The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Bennett Under Contract For Only 2 More Years; Tony Bennett: Why No Contract Beyond 2026?

Episode Date: May 21, 2024

The Jerry & Jerry Show headlines: Bennett Under Contract For Only 2 More Years Tony Bennett: Why No Contract Beyond 2026? Is Retirement On The Horizon For Tony Bennett? UVA Lax Advances To Championship Weekend Hoos vs Maryland, 230 PM, Saturday, ESPN2 UVA Baseball: Hoos Sweep Va Tech Hokies UVA Baseball: UVA vs Ga Tech, ACC Tourney Virginia Football Notebook: News & 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.

Good Tuesday morning, guys. My name is Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us on the Jerry and Jerry Show. It's great to connect with you wherever you get your social media and podcasting content. This show, we encourage you, the viewer and listener, to shape the program and ask the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer, Jerry Hootie Ratcliffe, questions about anything sports related. We love to focus on the ACC. We love to focus on the University of Virginia. And there's a lot to talk about on this given Tuesday morning as the

baseball team is preparing itself for an ACC tournament showdown with a pretty good ball club today, or excuse me, Wednesday with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. We have a lacrosse team that is in championship weekend yet again against a very familiar foe, the Maryland Terrapins, an exhilarating double overtime victory for the Hoos, thanks in part to a game-winning golden goal by Connor Schellenberg. A lot to cover on the program. Judah Wickhauer behind the camera is the director and producer. If we can go to the studio camera and welcome the star of the show, Jerry Ratcliffe of the namesake, jerryratcliffe.com.

My friend, good to see you today. Good to see you as well. Tony Bennett's contract has been the talk of social media in an off-season that is hungry for big time sports fodder. And there's no more big time sports at UVA than Tony Bennett and his basketball program. Someone you know well, Chris Graham, did a Freedom of Information Act request, a FOIA request, and he uncovered that there's two years remaining on Tony Bennett's contract, and that's left a lot of folks scratching their head. Why don't we start

open-ended with you on that topic? I thought it was a little unusual that they made him jump through hoops to get that information. It was almost like that they didn't want it to get out. Chris is a guy who's rather pit bullish. He's relentless. If you push him, he's going to take you to the limit. And good work on his part, I thought. I've received some negative feedback for us writing these stories about it. Not some, not a lot, but a little bit. And, you know, how can you look yourself in the mirror for exposing that Tony Bennett only has two years left on his contract? Well, I couldn't look myself in the mirror if I didn't report that news. I think people have a right to know.

It's their team, it's their university, and they pay for all this. So I think they should be informed. And we're just doing our job. Don't shoot the messenger, right? But I don't know if it's reason to panic or not. It's a bit unusual, I think, to have a guy who's the winningest coach in your program's history

to be at this juncture where there's only two years remaining on each contract and there's been no movement from either side at this point that we're aware of. And Chris did ask if anything has been offered, and essentially the answer was no. I just find that a little unusual at this juncture. Now, if it gets into July and August and there's still no movement, then I think there is a reason to be really concerned. But at this point, there's still plenty of time to renegotiate or whatever.

It's not like that Tony Bennett is holding out for money. He's never been a guy about that. In fact, he's turned down raises, I know, at least twice during his 15 years or so here. So it just leaves the door open for a lot of speculation about whether he's planning an exit, retirement, or jumping to the NBA or looking for another role as an AD somewhere or perhaps something else. So, again, it leaves the door open for a lot of speculation

and also opens the door up for other coaches, rival coaches, to use some negative recruiting in this upcoming class if something's not signed, sealed, and delivered because they can use that against him. If they're in a heated battle for a recruit, the other coach can always say, well, Tony Bennett's not going to be there for your four years. Why would you go to Virginia?

So, again, it just leaves that door open. Lots to cover here. The lead story on JerryRackliff.com is the two years remaining on the Tony Bennett contract. It looks like Chris Graham is doing another four-year request now on Coach Sanchez and Coach Williford with their respective contracts. I figured that was coming. Seeing if there's any caveats or language in their respective contracts that highlights a successor nature at the University of Virginia. So much to unpack here. First, I'd like to go down the way of Coach Bennett himself. The man does not seem to be about money first.

He's passed on raises, and he said, pay my assistance. I don't need the money. Pay my assistance. Frankly speaking, he makes a lot of money. We live in an area in Charlottesville where the kind of money he's making, he's going to live an incredibly comfortable life. No question. He is a man that's driven not by finances but performance on a court.

Some folks have speculated that the new version of college basketball that is driven by the transfer portal and the name, image, and likeness, the NIL, is disenchanting for an OG or an old-school basketball coach. We saw it with Jay Wright at Villanova. We saw it perhaps, as you alluded in your commentary, at Nick Saban at Alabama. The old guard of coaches not really excited about this NIL transfer portal version of college athletics.

I think it had an impact on Mike Krzyzewski's decision to leave as well and Jim Boeheim and perhaps a few other guys but there's no question I know people who are closer to Tony than than any media people are and there's no question he's very concerned and distraught about the way things are going in college athletics. I think a lot of coaches are. Some have openly expressed that concern, and we've talked so many times. There's no way that it can sustain itself.

It's just something that's going to explode at some point. And I don't know what the solution is. I don't know if anybody does. But they haven't gotten a grip on NIL. They haven't gotten a grip on the transfer portal, although they did cut the window down a little bit. There's all kinds of proposals and legislation out there. Nobody's really certain where it's going

on with the settlement that's been in the news the last week or so that's going to cost most schools at least $20 to $30 million on top of the other expenses that they're having,

which is going to cripple some athletic departments. A lot of people are concerned that it's going to get to the point where a lot of the Olympic sports are going to be reduced to club sports, which almost happened at Virginia a few years ago with a few sports. And some schools have already done that. And I was talking to a coach from an institution in the state last week out at the golf tournament, he he was shaking his head he says i never thought any of this would happen and he was he seemed to be having some questions as to whether he wanted to remain in the business or not but uh it's it's just an incredible mess and i i don't know what the solution is jerry it

it looks like it's going to come crashing down at some point. Do we think the next, I don't want to use the word speculation, but the next connecting of the dots with Sanchez coming back from a head coaching job to take an assistant job on Coach Bennett's staff, is it there's smoke, there's fire? Head coach to assistant coach seems to be a lateral move.

Or is there, this is the heir apparent at the University of Virginia, a guy who followed Tony Bennett when he came to UVA from Washington State? That's a good question, and it's been a lot of talk about that ever since it happened. Why would he leave Charlotte after five years, especially following his best season. And I heard some rumors that he wasn't crazy about Charlotte and didn't like the fact that he was losing all of his players to bigger programs, which could be true. And a lot of people speculated then that he was coming back to be Tony's hand-picked successor. I don't know if that's true. And I don't know that you could ever

know that until it happens or doesn't happen. And certainly he's been with Tony since day one. He was with him at Washington State and followed him here. Knows more about Tony Bennett than probably anybody in the business. So certainly that remains a possibility. There's some people out there who have already expressed some concern that if Tony Bennett leaves they would like to have a national search

for his successor but we've seen it Carolina and well at Duke and some other places where Villanova where coaches have essentially handpicked their successor. A lot of it depends on the university and how they view things.

They may respect Tony's opinion to the point where a move like that would be fine with them. So it's all premature at this point, but it does, again, it opens the door for tons of speculation, and we're all kind of clueless until somebody says something official. Well, and, you know, I respect what Chris Graham did because I, as a journalist at heart, it's not us to be the gatekeeper of the news. Right. It's us to get the news out there, whether it's the good, the bad, or the ugly.

We have to get past the gatekeeper sometimes. Right. If we were the gatekeeper of the news, it would be a country that would be way more concerning because then that would mean journalists are cherry picking what they should report. And then folks aren't held accountable that way. The university seems to have made its bed by being clandestine with disinformation. Well, they're that way with a lot of things, not just some sports news, but certainly it's been the case in the athletic department for decades. I mean, even the report with the three fallen football players, that isn't being released.

Right. They're being sued over that. By the Daily Progress? Yeah. You mentioned in your commentary that the San Antonio Spurs are an intriguing fit. Talk to us about that. Well, yeah, someone who knows Tony very well told me, I think at least two years ago, he said, well, you know if Tony ever leaves for the NBA or he's going. And at the time I said, no, I don't know,

because I know he's turned down several overtures from various NBA clubs over the years, dating all the way back to 2016, I think. The Knicks came after him, maybe even before that in 14, I think it was 14 when they played up in New York and lost to Michigan State, I believe. But I said, no, I don't know where he would be going if he went to the NBA. And he said, well, he's really good friends with the San Antonio Spurs owner. And that if Popovich ever leaves and Tony's interested, it's his job. So Popovich is certainly getting up there in years. And even though he signed a five-year extension a year ago, I think, it doesn't mean he has to fulfill it.

But a lot of people think that, you know, of all the NBA teams, that the Spurs, I guess, entertain more of the family value kind of atmosphere that Tony Bennett would be attracted to as opposed to other NBA clubs. So it's something to keep our eyes on. So much to cover here. What would you like to see with how this plays out? Just some more transparency? It would be nice if the AD would come out and at least issue a statement

that we're planning to offer Tony Bennett a new deal or something to that effect. Just, you know, I think just for the sake of their fan base. I don't know if she's going to do that or not, but I think it would be a nice gesture on their part. I don't know why it has to be such a big secret, unless he is planning on walking away from the business after a couple of years. And he may very well do that. It's certainly his, he's earned the right to do it.

What's your hunch of what's happening here? My hunch is that it's that. You think so? I mean, you know the, you know, this team and this program better than anyone. Yeah. But my— I know he's—again, I know he's frustrated over— Yeah. I think losing some players due to NIL money, some players he went after really hard,

I think probably hit home and added to that frustration during this past recruiting cycle. I wouldn't be shocked. I wouldn't be shocked if any coach walked away the way things are in the business at this point. I mean, it's just utterly chaos if you look around the country out there. I think there's probably more conference realignment coming. at this point. I mean, it's just utterly chaos if you look around the country out there. I think there's probably more conference realignment coming.

You look down in Chapel Hill and some members of their board of directors are squawking now about wanting to leave the ACC. They haven't joined the lawsuit with Clemson and Florida State yet, but there's an awful lot of noise coming out of Chapel Hill, and that's disconcerting. I think if you're an old-school ACC person, they're one of the original members, obviously. And if Carolina would leave, that would be, I think, even more earth-shattering to the conference than if Florida State or Clemson left. So it's just utter chaos.

And again, I don't know how you get a grip on it. Congress seems uninterested in doing anything about it, and certainly they've got bigger fish to fry, but the NCAA is powerless. Their hands are tied because every time they make any move, they get sued. And, again, the settlement's out there coming up, and Lord knows where that's going to lead. We may be having uh pay to play

pretty soon we may have uh all kinds of contracts with student athletes uh it's it's crazy even wally walker mentioned when he was on our show here several weeks ago that we may not be too long before we start seeing uh corporation patches on uniforms i i think that's probably coming soon uh it's it's just uh utter chaos that i don't think any of us ever dreamed would happen five ten years ago um a lot coming in. My fingers are moving quickly here. We're talking the Bennett, and I see the fan base responding here. Do you just offer a word of sit back and wait? Almost as we saw with the transfer portal, we were all jumping, me included,

jumping the gun on what's going on, what's going on, and it looks like this team is better than last year's team, at least on paper. Is this how you would suggest for those that follow you, let's just sit back and wait? That's all you really can do until Tony Bennett or the university decides to make a move or an announcement. Again, it just leaves the door open for more rumors and innuendo. And, I mean, what else can you do? You have to sit back and wait and see what happens. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts. We'll relay them live on air.

Renee Pettiford, who watches every show. Renee, we appreciate your support. I think she's down in Durham, I believe. I believe she is. We appreciate her support, think she's down in Durham, I believe. I believe she is. We appreciate her support and she's watching. She has this comment, which I will read to you verbatim. She loves your site. She says, hello, Jerry and Jerry. How are you doing? I read yesterday about Clemson football coach, debut, Sweeney and Paul Finnenbaum saying that debut's dynasty is done. Now with both debut and Tony arriving at the same time, what do you think about it? Both have not been in national championships since 2019. Ask Cootie about it. So she's making a

parallel with Sweeney and Clemson and Tony and Virginia in the 2019 national championships and some of the challenges they've faced since. Well, those are horses of different colors, I think. But Dabo, he's definitely old school. He's definitely against NIL. He's definitely against the transfer portal. He's the only Division I football program in the nation, other than the service academies, that did not sign a transfer portal guy in this recruiting cycle. I don't know how long he can maintain that level of success without the transfer portal

because everybody around him is doing it. I mean, I think Louisville signed like 30 players in the portal this time. You can essentially sign a whole new football team if you're so inclined and the school is in support of that philosophy. She's right. I mean, the heat is probably going to turn up a little bit on Dabo if they don't do something significant this year because they were at the top of college football for quite a few years there,

and now the last two or three years, they really haven't been that significant on the national scene. So, you know, fan bases are fickle, and Clemson's fan base can be pretty rough I know I've been around them for most of my life and the heat

will turn up if they don't do something major I think this season and they have short fan bases have short memories. It's what you've done for me lately. And if they feel like his heyday is over,

they may start looking for somebody that can take them back to the top again. Which, I mean, it's crazy to say this. I mean, from my standpoint, Debu is one of the best coaches in college football. Not just the Atlantic Conference. He is. He's a quality coach. Quality coach.

I mean, he took a team in a program that had an abundance of riches that was on hard times for a long period. And he's a Clemson guy through and through. And he's birthed other coaches from his family tree. He's had a rough patch, but his rough patch, a lot of programs would want to be there every year. His rough patch in Clemson, they built statues of him here. At UVA.

So it just shows you how fan bases not only are fickle, but they don't see the forest through the trees. And I think we're still in this period of time of navigating the change of college sports. Like, how do you hold a coach accountable for the last three to four years when you've had COVID? And then the transfer portal on NIL, it's almost an anomaly. It's things we've never seen before and nobody's ever dealt with before. And my philosophy on fan bases has always been, well, they once hanged Dean Smith in effigy,

and they once hanged Bobby Bowden in effigy, and they ended up being the, before they retired, the winningest coaches in their sports history. So that shows you everything you need to know about that. But I think Dabo Sweeney is one of the best coaches in the country, and he's right. It's hard to maintain that level. I mean, what Nick Saban did, what Kirby Smart has done at Georgia, what they've done at Ohio State, even though they haven't won many national championships, if any, is uncanny.

I mean, you look at the money that some of these programs spend. Did I read the other day that Miami spent $75 million on their football program? Yeah. And they can barely scratch out a winning season. So you look at Notre Dame, and they haven't played for a national title since 1988. So it's just a crazy world, and it's getting crazier all the time. And that's why I think we may see more coaches walk away from the sport, whatever sport it is, in the next couple of years

because we may just be on the surface of scratching crazy right now because of all the things that are in motion this out of richmond uh you guys mentioned the nba for coach bennett would his system work in the nba it's a good question this system wouldn't work no it would not work in the nba and and he would change systems i mean tony bennett played in the NBA and he would change systems. I mean, Tony Bennett played in the NBA. He knows how to, how it works. Um, he said, I don't think he's limited to playing the style of basketball, but I think, uh, I think he realizes this system is best for Virginia at the university of Virginia because of the academic requirements at the university of Virginia. Yeah. And I probably was the case at Washington State,

not the academic part, but the different style of play part in the Pac-12 at the time, because he was going up against a bunch of warhorses with war chests. He was going against blue bloods when he was in almost the red-headed stepchild of the Pac-10 and Pac-12. Yeah, I mean, Washington State is, I've never been out there in the Palouse, but I've been told by a couple of people who have, even though it's a beautiful country, that it's not the end of the earth, but you can see it from there.

But one guy said it made Blacksburg look good. So I think Al Groh told me that. So send your comments to Al. But, yeah, I know that's what John Oliver had in mind when he brought Tony Bennett in here. He and Craig Littlepage, they knew that nobody could go up against North Carolina. And Duke had to head in recruiting for the top players in the country every year and be successful year after year. It's driven a lot of coaches out of the ACC and out of the state of North Carolina.

It's like beating your head against the wall over there. But he wanted a coach with a different style of play and he certainly got that. I think that's one reason he brought Bronco Mendenhall in here. It was a different style of football that could win here. And they just didn't feel like you could line up and play a pro-style offense here and be successful. There's just too many good programs in the ACC that you're going up against. And so, again, getting back to the original question,

yeah, I think Tony Bennett could adjust, and he's got an incredible basketball mind. And, again, he's played in the NBA, so he knows what it takes, and he knows it would require a completely different style of play. Viewers and listeners are dropping comments. I'm going to get to them in a matter of moments. I got one for me personally. This team better on paper now than it was last year before the season started? I think

without question it is. Me too. Because again you won't know it until you actually see them out there on the floor and being guarded but there were times last year when Virginia was playing three on five because some of their guys just simply couldn't shoot and the other teams knew it and took advantage of that and would leave them largely unguarded and team up on double team and crowd the other guys who could score. And that's what killed this team last year was they didn't have enough scorers, enough shooters. And I think they purposely went out and found guys

who can shoot it and score this year and are multi-talented. Do they have the cream of the crop? No. But I think they've got some very efficient players through the transfer portal, and I'm excited to see some of these other kids that are coming in Sharma and Kofi and even Bliss who we haven't had an opportunity to see I think I think it's going to be a much stronger team on paper and and on the floor once they get together and start playing. Guys, we'll get to your questions here.

I see the questions about baseball and lacrosse, which we will get to here. Yes, the Virginia baseball team is heading into the ACC tournament. And, yes, we will talk about championship weekend with Virginia playing Maryland in a much-anticipated Final Four matchup. I want to dot the I's on basketball before talking a little football here. The two coaches on the roster as potential successors, would it be Sanchez? Is it a head coaching experience? I mean, probably because he has been a head coach.

Then the follow-up would be, would Williford stay? I mean, obviously tough to see into a crystal ball that far away. Yeah, you know, I think he probably would. Certainly that would be his decision. And if there's another head coach, it would certainly be his decision too. But I think they would probably like to keep things status quo. You never really know what a new coach might be thinking, but certainly Sanchez has had coaching experience

and has been with Tony longer, not to throw any shade on Jason Wilford because he's been a loyal assistant associate head coach for a long time and certainly knows all the ins and outs of the program as well. But I mean, logically, if you look at it, that, that would seem to be the direction that they would go if that were the case, if it came down to naming somebody that's already on the staff to succeed him.

We'll talk baseball and lacrosse here. Any news and notes you want to get out on football before we go to the postseason? Things have been kind of quiet there since the last show. I don't think they've gotten any more commitments since then. But people keep asking me about whether it's a good thing that they've got so many players back. I think it is. Again, when I was doing the Lindy's National Magazine story on Virginia recently, I didn't realize it myself until I broke everything down

and saw that they have essentially 20 starters returning. Now, some people say 20 starters from a team that won three games, that's maybe not such a good thing. But I think in college athletics, experience is a great thing. All these guys have another year under their belt. You've got 20 starters returning, including your punter and kicker. Plus, you've got some other guys who started elsewhere or have some starting experience here.

So I still don't think the depth is where they'd like it to be. And I'm not sure that the overall team speed is where they would like it to be to compete against some of the upper echelon programs in the conference. But I think they have like 85% of their offensive production back. And you have that with an offensive line that, again, I think that's going to be the key. We talked about that a couple of weeks ago. The offensive line essentially comes back intact. And if these guys have developed their game over this past year,

I think that's going to be the key factor into whether this team can win some of those close games that they dropped last year they lost uh what six games by a total of 16 or 17 points um it doesn't take much to flip that around if if you have any luck at all and you don't beat yourself do you so you're hearing from the fan base that we it's a knock against this team that they're having the same players return i've heard that from some people because the team struggled that's why they base that it's a knock against this team, that they're having the same players return? I've heard that from some people. Because the team struggled, that's why they're saying?

It shows the caliber of athletes not there? Yeah, the good news is that you've got 20 starters back. The bad news is you've got 20 starters back. That's crazy talk. That's crazy talk. Yeah, I don't agree with that theory at all. Especially in college sports where a year turns teenagers into men. Absolutely. Absolutely. I've seen a lot of athletes in a year's time in college completely transform.

Their bodies. Yeah, their bodies and their attitudes as well. And so I think they might sneak up on some people this year. I don't think people are taking them that seriously and maybe they should. Again, their schedule has it to where they're going to have to make hay early. But if they can build some confidence early,

maybe they can spring a couple upsets down the road. Who does Lindy's have as the preseason favorite to win? Probably Ohio State would be my guess. Well, I meant in the ACC. Oh, in the ACC. I don't think the magazine has come out yet, but I'm guessing it would be Clemson or Florida State. I'm not sure which one at this point.

We'll talk lacrosse and baseball here. There are questions here. What do you make of the way the John Hopkins game ended? Thriller. That was amazing. Schellenberger, arguably the best player to ever wear a Virginia lacrosse uniform. And that's saying something. Yeah, it's saying a lot because it's one of the premier programs in the country and has been for decades.

Homegrown kid. His dad, I used to cover in golf around here, his dad Scott won our battle trophy one battle trophy many years ago. He was a really good golfer, a good athlete. I think he was a baseball player in college. Maybe William & Mary, if my mind serves correct. Going back about 20 years here. I had to put a smile on everybody's face in Charlottesville

that a local kid rose to the occasion and scored a glorious goal. A left-handed goal. A left-handed goal. I mean, he put that shot where a goalie can't get it, and that shows you his level of expertise uh again like you said a left-handed shot to the precise place that a goalie can't get to it that that that's speaks volumes of his talent St. Ann's Belfield product Connor Schellenberger a graduate student college Connor Schellenberger, had his initial year at UVA cut short because of COVID. So he redshirted. This guy has been monikered Mr. May. Mr. May. For his postseason heroics.

To deliver. And, you know, for every Connor Schellenberger on the team, and you're talking about probably the greatest player in Virginia lacrosse history. You've got a freshman on this team, and McCabe Millen, who is, I mean, dynamite, led the team in scoring against John Hopkins. Yeah, I mean, that kid is sensational, and what a future he has ahead of him. You never know what Virginia team is going to show up this year yeah and you know they seem to have worked out their defensive issues that they were struggling with during that four game losing streak but they seem to have ironed that out

and are back to themselves again what everybody expected in the preseason I know they had some new working parts and all that, but Lars Tiffany does an incredible job with that program, and you could never count those guys out, and here they are in the Final Four again, going up against an old nemesis. It seems like it's almost destined that they're going to face the Terps

somewhere along the way in postseason. Denver and Notre Dame on the other side of the bracket. Of course, the Fighting Irish, the favorite to win it all. They look like, at this point of the season, the clear-cut best team in the country. But like any tournament, we've seen this in March Madness with basketball. Anything can happen when all you have to do is win one game and virginia is two games away from potentially another national championship they got a maryland um squad that they beat 14 10 in march right in college park so you got to think virginia's favored in this matchup you would think against the terrapins but like i said

anything can happen. From a ranking standpoint, from a seating standpoint in the tournament, you've got two pretty good clubs here, and it's all about peaking at the right time. 2.30 faceoff, Saturday on ESPN2. Got to talk baseball. Wahoos sweep the Virginia Tech Hokies. I was at the game Saturday night,

and what an incredible thriller-dealer that was. The TV people had to be jacked about that. I mean, Virginia just kept coming back from the dead over and over and over again. Brian O'Connor and his staff did a masterful job of coaching and inserting players and making the right pitching changes at the right times. It's like he said when we were talking to him after the game,

with this kind of power in the lineup, you feel like you're never really out of it. That was their 20th come-from-behind victory out of 40 wins. That's half their wins this year. They've come from behind, and none were as impressive as the other night. They were down 7-0 before you could blink. And a lot of people were just saying, God, should we leave? But most of the 5,000 fans stuck around, and, man, did they see a heck of a ball game with Henry Ford

and Ferentz hitting those back-to-back home runs that got them back in it. They tied the game at 7-7, and then Diddewick playing the hero again in the bottom of the 13th, putting it out of the park. His 22nd home run of the year is just one shot of the single-season record set last year by Gelof. Unbelievable. Incredible.

An abundance of riches in spring sports. You got Georgia Tech on the docket tomorrow, 11 a.m. first pitch, Yellow Jackets and Florida State on Friday. Is this team primed for another deep postseason push? It certainly looks like it. I think they can be, again, with that kind of arsenal, everybody in this lineup can hit. A lot of them can hit for power. It's amazing.

They have 105 or more home runs, Jerry. The program record was set last year with, I think, 85. By a lot of the same guys. They obliterated that record. I mean, how can you ever be out of it when you've got that kind of power in your lineup? But, you know, the pitching, they got some really good pitching in that series against the Hokies. I thought it was a good sign that Jay Woolfolk pitched, I think, four innings and pretty much shut out baseball. They're going to need him in the postseason for sure.

That guy's key. He's going to be a big factor in what they do from this point on. We're going to watch lacrosse and baseball very closely. What's your favorite sport of the two to cover? I mean, both teams always a deep postseason run. Do you have a favorite? I probably lean a little bit toward baseball just because, you know, played it growing up and was familiar with it.

I never saw a lacrosse game until, well, I wouldn't say until I came to Charlottesville. I was interested in watching lacrosse on TV before I ever made it to Charlottesville. And it's a fun sport to watch, too. I think I would have enjoyed playing lacrosse had it been available where I grew up, but it wasn't. But probably baseball just because of familiarity, if nothing else. What drives the traffic on the website, baseball or lacrosse?

Is it a wash? It's close to a wash. I would give the nod to baseball a little bit just because they seem to have a stronger following overall. What are the top traffic drivers now in the offseason? Still basketball? Basket? Still basketball, basketball, basketball,

and basketball, the Bennett story you wrote get ridiculous metrics. Yeah. Anything you write about basketball, it's just, is off the charts in terms of readership. And I think football is when football is good, but there hasn't been a whole lot to be excited about.

But anytime there is something to be excited about, we get good traffic. But basketball is in a league of its own when it comes to readership. And, you know, give Tony Bennett all the credit for that because he's built one of the top programs in the country. I want to give you some props for the store, the show we did last week. You broke some news before anybody else with Day Day Aims and with Elijah Gertrude. Yeah, thanks, I mean, Day Day Ames was huge in getting that guy here. And from what I understand, he liked everything he saw when he got here and essentially committed earlier to the program than it was announced,

but they had to make sure that his credits would transfer from Kansas State to UVA. And I think the fact that he was a freshman and was probably taking somewhat basic classes for freshmen, probably helped that transfer tremendously. I think had he been a sophomore and had been in more specific kind of classes, he may not have been able to make that transfer. So the fact that he was a freshman I think helped. And that was the hang-up in what took so long in getting him in the program.

And what an incredible addition with a point guard with starting experience in the Big 12. He had a really good, solid basketball program. And apparently the deeper into the season, the better his game got. And so we're going to see the best of Day Day Ames over the next three years here in Charlottesville. Can we put a, can someone put out a call to action about the scooters and the athletes?

Wow. You know, from what I was told, again, I can't verify this, but from what I was told, he wasn't wearing a helmet. I see it all the time. Yeah, I do too. And anytime you're around UVA, I worry about those kids because I see them darting in and out of traffic and those scooters, man, that's some flimsy traffic there. It wouldn't take anything to get hurt on one of those things. So I'm surprised. And again, maybe there's nothing you can do

about it because they're everywhere. It's every college campus you go to. I first saw them when I was down in Gainesville, Florida about 10 years ago, and I saw like 1,000 of those things going around. But they're dangerous. I'm surprised coaches, and maybe they can't. Maybe that's the only mode of transportation they can get around in. And I don't know if that speaks to some of Virginia's NIL issues or not,

because you would think if all their players were getting really good NIL packages that they wouldn't be riding around on scooters. So obviously they're not all getting rich deals, or they'd be in something a little safer. Jerry Ratcliffe, guys, jerryratcliffe.com. They want to know if you've got some predictions for baseball and lacrosse and whether Virginia is going to host a regional. Yeah, I've been wondering about that myself.

They're a four seed in the ACC. I haven't seen the rankings. I don't know if they came out. I didn't see them yesterday. Maybe they came out and I didn't see them. But they were, what, 18th, I think, in the country before the weekend series against Tech. So I don't know how far they moved up. But I think, are they in a battle with Wake Forest, essentially, for, I think, for that regional spot?

I'm not sure. 18th is ranked. Yeah, and I think Wake Forest is ranked a little higher. So they may not. I don't know all the specifics in what goes into that. It would be great to see because Charlottesville really responds to hosting a sub-regional like that. They always draw record crowds, and I'm sure this would be no different. I hope they do because they're fun to cover,

and it gives them an opportunity to potentially host a regional. But I hope they do. I don't know. We're just going to have to wait and see. Time will tell. Ladies and gentlemen, we have two teams to follow very closely, and we certainly will. I think the men's tennis is out playing for a national title too

while we're on that topic. We'll follow all programs closely on the Jerry and Jerry show. We head into our favorite time of year of the spring postseason, deep May, early June, as Brian O'Connor called it, the best time for Virginia

with programs like baseball, making deep runs and a best time for brand with programs like baseball, making deep runs, and a best time for brand awareness for the university. Show's easy, my friend. What do you have in the hopper? Oh, yeah, men's golf, too, I think. I don't want a short Bowen Sargent's team. They've had a remarkable season, particularly down in New Orleans last week.

Played their butts off. Well, with the transfer portal closed down for now, it's not much in the recruiting world. I know they're out looking at future classes, but it's hard to get excited about that at this point. But we'll keep our eye on football and basketball as we always do, but we'll be focusing on finishing up the spring with all these teams that are in contention for national titles.

And it's just another UVA spring in that regard. So, I mean, it's some of the best spring programs in the entire country. Sports fanatic on YouTube. All I want to hear about is basketball. But thanks for having a great show. We appreciate it. I appreciate you, sports fanatic, on YouTube, who is clearly a basketball junkie. He's got a lot of company out there, that's for sure. Check out

jerryracliff.com for anything Virginia-related, ACC-related, college sports-related. jerryracliff.com We're going to follow this storyline about Tony Bennett and that contract extension. If I'm Carla Williams, I'm getting an extension in front of Coach Bennett ASAP and

make it very transparent with the fan base that you're working around the clock to get arguably your most noteworthy coach more years on the job here in Charlottesville? You would think. You would think. It would seem very straightforward to me. And then at that point, you could say, I tried, I offered, he passed. And that gives you the pass, the free pass, or it gives you the goodwill with the fan base. Absolutely. So we'll follow that storyline very

closely. Jerry Hootie-Rackliff, the star of the show, he's the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer. Jerry Hootie-Rackliff. Judah Wickhauer, behind the camera. Mr. Consistency. MVP. My name is Jerry Miller, and it's the Jerry and Jerry Show on a Tuesday. Thank you kindly for joining us. So long everybody. Thank you.