The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Inside Hootie's Head: Top Home Courts In USA; Toughest Basketball Arenas In The ACC

Episode Date: January 30, 2024

The Jerry & Jerry Show headlines: Inside Hootie’s Head: Top Home Courts In USA Toughest Basketball Arenas In The ACC Wahoos Are Riding A 4-Game Winning Streak What Is Working Well For UVA Basketball Now? Boxscore Breakdown: Emergence Of Ryan Dunn R. Beekman Is Elevating His Game Even More Notre Dame at UVA, 7PM, Wednesday, ESPN2 How Do Hoos Get Revenge Vs. Fighting Irish? 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.

Jerry Miller, it's great to connect with you here in downtown Charlottesville, Virginia, about a mile from the grounds of Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia, the John Paul Jones Arena and Scott Stadium. The star of the show is Jerry Hootie Ratcliffe. He's got 40 plus years on the UVA Sports Beat, the Atlantic Coast Conference Beat. He's an award-winning writer, a multi-time Virginia Writer of the Year award winner. He's a Virginia Sports Hall of Famer. And one of my favorite things about this show is getting inside Hootie's head. We did it last week with his travels around the globe. This week, we're going to do it with basketball arenas and

some of the toughest home court advantages in the country. Renee Pettiford, we're going to get to your comments here in a matter of moments. We love when you watch the program. We got folks in six states as of right now watching the show. Judah Wick Wickauer, if you can go to the studio camera and then the two-shot, and let's welcome a legend, Virginia Sports Hall of Famer, Jerry Hootie Ratcliffe. Toughest question I think I may have asked you in the history of the Jerry and Jerry Show is how many arenas have you been to in your career? Wow. At some point, I'm going to have to sit down and try to add those up,

and that's going to be a task in itself. I made a half-hearted attempt a few years ago when Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe, somebody asked him, and he went back and counted, and it was an unbelievable amount. But that sparked a bunch of writers doing it, and I started, but I never even got halfway through. There's just been so many scattered all over the country. And as we said, right before the program started, I covered some schools from various conferences back in early or in my career. And so I'll probably hit a few places that a lot of writers probably bypassed somewhere along the way. Toughest home court advantage in the nation is a more pointed question, maybe one that's easier to answer than how many arenas you've been to. Hootie, there are a lot of tough home court advantages.

Cameron comes immediately to mind, but Cameron may be the easy one because they're constantly on ESPN and on national TV. You've been to so many. What would be the short list before we get ACC and maybe the conference is the toughest arena is from the ACC, but what's the short list of the toughest toughest in the country? I think probably Kansas and Kentucky. Also at Duke, Cameron, which is tough. I don't think it's quite as tough as it used to be, but I think it's still a really difficult place to go in and win a basketball game. It used to be almost impossible to win there. And part of it was, it's such a small arena compared to today's mega arenas. Seats 10,000 or less and they're all packed in.

They're on top of you. Yeah, I mean the students for, that's why John Feinstein doesn't even go there anymore, and it's his alma mater because he doesn't like having the students' knees in his back on press row and the spittle getting into your hair from them screaming at the referees and the other team. I mean, they're this close to you. I mean, they're this close to you. I mean, it's unbelievable. Those are three of the toughest places around for sure, but I've been to a bunch, and some of the toughest ones other than those are Michigan State, a very tough place. Maryland, believe it or not, I know Virginia fans are not

fans of Maryland, but it's a tough place to play. Tennessee, Arkansas, UConn, Purdue are some of the ones that popped up in my mind. In the ACC, outside of Duke, Virginia Tech has become a very tough place to play. Very vocal crowd. NC State, North Carolina didn't used to be, but they've become a tougher place to play now

that they've let their hair down a little bit down there. But Carmichael used to be, but they've become a tougher place to play now that they've let their hair down a little bit down there. But Carmichael used to be even tougher because it was small like Cameron. But the Dean Dome has become a tough place, not just because of the team, but the crowds are into it a little bit more than they used to be. I think Syracuse, when things are good, which they haven't been too much lately because it's such a fast arena and there's so many people in there. Once upon a time, Louisville was a very tough place to play. We're talking about a place

like JPJ, a little bit bigger. And when they had good teams, that was a very difficult place to play. And, of course, John Paul Jones Arena can get almost as loud as any place I've been. Duke is still the loudest place. And, again, I think part of it is because it's a smaller space. But there was a couple of times back in the 80's and 90's I thought I'd lost my hearing in that place because it was so loud it gets really intense

and the same thing for Carmichael the first time I really experienced a loud crowd was when Jordan stole the ball and beat Virginia in the last second. So I think he stole it from Rick Carlisle and Carmichael. And I really thought I had lost my hearing that night. It was so loud in that place. Where does the John Paul Jones Arena stack up? It's way up there.

It can get really loud at JPJ when the crowd is really into it. And it's a tough place to play, obviously. It can get really loud at JPJ when the crowd is really into it. And it's a tough place to play, obviously, because, I mean, you look at the record. And I don't think, you know, I think they have a hard time scheduling sometimes because people don't want to come here and play. Longest home winning streak in the nation? Yep, absolutely. 21 games. 21 games. 21 games.

And hosting Notre Dame tomorrow night. Trying to get a little revenge over that game at South Bend. I expect to be a pretty loud crowd for that one too. National TV, ESPN2, 7 o'clock tip-off against the Fighting Irish. He's 100% right. Revenge, a dish best served cold. And Tony Bennett's boys are seeking revenge after getting hammered in South Bend. A lot I want to cover with you on today's program.

And we've got a turnaround of significant proportions here. I talked about this yesterday on the I Love Seville show. I mean, 10 days ago, 14 days ago, part of the fan base was asking these questions. First question, is Tony Bennett's pack line defense conducive to this new style of college basketball? Fans were asking this question. Is Tony Bennett adapting to the new NIL landscape of college basketball?

Fans were asking this question. Can Coach Bennett work the transfer portal well enough? Because at this point, it doesn't look like he can. And shockingly, even some writers, which we won't name, were asking this question. Is Tony Bennett the right guy to lead this program? Both you and I found the four questions borderline blasphemous, especially the last one. Now Bennett, Coach has got him on a four-game winning streak, and the same folks that were throwing the shade are now eating crow, Hootie.

Yeah, I mean, Virginia is, what, in third place, I think, in the ACC? Half game behind Duke. Half a game. Yeah. And they're playing very well. I mean, Virginia fans tend to reach for the panic button a little more quicker than I think a lot of fan bases do. I don't know. We've discussed reasons why we think that is.

But, you know, and it's funny, Jerry, by the time we have another show next Tuesday, they will have played three more games. It's hard to believe. Notre Dame, then at Clemson on Saturday, and then Miami here next Monday in the first Monday night game of the season, I think. So, I mean, people just don't listen sometimes. We've said several times that Tony Bennett said this is not going to be the same team in November that you see in March.

It's clearly not even the same team that we're seeing right now that we saw in November. He's one of the most innovative coaches out there and people may not believe that because he sticks traditionally to his pack line and his slower tempo but there are so many intricacies involved in in running those properly and getting the most out of them and and when people study you and break you down and find weaknesses, you've got to self-correct. And that's what he's very good at. And, I mean, you look at the Notre Dame game the last time they played. And several teams kind of copycatted Xerox that game plan at Notre Dame had,

coming out firing threes, various things like that. Tony has changed some of the defensive coverages to get the shooters, running them off the line. They've been working hard on taking the three-point shot away. He's developed an inside game with Jordan Miner, bringing him along slowly until he could adapt his feet more than anything else to the pack line man-to-man. Instead of playing zone for four years at Merrimack,

he's brought some of his other guys along. He needed to get Harris back in the lineup because they need that on-ball defense. He's constantly working. And, you know, when all this is said and done, who knows where they're going to finish up. We could be seeing Tony Bennett's best coaching job of his career this year, regardless of what the outcome is, because.

He had three players returning of merit. Yeah. I mean, it takes time for these guys to learn each other and make it a cohesive team. I mean, these guys didn't even know each other six months ago or whatever, and, you know, they have to work together like a well-oiled machine, and it just doesn't happen overnight. Edward Jenkins, welcome to the program on Twitter. Seven states on the broadcast right now watching the Jerry and Jerry Show.

We're talking Virginia basketball. We're having this topic. Could this be Tony Bennett's best coaching year yet? And he's had a lot of really good coaching years. We want to highlight a couple of elements here. Isaac McNeely, Reece Beekman, and Ryan Dunn. These are the three players that return to Virginia basketball. Besides that, the entire team is brand new.

You talk about some of the transformations or adaptions or innovations he's made with this program. Let's go position by position. Reece Beekman, we've literally seen this season how he's progressed offensively. He is now aggressively looking for his shot, attacking the rack off the dribble, and finishing with strength through contact in the paint. Like saying, I'm the alpha dog. I want to score. I know I can put this team on my back.

That's something new for Reese Beekman this year. Go to the two guard spot. Isaac McNeely, and you highlighted this very well on jerrywrackliff.com, is now taking jump shots from bonus fear at the logo. He's practicing them at the logo. He's being pushed off the three-point line. He's shooting the three ball way deeper than ever because he can't shoot it at the line anymore because defenders are waiting for him there. You talk Ryan Dunn. We've seen Ryan Dunn transition to more of an attacker's role on the wing, going off the dribble to the rack, which utilizes his God-given ability, his length, his jumping ability, and his explosiveness. He's put Miner in the lineup, a transfer from four years of zone

defense at Mary Mac, now coming into the highest level of college basketball, and he's performing admirably, especially in the offensive class. He takes Rhodey from the starting lineup, moves him to the bench because Dante Harris is finally healthy after a high ankle sprain. Harris may not be the scorer we thought he would be, but he's an additional ball handler. He's a great passer, and his defense should not be underrated. He's got first years in Gertrude that are kind of glue guys that fill in when needed. Bond's playing damn good basketball off the bench. You've got Buchanan, a first year, that's playing very good basketball. I mean, this very well could be, and Hootie highlighted this, this is why he's a Hall of Famer, this very well could be his best coaching year in Charlottesville.

Yeah, I really like what he's doing with Buchanan, bringing him along gradually. And now they have a pretty nice attacking side using him and Miner as essentially one guy getting enough minutes out of the both of them to be an effective position right there. Miner's come on strong. Buchanan has made some nice strides in the past couple of weeks, I think.

And by the time this season's over, I think he won't be a freshman anymore for sure. He's looking really good, learning from his mistakes and becoming more aggressive, but smart, doing it in a smart way. Grove's a heck of an option to bring off the bench. He really is. He provides some spark. Some of these other guys are just, you know, Bickman is now everything we thought he would be coming in.

It took him a little while to get there this season, but right now he's a guy you want the ball in his hands every time down the floor, if possible, because he's going to make something happen. Either he's going to drive to the basket and score or pull up and hit a shot or get the ball into the hands of the right people. His chemistry with Dunn on those alley-oops has become poetic. Really something to watch. he's just the kind of leader

that they thought that he would be. Beekman, the only thing missing from his game is shooting from downtown. Shooting at a proficient or higher clip from downtown. Last I looked, he was shooting about 26%, 27% from bonus fear. He works on that. You've got a prolific NBA-bodied point guard right here.

Questions are coming in. Renee's got this question. I promised I'd relay her first question to the viewers and listeners. Ask Hootie a question. I'll mention it live on air. Renee's saying, now that Reese has elevated his game, do you think he's a first-round pick? I'll add to that, what has he done in your mind over the last 30 days to change?

Right now, I don't think he's a first-round pick at this point. Some of that goes back to offense. Even though it has improved, I don't think it's consistent enough at this point to become a first-rounder. But he's a very draftable guy now, and he could play his way into the first round. It depends on how he performs the rest of the season and I guess when he goes into the combine and all that stuff. But he has really elevated his game, as she pointed out.

We already knew that he was a great defender, that he was a really sharp assist man, steals. 2.4 a game. Almost incomparable. Yep. Good ball handler, smart, driven. It's just the offense right now that's holding him back from being a higher draft pick, and that can get better as the season goes on.

The comparisons being made to Malcolm Brogdon, it's a hell of a comparison to be compared to a guy like Malcolm Brogdon. Brogdon has made's a hell of a comparison to be compared to a guy like Malcolm Brogdon. Brogdon has made tens of millions of dollars, probably flirting with $100 million in the National Basketball Association. He's been a bit of a journeyman, Malcolm Brogdon, but he's had a fantastic NBA career without a doubt. The difference for me, and you're the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer, I'll toss it to you, and I want to make a correction. He's shooting 29.3% from downtown, better than the 26, 27% I gave him credit for. Still, 29.3% is not great for a point guard. I would also like to see his free throw percentage north of 80.

He misses some key free throws from time to time, shooting 75% from the stripe. The comparison to Brogdon I don't think is applicable because Brogdon is a much better shooter than Reese Beekman. Yeah, Malcolm could light it up, and we've seen that. We saw it when he was here. We've seen it ever since. And that's one of the reasons that a lot of teams in the NBA think he's a nice piece to their puzzle.

I've heard that the Lakers and the Clippers both are interested in trying to acquire him. He's the kind of guy that can help make your team complete. There's no comparison for a guy who can light up the scoreboard, and that's something that Reese is going to have to become better at. Undoubtedly. John Allison watching the program right now. Comments are coming in fast. This is a very good question from the viewers and listeners.

When it comes to Ryan Dunn, and this is from Kelsey who's watching the program, she routinely comments on the show. When it comes to Ryan Dunn, what has Hootie seen that he's been doing much better? I look at the box score, and he's now filling it up from a scoring standpoint as well. He's just, I think he's become a little more aggressive. Particularly, I mean, anytime he's around the paint, people have to beware. Because if he gets the ball in his hands, he can take it to the rack.

It doesn't have to be a backdoor or an alley-oop or any of that. He can just flat-out attack the basket and score. And he's finishing with more authority, I think, than he used to. He would leave a few on the rim or something to that effect. But now he just, there's no doubt about it, when he goes to the rim now, he's going to flush it. And I think that's what he's become better at.

The rest of his game is complete. I mean, rebounding, blocked shots. He's got long arms. He can steal the ball. He's a really good defender. He can defend multiple positions. I think it's just his mentality and becoming more of a threat as a scorer that's made him a more complete basketball player.

Larry Redwing watching the program right now. Anita Kingston in Atlanta watching the program. Natalie Fuller watching the program. Satia Mary watching the program. Questions are coming in quickly now. Grayson right around the corner in Charlottesville, north downtown, routinely ask us some questions. What do they have to do against Notre Dame?

They got beat badly against the Irish. This is a big-time game for Virginia. Yeah, I think just play the way they've been playing the last couple of outings. I mean, they have a nice little four-game winning streak going. I think maybe their best win in that span was beating NC State the way they did here, and it was with authority. I mean, they had 54 rebounds in that game. Who would have ever guessed that a couple of weeks ago,

that Virginia would have 54 rebounds in a game? But I think they improved in every facet of the game pretty much as a team. They're playing more together as a team. I think guys are embracing their roles a little bit better, maybe learning their roles a little bit better too. And, you know, we've heard all the coaches say they're a work in progress and that's going to continue through the season. But to beat Notre Dame, I think they're going to have to do what they've been doing

is running people off that three-point line. They've become very good in changing their coverages, in stopping people from killing them with the three-point shot. They've become a much more aggressive offense themselves, not so much from the three-point line, but from inside it, and particularly down in the paint. They've outscored a lot of people in the paint during this streak. The defense is solid. They'reored a lot of people in the paint during this streak. The defense is solid. They're forcing a lot of turnovers. They're not turning it over very much themselves.

The fact that Harris is back and they have a two-prong defensive attack out on the perimeter, they're keeping other teams' guards from setting up the offense the way they would like to. That's disrupting some things. And I think they're just more adept at playing with one another. They have gotten to know each other's games and what to expect from each other a little bit more than they did early on when they were probably just guessing if this guy's going to be there or this guy's going to be there.

They know they're going to be there now. Comments are coming in, guys. I love when the viewers and listeners ask comments. He mentions Notre Dame. This question's come in the feed, and it's a fair question. Carter's asking this from North Carolina. Is this a must-win game for Virginia? And he highlights Notre Dame's record, 7-13, 2-7 in conference play,

where tomorrow's the 31st of January, basically February. Losing to a 7-13 team that's 2-7 in conference play, even though the Fighting Irish beat UVA earlier in the season, this would go a long way with working against Virginia's resume come March. Yeah, I think just about every game is almost a must game at this point because you're number 47 I think in the net. You're leaving yourself hanging if you don't take care of business and win games like this that you're supposed

to win, particularly at home. I think a bigger game are the next two when they go to Clemson Saturday and then Miami coming here because I guess the Clemson game would be a quad one win, I believe. They need some of those to get off the bubble. And so does Clemson. And enhance their resume a little bit. You don't want to be on the bubble and leave it up to somebody else whether you're going to make the tournament or not.

So I think they're all pretty much must-win games at this point. But, no, you can't afford to lose to a team like Notre Dame. That's a resume killer for sure. Notre Dame, guys, Wednesday, John Paul Jones Arena, ESPN 2, 7 o'clock tip. February 3rd at Clemson, ESPN. Miami, the 5th of Arena, ESPN 2, 7 o'clock tip. February 3rd, at Clemson, ESPN. Miami, the 5th of February, ESPN. The next three ballgames for the Wahoos, all nationally televised, Hootie Ratcliffe. Yeah, and rightfully so.

Particularly the Clemson game. Clemson's been pretty good this year. Oh, yeah. You've got to give them credit. I mean, Clemson on national TV maybe should have beaten Duke. I mean, I watched that game. Probably should have beaten Duke. They got robbed.

I didn't get to see it, but I've heard that Brownell was really hacked off with the way that game ended. The call by the ref, basically as time expired, sending the Dookie to the free throw line was a lot of home cooking from my standpoint. You know, you tend to get that at Cameron. Yeah, that's so true. You have for decades. I know because I've been there.

I used to cover Duke. So I've seen a lot of that over the years. I remember one year UCLA came in there high and mighty, and they were essentially cooked off the court to the point that their coach got ejected from the game. So I've seen it for real. In fact, I think that was Jim Valvano. It was the last time I ever saw Jim Valvano. I think he was doing color TV, color analyst for somebody in that game.

And I remember how it hurt watching him walk so slowly off the court. It took him about 15 or 20 minutes to walk off the court. But yeah, you can get some home cooking at Cameron for sure. But Brownell has done a really good job with Clemson. He's a good guy, and he believes in all the right things, and he's done a good job. You certainly can't dismiss them because they're capable of beating you any time. John Allison, Rene Pettiford, we'll get to your comments. First, Stephanie Wells-Rhodes of the Interstate Service Company family, a home's best friend.

Clemson should have won, she said. That was absolutely unfair. I absolutely concur. My wife and I watched that ball game. We were both screaming at the television about the home cooking. Phillip Dow watching the program in Scottsville right now. The show was absolutely on fire. John Allison right now, he says, for Hootie, turning to baseball.

We'll get to baseball. I promise you, John Allison, let me mark this question down because we've got a lot of basketball left. He wants to know your thoughts on Coach O'Connor and whether he gets the Wahoos back to Omaha and a strong ACC. We'll get to that, I promise. Other comments coming in for Hootie. This one from Renee. Oh, my goodness, I remember the Grayson Allen shot against UVA.

She says the look on Tony Bennett's face after Duke's win and our loss after that shot was devastating. Yeah, I remember that as well. I think there was like three seasons in a row where Virginia lost on just some bizarre last-second histrionics down there at Cameron. And I think that was the second or the third one in that series. There was one. Let's also remember the positive, too, and he's a positive kind of guy. How about Reese Beekman?

Reese Beekman hitting some winners over there. Yeah, and Todd Jerome, dagger down there that ended that long losing streak at Duke a few years ago. And that is one of the more pleasant memories for Virginia in that building. Well, not just Virginia has struggled. Everybody has struggled for years. But it's a tough place to play. I mean, it's a tough environment, but it's tough because of who you're playing. It's not necessarily the crowd as much as it is the people in those jerseys.

It's because they bring in talent. There's no question about it. And for years they had the winningest coach in the history of the game on their sidelines, and that makes a difference too. Questions coming in, guys. Put them in the feed. We'll relay them live on air. Sam Pattish-Schmidt watching the program.

Sam, thank you for joining us here. This one's come in the feed. Brandon Scott. Jerry, what are your thoughts on the rumors floating around about the SEC wanting UVA and UNC? Well, you know, we've been hearing this stuff for months. Yeah, even longer than that. And, I mean, who knows where this is going to go?

I don't think anybody really knows. The president of the NCAA was here last week at the Virginia game to present an award. And I know Jonathan Cotton from the Good Feet Store had a long conversation with him about the future of college athletics. It'll be interesting to pick their brains on that. But I mean, we see so many different models of an upper tier in the NCAA where there'll be 50 or 60 schools that'll pay players. Again, we don't know where all this is going.

There could be player unions. There could be all kinds of contracts coming. Who knows what's going to happen? An upper tier, I don't know if Virginia would be in that upper tier or not because it's going to be more like professional sports, really. I don't know if UVA is the kind of school that wants to go there. I almost think it's going to head there before Virginia goes to the SEC or the Big Ten because at some point I just wonder if all this is just going to devour itself because it can't sustain itself going in the direction it's going right now.

There's no rules, essentially. People are taking advantage of every situation. I just don't think that it can continue on like this without something falling apart. I'll add a little color to this and then get out of your way.

Dom Stargia. We love Dom. For those that don't remember Dom Stargia, Hall of Fame lacrosse coach, Virginia multi-time national champion remember Dom Stargia, Hall of Fame lacrosse coach, Virginia multi-time national champion, one of the godfathers of lacrosse. He puts over the weekend out a tweet. He says he's talking to college coaches, lacrosse coaches, and one of the top things high school lacrosse players are now asking,

what else can you do for me, coach? Sure. Referencing the NIL money. Sure. And this is lacrosse, Hootie. Well, baseball. Brian O'Connor pointed out, you know, the NIL in baseball, and this was not an on-the-record conversation,

but I think this part is okay. I won't go into all the details of it, but I think this part is okay I won't go into all the all the details of it but I think this part is okay to reveal he said that you know in football and basketball athletes are getting paid their full scholarship money obviously with her with the scholarships so any money they get through NIL those players get to keep. In baseball, and I'm sure in the other Olympic sports, I would think, there are probably some exceptions, but in baseball where they can only afford to give partial scholarships, any NIL money

comes in to cover the rest of the cost of that scholarship. I think it's probably some rare cases where athletes are actually making money, but I know that there is at least one ACC baseball school that's all in, and they have a very sizable NIL deal, and they are paying players beyond just their scholarship. How do you compete with that if you're the rest of the ACC? You can't. You can't compete it if you're the rest of the ACC. Yeah, so we're only beginning to see some of the problems that this is causing.

I mean, no one's got a crystal ball here, so we're just doing this for the sake of a talk show. I mean, how much longer does it go into this Wild West landscape? I don't know because the NCAA can't control it because every time they try to get a grip on things, they get sued. And they don't have the wherewithal to fight tons of lawsuits for millions and millions of dollars. It's so expensive. It looks like to me that either they're going to have to have a great reformation

and everybody's going to have to agree to it at all the schools or at least the vast majority. Or Congress is going to have to do something and make it a law. Otherwise, who knows where it's going to go. It's out of control now. And I think it's ruining college sports. Me too. At some point, not right now because they're having record numbers of viewers on TV for at least the college football season.

I don't know how it's affecting basketball but at some point are you going to turn off the average college fan to where they just say, you know, I don't care anymore? And at that point, if you can't sell advertising because nobody's watching, that's going to have a major impact on everything. Well said, Hootie Ratcliffe. You've got Connie watching on Twitter from South Carolina.

She follows you. She's retired from General Electric. Thank you for watching the program. Questions are coming in hot right now for Hootie Radcliffe. This basketball team, here's a really good one for you. This basketball team still has a lot of work to do to get into the NCAA tournament. How would Hootie characterize their chances right now of the season of making the dance. They're probably out. Oh, right now they're definitely out. The latest thing I saw last night, the guy has a last four in, the next four out, and the next four out. And Virginia was in the group after that.

So they've got some major work to do. There's no question about it. They're going to have to beat some teams that are ranked ahead of them for sure. We're starting to notice in UVA climbing the polls, both in the receiving votes portion of both the top 25 polls now. Yeah, they're starting to get some recognition. They have to follow through with it. I mean, certainly these next three games are going to be telling

because they really need to just take care of business with Notre Dame. Going down to Clemson on the road Saturday is not going to be easy. And Clemson needs it. Clemson needs it. Clemson needs it. And then Miami has stubbed its toe a little bit. They'll be coming in here. I don't think they have a very good record in JPJ, but you can't take Laranega's teams for granted

because he always has them ready to play. If they could sweep those three games, they would enhance their resume dramatically. I think they would be right up there around first, last four in instead of like 12 spots, 10 or 12 spots back. But they've got work to do and there's plenty of teams and opportunities on the schedule for them to do just that but they have to bear down and get it done.

This is a really good question. Thomas is watching the program in Richmond. We know UNC is the best basketball team in the ACC but how does Hootie think 2, 3, 4, and 5 stack up, regardless of conference record right now? I think it's kind of a scramble for the other spots at this point. Everybody has shown that they have potential to be in those top four, and then everybody has shown some vulnerability as well.

So Duke, I think, will probably get better as they go along because it's a young team. That's their history. So I think if you're going to get them, you better get them as soon as you can because you don't want to be playing them toward the end of the season. NC State and Wake are very good. It's going to be any time you beat either one of those teams, you've done a good job.

Miami has potential. They have some weaknesses, same as Virginia. You can't discount the Hokies, even though they got off to a rough start, but they're playing some pretty good basketball right now. Syracuse has a chance to jump up and bite people. They've got some talent on that team. I don't think I'm overlooking anybody, but I think it's Carolina, and then you've got five or six schools lumped together there that it's going to be a mad scramble to see who can end up in the postseason

out of that group. Virginia's got Duke once on the docket this year, second to last game of the regular season at Cameron on March 2nd. ESPN's got that broadcast. They closed the season at home against the Ramblin' Wreck from Atlanta, March 9th, ACC Network. This basketball team's got some work to do, but with a four-game winning streak, it certainly has momentum going for it. Here's a very good question for you. How does McNeely get looks if they keep running him off the three-point line?

Well, and going back to that other point too, the ACC is being frowned upon nationally by a lot of people. I don't know why, because I don't think anybody wants to play some of these ACC teams. But right now, some of the prognosticators only have two or three ACC schools in the tournament. There's only two ranked in the top 25. Yeah, so Virginia is not the only one that has work to do. But to McNeely, I mean, there's not a lot you can do when another team makes it a point of emphasis to shut you down. You mentioned one thing earlier that he's taking some deeper threes.

His range is 23 to 25 feet. Which is incredible. Some people are going to let him have that shot, and if he's on that night, he's going to make them pay. He simultaneously is working on the rest of his game of pump faking, getting people up in the air and driving in for a closer shot, which would make him a more complete player. I think most of your great three-point shooters that I've seen in college basketball over the decades

have been guys who can do that and use that to their advantage. And I think that's something we'll see him become more adept at as we go along. But one thing that's going to help him now is having Jordan Miner in the lineup to set more screens because he's a better screener than some of the guys they've had in there in the past. So there's really no magic formula to getting him more shots except more screens and for him to keep moving, keep working, and again take advantage of that pump fake and making people pay by getting a closer, higher percentage shot.

I mean, it's also important to highlight for the viewer asking the question, even if McNeely's run off the three-point line and they're guarding them feet beyond the three-point line, it's almost like a talented wide receiver in football that's getting double covered. It opens up opportunities for someone else on the floor. Absolutely. And Virginia has to take advantage of that.

When somebody else gets, when he's covered, he passes off to somebody else for an open three, they've got to make it. Right. They got to make it. This question's come in on, on Rhodey. You know, we both feel for the guy. He's not performing at the clip that, that he would want of himself, nor would the coaching staff. Multiple people are asking, what's wrong with Andrew Rohde? That's a tough question. I don't know, but he's a good defender. He's a good passer. He's smart.

He's just struggling with his shot, and we've seen guys do that before. I mean, he's shooting 33% from the free throw line. That tells me that it's in his head. And I don't know what you do about that. It's like a guy being in a really good hitter being in a batting slump. You just got to work your way out of it. We've seen some guys that couldn't do it. I mean, Casey Morsell couldn't shoot the first two years he was here, and he ended up going somewhere else and shooting the ball fine for NC State.

It's a different kind of offense. I don't know that that's the case with Rhodey, but he's just got to keep working and trying to find a solution. I think a lot of it's just gotten into his head, and maybe he's having some confidence issues. I'm not so sure that it's a – people, it's because he played at a lower division. I don't buy that. I don't buy that. Tony Bennett doesn't buy that. Tony Bennett said, if you can shoot or if you can play basketball, it doesn't matter what division you're in. Especially jump shooting. And he proved that himself. Right.

Going from Green Bay to the NBA. And we see guys from smaller schools in the NBA all the time. So he's just got to keep working, and it may not happen this year. It may take until next year, but he can't give up on himself because I know Tony's not going to give up on him. Virginia graduate James Watson watching the program. 2011, the 2011-2012 season, Tony Bennett took UVA to the NCAA tournament. They had not been in years leading up to that year. I remember that being a hell of a coaching job. They did have three guys that ultimately became pros from that 11-12,

but Malcolm Brogdon was a freshman, and Sammy Z, Sammy Zaglinski, was running point guard that year. That was a good basketball team. I appreciate the comment from James Watson. I appreciate all your comments. I sincerely mean that. We've had an abundance of riches with Coach Bennett since he's arrived to Charlottesville. And we highlighted on the previous show, please remember the challenges this basketball team faced during the Dave Lato and Pete Gillen eras. Having a team even flirting with the big dance was considered a success in the Lato and Gillen eras.

There was a lot of CBI invitations, if we remember. So please have some perspective. That's advice that Hootie has offered. I'm offering on the show. This question's coming for you specifically on Jordan Miner's impact on this team, and I'll read it verbatim from Steven, who's watching in Hampton Roads.

He says, with Miner on the lineup, they have toughness in the paint, and we should not overlook his offensive rebounding talents. Yeah, and I mean, he had good numbers at Merrimack, and people say, well, Merrim mean, he had good numbers at Merrimack. And people say, well, Merrimack, big deal. Well, the team from his conference made it to the Final Eight last year. It took time for him.

I can't emphasize enough. If you play zone defense your entire career, four years, it's vastly different than playing man-to-man. I mean, it's like night and day. The foot movement, the coordination it takes, the mental preparation and concentration to play man-to-man defense, and particularly the pack line because it's not just your common man-to-man. It has all kinds of rules that people who play man-to-man defense have to work hard to get down. So it was a major, major adjustment for him to come in and learn that. And we saw how long it took.

It took a couple of months, plus all the preseason when he was working out with coaches and stuff trying to learn it. It's just something that doesn't happen overnight. And we always knew he was a strong, physical guy and could score a little bit around the basket, could rebound. It was just a matter of being able to connect your mind and your feet and put them in the right place at the right time and I mean you go back to the Rocky movie when pop culture here we go

when Rocky's trainer was Mick was tying his feet together and making him chase chickens and stuff like that I mean it's just a lot about footwork and coordination and little stuff like that. I mean, it's just, it's a lot about footwork and coordination and little things like that that it just doesn't happen overnight.

What was Hootie Racklow's favorite sports movie of all time? Oh, wow. I liked all the early Rocky movies. Me too. I liked Rudy. Oh, that's my favorite one. The baseball movie with... A League of Their Own?

No, no, no. With the magic bat. Oh, The Natural? The Natural, yeah. I can't believe I couldn't think of that. There's so many. And there's some really bad sports movies. But there's some really good ones out there.

I saw one the other night that I didn't even know existed. And it wasn't a great movie, but it was interesting. It was about Jackie Robinson, this Jackie Robinson story. And I had seen that in some other movies. But in this one, Jackie Robinson was playing Jackie Robinson in the movie I thought that was good I liked the one was Ronald Reagan

playing Newt Rockne and win one for the gift or whatever that was there's so many but certainly the Rocky movies the first couple were spectacular absolutely Apollo Creed steals the show Rocky Balboa the story

of him writing the script and insisting that he stars in Rocky 1 or he would not sell the script initially the studio tried to buy the script from him for hundreds of thousands of dollars he turned down the offer because they wouldn't let him star in it then to buy the script from him for hundreds of thousands of dollars. He turned down the offer because they wouldn't let him star in it.

Then he sells the script for a much less amount of money because he gets to play Rocky Balboa in Rocky I and the rest is history. And nobody could have played that role. No one played it better than him. Nobody. At that point of his career, he had to sell his dog outside of a liquor store.

He was that broke. Wow. He was legitimately taking his wife's jewelry to sell that they were that broke. And now look at what Rocky Balboa has done and Sylvester Stallone and that movie franchise. We'll get to basketball here, Hootie. Keys to victory against the fighting Irish. Bob Shotta, we'll get to your comment here in a matter of moments. Well, I think they just have to play the way they've been playing.

This is a much different basketball team, Virginia, than when they lost in South Bend. Oh, vastly different. I mean, one, you've got Miner in there doing things that people weren't doing several weeks before. You've got a reliable guy in Buchanan who's coming in and giving him a blow so that he can stay fresh. McNeely is McNeely.

Bigman has become more aggressive. Dunn's become more aggressive. You've got Harris in there playing on-ball, delivering on-ball pressure. They didn't have all that at Notre Dame. And they're playing better defensively. They're not allowing as many straight-line drives as they were. They're not letting the pick-and-roll beat them like they were. Notre Dame took huge advantage of that.

This is a completely different basketball team than Notre Dame faced huge advantage of that. This is a completely different basketball team than Notre Dame faced the first time out. They just got to play Virginia basketball, and they should be fine. Comments are coming in so fast. You guys make the program great. Bob Schotta watching the program. We've dubbed him the vice mayor of Vivace Restaurant, the mayor of Vivace Restaurant.

I was at Vivace's last week. Vivace, a proud partner of JerryRackliff.com. Yes, absolutely. Vivace, the mayor of Vivace, Keith Clark, a gentleman of legendary proportions, formerly of JWC and a Virginia Eagle, Bob Schott of the vice mayor. He says this, I'm sorry, but I respectfully disagree with the level of play issues. Plenty of Tony Bennett's recruits in the early days could not compete at the higher level.

You hope they can, but it's not easy. Everyone is bigger, faster, and stronger, so if your confidence goes away, it should not be a surprise. I guess he's referencing Andrew Rohde there. Yeah, well, naturally, Tony is recruiting a higher level of player now because of his success. And, I mean, there weren't a lot of four-stars being recruited into the program back in those early years. And now, if you're not a four-star, you rarely even get a look. I think all these guys, most of them have been ranked in the top 100 to top 125 in the last two or three recruiting classes.

I mean, Gertrude was one of the top recruits out there. Yeah, he was the highest recruited player in Virginia history. Right. And the Bliss kid is really up there. All these guys are pretty much. I mean, some of them aren't. Some of the transfers aren't. He's referencing Christian Bliss,

who you often see stroke and jump shots after a game on an empty John Paul Jones arena. Yeah, and he's going to be a star. He's going to be a star. I'm not exactly sure what he was getting at with his comment, but some of the guys that they had in that program early on developed into great basketball players. They didn't necessarily come here that way.

I know, for example, Malcolm Brogdon was a guy that they weren't – he wasn't even on the radar until Richie McKay was at an AAU tournament, I think, in Georgia or South Carolina. And they were actually looking at somebody else, and Richie saw him and said, man, I really like this guy's game. And at that point, you know, Rogdon was thinking about going to Yale or Harvard. Yeah. Well, I mean, look at Ryan Dunn. Yeah. Ryan Dunn comes to UVA

without a scholarship. Yeah. No, he didn't have to. Yeah. He had other options, but he wanted to play for Coach Bennett. Yeah. And, I mean, you know, was it, who was it? was it, who was it? Was it, it was, I mean, look at Kia Clark.

Was it Cal State Fullerton? Yeah. And Tony looked at him and said, you know, I don't know why I like him, but I like him. And the same thing with Kyle Guy, or was it Jerome? It was one of those two that Tony wasn't totally sold on. He couldn't figure out why he liked him, but he stuck with him. There was something about him. So some of these guys weren't being recruited by Duke and Carolina

and Kentucky and people like that. Some of the guys Virginia's losing to now in recruiting are Duke, Alabama, people like that, North Carolina. So it's a higher caliber player he's recruiting now than he was able to. He got lucky with some of these guys, and he helped develop some of these early guys that didn't have quite the game. I mean, he looks at himself as a developmental program. Tracy Wada watching the program, St. Louis, Missouri is in the house right now

on the Jerry and Jerry show. I mean, he can point to his success placing players in the NBA now. And he didn't have that opportunity when he first arrived to Charlottesville. Now he can highlight, I mean, you go Drone, you go Brogdon, you go Mike Scott, you go Joe. I mean, he's got a boatload of talent in the league. Diakite, I mean, I know he's hopped around, but he's got a boatload of talent. And that was what other coaches were negatively recruiting. Who knows how many guys he might have lost because of that, because other rival coaches were saying, you don't want to go to Virginia.

You'll never play in the NBA if you go to Virginia, and they can't use that against him anymore. Philip Dow watching the program. He says, it seems to me that a key to winning against Notre Dame and beyond is taking advantage of the paint to get points inside. That appears to be a weakness. We depend on the three, and that has gotten this team into trouble. I concur, and that's why I think one of the turning points for this program,

and I'll throw it to Hootie Ratcliffe, is the emergence of Miner. Miner offers interior toughness, offensive rebounding, some put-back ability on misses around the rim, and we should not underestimate his ability to screen he reminds me in a lot of ways of a jack salt when it comes to his screening ability yeah and if you look at the stats in the last three or four games most of those games they have lopsidedly won the points in the paint battle and out rebounded I think three or four opponents in a row and that's something you couldn't have said early on particularly against Notre Dame and and

they were depending on the three-point shot a lot but the last few games I think there was one game but the other three that they had a lot of threes with but the other three games, I don't think they shot many threes at all and scored a lot of points in the paint. And that has made a big difference. It's made them a much tougher team to beat because teams were relying on that. That was a huge emphasis was to get to McNeely out there, chase him off the line, and then make somebody else beat you. Well, now those other guys are beating you.

And that's something that wasn't happening before. So there's no question they're going to attack Notre Dame in the paint and should be very successful at it. And look at what Miner guys did against NC State. A 59-53 overtime victory for Virginia men's basketball. Jordan Miner, 10 points, 9 rebounds, 6 offensive rebounds. And Virginia dominates the glass 54-32 against the Wolfpack. You can point to rebounding as perhaps why they won this contest. And I want to highlight six offensive rebounds and 10 points for Jordan Miner in that outcome.

We will get to baseball. We clearly see a lot of fans watching the program with Brian O'Connor and affinity for his baseball team. First, I'd love for you to dot the I's, cross the T's on Virginia men's basketball. The rest of the schedule, you got three games before we're on air next Tuesday with the next edition of the Jerry and Jerry Show. This is a crucial, crucial rest of the schedule you got three games before we're on air next tuesday with the next edition of the jerry and jerry show this is a crucial crucial part of the season it's a big

stretch right here and this this could determine whether they make the ncaa tournament or not if they could somehow sweep those three games they'd be right there and they might actually play their way off the bubble if they can win these three games. I know that Notre Dame is not ranked very high in the national analytics and all that stuff, but still you need to hold court, win that game, then focus on beating Clemson on the road and then uh if you can knock off Miami that's a that's an impressive back-to-back there if you can beat Clemson in Miami I think you could play your way off the bubble and maybe

into that first four end if you could sweep those three games. So there's going to be tons of opportunities from here on out, and they've just got to take advantage of them. They can't afford to slip up and resort back to the way they were playing before, and I don't think they will. I don't think they will either. I think this team is starting to find an identity, which I'm extremely excited about. JerryRackliff.com is the website for anything Virginia sports related. JerryRackliff.com.

Baseball, I mean, it's still cold outside, but these boys play in the cold early in the season here. A lot of folks I see in the feed talking Brian O'Connor here, Hootie. Yeah, well, I had a great, what was it, 75 degrees one day last week. I had the great fortune to go over and talk with Coach O'Connor. It was a beautiful day outside, and we're going to have four or five stories coming out of that. It was the first day of practice. It felt like April or May out there instead of January.

It was the fake spring that we often get at this point of the year in Charlottesville. And Brian, starting his 21st year, we looked at each other and he says, man, I can't believe it's been 21 years. I remember this is a true story here. I was working for you at the newspaper. Brian O'Connor takes over as the head coach for Virginia baseball. He's in his like mid thirties. We go to the press box. I think Andrew Joyner, the traditional baseball beat writer was on assignment doing something

with coach Starja. He loved covering the lacrosse team and coach Starja. He said, all right, Jerry, you're going to go to this baseball press conference where they're announcing this guy we don't really know about, Brian O'Connor, as the new head coach. I'm over in the press box. Jeff White is there as well. We're the only media members at the press conference announcing a new baseball coach.

Davenport Field looks nothing like it does right now. Oh, absolutely. Shadow of what it was. We're in the press conference. Someone mentions who's Virginia's biggest rival. He was unsure of how to answer that question. He said, but I'll figure it out. This was 20-some years ago, and now Coach O'Connor what?

Put his name on the stadium? Hall of Famer? Well, he was inducted into the Coach's Hall of Fame last week or the week before. Deservedly so. It's been incredible, the work he's done here. He did it all the right way. He went out and did the hard work, the dirty work.

He's been out at pancake breakfasts, serving pancakes, hot dog dinners. He's gone to the grassroots of the community and sold the community on baseball. And I used to tell some of the Virginia ADs back in the day that, you know, this is a much better baseball community than you're giving them credit for because they wouldn't put any money into the baseball program. And they finally figured it out, and the right people put money into building Davenport and the Dish. And it's a showcase facility now,

and some of the former players that are now in the major leagues are putting money back into it. Chris Taylor from the Dodgers was over there the other day working out when I was there. Ryan Zimmerman. Ryan Zimmerman has done it. There are several guys who have pumped money into it. Doolittle, I think, and some other guys.

And, I mean, gosh, they've got so many guys in the major leagues and ready to go into the major leagues. And every year they're bringing in more future major leaguers. But he's embraced the community, and they've embraced him back. And he's done just an incredible coaching job with that program over there. He should be – if somebody wants to have a model for how it should be done, they should come and study what Brian O'Connor has done here. Absolutely. He's absolutely amazing.

What do you have in the hopper at jerryrackliff.com? Well, lots of stuff. Obviously, focusing a lot on this three-game basketball streak coming up that we talked about within the next week. Going to revisit the life of Bobby Edwards, who passed back in December. They had a celebration of life for him at Farmington this past weekend that I attended. The place was packed. One of the guys that painted Ralph's house on University Hall.

So we'll revisit that. A story about Tony Bennett being selected as the most innovative basketball coach in the country. We'll be delving into the baseball now that they're in practice. And it should be another really good year. He's brought in some good transfers, some pitchers. We talked to three of the players the other day, and O'Connor, so a plethora of stuff for Ohio fans to consume and digest over the next week or so.

The website's jerryracliff.com. We're on it every day to prepare for the show. And just because we love Wahoo Sports, jerryracliff.com. It's the namesake of the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer. Hootie and his team do a bang-up job covering Virginia athletics guys. The Jerry and Jerry Show airs Tuesdays at 10, 15 a.m. wherever you get your social media and your podcasting content. Judah Wittkower, the director and producer of the show.

Liza, the lab pit bull mix is the mascot of the Jerry and Jerry Show. She's amazing. Hootie often brings her a little piece of bacon in the morning and she's quickly become very fond of Hootie Ratcliffe who is a dog lover.

I am. I have two dogs. He loves dogs. Thank you guys for making the show awesome. Your comments and questions really make the show wonderful. And we will see you in a week on the Jerry and Jerry show where three games will have transpired. So we'll have a ton of content to cover. For Hootie and Judah, I'm Jerry. Thank you kindly for joining us. So long, everybody. Hootie, that was awesome. The show is easy peasy.

It's fun. It's always fun. Thank you.