The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - #18 Virginia Basketball 18-3 Overall, 7-2 ACC; Are You Surprised UVA Dropped 1 Spot In AP Top 25?

Episode Date: February 3, 2026

The Jerry & Jerry Show headlines: #18 Virginia Basketball 18-3 Overall, 7-2 ACC Are You Surprised UVA Dropped 1 Spot In AP Top 25? Pitt (9-13, 2-7) at UVA (13.5-point fav), 9 PM, Tonight Wahoos Are At Halfway Point Of ACC Season UVA Hoops: The Great, Good, Bad & The Ugly ACC Notebook: Midpoint Highlights & Lowlights Where Does ACC Stack Up With National Landscape? Virginia Football Transfer Portal & Recruiting Notes Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air Jerry Ratcliffe & Jerry Miller were live on The Jerry & Jerry Show! The Jerry & Jerry Show airs live Tuesday from 10:15 am – 11:15 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The Jerry & Jerry Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible and iLoveCVille.com.

Welcome to the Jerry and Jerry Show, guys. My name is Jerry Miller, and thank you kindly for joining us on a Tuesday morning in downtown Charlottesville. Where I sit right now, we are less than two miles from the John Paul Jones Arena. We can literally walk to the John Paul Jones Arena from our studio, less than two miles from Scott Stadium. My friend, the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer, a household name in Virginia basketball, Virginia football, UVA athletic circles, ACC circles. He's going to be at the John Paul Jones Arena tonight. He's got a 9 o'clock tip-off.

One thing I know about Hootie Rackleff, and I know him fairly well here, is the man does not like the cold. The man does not like late tip-offs. The man does love some waffle house. I do know that about my friend Jerry Rackleaf, and he loves a good quarter-zip. So do I.

I love a good quarter-zip as well, especially when it's Roeback, which are fantastic supporters of Jerry rackliff.com, and I love Civo. The Pittsburgh Panthers are in Charlottesville, and we saw against Notre Dame in Boston College is you can't take anyone lightly now. When you're a top 25 team, you have a bullseye on your chest,

and you get your opponent's best, you know, your best game. We saw that against the fighting Irish and against the Boston College Eagles, but still the Associated Press did not reward Wright Odom's team with the climb up the rankings. They actually fell a spot despite going unblemished this past week to 18 in the top 25 polls. We'll talk about that with Hootie. Judah Woodcower is behind the camera. The dude is doing yeoman's work.

with this studio. Eight cameras, four different softwares, helping us with Twitter and Facebook, you name it. Judah Wickhauer, salute. Tip of the cap to you, sir. He's a wizard. He's a wizard. It's a wizard. Yeah. The Wizard of Wickhauer over there.

Can we go to the studio camera? And then we'll welcome our star, Jerry Rackleff. I try to save the compliments when I'm on air. Freshly haircuted, Jerry Rackleff. You look sharp. Yeah, got it before the snowstorm. Thank goodness. Yeah, since I last saw you.

Look good. Well, why don't we start there? How is the Rackleff household managed snowpocalypse 2026? You know, survived. That's about it. My dogs are not happy. Yeah, I was stuck for a few days, but all is well. Yeah.

Hope it is in your neighborhood. Yeah, same, same hoodie. All is well. We were stuck for a few days as well. Our soon-to-be 12-year-old German Shepherd despises this. Yeah. Both of my dogs don't like it. Well, one of them does.

He likes to play in it. The other one doesn't care for it. Is that the younger dog that likes to play? Yeah, the younger one doesn't like it. Does not like it? Okay. Okay. Is the younger one a bit temperamental?

He is. He is. What kind of dog is that? I don't know your dog. They're both English pointers, but they're mixes. They're rescue dogs. And the young one is rather large. He weighs about 130 pounds.

Get out of town. I know. I'm serious. he's huge is the younger dog the alpha no yeah oh yeah the younger is yeah yeah 130 pound dog at the rackliff household we both love dogs

juda woodcar loves dogs we love following college athletics we start with scatter shooting with jerry rackliff where do you want to begin my friend i i agree with you i don't think that it was i don't think somebody did their homework or doesn't know what they're doing when they voted virginia lower spot in the poll this week. I don't think some voters understand the value.

I know that Notre Dame and Boston College are on the lower rungs of the ACC. But again, their home games. Virginia is at least a 10-point favorite in both of them. It's almost like an ambush. You know, in football, there's a term for it. And basketball should be the same because, you know, it's really easy to get upset and lose a game like that. You're talking a trap game?

Trap game. Yeah. Notre Dame is not bankrupt of talent, nor is Boston College. They both have some players. And both teams are. actually were actually missing some personnel. So. Notre Dame missing its best player. Notre Dame has a five-star wing that looked at times to be the best player on the court.

The guy that truly looked like he was the best player in the court, I'm drawing a blank out of his own. Sort of. Yeah. Dude could not miss. Yeah. I was sitting there just, just blowing my mind seeing him just make everything that he put up. I mean, it was ridiculous.

It was ridiculous. I mean, you can't guard a guy. who's standing four and five feet behind the three point line. I mean, just you let him shoot that. Yeah. And he made them. It reminded me, and I read it in my column, of the old Michael Jordan, Larry Bird McDonald's commercials

where they were shooting for a bag of Big Macs. I read that. That was good. You know, off the highway over the river, through the window, off the floor, nothing but net. You know, and that's, that guy was, that's what he was doing. He was making everything he could put up. And Shrewsbury did the first half.

He cooled off the second half, but they were very fortunate to come back from 19 down and win that game. And then at Boston College, they struggled a little bit as well. It's the last three games. It's either been a slow start in the first half or a slow start. start in the second half. And that's something I'm sure that they're trying to address to come out a little more energized in both halves to try to establish some dominance in these games. So they won't have to sweat and bleed at the end.

Well, welcome Jerry Rackliff's Twitter audience to the live feed here on the Jerry and Jerry show. And as expected, it's blowing up right here. I mean, there's a boatload of people watching on his live stream. on Twitter. If you give us a thumbs up, if you can unlock his Twitter account, J-dubs, then I will retweet it all over our network so even more people can see it. Viewers and listeners, ask Jerry Rackliff a question, football, basketball, ACC related, put it in the feed. We'll relay I'm live on air. James Madison's got questions for you at Mineral Virginia. We'll get to that in a matter of moments. I took the two wins

against an order name in Boston College as a sigh of relief as a Virginia fan. and B, a sign that Odom's club has got resolved in tenacity and come-togethonness, and that Odom made adjustments at halftime that created a victory type of scenario. They didn't get off the bus against Norder Dane. The first half against Boston College was some of the worst basketball Virginia has played. And it was clear in the second half against Boston College, Odom said, give the ball to Derritter and let him play some bully ball on the block and get to the rim because he's the most physical guy out there. I was impressed with what Odom did at halftime, Hootie.

I was too. I thought, you know, Tony Bennett was a master of making halftime adjustments. And Odom is starting to show that he's no slouch in that either. And, I mean, they were two of 16 from the arc in the first half, and they were just jacking up threes, uncons. consciously. And I know he wants them to hunt threes and take a lot of threes, but he wants them to be good shots and not just throwing them up, just to throw them up. And then he cautioned them about that. And then they cut down, they were a lot more selective in the second half from the three point line and were more efficient. But it was obvious, I thought, that, and I don't know why. the team didn't do this more, it was to get the ball in the paint to der Ritter.

It was clear that they had no answer for him. They couldn't stop him. I kind of nicknamed him the Belgian bully because he just bullies his way through the lane. There's no one guy that can guard him man to man, I don't think,

down on the block. And he was eating him alive and they fed him early in the first half. I think he made his first four shots in a row and went to his left hand to score a couple of them too, which is something that he hadn't been doing, I don't think. So that worked out well, and hopefully it's something his teammates will be more cognizant of going forward and just give him the damn ball. Yeah, it seems.

Get out of his way. Right, right. And Virginia's gotten away from that. Yeah. Virginia's gotten away from that of late. We didn't really see it till Boston College. Like, if you give this 23, he's a 23-year-old man. You've unlocked this Twitter account.

Fantastic. He's just, look at this guy. I told you he was a wizard. I told you he's a wizard. To Ritter's a 23-year-old professional basketball player. His birthday was the Boston College game. Yeah, it's a Boston College game. Yeah.

He's a 23-year-old professional basketball player. his physicality on pretty much every game he plays. Now there's going to be some matchups. I'm very curious to see how he matches up against the Boozer Kid when they head to Durham. That'll be an interesting matchup. Yeah, because he's got the physicality to match up with Derritter, the Boosier kit, and he's a freshman. Maybe a top three draft pick. You got the kid from BYU, the kid from Kansas, and then maybe the Boosier kid from Duke in the top three in some order with this upcoming NBA draft. But we haven't seen the Belgian bully get on the block

and play within less than eight feet of the rim. You know, we've seen him fall in love with the bonus fear shot. We've seen him attack off the dribble, but we haven't seen him truly post up and use his broad shoulders to create leverage and to create space and get to the rack. I hope that is something that is part of the game plan moving forward. I think we saw it some early,

but they've gotten away from that. And I think that takes away from the team because he's unmatched. Like you said, unless it's a boozer or somebody that we're not aware of that they haven't played yet, the kid is just unbelievable. I mean, he's almost unstoppable when he puts his mind that he wants to score, you can kind of see it in his eyes.

He knows that he has the advantage, and he's just trying to back the guy into the lane as far as he can. Jeff Jones calls it Barkley-Een, something Sir Charles used to do, and, you know, make his move to the right or didn't come back to the left, then back to the right, but then, you know, he's learning to use his left a little bit, too. makes him even more dangerous. 100%. He's extremely talented. The only thing De Ritter does not do well

on a basketball court, he's not the best leaper. And we see that from time to time when he's looking to finish around the rim. If he was a little bit more explosive with his vertical jump, there would be more flushes and dunks. He does not do that.

Yeah, he and Grunlow both are not great at finishing. Yeah. Not the top, the best, best. athletes. Right. And it's something that they can improve upon, but right now that's not their strength for sure. How much of the struggling, the shooting struggles is tied to Jakari White and the brace on his left hand. We've heard through the grapevine with folks that are tied to the team that Jacari White has not been practicing well, that clearly the brace has been giving him difficulty

in practice. He showed some flashes against Boston College. Odom is asking Jacari to contribute in different ways if the jump shot is not falling. But this team appears on paper, at least pre-injury, to be a much more dangerous team when White is spreading the floor from downtown. Yeah. Well, he was really, he was shooting the three at almost a 50, 50% clip, which is, you know, Isaac McNally-like. And, I mean, there's no substitute for somebody who can drill threes like that. It completely changes the game. And it opens things up inside for DeRitter and the bigs.

And then, you know, the ability for chance. and now Malik Washington is driving the Baltimore. It opens up things on the perimeter too because you have to respect the Biggs and then if these guys can drive the lane and then kick it back out or if the Biggs can take a pass and kick it out and Derritter's really good at that.

If you've got a guy that's red-hot, I mean, there's no answer for that. and Virginia's hard to guard to begin with because of all those factors, but that makes them even harder to guard when he's himself. And Odom had a sit-down talk with him last week at some point, and I think he realized that Chakari was being tough on himself because he wasn't being able to contribute the way he was. and Ryan told him he said, you know, just worry about the things that you can control right now.

And, you know, play defense, pass the ball, you know, don't be so hard on yourself. And I think the kid took that to heart. And he made a couple of nice threes against B.C. And afterward, Ryan said he looked more like himself than he had. has any time since the injury, which was on December the 20th against Maryland. But we even saw, he was so comfortable that he actually went down on the floor. I know a lot of Virginia fans that told me through Twitter and email that they were gasping when they saw him dive on the floor for a loose ball at BC.

Because they were afraid he would injure his wrist. I was gasping in my living room when I saw that. Yeah. It's like the quarterback that does not slide on second down going for the first down marker. Chandler Morris. Yeah, right. Yeah, exactly. Chandler Morris, there you know.

But, yeah, I don't know how long it's going to take for him to completely heal and get the splint off his hand or whatever it is. But if he continues to make some strides week by week, you know, he'll be. be ready at the right time. Renee Pedipher watching the program, one of our favorite Virginia basketball fans and viewers and listeners of the Jerry and Jerry show. She says she's very much enjoying this college basketball season. She says she's also surprised that Virginia basketball dropped one spot in the AP poll from 17 to 18.

Why that the surprise also was compounded for me was there were a number of teams that lost above the University of Virginia and the AP poll. So there was an opportunity to climb vertically. Regardless, the Virginia basketball is still ranked in the top 25. The Who's have Pittsburgh tonight, 9 o'clock tip, ACCC Network. We will get to that Pitt Panthers game. Virginia opened as a 15.5 point favorite. That line is now down to 13.5, depending on where you shop.

Vanessa Parkhill is watching the program in Ehrlichsville, Virginia. She highlights Ryan Odom and says, Coach Odom makes good halftime adjustments. That's critical for the overall success. of this team. She applauds Odom. James Watson is watching the program. This guy bleeds orange and blue. He's a Virginia alum. He says Ryan Odom for president, I would actually argue that prior to Virginia teams were never that great coming back if we got down eight or ten points, which wasn't very often. However, this Virginia team shows it can play comeback basketball when it gets behind. And he highlights that Odom is, you know, invigorating the team.

when it's down in ball games, Hootie. Yeah, I think he learned a valuable lesson himself against Carolina because they had that game. You know, they fell behind and they were able to narrow. Well, they just didn't come out in the second half the way everybody expected them to. They dominated Carolina in the first half, then did not come out of the locker room in the second half, but we're able to whittle it down to a one-possession game

and then couldn't get over the hill. Yeah, and I think Hubert Davis made some good adjustments at a halftime in Virginia didn't readjust. And I think Ryan probably learned a valuable lesson in that game that will help him throughout the rest of this season and the rest of his career in the ACC. But they are pretty good at coming from behind as a rule. And anytime you can come from 19 down and win, you're not supposed to win that game.

Everything was going against Virginia that night. And for them to come back and beat Notre Dame on its home floor, I don't care what Notre Dame's record is. That was a hell of a win for the Cavaliers. There's no question about it. Donald Foley is watching the program in Southwestern Virginia. First time he's commented on the show. We'll get to Donald Foley's comment about recruiting in southwestern Virginia and why UVA football and basketball seems to be missing players in southwestern Virginia. That comment coming up. There's a boatload of comments on the feed. Put them in there.

We're going to relay them all live on air to Jerry Rackleff of Jerry Rackleff.com. I want to throw the performance and production of Sam Lewis in the Norderdame game. This guy hit big time shots. They really did. And Sam Lewis is, as the late, great Stuart Scott used to say, cooler than the other side of the pillow. He never is hurried. I'm reminded of, I'm not making, don't take my words out of context, viewers and listeners.

I am not comparing Sam Lewis to Kauai Leonard, the NBA basketball talent. But what Kauai Leonard does is, and he said this is what he tries to do, Kauai Leonard says, slow is pro. He never wants to be rushed on the floor. He wants to get to his spots. He knows where his spots are. And he will slowly get to his spots to get his shot off because he wants to get the same three or four shots up if possible every game. Slow as pro.

Sam Lewis kind of embodies that like smooth, slow as pro, never rushed guy. And frankly speaking, I think Sam Lewis has. has so much upside and it's just scratching the surface. It's just there's so much talent on this roster. He doesn't have a chance to be guy number one or number two or even guy number three. Yeah, I mean, he's overshadowed so often. And he's kind of like you're right about the slow.

It's kind of like Brian Stiff was. He'd look up at the end of the game. He'd have 23 points and nine or 10 rebounds. and five assists and no turnovers. And just a silent assassin kind of thing. You don't notice that they're killing you all game long. But we did a podcast, Jeff Jones, and I did last week with Wally Walker, and we were talking about all the players on the team.

And I finally said, and we even haven't mentioned Sam Lewis yet. And it just shows how deep the guy is overshadowed because of all the other talent surrounding him. But he's a crucial player. He makes a lot of big plays. He has a really nice shot, I think. And they don't win that game without him. I mean, he made big shot, big shot in clutch moments. And the one shot that sent him into that other overtime was,

the play was falling apart and Ryan was about this close to calling time out and about that time Sam let it go and swish. You know, he's just a really good shooter. He's a three level scorer. He can shoot, he can score from downtown. His mid-range game is smooth. And he has the handles and craftiness to get to the rim. He's a guy that Odom can trust down the stretch. I mean, like what he said is just, I mean, when your team is this deep in talent, I mean, I think Ugo could be a starter on this team. Oh, he could be, yeah.

I still think Grunlow's the guy because he's more offensively skilled than Ugo. And the advantage you may get defensively with Ugo with shot blocking is marginal compared to Grunlow, because Grunlow is also a great shot blocker. I think you may get a little bit more interior toughness with Ugo. but it's still marginal over Grunlow. He's more physical, yeah. More physical. Grunlow's offense is what's keeping him in the starting lineup. But Hugo, if he got 20 or 25 minutes regularly, I think would be a double-double guy.

Probably so. But it's just, the team is just really, really deep here. We'll get to some of the comments here coming from viewers and listeners. They're coming in extremely quickly right now, and viewers and listeners, put your comments in the feed. I will relay them live on air. This is from Mark Brown. We don't seem to be the same team as the first half team against North Carolina. Our defense has drastically fallen off.

I love Mr. Rackless's opinion. I've been to two games at the John Paul Jones Arena. We've lost them both. Perhaps the issue is me being in attendance from Mark Brown. I wouldn't be so hard on yourself, Mark. I'm not superstitious, so I don't believe in that kind of stuff. but, you know, their defense hasn't been where Ryan wants it to be. I think it will eventually get there.

But you've got to stop and think and remember that six months ago, none of these guys even knew each other. To put these 12 guys together from every corner of the, not just country, but from all over the earth. And I have them playing at this level of basketball is just almost unbelievable. I think if anybody said before the season, would you take 18 and 3 and 7 and 2 in the conference right now? People would have jumped all over that.

And, you know, they're halfway through the ACC season. and seven and two, they've played six road games so far and won all but one of them. And they only have three ACC road games left, and that's at Georgia Tech, Florida State, and Duke. Don't play Clemson, right? Don't play Clemson this year. So, you know, they're sitting in a pretty good place. Great spot. Capbird seat. Yeah, absolutely, the catbird seat.

And, you know, it's not all going to be perfect right now. And, you know, some of the free throw shooting is shaky. That's something he would like to improve. Even from chance. Yeah. He missed a couple of big ones the other day that I'm sure he was kicking himself about. Front ends of one-on-ones. Big misses the front ends.

Yeah. They foul a lot, but then again, they press a lot, and that's going to cause a few more fouls than normal. And the defense, again, it's not where he wants it to be, but it'll get better as we go along. You just got to remember. It's kind of like just looking back at the football team, if you remember how the secondary gave up so many big plays in the past game early.

And a lot of that was just because of communication or lack of familiarity, familiarity, not knowing, you know, being that comfortable with the other guys and secretary, they hadn't played together. They didn't, they got here late. They didn't, they missed spring ball. It took a while to get that continuity, but at the end of the season, it was winning them games. And I think I wouldn't push the panic button on defense just yet. Yeah, I concur with you 100%.

It reminds me of a conversation I had yesterday with Jeff Gaffney. Jeff Gaffney is the all-time point score for men's soccer. Yeah. Still to this day. Great guy. The all-time point score for men's soccer. Had a conversation about some of the most talented guys he's played with at UVA men's soccer, Jeff Gaffney. He was a striker, center forward, Jeff Gaffney.

He played, he shared the pitch with George Gellman match, now the current coach. They were both strikers. Yeah. Fantastic combination at the time. top. I asked him, who's one of the best guys you ever played with? Play with John Harks. John Harks. I remember John Harks. Right, right. Olympian, one of the greatest soccer players in American history, play with him. I said, how did it go with John Harks? He said, John Harks was my center midfielder.

The job of the center midfielder was to get the ball to me, the striker up top. We had one year together. Jeff was a fourth year. John Harks was a first year. He said that first year, that only year of playing together, we were talented and, explosive, but we didn't really have the experience to gel as a tandem. If we had one more year, it would have been truly something special. If he's saying something like that, think about the basketball team who's literally played together for how many months, four, five months. Like these guys have been together for five months.

And they're a top 20 team in the country. And now the flip side of that hoodie is, that's what college basketball is, though. It is now, yeah. It is now, and probably going to be that way for a while. But still, you know, it takes, it's a monumental task getting everybody on the same page. And I've been able to see a little bit of a couple of their practices. And it's, the attention to detail is amazing with Coach Odom and his staff. And these guys are very coachable.

They really pay attention to what they're being taught. It just takes time to get everybody to be a cohesive unit. It's, I mean, it doesn't work everywhere. I mean, look at Louisville. I thought they'd be much better than what they are right now. They're missing their point card. Yeah, and that's a big part of it. Notre Dame missing their point card.

Yeah, there's a lot of people missing personnel. In fact, Pitt is missing probably their best score. They lost him early, and I think they lost another guy since then, but that's why they're struggling to score. But it just takes time for the blend, and you don't want to peek too early. You want to bring these guys along at a good pace. They got the Pitt Panthers tonight.

9 o'clock tip-off, ACC Network, line open at 15.5. Virginia favored. Line now dwindled slightly to 13.5. Pittsburgh is Putrid. 9 and 3 overall, 2 and 7 in conference play. I mean, the antithesis of Virginia. 18 and 3, Virginia, 7 and 2 in conference play. Virginia's schedule is favorable.

Pitt Panthers at home. Syracuse at home on the 7th of February, which looking at my calendar is Saturday. Then you got Florida State in Tallahassee, a neutral site game against Ohio State late in the season to have an out-of-conference matchup. Yeah. On a neutral site. That's a made-for-television matchup. Absolutely. Ohio State, even though the record is not tremendous, I watched a little bit of their game with Michigan.

They got talent. A little bit over a week ago. They stretched Michigan into midway through the second half before Michigan pulled away. On paper, it appears on paper and correct me if I'm wrong. The last true stiff test

for this Virginia team, obviously Duke may be a back-end matchup with Miami. But this schedule is somewhat favorable You got winnable games all over here. You got an NC State game at home.

I mean, it's the Duke matchup, right, in Durham? Yeah, that's going to be a huge one. The NC State game will be an interesting game. They have some talent on that team. And Will Wade is a good coach. I'm not real crazy about his resume, but they have some talent, and they can win.

And that won't be an easy, there won't be a walk in the park, I don't think, unless Virginia just gets really hot, which they're capable of doing. They need to get hot for maybe tonight or Saturday against Syracuse. They need a game where they can just blow somebody out and shoot the ball the way they were a little bit earlier. Comments coming in here. Let's get to Matthew McLennon. Matthew, is your first comment on the show, Matthew? Let us know.

Let us know where you're watching as well, Matthew McLennan. Are there any potential five-star freshmen visiting for basketball? Matthew says, I would imagine Ryan Odom's style is one that would be beloved by high school and five-star talent. I haven't seen any five-stars that are visiting, but there's some four-stars that will be coming around. but, you know, it's always important to stock your team with some high school talent, but in this day and age, it's, I don't know that you have to be overly worried about that because you can just go out and get guys with more experience that have played at the high level. And I think if you miss on a high school recruit now, it doesn't mean anything like it used to.

I mean, I would not be surprised if Ryan Odom's team turns into a United Nations of college basketball. If he's got this European pipeline, and I'll take it a step further, if you're able to get to utilize chance Mallory's maturation and Ryan Odom's system, what a recruiting tool with a point guard like Mallory that can distribute, that plays up tempo, that has eyes on the back of his head, that's unselfish, that can attack. the rack and kick to players. I mean, the upside is super significant. The questions I have as a Virginia fan, does DeRitter come back for another year? Yeah, that's a good question. I've been asked that a few times,

and I don't know what the answer is. I would imagine Grunlow's coming back for another year. I'm pretty sure he will. Ugo's exhausted eligibility. Sam Lewis has eligibility. Yes. Chance obviously has a. eligibility. A lot of it left three years.

Hall's exhausted eligibility. But if you have a core returning of chance, Sam Lewis, Grunlow, if you're able to get the Ritter coming back, good night, this team is fantastic. And then you have some talent that redshorted.

We're curious of what Barksdale's going to be. The kid that follows Ryan Odom from VCU, he's a slasher that has a lot of upside. He's a first year that redshirted. And in Carrera. Yeah. Getting limited men. but, you know, he has some upside as well.

Comments continue to come in for you. How about this one? I'm curious what their treasure chest looks like for next year for basketball. It just seems like guys are transferring away from schools, even when the team they're leaving is winning and everything seems perfect. There are a few football players that we were sad to see go. For example, Trell Harris. He made all ACC academic honors,

so he was immersed in the whole student athlete experience, just so hard to know whoever is going or staying. Yeah, you just don't know. It depends on the individual and what they're seeking. There's no way to read these kids' minds about what they may be thinking. You don't know who's talking to them either. There's more tampering going on now than any time in history, I think, in college athletics. So just look at Davosweeney and Pete, what was it, Goldberg,

the Mississippi, Ole Miss coach, the squabble they're having over that sort of thing. Or Virginia Tech recruiting Taylor, the running back while he was at North Carolina Central during an active game. Yeah, that's right. Virginia Tech sent an assistant coach to recruit Jamari Taylor while he was playing for another team. Yeah, on the sideline. I had a guy on the sideline. I think Virginia has particularly. protected itself better than some schools because they've put a lot of stock into keeping what they have and retention.

And, yeah, they lost a few good players, but most of the guys they lost were not going to be impact players. And they've done a really good job in the portal the last two years. and they do have a bit of a war chest going forward so they can afford to retain players and make it attractive for them to stay and to attract really good talent from out of the portal. It's all new with basketball, so we don't know where that's going at this point. They sure have the same advantages in terms of the war chest.

I think. There seems to be a lot of movement in basketball for sure. And you just don't know. I wasn't sure that the whole team last year was going to leave, even though you changed coaching staffs and style of play. But that's certainly what happened. And there's no way to predict that, really. comments continue to come in quickly. Chad Wood, a fantastic tailback out of Steve Isaac's system in the Jefferson District at Western Amaral High School, now an assistant coach at Western Amaral High School, just an all-around great guy, someone who bleeds orange and blue is absolutely flabbergasted that Virginia has won two conference road games this past week and still dropped in the AP polls. We share your disbelief.

Yeah, Chad Wood. Somebody just didn't do their homework. And some of the voters didn't do their homework on that. Or just don't know college basketball. Or just don't know college basketball. Yeah, I think it's that. We saw a lot of that in the football poll this year. 100%.

Yeah, 100%. You're winning on the road as a top 25 team. In the ACC, that's saying something because you have a bull's eye in your back. I think it's what you just said, Hootie. Comments continue to come in. Renee wants to know who's coming to the Tony Bennett court naming ceremony. Have you heard of anyone coming of significance? No, UVA is pretty tight-lipped on that sort of thing,

and so we don't know unless they tell us, or unless somebody just leaks the information, like they did the Tony Bennett ceremony, which leaked out a couple weeks before Virginia announced they were going to do it. I would imagine most of the players that are not still playing, will be there. I would guess that Joe Harris and Malcolm Brogden and a lot of these guys that are out of basketball now

will probably return for that to honor their coach. Other than this, the only other time I think that they would probably make an effort like that is when he eventually goes into the basketball hall. of Fame, college basketball Hall of Fame. But they haven't put anything official out. And I think at some point this season, there's talk about honoring the 1976 team as well. Wally was mentioning that the other day. That's being worked on.

I haven't heard any possible date for that yet. But that would be a really nice honor, too. That team's been honored a couple times, but it's been a while, and can't honor that team enough. Kevin Hall, welcome to the broadcast. Thank you kindly for watching the show, Kevin Hall. We will get to some football questions here in a matter of moments for the viewers and listeners. We need that one guy that said. Southwest Virginia?

Yeah. Yeah. His question is, why does it appear that Virginia football and basketball is constantly missing in southwestern Virginia from a high school recruiting standpoint? Good question. I don't know. I don't have an answer for that. I'll throw this to you here. And this is sad to say. Sad to say. Virginia football finished what is the top 20 team. Virginia basketball clearly is a top 20 team. If you want to be a top 20 team in college football and college basketball, I'm not sure you can continue that momentum by recruiting high school talent. Well, yeah, there's some truth to that.

And football-wise, you've got to remember that Virginia Tech up until the last few seasons, has dominated and grabbed up some of that talent as well as some out-of-state schools. Other than George Welsh, I don't know if anybody has done a great job of recruiting Southwest Virginia. Al Groh had some success down there, getting some guys out of Roanoke, and then, of course, Heath Miller. Big money. And then George got a ton of people out of Southwest Virginia, Thomas Jones, the Barbers, Sinclair, some other guys.

But I don't know. Danny Wilmer was a great recruiter that did a lot of work down there during that time. The late great. the late great. And I don't know. I don't know how much basketball talent there's been that has come out of Southwest Virginia in recent years. I can't think of anybody that Virginia's missed on it. They went after hard in Southwest Virginia in basketball.

Can you think of anything? Not the top of my hat. I'd have to go back and look. Do we consider Rono Southwestern Virginia? Oh, yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, he's from Pulaska County here. J.J. Redick comes to mine, Cave Spring. But that was way back in that.

It's been a while. That's a long time ago, J.J. Reddick. Yeah. I believe Cave Spring, J.J. Reddick. Virginia basketball hasn't really recruited the state that well. Right. They haven't recruited the state well at all. Duke and some other, Carolina and some other people have stolen a lot of really great players out of the state.

Out of curiosity, and this is a Pulaski County gentleman right here, out of curiosity, what is the border of southwestern Virginia and when it becomes central Virginia? I think probably a little west or southwest of Lynchburg area. Okay. Going down toward Roanoke. Okay. So Lynchburg. I would say Roanoke on.

Okay. All the way down to the Kentucky Tennessee border. Yeah, yeah. So Lynchburg we call Central Virginia. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Just that was a curiosity for.

me here. Yeah, to your point. And James Watson says Curtis Staples with Roanoke. Yeah. Yeah, Curtis. We had him on a podcast recently. Yeah, Curtis Staples, one of the deadliest marksman in Virginia basketball history. This question's come in for you, Jerry Rackleaf. What would it take to keep to Ritter at the University of Virginia besides money? That question is from Chapel Hill. I think it's just a matter of what kind of feedback he gets from NBA scouts when he makes his inquiry.

I mean, certainly he could probably go in the second round, but I think he wants to be a first rounder. And I think, you know, there's some things that he needs to improve in his game. We were talking about finishing around the rim is something that... Do you think he's an NBA player? I think he's an NBA player I think he's an NBA player long-term NBA player No who knows about that

I think he's a European professional player Definitely could do that My concern with Derritter is It's just the explosiveness And the leaping ability And the athleticism Like he is so fundamentally sound I'll tell you

Derritter can improve some on his three-point shooting but he's still hitting at like a 32 33% clip De Ritter surprises me with his basketball handling ability. He's so skilled dribbling the basketball. Yeah, and he's a good passer. Good pastor for that guy. Great passer. He's proven that when he's focused on it, he can hit free throws. He's wide-bodied and can play on either block. Maybe he needs to rebound a little bit

better, but he's still averaging darn near close to a double-double on most nights. It's the leaping ability. It's a finishing ability. And once he gets to the NBA, it seems like anybody that plays in the front quarter of the post could jump out of the gym. That's a good point. And that's something that... Can you teach jumping ability? I mean, you can improve your explosiveness. I don't know to what degree.

Right. Because he's 23. Yeah. Mike Curtis probably has some methods that will help with your ups a little bit. But I don't know at that age how much more you can gain. Exactly. And the age may work against him here. Yeah, it could. When he finishes this season, he's halfway through his 23rd year on the planet.

And a lot of times the NBA talent likes to pick up the 18, 19-year-old now. Yeah. Because they're still developing where you can say Derritters may be reached his development ceiling, perhaps. But at the flip side of the coin, at least you know what you're getting. You know, I'm trying to see the pros is here as well. No, you're right. A lot of NBA scouts have been to see him this year. I haven't really talked to any other than the fact that, you know, who are here to see. And they said, who do you think I'm here to see?

So it's obvious that there's some strong interest. It's just a matter of, I think with him it's probably going to be a fit. What team does he fit the best? because if he gets taken by somebody where he's not a good fit, it's not going to help him or the club, but it's got to be somebody that he can fit in with the tools that he does have. If I'm the University of Virginia,

the guy that I'm most, the two guys I'm most focused on keeping on this roster, it's a 1A and 1B standpoint. It's to Ritter and Chance Mallory. Yeah. And I make sure these guys are paid a million, you know, seven figures plus to stay. Bank up, back up the, the,

The Brinks truck. The Brinks truck and keep them, make them happy. Yeah, and make those dudes happy because those guys are the cornerstones of this program. Derritter with only one year left. James Watson, Big Stone Gap, Thomas Jones, have you highlighted? Jeremy Wilson's watching in eastern Tennessee, so he's flirting with the southwestern Virginia border.

He goes, R.J. Reynolds. Fantastic, two-guard, RJ Reynolds. J.R. Reynolds. Play with Sean Singletary. He's from Rone Oak. Yeah. and the Sean Singletary backcourt. But all those guys, you were talking, yeah, it's been a while.

Yeah. Staples, Redick, Reynolds, Corey Alexander, even though he's over, not really in Southwest Virginia, but it's been a while. Donald Foley, Sean Moore in football, Piedmont District. He highlights. Here's a question for me. You're a Pulaska County guy. Best athlete to come out of Pulaski County.

Probably Gary Clark. Wide receiver, Redskins? Yeah. Okay. JMU? Did he go, Jamie? Yeah, went to JMU. The wide receiver, he was part of the posse,

art monk, Gary Clark, and Ricky Sanders. With Mark Ripkin throwing him the football and Ernest Biner in the backfield. Exactly. That was a great. That was a Super Bowl winning team. Yes, it was. Yeah. Gary Clark was, that was a phenomenal team.

Yeah. That was the Hawks. Exactly. You cover that team. I did cover that team. Yeah. And he's in the Virginia State Hall of Fame. Did Clark make the Canton Hall of Fame?

No. I think Art Monk did, didn't he? Art Monk, I think, did year before last or last year. He made it, but Gary Clark has not. Man, that's... Not yet. Not to say that he won, but...

he's definitely the guy, the best that's come out of there. At a Pulaski Canyon. Yeah, there's been a few others, but he's the best. Viewers and listeners, it's a pleasure here on it. Let's talk walking down memory road here with my friend, Jerry Rackcliffe. Can we talk football? What are you following with Transfer Portal on football? Yeah, sure.

What's jumped out to you so far as football is now getting a little more quiet? Yeah, we're actually going to talk to Tony Elliott tomorrow about the signing class and there hasn't been a lot of action with high school stuff except for the class of 27 which they're ranked really high nationally with they only have seven commitments they got another one yesterday

a wide receiver from Midlothian story on my website about him with a picture of the guy that blew me away he's going up to catch a pass over a defender and his legs are even with the other guy's chin.

I see that. That kind of surprised me, but pretty solid get. He chose Virginia over Virginia Tech and Pitt, Syracuse, Wake Forest, JMU, and some others.

But they have six of those seven guys are from the state of Virginia, so they're starting to make some inroads in the state. I don't think they've ever had more than six in a class in Tony Elliott's four years

so they will probably go over double figures in that respect this year. They did get a guy from the portal yesterday, a kid from Dartmouth who also had an amazing picture with this story. He's leaping over

somebody. I don't know if it's intercepted the past or what, but he's completely jumping over somebody. He hurdles, I'm looking at, hurtling a man. Yeah, completely hurtling the man. And then pushing him down while hurtling the man. Yeah, yeah.

The kids from Dartmouth, the name's Campbell. And, you know, he's, usually you pick up somebody this late in the portal this year. You know, you might not be, you might wonder what you're getting, but, you know, he does have some high IQ.

versatility and he's played in 27 games so he's got some experience to add to the secondary next year too but they've done well in the portal I think the ACC did well in the portal Virginia's somewhere around 30 to 40 nationally and in the recruiting that portal recruiting class and I think they're like seventh or eighth or something in the ACC so the conference racked up pretty well. Rob Neal watching the program, he is the most passionate JMU football fan that I know. He says I'm a Cave Spring night here,

and I love the southwestern Virginia talk on the Jerry and Jerry show. Oh, yeah. Well, you know, there's been some great players from down there, and some of my favorites. Tiki and Ronde are the guys that I've gotten close to over the years and always had a great relationship with them and marveled at that's what they were able to do as twins and just overall good guys too you uh this is a memory lane trip for us here

i used to work for jerry rackliff at the daily progress he was the sports editor and i was the lowly guy in the totem pole and monticello baseball was going deep in the postseason under mark Mace, who's the head football, head baseball coach. Corey Hunt was on that team, the shortstop played baseball for Virginia. And you set me to cover a Monticello state semi-fifinal, state quarterfinal in Pulaski County. Yeah, Calphi Park.

Yeah, great baseball park. It's where I played high school football. Really? Yeah. That was a great baseball park. And San Love Football. Yeah, covered it right there. And what I was most impressed with was the amount of,

folks that lived in Pulaski that were watching the game that had no ties to either team. They were just there to watch the game. Yeah. And I was like, these people are passionate just about sports here. Yeah, yeah, no question. Especially high school football. They've had some really good high school football down there. Yeah, it's the same thing.

It's one of the things, and James Madison's watching the program, he lives in Mineral. One of the things that I love about Louisa County in Mineral, Virginia, when the lions are playing football, the town shuts down. It's like from Friday Night Lights or Varsity Blues, you know, the storekeepers put the side of the window closed for the game. It's the only game in town. Only game in town. Yeah, it's the only game in town. My friend, always a joy to do this. Hour flies by when you're having fun.

What's in the hopper at Jerry Rackliff.com? Well, we'll have coverage of the pit game tonight and then looking at Syracuse this weekend. Be doing a little baseball. I think they open up a week from. Friday, I believe, against Wagner, I believe it is. I assume the snow will be gone by then, I don't know. But that, you know, just some other stuff on the side, but plenty of stuff going on.

Jerry Rackliff.com, I'll say it again. Another podcast with Jeff Jones later in the week. His podcast with Jeff Jones are fantastic. You can find them on Jerry Rackleft.com. follow him on Twitter and Jerry Radcliffe on Twitter. He does great stuff there. It's just two guys in a barbershop type of setting, talking about the ACC and UVA athletics and sports

in the Commonwealth of Virginia. You've got the Pitt Panthers tonight on the ACC network. That line is now 13 and a half. Virginia is a 13 and a half point favorite. Virginia now enters the second half of the Atlantic Coast Conference slate. and it looks like a team that, you know, if the stars align, could make a deep push in March Madness in the NCAA tournament guys.

For Judah Wickauer, the director behind the screen behind the show, and the star Jerry Rackleaf, my name is Jerry Miller, and this is the Jerry and Jerry show. Nicely gone. Thank you, sir. Likewise.