was named the ACC’s preseason player of the year at the conference’s media day in Greensboro.
I’m looking forward to seeing how the young women’s team fares this year. Wright is the only senior, but there are five freshmen on Coach Debbie Ryan’s squad.
–I love this:
Landesberg’s new coach, Tony Bennett, made 49.7 percent of his 3-point attempts during an illustrious career at Wisconsin-Green Bay.
That’s still an NCAA record, and Bennett, from all accounts, hasn’t lost his touch.
Asked if he ever challenged his players to games of H-O-R-S-E, Bennett smiled and shook his head. “That’d be like taking candy from a baby,” he said.
Heh.
Lots of other great stuff over there; read the entire thing.
