The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Did UVA Play Its Best Hoops Of The Year Against Duke?; Wahoos Are 18.5-Point Favorite v Wright State

Episode Date: March 17, 2026

The Jerry & Jerry Show headlines: UVA Is #3 Seed In NCAA Tourney; #9 In AP Top 25 Wright St (23-11) vs UVA (29-5), 150 PM, Friday, TBS Wahoos Are 18.5-Point Favorite vs Wright State Did UVA Play Its Best Hoops Of The Year Against Duke? What Did You Learn About Virginia In ACC Tourney? Ugonna Onyenso Start Ahead Of Johann Grunloh? Virginia Football Starts Spring Practice Today Is This UVA Deepest Quarterback Position Ever? 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. It's a pleasure to connect with you guys through the I Love Seville Network on a show that features the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer, Jerry Hooty Rackleff. This show live wherever you get your social media and podcasting content. We have NCAA basketball, ladies and gentlemen, right around the corner. Virginia's got a matchup. It's got a date. It's got a rendezvous with Wright State.

And I'll tell you what, the Wahoos are clicking, 18 and a half point favorites against Wright State. and what is technically the second round of the NCAA tournament, Virginia was a whiskers hair away from beating the number one team in the nation, the Duke Blue Devils, and the ACC tournament. I'm going to ask Jerry Rackleff today if that performance against the Blue Devils was the top performance for UVA this season on the hardwood. Goodness gracious, Hugo was driving the boozer kid, who is maybe the NCAA player of,

of the year, the college basketball player of the year, and certainly a top four pick in the upcoming NBA draft, Hugo was giving him fits. We'll talk should Hugo start over Grunlow on today's show. We'll talk about that matchup against the Devils and what the who's need to do to replicate or duplicate the output against Duke in the NCAA tournament. They are the eighth ranked team in the country according to the coaches poll, the ninth ranked team in the country according to the A people, Duke and UVA, are the Crem de la Crem and the Atlantic Coast Conference, but we have a couple of other teams from the ACC dancing in March as well. We'll take your comments, we'll take your questions, put them in the feed, and we'll relay them live on air.

We encourage you, the viewer, and listener to subscribe to Jerry Rackliff.com. The best content, Virginia Sports-related, is available at Jerry Rackliff.com. Judah Wickcower, studio camera, and then a two-shot to welcome the Virginia Sports Hall of Amor. Open up that Facebook messenger, if you could, so we can communicate. Hootie Rackleff, good Tuesday morning to you, my friend. Happy St. Patrick's Day, brother. You're wearing the green. I forgot my green. That's right. I got a little bit on.

Yeah. My lady friend would chastise me if I didn't since she's a Murphy. So, Boston Murphy, so you don't get much more Irish than that, right? Our, my, my wife is also Irish and she did chastise me as I was walking out the door for not having any green on, but we were running late for school. So I just decided to get in the family Ford Explorer and drive our second grader to school. My friend, we start every show with scattershooting with Jerry Rackleft. The show is yours. Yeah, just to follow up on, on what we were talking about. Virginia hasn't won a NCAA tournament game since 2019. And, And they were, you know, considerable favorites in those three games that they were upset in. Ohio, Furman, and Colorado State. So you can never take anything for granted. But I think Ryan Odom is probably doing a masterful job of reminding his players that they have to bring, not necessarily their A game, but they can't bring much less than that.

to their opening round game against Wright State, because that's what teams like that live for, is a chance to knock off a power for school. You are a diehard sports fan across the board. Where does the NCAA tournament stack up with the best sports viewing and sports experience across the year for you? Well, it's huge.

I mean, I'm more of a football fan, that I am basketball. So I love college football and some NFL. And I'm a huge golf fan too. So, you know, the majors are a big deal. But the NCAA tournament is different because there's just so many teams involved and you have access to pretty much every game in the tournament,

which is pretty nice the way they have CBS has figured it out. And so it's right up there. You know, the bowls aren't what they used to be. It's mostly just college football playoffs now, which is a lot fewer teams. So in mass, this would be the premier spectator event, I would think, just because of the numbers. The month of March for the Miller family, for our family.

It starts with my sister-in-law's birthday. Then closely thereafter is my wife's birthday. Then St. Patrick's Day, which is today. My wife is completely Irish. Mom and dad, both Irish. She's Irish. St. Patty's Day is a holiday for the Irish. Then March Madness.

First, I should have said, the culmination of the ACC tournament. My sister-in-law's birthday, my wife's birthday, is St. Patty's Day. selection Sunday. My son's birthday is on the 20th. Wow. And then the NCAA tournament. That's quite a month.

It's quite a month. It's quite a month. My in-laws are in town for a couple of weeks to celebrate the most beloved month of the calendar, March in our household. Virginia, a whiskers hair away from beating Duke in the ACC tournament. Yeah. We'll start open-ended. What did you see? Well, you know, I thought this game,

felt to me like a final eight or a final four game because the spectrum was packed mostly with Virginia and Duke fans. There were some fans

from other schools there, but the atmosphere was electric. It was intense, loud. The players were totally into it. To me,

I know it's cliche, but it was like two heavyweights just throwing punches for 15 rounds. And I know Duke was minus a couple players, which was two starters.

Yeah, noticeable. And Grunlow was injured. He couldn't shoot the ball. because of injury to his right hand in the Miami game. And even Hugo, as brilliant as he was, would from time to time be on a stationary bike or have a brace around his back section sitting on the bench when he was out of the game.

So Virginia wasn't exactly 100%. Which is the case for a lot of teams this time of year. Yeah, I mean, it's hard to stay healthy by the time you get to March. There's a lot of teams missing key personnel. But I just thought it was one heck of a basketball game, and that's what an ACC championship game should be. It's what they used to be year after year after year. It's kind of fall off a little bit,

but I thought this kind of brought it back to the old days, to where you just slugged it out for 40 minutes. Hugo had to up his NBA stock. He was fantastic. I understand Malik Thomas missed a key free throw down the stretch, you know, the front end. Right. And those free throws will probably haunt Malik for a long time. But he played very well.

He did. He was all tournament first team along with Hugo. Sam Lewis played well. The team showed its well-rounded nature. Second team, actually. Sam Lewis was first team. Sam was first with Hugo. Sam Lewis played extremely well.

The team showed balance. The big boozer kid was rattled. His twin brother was fantastic, especially in the first half. He truly was, and nobody expected that. No one expected that. Is this the best basketball Virginia has played this season? and the loss to Duke. Probably so just because of the competition and what was at stake.

The moment wasn't too big for them, which was something that Ryan Odom had preached to him. There's probably been some other games where they maybe played better offensively or defensively in a game, but not in a game as meaningful or maybe not against the quality of competition that they did Saturday night. So I would have to say yes, considering those circumstances, it was. And with just a little bit of luck, they could have pulled it off.

And you're right about Ugo dominating. Bozer was asked after the game. about facing him. And he said, I clearly was frustrated. And the guy's a phenomenal shot blocker. He gave him complete kudos. And Hugo complimented Boozer back and saying, you could tell he was frustrated,

but he managed to keep himself together and came back and helped his team win. It was just two really good competitors going after each other for the whole game. Dale Thompson watching the program. He says, good morning, Jerry Rackcliffe. Good morning to me. Howdy. Great to see you guys.

Dale Thompson, let us know where you're watching the program. He's over in the valley, I think. He's in the valley? I believe so. Okay. Fantastic. Dale, we love when you watch the show. Renee Petifers watching in North Carolina.

She always is watching. This is her favorite time of the year, Renee Petterford. It is, yeah. In North Carolina. She wants to know how far we think this Virginia basketball team could dance in March. Wow. I don't know. It's a tough bracket.

I mean, each round you're going to meet somebody just a little bit better, I think, because you've got Kentucky and Iowa State lingering out there. And then ultimately, Michigan, if it goes that far, the number one season, in the Midwest region. It's too hard to predict because any team can get hot. And if you get hot at the right time and get the right matchups, and sometimes some of those teams that you might fear later in later rounds, sometimes they get knocked off and they're not there.

We've seen it with Virginia before back in, what was it, 83, 80s? 84 when the lot of people didn't even think they deserved to be in the tournament and they ended up in the final four because they got hot at the right time and North Carolina got who they were looks like looked like they were destined to face North Carolina with Jordan Perkins and Worthy and they got beat by Syracuse and or Indiana and then Virginia beat Indiana in advance to Seattle.

So we've seen it before. And, you know, the way Virginia shoots three is, if they get hot and stay hot, the sky's the limit. They can beat anybody in the country the way they play. And I think this team is built for the postseason because it's got, it's guard heavy. You've got shooters and scorers. galore.

You've got physical guys in the middle with Grunlow and Hugo and Derritter and Tillis.

So they shouldn't be outmanned in any situation that they find themselves in. Again, I think of those three-point shooters

get hot. They could end up going all the way to Indianapolis. But remains to be seen. You've got to play your best basketball. You can't take a night off. Amen, brother. You got family watching the program. Is that Emily Peary? Is that how I say the last name? That's right. She's watching the show. She's giving you some props right now.

Sweetheart. My granddaughter. Yep, your granddaughter. You were right. Dale Thompson is watching. And thank you for sharing the show, Emily. We appreciate you sincerely. Thank you kindly. Dale says, Waynesboro, so you were right in the Valley. Folks are watching. We have a, it's interesting, we have a viewers and listeners in Allentown, Pennsylvania almost regularly on this program. And the viewers, I think that's Todd Wilfong and his wife. Is that what it is? The UVA supporters, yeah. Yeah, we got, we got heat map with IP addresses in Allentown, Pennsylvania, almost every single show.

They're asking what I was curious about Ugo and should you go be starting instead of Grunlow now, with Grunlow not being 100%. Well, in theory, probably so, because, Grunlow, unless his hand, we don't know what condition his hand is in. We do know that he wasn't himself in the championship game because he, if everybody was paying attention, there was one point in the game, I think in the second half where he had a wide open three. Past it.

And he just, he looked and he said, no, he just couldn't shoot it. His hand wasn't capable of making a solid shot. so he passed it off. So I think under those circumstances, Hugo probably should start. He'll certainly play a lot more minutes, even if he doesn't. But I think he probably should. It's an interesting dynamic because a lot of times, I don't know if it's superstitioner or just a coach has a feel

wanting to start the same people as long as he can. and their guys have started all 31, 31, 32 games, whatever it is, same lineup, every game. And one thing that impressed me for the last home game of this season against Virginia Tech a little over a week ago is that Ryan went to the seniors that are on the bench and said, guys, I can start you.

It'd be fine with me to start you in this game because you're seniors and it's senior day. What do you think? And they said no. They said, no, let's don't disrupt a good thing. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. So we'll just come off the bench, which I thought was an incredible sacrifice

for those kids to say that. And it shows that they are all about team and trying to win. And so keeping that in mind, you know, Ryan's the boss, and if he tells Hugo to start, I'm sure Hugo will start. But, and I think he should,

unless Grunlow's hand is recovered. And I don't know that it will be in a week's time. The very straightforward question. Dale Thompson says, you guys are awesome, that he loves the show. Thank you, Dale. We're going to get to a gentleman. Jennifer's comments in Richmond.

We've got some folks in Hampton Roads watching the program. William McChesney, the mayor of McIntyre watching the show. We appreciate your viewership and listenership of our content. I'll be very straightforward with you here. How much better is the team with you go on the floor now than Grunlow? Oh, much, I think. I don't even think it's comparable. Yeah, I mean, he's just so much more physical.

He's got a bigger, stronger body. Grunlow for 19 is okay, but as he continues in the program, he'll have to add more muscle. And he just doesn't have quite as much experience as Hugo. And he's the premier shot blocker in the nation. I mean, there's no denying that. He has the numbers to prove it. He's a better finisher around the rim with flushing the basketball.

Absolutely. He's better on the pick and roll of chance on the al-A-oop. Right. And finishing around the rim. He's the better shot blocker. I think he's a better rebounder. The only thing that I think Grunlow brings over Yugo, and this is a healthy Grunlow, is shooting.

Yes. And Grunlow is not healthy, and we saw him pass open jump shots. Right. At this point, it seems to me, now, I understand superstition, and I understand not rocking a boat that has you, is the eighth ranked team in the coaches poll, the ninth ranked team and the eight people, and a three seed in the NCAA tournament

with the 29 and five overall record. I mean, what a record, 29 and five. Second in the regular season, ACC, second in the ACC tournament. I get not rocking the boat. But I also, I mean, the eye test clearly suggests that you goes way better right now. Yeah.

I don't understand superstition. I've never, I've never believed and that stuff. But, I mean, there's no denying that. He's proven it on the floor. Nine blocks against Duke in that championship game, five of them against Boozer. He was just a dominating performance.

And, I mean, it shattered Tim Duncan's record for most blocks in an ACC. which was 14 and Hugo ended up with 21 for goodness sakes. And he thought he got robbed a couple, I believe, in the Virginia Tech game. He thought he had a couple more. And he alters even more shots than he blocks. Yeah, yeah. And that's something Jeff Jones pointed out to me earlier this season was not only does he alter shots,

but a lot of times some of these guards will come down into the lane and look up and see him. And they'll just say, no thanks. And they'll pass it back outside. So he's denying shots that weren't even shots. He discourages so many guys from even putting the ball up. So that's almost like a turnover, really, if you stop and think about it. So, and he gets a kick out of it, too. I mean, he said, I guess it was after the Virginia Tech game,

that he loves seeing the fear and guards' eyes when they come down in the lane and look up and see him his imposing figures standing there in the lane, knowing that if they even think about it, he's going to swat it. And so he's a very lovable kid. He's likable, he's affable, he's approachable. He's approachable. He's charming.

He's got humor and comedy. He's quick to make a joke. I can see why he makes a good teammate. He hasn't played much basketball. The upside is significant. I said in the beginning of the year, I think the guy with the most NBA upside is Hugo. I stand by that.

Folks watching the program left and right, and we're going to get to those comments that are coming in. Renee says Hugo is my friend's favorite player. Donnie Lanter is watching in Rono. Virginia, Mark Brown, let us know where you're watching the show, Mark Brown. He says, great game against Duke. I'm not the coach. Laugh out loud, but I think we should have tried Hugo one-on-one versus Boozer and not give their other players wide-open shots, but I love their effort against Duke. I know this is controversial, but he thinks Boozer is overrated. I saw a lot

of Boozer is overrated from Virginia fans. I'm going to respectfully push back on the Virginia fans about Boozer being overrated. I understand that he had a lot of of resistance against Hugo. But guys, we watched Booser in the second half be the team's point guard. Yeah. At six foot nine. And we're not talking a guard at six nine. We're talking a power forward.

I think if anything to me, Boozer improved his draft stock for me. And why I saw him improve his draft stock is because he rebounded. The passing that he did in the first half and the second half. He's a great pass. An unbelievable passer. And then I saw him assume point guard duties. I literally was screaming at this to TV while watching the show, albeit a couple of beers deep here.

He's the point guard now. He's the point guard now. What is going on here? I was impressed with, what was your take on Bozer? Yeah, I mean, the game plan was clarity to try to diminish him as much as they could. And they did. He was three of 17 shooting. But he did other things on the court.

and held his teammates together. He got the ball to his brother quite often in open spaces to where he could score. Boozer is going to be one of the top, probably one of the top three guys drafted, I think. And he's a phenomenal athlete. And it's not surprising that, Virginia would

their scouting report would he's at the top of ever scouting report you try to do all you can to shut him down either that or let him score at will or not at will but let him get his 25 points and try to make the other guys beat you but

it hasn't worked out well either so I think I have ultimate respect for buseries he's going to be in the NBA for a long time. I totally agree. Mark Brown watching the program at Prince George, Virginia. Comments continue to come in. Southie Bagwell.

You know Southie? I know Southie. Yeah, I've met Southie. One of the many people on Twitter I've met throughout the years and met him at a game a couple times this year. Really nice fellow. Southie, let us know where you're watching the program, if you can't. He says Grundo has been starting the game with two fouls.

and he's loose with the ball. He's not as confident at this point of the season as what Southie is seeing. Yeah, well, he's right. The last two or three games, he's picked up two fouls in a blink of an eye and usually has to go and sit on the bench. And that has put more pressure and more demands on Ugo, who was only getting like 17, 18 minutes a game throughout the same. season. He's been clocking a lot more floor time because of rune those foul troubles.

And while it has enhanced Ugo's numbers, it's also pushing him physically more than he's accustomed to. But he's responded well. And there's been a couple of times where in the second half where he's just looked exhausted from, it's physically demanding to play Ryan Odom's style of basketball, not just because you're getting down the floor on offense, but the pressing on defense as well. The center may not be involved quite as heavily in that part of it, but it's, it's taken a little bit of a toll on,

I think it'll go a little bit just because he's had to be out there. I think what's happened with Grunlow and you hit it perfectly, Grunlow is so talented. And Grunlow has got MBA upside because he's a stretch five. He's a shot blocker. He's a rebounder. He's a gifted passer. And he'll be really good.

I think he's going to be really good. Grunlow's issue is he's undersized physically. And as the season has gotten more significant, with the opponents we're playing, the, I don't want to say frailness, but the fact that he hasn't, the fact that he's 19 years old and has not gotten into a weight room, as significant as other bigs have, is getting exposed. Yeah. And as a result, he's picking up fouls that he otherwise should not be picking up. Right. And you go is, what, four years older than him? Yeah. And four years, and when you're talking 19, verse 23, is huge.

It is. I mean, Ugo's a man. Grunlow's developing into a man. Yeah. And Grunel was playing against those kind of guys in Europe. And a lot of times he would get penalized for it. It's just because he couldn't physically match up with those guys.

And it's also a different game. And it's a different game as well. But it's just, you know, Mike Curtis will change his body over the next couple years and maybe he'll look like Hugo by the time he's through. Comments continue to come in here on the show. This is an interesting one. The folks are a little frustrated with the Malik Thomas right now. You want to handle any of that? I understand the miss free throw, but you know what? He played his tail off against Duke. Yeah, I mean, he overall had a pretty good tournament if you look at his numbers.

And I thought he closed out his final season. For a while there, he was kind of in a lull. For a while, he looked like a mid-major player that was playing in the ACC. Yeah. He does a lot of things good, a lot of things pretty good, but nothing especially great. And down the stretch, I thought he contributed more scoring-wise. which is one of the reasons they brought him in here in the first place. And he had, I don't have the numbers in front of me,

but it seemed like me he had pretty good offensive output for the three games in Charlotte. Again, I don't have the numbers in front of me, but just from trying to remember, I thought he was an effective score, and that's what they needed him to be. And they're going to need him to be that going forward. 100%. 100%. If you look at the roster,

guys who could create their shot off the dribble, Chance Mallory can do that. Malik Thomas can do that. Jakari White can do that. Sam Lewis can do that. Dallon has gotten to where he can make some nice drives too. Yeah. DeRitter can do that.

Yeah. They need Malik Thomas to be a creator off the drivet. dribble when jump shots are not falling. I wouldn't say Malik Thomas is a pure shooter. I'd say he's a streaky shooter. But he is extremely important. I mean, they're all important to this team at this time of year. What else struck you or stood out to you in that ACC tournament run that either

concerned you or you would like to see duplicated come big dance? Well, Sam Lewis was nearly unstoppable. At one time, he was shooting 80% from the three-point mark. he don't get any hotter than that. If nothing else, maybe he should have gotten more shots, but it's good to see him entering the NCAAs on a hot streak. They need Jakari to heat up again, too. He had a decent, although they shortened their bench for the Duke game,

and Jacari played a little bit less than 10 minutes. That was my questions to ask you. What happened there? It was just, I don't know exactly. We asked Ryan, he just said that they decided to shorten their bench, and it was situational that he's not hurt. Is Jakarta a defense a liability? I think he can be, and maybe the matchup just wasn't right against Duke,

and so they had to make some adjustments. But I don't think they're not going to run. running into too many teams as talented as Duke as they maneuver through the pool. Jacari White is critically important, ladies and gentlemen, for this team. Olivia Branch watching the program. Wanda Anderson Parnell watching the program. Charles Hurt watching the program. Vanessa Parkhill watching the program.

Southie says he is watching the program in Quentin, Virginia. Let's go to the panhandle of Florida where we have a lot of viewers and listeners, interestingly. We love that. On the panhandle of Florida here. This question's come in from the Sunshine State. What's going on with Hall? He seems to be lacking a lot of confidence with his jump shots and shot a couple of air balls in the ACC tournament. I don't think he has any confidence problems at all.

I just don't think Hall is the best shooter, frankly. Yeah. Yeah, he's just not. I mean, he can hit threes and stuff, but sometimes he'll maybe force up a shot that's more like a prayer than a solid shot. But he's fine. There's nothing wrong with him. His confidence is fine. I think he'll be a major contributor in the NCAA just because of his experience.

He's played in three NCAA tournaments, made it to the Sweet 16 last year with BYU, and that kind of experience is invaluable at this time. Particularly when you're on a team that doesn't have a lot of guys that have played in the big dance. And so he can be kind of a calming influence he is anyway, but even more so when the pressure is on. in a big moment like this. So he's fine. There's nothing to worry about there.

Viewers and listeners, comments in the feed, I will relay him live on air. How about Derritter? He's catching some flack right now. I can't imagine why anyone would be giving Derritter flack for the year that he's had a first team all conference. But he did have less than desirable ACCC tournament championship outing. You got to consider that he's just like Boozer.

He's at the very top of every scouting report. Other teams are going to do everything they can to take away any strengths that he has. If it means double-teaming him or trying to deny him getting the ball, trying to deny him an easy path to the basket, whatever it takes defensively, that's what they're going to do to try to reduce. his effectiveness in the game because he can impact the game. He can turn a game around

in two or three trips down the floor. It's up to Virginia to find creative ways to combat that and find ways to get him the ball. They may have to set some picks or screens or something to help him shake some of these defenders or something, but he, he, he, he, he didn't have a great final against Duke. His numbers were,

5.6 boards, 3 turnovers, 1 of 6 from the field. Yeah, one of six from the field. Yeah, one of six. And so offensively he wasn't as effective as he normally would be. And people, again, people are going to try to take him out of the of the game. And Duke did that the first time they played, and he and Boozer kind of negated each other. It's kind of the same thing this time.

Neither one of them were the man on their team like they normally would be. But again, they're not going to run into a lot of people that can play defense like Duke either. And Duke is one of the better defensive teams around. So I don't know that he'll see that kind of defense in the early rounds of NCAA. Jonathan H. 1493 is watching on YouTube. Loudoun County, Virginia, born and raised. Born and raised in Seville, though, but he's watching in Loudoun County, Virginia. Jonathan H.

Thank you for watching the show on YouTube. Viewers and listeners, if you have a comment, put it in the feet. Let us know where you're watching. I love to shout out your location on the program. William, we've dubbed him the mayor of McIntyre. he thought Jacari White was grabbing his wrist after a contested possession, maybe not injured, but seemed that he had some pain he needed to shake off. All platform or segue Williams' comments into the shortening of the rotation against Duke, Devin Tillis and Jacari White, 11 minutes for Tillis,

nine minutes for Jacari White. My question for you, as they go deeper in the big dance, does a nine-man balance rotation look more seven-ish in its feel with Chance and Hugo potentially coming off the bench? Or does he keep the nine-man balance rotation with Tillis and Jacari White getting minutes into the teens? I think it depends on the match-up against Wright State. I expect them to return to the normal amount of playing time. Against Wright State, I want to see Elijah Gertrude in there. I want to see Odom's son in there. I want to see Carter Lang in there.

Well, you may very well. If they're favored by 18 and a half and win by that many, then you probably will. Against Tennessee or I'm thinking probably SMU would be. I don't think Miami can beat SMU, but I'm guessing it'll be Tennessee. Could be SMU. I don't know that they would sure. the bench to this the way they did against Duke or not. I think if they can, they'll play the normal minutes against a team like that.

I think they're going to have to run into a team along the lines of Michigan or somebody like that before they're going to shorten their rotation to the way they did in the Duke game. who you see Tennessee, a Virginia Tennessee matchup. That's the way I'm viewing it right now. Barnes does a really good job. He's a hell of a coach. He's a hell of a coach.

Was Virginia's coach for a couple of hours back in 1990, I guess it was. That's a whole show we could do on that. That's a paved, walled piece of it. content right there. People would eat that up, Pudy, if you wrote that up. If that comes to fruition, it's Virginia, Tennessee. I'm sure we will write that up. And that was one of the stranger moments in Virginia athletic history

when Mr. Barnes was Virginia's head basketball coach for a few hours. But what were we talking about? You were talking about Tennessee. You think Tennessee is going to be the matchup? Yeah, I think Tennessee will be there. They're pretty good. They normally advance. And I think it would be a heck of a basketball game, Virginia and Tennessee.

I think it would be. It would be another knockdown dragout. 100%. That's what I would see. An up and down game, scoring a fair. And then you got a potential matchup. What is that? The Sweet 16.

And you know what? This play-in game is technically the first four, I think, is technically built as the first. round? I think it is, yeah. Which is odd to say. Which it really shouldn't be. Which it should not be. Right. And then Virginia and Wright State is technically, technically build as the second round. But I'm old school and look at Virginia Wright State as the first rounds with a Tennessee matchup old school-wise in the second round. But then if they get through Tennessee, and we're not trying to count our chickens here, but if they get through Tennessee, it's a Kentucky. I'm a Iowa State matchup waiting to happen. Time will tell on that. I will say on the other side of the Midwest bracket, the Michigan side, Michigan's path is a little bit less friction or a little clearer with Alabama's starting point guard

arrested on Monday. Yeah. Do you see that? Marijuana charges. More than a pound of marijuana on the starting point guard for Alabama. They're one of their top players, their best three point shooter. averaging about 16, 17 points a game. He's been arrested.

He's facing some felony charges right now. He's been suspended from the team. You're talking Alabama, the four seat in the Midwest. Their starting point guard is in the slammer. Well, he's out on bail right now, but he's facing some serious heat, the Bama point guard. What do you make in the Midwest bracket across the board? What jumped out to you about the draw, total drawl,

not just Midwest, but all the team selected? My wife is a huge Yukon fan. UConn is in the east Duke is in the east St. John's is in the east Yeah, I'm surprised it kept St. John's in the east with Yukon. St. John's a five seed,

beat Yukon in the Big East final. That was the biggest surprise to me of the whole field was that St. John's being a five seed after they had won the Big East regular season and the tournament. And the tournament. Yeah. It doesn't happen very often. It doesn't happen very often.

Bush against Yukon. And I've seen, my wife is a Yukon grad. We watch a lot of Big East basketball in our house for the money. I think there's no better play-by-play guy than Gus Johnson. I love Gus Johnson. The color commentating of

Jim Jackson is phenomenal. That's my favorite tandem, Gus Johnson and Jim Jackson. They call all of the Big East primetime games. St. Johns has been a prime time inclusion because they're the best team on paper in the Big East. St. John's

a damn good basketball team. No question. And for them to be a five seat, I was surprised. Yeah. And going back to my early days in the business and going to a lot of NCAA tournaments and some final fours and stuff, being around Rick Petino is a great experience because he has such a rich history in the game and can tell stories. like none other.

And I loved to sit and listen to him talk about various things in the history of college basketball that he's been through. But, yeah. He's been through a lot, folks. Yeah, he has been. And, I mean, he completely resurrected

that St. John's program, which was at rock bottom. Rick Petino, in a lot of ways, resurrected his career. He did, indeed. He was outcasted. He had to go coach in Greece. He coached across the pond in Europe.

Yeah. Yeah. And now he's back at Husson John's on the map. Rick Petino, ladies and gentlemen, is 73 years old. The energy of Rick Petino on the sidelines during a basketball game. Viewers and listeners watch Petino. He is much, must see television. Same with Danny Hurley.

These are two of the most, a lot of times when Hurley and Petino are coaching, I'm watching the coaches as much as the basketball. It reminds me a lot of the Big East back when the Big East was the power in the country. Yeah. And they had all the great coaches. All the great coaches. So many great programs. Calhoun, Beheim, I mean, all the great coaches.

Petino in the all-white suit, almost Colonel Sanders-esque. I'm not real crazy about that look. I think it's great. I mean, he looks like Colonel Sanders to me. But he wears the all-white suit when St. John's does the whiteout. It is just, it is, it is awesome. It is awesome. Petino coaching against his son is awesome.

I mean, he's got purse. It's just great. I love this time of year, as you can tell. What else struck you from the NCAA tournament bracket? Anything else jump out to you? Not really. I mean, I thought the brackets were pretty well balanced overall. which sometimes that gets a little sideways,

but I don't think anybody has an easy path to Indianapolis. There's a lot of good teams in every region. I think my wife made this comment. Because of the transfer portal and because of pay for play, there's a lot of teams that could potentially win this. Yeah, more so than ever. More so than ever. Duke on paper is my favorite.

especially if they get. Looks like one of the two starters is going to be back. Their starting center is going to play. I think he might make it back. Yeah, it might make it back. They're on paper. I think the team on paper to win, but anyone can win this.

And that parody and that unexpectedness is what makes a tournament great. Yeah. Everybody saw a lot of the national commentators will say, oh, it's got to come from one of these top four seeds. But I don't buy that. Neither do I. I think there's,

10 or 12 teams that have a chance to be in Indianapolis. And if they just play really good basketball and somebody always gets hot that you don't expect. So I think it's going to be a really fun tournament, more fun than usual. I don't know that we'll see a lot of upsets again, though. I think those days may be gone because of the NIL. but I think there's just so many really good basketball teams out there that it's just going to be a good basketball. So Hootie Rackleves' crystal ball says pick chalk across the board?

Yeah. You say go with chalk? Is that what you're saying? Yeah. Because you think the favorites, you think the favorites more so than ever now? Yeah, I don't see a lot of upsets coming. There'll probably be a couple, but I think the days of Cinderella are kind of over. because anybody that's a good mid-major player is going to get scooped up now by NIL money,

and that leaves the mid-majors, you know, kind of a little on the mediocre side, if you ask me. I just don't see that happening this year or maybe any time in the future if they don't straighten things out. Kenneth Knuckles is watching the program. He wants us to switch gears. And with about five minutes left in the program, time flies here. We will switch gears. Basketball fans, it's Friday, March 20th, our oldest son's birthday.

And they also have Yukon playing late at night as well. So this is a big day in the Miller household. Kids' birthday, Yukon and UVA play. Big day in our household. Kenneth Knuckles is watching on YouTube. He says he was born and raised in Charlottesville. He's watching in Virginia Beach right now. and wants us to address UVA lacrosse.

He says championship weekend is coming up in Charlottesville at Scott Stadium, and he's concerned with what's happening at UVA. Clearly they've lost to what, Johns Hopkins, they lost a thousand, they just lost to Maryland. He gave Maryland a really good game. He gave Maryland a good game. He says this. He's been told NIL-wise,

there's four players on Syracuse's roster that are paid a million dollars each, which is more than they would make in. major league lacrosse. What's going on with Virginia lacrosse? I don't, I'm, I'm straightforward with the viewers and listeners. I am far from a lacrosse expert. I follow the football and basketball teams inside and out. I follow the squash team inside and out. Those are my bread and butter here. I do watch lacrosse when it's on television or I listen to it, and I do follow them from a box score standpoint. I am not a lacrosse virtuoso, though. Yeah, I would have to say I've been that same category because football and basketball is what moved the needle.

And they're turning to year-round sports. Yeah, they have been. There's no seasonal thing with that football and basketball anymore. Most 95% of my focus has been on basketball and will be until it's over. Even though spring football starts today at UVA, we'll be over there tonight doing some interviews. I really haven't had a lot of time to dedicate to baseball or lacrosse or any of the spring sports at this point. It's just you don't want to stretch yourself too thin at this time of year. And I'll pay more attention to that once basketball is over with.

Although sometimes lacrosse starts so early that it's almost over by the time basketball season is complete. I can't really delve into and give you any inside information on what's wrong with the lacrosse team. I know they've struggled in goal some. I don't know if that's the heart of the problem. I've heard stories about NIL getting out of whack and some other rival programs that has left Virginia kind of behind the eight ball because these other teams are spending Buku's of money on talent

again I can't get into the specifics of it because I don't like to comment on stuff that I don't have the full knowledge about that I will have later on but they are struggling They had a good chance to beat Maryland the other day, which would have been a great win for the program. This is what we do know.

They finished with a losing record last year. Yeah, they did. They finished, what, six and eight last year. They made some coaching staff changes. Virginia lacrosse is below 500 this year, which is not a place you generally find. And they're just now getting into ACC play, right? Yeah, their losses this year have been to Richmond, which is the top 10 team in the country, Johns Hopkins, Towson, and Maryland.

They have Utah at Scott Stadium on Saturday. Then Dartmouth, Dorderdame, Duke, Syracuse, North Carolina, Drex-only ACC championship. Currently a sub-500 record. The whisperings, this is what I've seen on the chatter on social media and the message boards, is about coaching. staff. And it's just because the expectations have been so high. Right.

Well, this program has been to the zenith of the sport for... Forever. Yeah, a huge span of time. And when you have those kind of expectations, it's a pressure situation. Yeah. And I don't know the fact that the national championship is here by a freak. thing in the sketching because of the World Cup. I don't know if that puts any more pressure on a coaching staff or not.

It would be nice if Virginia was part of that, but you can't necessarily expect that with the changing in the sport with the NIL money. Again, you don't know what's true and what's not. not true, but we've heard some pretty startling rumors about some other rival programs and the money that they're spending. And I don't know if Virginia can match that or, you know, the details of that at this point, but we'll find out about it. And naturally, people are going to blame the coaches when things aren't right.

I mean, they wanted to run Tony Elliott out of town, right? And look what he did for him this past season. You've got to have the money to compete in your sport now. And if you don't, money talks and everybody else rides the bus. Amen, brother. Amen, brother. Comments continue to come in. We will talk football here.

Spring practice starts today. Right. Quarterback play. Is this the deepest the position has been talent-wise and how long? You got what, the Missouri quarterback? Yeah, you got the Pittsburgh quarterback. Beau, prebulous. I'm still trying to.

Prebula? Pribula. We're trying to still get reused to some of these new guys. And the Pitt quarterback, who started some games before he was relegated to the bench, but both these guys have starting an experience and have had some put up some impressive numbers during their times as starters at Missouri and Pittsburgh. So, yeah, it looks like it would be a really healthy competition

in the spring. Who knows who might have an advantage? And even if they'll even decide, who the starter is in the spring. A lot of times it's better not to let that continue into the fall camp because if you name a starter in the spring and the other guy's discontented,

he might hit the portal again. We've seen that time and time again. But yeah, it should be a very healthy quarterback competition throughout the spring. What can the subscribers of Jerry Ratcliffe.com Folks, it's $8 a month. It's the best $8 a month you'll spend. I mean, you're talking two or three pieces of content

over a day at Jerry Ratcliffe.com, and it's content you're not going to get anywhere else. We're not talking the AI-generated press release content that you see elsewhere. We're talking in-depth content, that is Virginia Sports Hall of Fame-backed content. What can folks expect at Jerry Ratcliffe.com? Well, we'll be over at UVA football practice later today

and take the end as much of that as we can. and talking to a couple of the players and to coach Elliot. So we'll have something on that tomorrow. And continue to follow this basketball team and everything else as we head toward Philadelphia this weekend. It's going to be awesome. He's Jerry Rackliff. Jerry Rackliff.com. I'll try to squeeze in a podcast if we can work it out with JJ this week.

Jeff Jones? Yeah. Do we have a guest lined up? are we going to? I think we might just pick JJ's brain on what it takes to get ready for an NCAA tournament. The Jeff Jones podcast are absolutely fantastic, ladies and gentlemen.

Coach Jones is extremely affable and knowledgeable when it comes to this sport. Jerry Rackleff is a Virginia Sports Hall of Famer. He is covering Virginia sports like no one else has and no one else

does at Jerry Rackleff.com. His business model is now a subscriber business model where it's $8 a month that we encourage you, the viewer and listening to do it, I'm doing it. And the content that I'm getting every day through a daily digest that's sent to my inbox once something is published

is justifiable of the subscription. It's just absolutely fantastic. Judah Wiccar is behind the camera. Jerry Rackleff is the star of the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer. My name is Jerry Miller. This is the Jerry and Jerry show. The I Love Seville show

is up at 1230. So long everybody. Nicely, Dr. Thank you, sir. Same to you.