The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Reece Beekman Inks Two-Way Contract (GSW); Ryan Dunn Drafted By Nuggets, Traded To Suns

Episode Date: July 2, 2024

The Jerry & Jerry Show headlines: Reece Beekman Inks Two-Way Contract (GSW) Ryan Dunn Drafted By Nuggets, Traded To Suns Was 2024 NBA Draft A Success For UVA Hoops? UVA Finishes 5th In Director’s Cup Standings What Does Director’s Cup Success Mean To Fans? Get To Know The New Power 4 Conferences Inside UVA Football – Recruiting News & Notes Inside UVA Basketball – Recruiting News & Notes Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air Jerry Ratcliffe & Jerry Miller were live on The Jerry & Jerry Show! The Jerry & Jerry Show airs live Tuesday from 10:15 am – 11:15 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The Jerry & Jerry Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible and iLoveCVille.com.

Good Tuesday morning, guys. My name is Jerry Miller, and thank you kindly for joining us on the Jerry and Jerry Show. This program features a Virginia Sports Hall of Famer that needs absolutely no introduction. Jerry Hootie Rackliff with 50 ACC basketball tournaments on his resume with a Rolodex or a phone book or a contact list that is as long as a good Christmas kids Christmas list. Hootie Ratcliffe is the man when it comes to sports of the collegiate, prep, and regional variety. Today we'll talk Reese Beekman and a two-way contract with the Golden State Warriors. Ryan Dunn gets moved on draft night from the Nuggets to the Suns. Welcome to

professional basketball, Ryan Dunn, already traded and you haven't even played a preseason game. We'll talk the Director's Cup standings. What does that mean to fans? Wahoos, a fifth-place finish in the final Directors' Cup standings. We will talk local athletes and their success at the collegiate, Olympic, and professional levels. And we'll give you a glimpse at conference realignment while reflecting on UVA football recruiting and UVA basketball recruiting. This story, this show, is loaded. Kevin Yancey says, good morning, Jay Thrice. He's watching in Waynesboro. Judah Wickauer behind the camera, Mr. MVP, Mr. Consistency,

the Elmers of the network. If you could go to the studio camera and welcome our star. If this guy was playing sports today, he would be a quarterback that is not only a game manager, but a game winner. He'd be a point guard that would be a dual threat and a two-way player who could attack the rack or shoot from downtown. And if he was a golfer, which he is, he'd be scratch or lower. And his name is Jerry Hootie Ratcliffe. My friend, it's great to see you today. Great to see you as well, and Judah also.

It's always great to be with you guys. You have a perspective to offer when it comes to Central Virginia, UVA, the ACC, collegiate sports, regional sports that few have. We kind of teased when the cameras were not on yet how Central Virginia prep sports have really gained significant momentum, almost become a hot bed of talent. Open-ended question on that. Where do you want to go? Yeah, and I've overlooked the two ladies from Stab and Louisa that are on the women's basketball team and going to have great careers too. So it's just fascinating. You know, when I got to town in the early 80s, I think Charlottesville had formerly been a place that developed a lot of athletes, particularly football players, but hit kind of a dry spell and you'd have an athlete every now and then, but we're seeing an incredible influx of kids developing in various sports,

just about every sport now from Charlottesville and Central Virginia that are getting a lot of opportunities in college, and it's great to see. I started working in sports here in Central Virginia in 2022. 2002, excuse me. 2002. So I'm now 22 years of covering sports in Central Virginia. He gave me, Hootie Ratcliffe, his crack, my crack, my start. And at that time, I had the pleasure of working alongside or covering coaches like Rudd Bicknell at Monticello, Garwin DeBerry at Charlottesville High School, who took over for

the legendary Joe Bingler. The pleasure of working alongside or covering John Blake at St. Ed's Belfield, who had the Long Brothers on his roster. Not a bad trio to have play for you. Pretty nice. Steve Isaacs at Western Albemarle High School with the single wing football attack that was very prolific. And I watched as this community started producing massive talent. For example, Mike Brown, a quarterback in safety at Broadbent now at Monticello High School, who played at Liberty. He's now coached, what, with Cincinnati, with Wisconsin. He played in the league with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He is a guy that is quite talented and right now is the wide receivers coach with the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. I would love if you rattled off some of the talent from Central Virginia.

You see playing collegiately, soon to be professionally, and Connor Schellenberger, the lacrosse standout. There's a boatload of talent here at Hootie Radcliffe. There truly is. I mean, basketball, you have Justin Taylor, who I guess he's at JMU now. He was at Syracuse. We have a guy in the NFL that played at St. Ann's, I believe. His name escapes me at the moment. But Henry Ford in baseball is just coming off a fabulous freshman year for Brian O'Connor.

You've got Malachi Fields, starting wide receiver at UVA. You've got the two lady basketball players from Louisa and Stab. You got two sisters, the foster sisters on UVA Women's Lacrosse and another gal from Covenant School that's on that team. Gosh, where do we go from there? We got the swimmer out at Crozetzet that just made the olympic team uh let's see i'm going through my mental list here and see what if there's anybody i'm sure i've left somebody off but uh connor schellenberger of course uh had an incredible career at UVA and now is going to be a pro. It's just a growing list of kids that are finding success in a myriad of sports.

I'm curious of your take on the influence of UVA athletics. We're about to talk about how the Hoos finished fifth in the Director's Cup standings. The Director's Cup standings, for those that don't know, are a barometer of the overall success of an athletic department. It prioritizes equally all sports and the success with all sports, and it keeps track of how well the teams do versus other college competition. So Virginia's fifth, basically saying that it's the fifth best athletic department this calendar year or this athletic year in the nation.

Right. How does the success or the well-rounded nature of the athletic department influence the success of prep sports in Central Virginia? Well, I think it probably begins to reach a lot of these kids when they're you know early in the stages of their athletic careers you have under 10 years old their parents or whoever take them to games and not just football, basketball, baseball, but all the sports now. And they see how you can become successful in whatever sport they're interested in. And I think it probably inspires a lot of these kids to work harder.

And certainly in this day and age, it's a sacrifice from the parents to have to, you almost have to be part of a travel team in your off seasons now just to qualify for a college scholarship. And so it's a huge investment from families. But I think Virginia's overall success like that has an impact on these kids because they see that these people are earning college scholarships. Some of them are going professionally afterward and their names are on, you know, they're on TV, they're in various forms of media, and it's a way to draw a claim to yourself. And I just think it's great to give these kids role models that they can look up to and try to pattern their athletic careers after.

And they are good role models, so you don't ever see any of these kids getting into trouble. So that's a good inspiration as well. Take, for instance, the basketball team. Can you imagine being what is now a high schooler or a middle schooler in one of the various schools in central Virginia and being a basketball fan of the University of Virginia over the last eight to ten years? I mean, the influence you've had with Tony Bennett since he's arrived to Charlottesville. You've got national championships. You've got Sweet 16 appearances.

You've got ACC tournament titles, ACC regular season titles, defensive player of the years, and Bucu players drafted into the National Basketball Association. On top of that, the opportunity to go to Tony Bennett camps or the occasional sighting of basketball players like the many times I've seen Reese Beekman ordering wings, hot and sweaty, from the Lazy Parrot on Pantops. I mean, I'll tell you what.

I see Reese Beekman at the Lazy Parrot on Pantops come in and order two dozen hot and sweaty wings and then get in his Honda and leave. I'm like, that was a pretty cool experience for me. I can't imagine what it would be for a 14-year-old. Oh, I'm sure that anywhere they spot these athletes in town, it raises the level of excitement, not only for the kids, but probably their parents as well. And it's just really cool because, you know, a lot of these guys, you're going to see them playing on TV, not just in college, but in the NBA and the NFL and Major League Baseball. Look at all the Major Leaguers that Brian O'Connor has produced and continues to do so.

For a while there, Virginia, particularly for some of the younger or older generations now, Virginia would have between 20 and 30 guys in the NFL almost on a regular basis for a number of years. And some of those guys are starting to go into the college and pro football hall of fame now. So it's, you know, if you grew up grew up here it has to be it has to have an impact on you even if if you don't play athletics it's still kids get excited about seeing those athletes and and using them as role models i got a very challenging question for you the greatest athlete to matriculate out of a Central Virginia high school. And your time covering sports.

There's been a lot of them. Short list, you've got a Chris Long on there. I was starting to say, it's probably Chris Long. In the last 42, 43 years. I'm trying to think if there's been anybody else that has made it to that level. Scott Ratcliffe is helping the program out. Scott, we love when you chime in here. This guy comes from good stock, Scott Ratcliffe does.

He says Aaron Stiddy from St. Ann's Belfield in the NFL. That's the kid who he was talking about. Phil Stiddy's son. Phil Stiddy played in the National Basketball Association. Played for the Knicks for a while. Basketball coach at St. Ann's Belfield. I believe if memory serves correct, and you might have to fix me on this one,

did he play at VCU? I should know that. I'll look it up real quick. VCU or Richmond. One of those two. It's one of those two. He says also Malik Brown from Blue Ridge transferred from Syracuse to Duke. Mamadi Diakite, a Blue Ridge

product who's got an NBA championship ring on his finger. A lot of talent to come. Scott, this is a great question for you. This man would know. Great greatest athlete to matriculate from a high school in central Virginia that went on to either professional sports stardom, Olympic stardom

or some kind of hall of fame success that is right up your alley there Scott Ratcliffe I would have to say Chris Long because he played he had a long NFL career. He grew up here, and I imagine he'll be on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot at some point. I would think Scott, I would think Chris Long is right there.

I would think so. Right? Yeah. And, you know, other guys have made it to the NFL, but they haven't had the success that he had. He was the number two guy in the draft his senior year and was very close to being the number one pick after talking to Howie about it back when it happened. And there's been some other terrific athletes,

but I think he's probably the one guy from central Virginia who's reached the highest level of success. Scott Ratcliffe, his son says Steve Carter, Albemarle high school went on to play for the Pittsburgh pirates. That's another good one, but he agrees it would be a Chris Long. How about golfers? That's right up your alley. One of the golfers that stood out in my tenure of covered sports, Mikey Moyers.

Mikey Moyers has probably been the... Did he play at Virginia Tech? He played at Virginia Tech, and he played on, I think, a mini tour for a while. He played in a couple of PGA tour events. I covered one of them over at the Greenbrier. He's probably been the most successful in taking his game to the next level in terms of golf, local golfers. And we've had some really good local golfers. They just haven't made it to that level of golf.

Had some guys that played in U.S. Amateur, et cetera. Mikey Moyers was a dominant force in the local golf. Was it the, what did you call it? The Bill Battle Trophy. The Bill Battle Trophy. Yeah. Yeah, he could have dominated that had he wanted to. For 20 years.

Yeah. If he wanted to. Right. He's still shooting in the 60s at Green Hills right now whenever he wants to. He ran away with the city championship last year. He had no competition. He didn't defend his title this past weekend, but the guy's a phenomenal golfer. I'm Stephanie Wells Rhodes of the Interstate family. She says, here's a funny story for you boys. Brendan Rhodes, her son, has been a diehard fan his whole life. Sean Singletary was

his idol. We had his signature on anything and everything. I think it got to the point where Sean knew my son Brennan Rhodes by name. He later conditioned with him and that was an honor. That's a great comment right there. Kevin Yancey says, Heath Miller or Ryan Zimmerman? Now, I appreciate the comment from Kevin Yancey. Neither Heath Miller nor Ryan Zimmerman matriculated from Central Virginia high schools, however. Right. Heath Miller is a coach at St. Ann's Belfield now, and his kids could matriculate from St. Ann's Belfield, but he did not grow up in the area. No, he's from the 757, and Heath Miller is from deep in southwest Virginia. Yep.

Heath Miller's nickname, was it Big Money? Big Money. When he was catching footballs as a tight end from Matt Schaub at UVA? Mm-hmm. That was a hell of a team. Yes, it was. Tom Stargell, who's a Golden Apple Award winner, he was a teacher at Albemarle High School, now retired, says, you fellas got to highlight Mike Cubbage. Mike

Cubbage certainly was he was before my time in covering high school sports in Charlottesville, but certainly Mike was one of the best athletes that ever grew up. There was quite a few guys from his era. Charlottesville

High School? Or was he Lane at the time? Lane. He? Lane. He was Lane. Yeah, Lane produced quite a few terrific athletes back prior, I guess back in the 60s. And yeah, Mike was terrific. I believe he was a quarterback at Lane. Yeah. Star baseball player. And a UVA.

Yep. And even had some basketball scholarships, offers, and, of course, had a fabulous Major League Baseball career as a player. A coach. A coach and a manager. So he's in numerous Hall of Fames for sure. One of the best basements out there, a basement with sports memorabilia highlighted in media outlets, national media outlets.

Yeah. He had quite a memorabilia collection for sure. Sold his home in Glenmore, married to Jan, the pet philanthropist, Jan Cubbage, and I believe moved to Hilton Head. I know they moved to South Carolina somewhere. I wasn't sure exactly where.

Somewhere near a golf course. He lived on a golf course in Glenmore. Beautiful house. The Mike Cubbage call is a good one. So there's a pretty good short list right there. Oh, yeah. There were quite a few guys that came out of uh lane and and a couple from albemarle and during that era uh and even a couple

after that but uh that was sort of the golden age of charlottesville athletics until now i think because there was such a number of people went on and played college football, particularly. And that was a time when there were less high schools. Yeah, we had Kent Merritt was a guy and Jim Copeland. there was gosh, I can't think of his name from Albemarle High School went on and played for the Kansas City Chiefs and is in their ring of honor and

was a physical trainer at ACAC a few years ago. Kevin Yancey is highlighting Eric Wilson. Eric Wilson played at Maryland. Played for the Redskins during the strike year. I guess it's the Commanders now. He was an all-ACC linebacker. Had a nickname at Maryland of E. Willman Jams.

I remember that. And he was a disc jockey in his spare time. I believe he's in the hotel business now. Yeah, he could be. Mr. Wilson managing hotels. I lost track of him, yeah. Wahoo89 says he's watching from Tennessee. I love all your shows, Hootie, but this one is my favorite.

A lot of folks love the reminiscing down memory lane here with Central Virginia Sports. Eric Wilson's nephew, I believe it was his nephew, was Denzel Wilson. He was a 5'8", 5'9", lightning quick point guard who played for Greg Maynard at Amaral High School, threw some of the best passes I'd ever seen in prep sports in the Commonwealth District, and would routinely connect with Mickey White for alley-oops from half court. Mickey White ended up playing baseball at Virginia Tech, was an American Legion post-74 standout for Greg's brother, Mike Maynard. The Maynard's name resonates in prep circles. Darren, Greg, and Mike as basketball or baseball coaches, and now there'sreg's sons are basketball coaches in the area

yeah that's terrific great uh family lineage there and all those guys were terrific which this question's coming for you which school does who do you think has produced the most prep talent that's a tough question depends on the sport well back in the day, it was Lane. And they also produced Frankie Allen, who was a really good basketball player. He was an All-American at Roanoke College. Went on to become head coach at Virginia Tech for a while. Back in those days, it was Lane without a doubt. In modern times, gosh, you might be more qualified on that than me because you were focused so much on high school sports for such a long time. I don't know.

It might be St. Anne's. St. Anne's has put, I was going to say, St. Anne's has produced a boatload of talent. Yes. St. Anne's. And various sports. Various sports. They pour a lot of resources, financial and human capital, into athletics. St. Anne's does a fantastic job with its lacrosse programs.

Doug Taring, the legendary lacrosse coach at St. Anne's for so long. Mary Blake on the woman's side and the girl's side. Alan Swanson built an incredible baseball program. The football program under John Blake, who is now the athletics director at Fork Union Military Academy. We would be remiss not to highlight Fuma uh with the late great fletcher eric as the postgraduate coach yeah and as inhuman schumann john schumann as the legendary postgraduate football coach um inhuman schumann's son john schumann's son is now the coach of um either the prep or postgrad team i should know this i'm going to look it up real quick. How about Fork Union Military Academy's impact in athletics? Oh, it's been huge. A lot of those kids were from out of the area, but still, yeah, they were terrific. They had... Darrell Blackstock, Eddie George?

Yeah, Vinny Testaverde. They had two Heisman Trophy winners, for goodness sake. Can't get much better than that. Don Makowski? Don Makowski played there. A guy that played for the Philadelphia Eagles, a wide receiver, whose name escapes me at the moment. Yeah, a lot of basketball players that made it into college basketball a wide receiver whose name escapes me at the moment. Yeah, a lot of basketball players that made it into college basketball and the NBA.

Just a great athletic program for sure. I want to see the coaching roster here so I don't speak out of turn. I believe in human, human son. Frank Errett, Fletcher Errett's family is the postgraduate head football coach. Maybe that's what I was thinking about there. We have an abundance, guys, of riches. Stephanie Wells Rhodes loves the FUMA reference. Her son, Brennan, a product of Fort Union Military Academy as well. Anyway, I guess we're reminiscing

down here, going down memory lane. We've just been fortunate to have an abundance of riches with athletes coming out of Central Virginia, and it should not be underestimated the impact that UVA's well-rounded athletic department has on impressionable youngsters, teenagers

that play sports of all different ilk. I mean, look at the rowing team. The rowing team is ridiculous. Western Alamaro has a rowing team. Golf team is ridiculous. Western Alamaro's tennis team is a dynasty. I mean, five or six state championships in a row, producing talent left and right. The squash program, a sport I enjoy playing, is a routine

top 10 in the nation product or team. And we have Jeffrey Woodruff's Boar's Head facility that is a world-class squash facility for kids to grow up in and play squash in. It's just another reason, I guess, we're fortunate to live in this community. Who do you rack with? Yeah, no question about it. I mean, I think any time you can grow up in a college town, it has to have some influence on all the youngsters pretty much. It gives them reasons to dream. Well said. Well said.

Now, we will get to the topics that are on the headline list due to what courage you put them on screen. How about a two-way contract? I had this email come to you, which I will read verbatim. He asked me to read it to you verbatim. Let me find it. He wants to know what the significance of a two-way contract is as it applies to Reese Beekman. You start there, then I'll find the email, Hootie Ratcliffe. Okay, yeah. A two-way contract is something that has evolved over the recent years, and it's for guys who essentially don't get drafted. A team like Golden State can take Reese Bigman and he is available for the G League team, which is the farm team for that NBA team.

And he's available for the NBA franchise team. So he can play. A player is permitted to be active for up to 50 regular season games, up to 50 regular season games on the NBA team. Doesn't mean he'll do that, but he can be active for that many games. He'll probably spend most of his time in the G League honing his skills, and that's what I'm sure golden state is hoping that the coaches the g-league coaches can make reese a little bit more consistent score shooter and um he can be called up at any time on a moment's notice to a to a nba team and then sent back down to the G League.

And this can happen a few times during the year. And that's what we mean by two-way. This was Kenny Knuckles' email to Hootie. Please explain the NBA two-way contract which Hootie is doing on the Jerry and Jerry show this week. He says, I guarantee 99% of your audience has no idea what the heck it is, including me, and I follow sports fairly well. Kenny Knuckles sent that email. Well, I hope we're explaining it well so that they will understand it. You can, a two-way contract is essentially worth essentially half of an NBA rookie minimum salary,

which is somewhere between $500,000 and $600,000 a year. So they can make some decent money. It's not NBA contract money, but I think most guys can handle half a million dollars a year. But, I mean, we've seen. There's plenty of guys that have come from two-way contracts and landed permanent roster spots or going on to greater NBA success. Absolutely. Absolutely.

We've seen some of these guys, they'll be playing for a G League team one night and get called up on a road trip with the big club and then spend a week with them or maybe just a weekend with them and get sent back down to the G League. So it's a little bit erratic because you don't know where you may be one week after another, but it's certainly an opportunity to build your skills on the G League level. And I think every, I could be wrong on this, I think every NBA team has a G League team now. I'm not sure.

I know that didn't used to be the case. But you can improve whatever is holding you him a better chance to make a roster. Austin Reeves, maybe one of the best two-way contract players that have emerged into a standout in the NBA. He plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. Duncan Robinson for the Miami Heat, a two-way contract. Alex Caruso, another example of a two-way standout. So it does happen, two-way contracts getting to the players,

getting to the NBA. The positive for Reece Beekman is he gets to refine or work on the art of shooting, which is clearly the missing link in his game. He's got handles, he defends, he passes well, he can lead a team. But in the NBA, sometimes that's not always enough, especially when you're in a scoring first type of league, especially with point guards.

He's going to have to work on that jump shot a bit. I think Reese Beekman, if he can prove he can make open jump shots or create offensively off the dribble for himself, has a chance for a career in the NBA. You do see why the scuttlebutt had or asked if Reese Beekman would come back for another year and pursue NIL money at UVA. In retrospect or in hindsight or upon doing more research, we figured out that that wasn't even a reality or possible for Beekman to do. There was a deadline, and he went past it. So that's a point of no return. There's a point of no return. There's a point of no return. There's a rule in college baseball that if a guy doesn't get drafted, he can come back even after the draft.

But they're trying to pass that legislation in the NBA, but so far it's stuck. I feel like, you know, one man's opinion here. I feel like that should be allowed. I do too. I mean, you're essentially letting athletes do pretty much anything they want to these days, so why not allow that as well? Exactly, especially when a lot of these athletes are getting bogus information from every Tom, Dick, and Harry of why they should turn pro. Many of those Tom, Dick, and Harrys looking for a handout

or some money from the guy to turn pro, so they might not be most authentic with the advice they're giving them or honest. True. So Mr. Beekman will follow. How about Ryan Dunn? Ryan Dunn I think is in a good place. He's going to get first- money which is huge and it's guaranteed he's going to be with a Phoenix team

that you know the knock on him is that he doesn't have a good jump shot similar to Beekman although he has good form I don't know I know that the Phoenix coaches, that's going to be their biggest challenge is to make him a consistent jump shooter. But he's got room to grow because the Suns already have a ton of shooters.

So they don't really need him to do that. They just need him to hang out around the basket and get alley-oops and lobs. Tip-ins. Tip-ins. Play defense at three or four positions. Yeah, backdoor cuts, play great defense, rebound, the things he does best. That's what they really need him to do. They don't really need him to score. It's just something that he has the luxury of time to develop.

Ryan Dunn is in a very good place. And if Ryan Dunn can figure out a little bit more offensive polish, you may be looking at a long-term NBA player here. Yeah. Because very few people have 7-foot-plus wingspans with 40-plus-inch verticals that are willing to play both sides of the ball. And he almost thinks defense first,

which is a way to turn a first-round draft pick into a long-term career into the NBA. How would you characterize the 2024 draft for UVA and Tony Bennett? I think anytime you get a guy drafted in the first round it's a success. I think he's the I'm trying to remember my own numbers. Was he the 10th

NBA draft choice under Bennett. I know where I can find that, on jerryrackliff.com. Yeah, I'm trying to remember what I wrote the other day. I'm going there right now. I'll let you know after you finish that thought. But, I mean, I think it's a success any time you get a first-rounder.

And Tony's had quite a few. Maybe it's seven or eight. But, I mean, he's had so many guys taken, and that's just a continuation of what he does. And considering that Dunn's offense wasn't what a lot of NBA guys are. To hang on to that first round, I think, was pretty impressive. Speaks of his upside. I mean, we can make a legitimate argument, and I'm not throwing shade on Ryan Dunn,

but we can make a legitimate argument that this past year was an underperforming, I don't want to use the word disappointing, but did not live up to expectation or to hype Brian Dunn this past year in college basketball. Yeah, a lot of teams, you know, if he was away from the basket. They wouldn't even guard him. They would let him shoot it. So that's something he'll have to correct going forward. And, you know, of course, Bigman wasn't drafted, but, you know, he has an opportunity to make it. Certainly he's got some stiff

competition with Golden State. Steph Curry's the starting point guard and the backup point guard is one of the best point guards in NBA history whose name escapes me at the moment. He's in all the Allstate

or State Farm commercials. Chris Paul now plays for the San Antonio Spurs. He moved in free agency and is now going to mentor Wemby in San Antonio. Okay, he's gone. So, you know, he'll have an opportunity to showcase his talents. And, you know, he's such a lockdown defender that I think that's going to impress a lot of people. I think over his college career, his opponents averaged something like a little over five points a game.

You talk about shutting down some of the major stars in college basketball and in the ACC, and nobody did it better than Reese Buechman. Well said. Very well said. JerryRackliff.com for anything UVA related. I'm going to rattle off, Hootie, some of the first-round draft picks that I found on your website, JerryRackliff.com. Ryan Dunn, according to Hootie's reporting, which is on point,

joins the following UVA players drafted in the Tony Bennett era. Mike Scott, 2012, first round pick. Joe Harris, 2014. Strike that. Mike Scott was not a first round pick, but here are the players drafted in the Tony Bennett era. Mike Scott, 2012. Joe Harris, 2014. Justin Anderson, 2015. Malcolm Brogdon, 2016, Devin Hall, 2018, DeAndre Hunter, 2019, Ty Jerome, 2019, Kyle Guy, 2019, Trey Murphy, 2021. Hunter, Anderson, Jerome, and Murphy were all first round choices. That's not bad right there. Now I will caveat this. If memory serves correct, Mike Scott was a recruit of the previous coaching regime. Yes.

All the other players mentioned were Tony Bennett recruits. Right. He flourished under Tony Bennett. Flourished under Tony Bennett. Yeah. And had a long career in the NBA. Absolutely a long career. Yeah.

One of the longest careers of any UVA player. 100%. And you're seeing, in particular with Malcolm Brogdon and DeAndre Hunter, that athletes from Tony Bennett's team can be stars in the league. DeAndre Hunter's got a big-time contract. Malcolm Brogdon, a big-time contract. Brogdon, in a lot of ways, has turned into somewhat of a journeyman. But still, a journeyman in the nba when you're making tens of millions of dollars is not a bad life at all um absolutely scott rackliff offering perspective he says you

definitely cannot forget sam brunel the standout from william and roll high school she played at team usa went to northern day and believe overlooked her and then uva basketball he says andrew white from miller the morris kid from western and St. Ann's Belfield went to UVA and is now in the minors. Roosevelt Brown going way back. Malik Frazier is another off the top of his head. Scott Ratcliffe, you're making the show better. Certainly appreciate those comments right there. We have comments coming in about Tracy Blair. Did Tracy Blair make the NFL hoodie as a guy that we should consider? And then we have this comment coming in about Tony Bennett. Do you think with Tony Bennett potentially opening up the offense that it could lead to more NBA talent from UVA?

I think, well, I don't want to characterize. I mean, there's been a lot of rumors about he's going to open up the offense. We don't know exactly what that means. I don't think we're going to see anything close to a run-and-gun kind of offense from Tony Bennett. He likes to play at a slower pace and he may tweak some things and give the players maybe a little more freedom to run when they have an opportunity.

I agree 100%. I don't think we're going to see him just kill the brakes and let these guys run wild. It's not going to happen. So let's squash that before it gets out of hand. I think he'll tweak some things, and there'll be a potential for more scoring, probably because I think this offense will be more efficient than last year's,

which drew so much criticism. But I think he's starting, I think he's been getting, for the most part, since 2019, a little higher caliber recruit and potential NBA players. And he's been in the hunt for quite a few more and unfortunately lost some of them to Duke. Cooper Flagg. Canupal. Yeah.

TJ Power, who is now on the Virginia roster. And some other kids too. But I think he'll continue to recruit NBA talent. I don't think he's going to get a lot of one-and-done kind of kids, but I think he's recruiting essentially top 100 and a lot of top 40, top 50 players, and has been for quite some time and is in the running for a lot

and every now and grabs one. I think the level of player has probably risen in recent years, even though it didn't reflect in last year's record. But I think the best is yet to come in terms of the caliber of talent in this program. Is there a guy on the roster

that has the most NBA upside, in your opinion? Hmm. Who is that guy? Was it Elijah Gertrude before the knee injury? Yeah, and still could be because you can come back from knee injuries for sure. I don't think it's going to slow him down too much once he gets back to 100%. He's probably the guy right now, I would say. We don't know what some of these transfers are going to turn into.

I think some of these guys have some NBA potential. It's going to be interesting to watch and see how these guys develop this year. Viewers and listeners, we appreciate you watching the program. Folks are watching in Tennessee, North Carolina. Folks watching across Virginia. Folks watching in Maryland, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania as we speak. We have to talk Directors' Cup standings. Fifth overall in the Directors' Cup.

The Directors' Cup is a measure of the athletic department's success across the board with all sports weighted equally. They gain more points or more standing credentials when they do better in the postseason. And fifth overall for UVA suggests a very well-rounded athletic department, Hootie. Yeah, I think North Carolina was the only other ACC team in the top ten. North Carolina, a perennial power in the Director's Cup. They are.

It's been Virginia and North Carolina battling for that top ten position for years. And if they don't finish in the top ten, they're usually really right just outside it. I think it speaks volumes for what they're doing over there. And when we had Craig Littlepage in here several weeks ago, he kind of got that started, really, when he was his, I remember talking to John Oliver when Little Page hired Oliver and Oliver asked Craig what his goal was. And he said, I want Virginia to become the Stanford of the East. And I think they essentially have. If you look at the Directors' Cup standings every year, there's not a lot of Eastern teams that have done better than Virginia overall.

And that's a tribute to Craig and a tribute to Carla to continue that tradition. And, I mean, wow. It's one of the finest athletic programs top to bottom in the country. And, you know, it's hard to say much more than that. I mean, Stanford is usually the standard because if they don't win it, they're usually second or third. I think they were second to Texas this year, and Texas has thrown tons of money into its athletic program. You're correct.

Texas won, Stanford two, Tennessee three, Florida four, Virginia five, Texas A&M, six, UNC, seven, eight, Alabama, nine, UCLA, and Notre Dame rounds out the top ten. And you look at those schools, and, I mean, they're really good at almost every sport. And a lot of them have probably got bonus points for being good in football, which Virginia hasn't cashed in in that area. Right. of them are probably got bonus points for being good in football uh which virginia's has hasn't cashed in in that area but right right if they ever did can you imagine if virginia was good at football what they would do for the director's cup i mean because the difference between virginia and fifth place in the director's cup standings 10 1,066 points. And fourth place, Florida, is 123 points. Florida's pretty good

at football. Tennessee's pretty good at football. Stanford's pretty good at football. Texas, Texas A&M, North Carolina, Alabama, Notre Dame, pretty good at football. Also, a common denominator in some of these directors cup standings is some academic success as well. Oftentimes you see with the Olympic sports and the non-revenue sports, these athletes are not just fantastic on the playing field, but they're fantastic in the classroom because they most likely are realizing that the future is not the U.S. News and World Academic Rankings, and I think all but one of them were ACC schools. So that shows you what the ACC is all about. It's not just athletics, but academics are important as well. Kevin Higgins, I'll get to your comment and manner of moments about football. I want to dot the I's and cross the T's on the Director's Cup with Hootie.

Here's a very pointed question for you. What does the Director's Cup success mean to fans? That's a good question. I've been asking that to some fans for decades. I think it's something they should be incredibly proud of, the fact that their school is so well-rounded in so many different sports. Not everybody's a football fan. Not everybody's a basketball fan.

So it gives others a lot of joy and entertainment. But there are some people that feel that if you're not getting it done in football and basketball, the rest of it doesn't matter. I don't agree with that. I don't agree with that either. But there are some people that think that way, and to them them i guess it doesn't matter but i i think uh to the vast majority of fans it's it's a point of pride and uh and something that they they really enjoy seeing all these teams and all these athletes succeed on a national level all right one thousand percent agree um kevin higgins we talk football in a matter of moments think about the success we have had with baseball with tennis with lacrosse

with soccer with rowing and the fan bases that follow these sports with swimming i mean good lord and the fan bases that follow these sports i mean it is just it's special folks it's special we will talk on the program today, basketball and football recruiting, but we have a graphic created by the talented Scott Ratcliffe about the new Power 4 conferences. You give us a thumbs-up, Judah, when that graphic is playing, that video is playing, so we can let the folks know what the Power 4 conferences are going to look like.

The rich get richer when it comes to college sports, and you now have four conferences where the majority of talent, not talent, but potentially the dominance is concentrated in four conferences. As a result, they're called the Power Four. That video is playing now. Look at the screen, viewers and listeners,

for watching the program. Look at the screen. You have it on your phone if you want to check it. Hootie Ratcliffe, what do you want to make of, where's your take on the new Power 4 conferences? Well, you know, as of yesterday, everything changed officially in America. officially inducted or joined their respective conferences, which has reshaped the Big Ten, the SEC, the ACC, and the Big 12. Some of these schools' conferences probably should change their name now because instead of Big 10 and Big 12,

there's like Big 18 or Big 20 or something. But we may see conferences named after corporate sponsors at some point. I think that's going to happen. But it was a big day for a lot of these schools. I know in Texas, joining the SEC, they threw a huge party in Austin and shot off fireworks from the big bell tower there and free drinks, free liquor for everybody. And I imagine it was quite a party scene out there. SMU was probably a little more subdued down in Dallas, but they threw a big party,

and some of those people were close to tears of joy in finally getting back into a power conference again since the old Southwest Conference days when they were given the death penalty. They've been chasing this for 37 years, I think, to finally get into a power conference. And now there's only four. There used to be five. The Pac-12 is gone now.

Hootie, SMU scares the hell out of me. And they should. And here's a good reason why. Even though they gave up an average of $39 million annually in TV rights that they're not going to take from the ACC that they should be getting they said they're not going to take from the ACC that they should be getting. They said they're not going to take that money just so they could get into a power conference.

It's okay. Yeah. SMU last year, after being accepted and voted into the ACC, announced it had received a record-breaking $159 million in fundraising. That shattered their previous record of between $70 and $80 million. And you want to know where the $159 million ranks. Let's put it this way. On a national scale, in 2022-23, Texas A&M led the entire nation with $115 million

in fundraising, according to Sportico. And Texas ranked second with 86 million. SMU, which only has 7,000 students, a fraction of Texas and Texas A&M, 159 million. I mean, that's staggering. That's staggering. And that shows you that they're serious about competing in the ACC. Unbelievable. We're not going to see anything like that out of Cal and Stanford, although they have really good money supporting their programs.

Great endowments. Great endowments. And they'll be competitive as well but uh it doesn't mean as much to anybody as it does to smu because uh they're already uh putting up uh the acc logos and the the opposing teams uh logos and stuff in their arena and their football stadium and putting patches on their uniforms. They're really proud to be a member of the ACC. It means a lot to those people. I even saw a bizarre video on Twitter yesterday with Troy Aikman

welcoming the ACC to Dallas. And he has nothing to do with this. Right. He's just a Dallas guy. He played for the Dallas Cowboys. Yeah. What did he play? It was college football, UCLA, right?

Yes. Oklahoma and then UCLA. But, I mean, there's excitement in Dallas that's unparalleled. The SMU edition is, now for the folks that follow it closely, we realize the impact that SMU is going to have on the conference. But for those that follow, do not follow SMU closely, or the money specifically, that's in the Dallas area. You're looking at one of the wealthiest schools that prioritizes athletics.

I mean, history would suggest maybe even before academics. I mean, I'm not trying to throw shade at SMU here. And they have good academics. And they have great academics. But they want to win in sports, and they want to win in football. It's like part of their DNA. This team is not a team to overlook. Absolutely.

And Virginia is going to get a taste of SMU this year. And they're defending champions of the league they were in last year. They have a good coach in Lashley. They're going to

come in this fall with the designs on finishing high in the league. Andy Enfield, who left his basketball head coaching job at Southern Cal and jumped to SMU, did it pretty much solely on the fact that SMU is going to be in the ACC. And they paid him a lot of money. Yeah, and he grew up on the East Coast and was an ACC fan and always wanted to coach in the ACC,

and certainly here's his opportunity. This comment, comments come in from Greenwood, Virginia's finest, Kevin Higgins. UVA football lost four games last year by a total of 14 points combined. Was it more than four? I think it was six games by 17 points. Six games, that's what I remember. Six by 17. Regardless, his point is this. That happened after a mass murder on the football team.

He says that I think that is our version of we are Marshall. What do you boys think of the season coming up? And he thinks that UVA is going to be very good and that Tony Elliott is the right guy for the job. History or the season will unplay as it does. Both Hootie and I, and he's the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer, so I'll stop talking here, but we're both of the mindset that this football team, what do you call it, has got to make hay early in the season? Yeah, I think they have a chance.

I think they have a chance at going to a bowl game, a cold-weather bowl game, Boston, New York, somewhere like that, a minor bowl game, if they take care of business. But they're going to have to do it early. The back end of their schedule is brutal. The first half is manageable, but there's some really key games against Wake Forest and Maryland early that they almost have to win to give themselves a chance to do that. I think we've talked about how Vegas has set the line at four and a half wins, which is three and a half last year,

that they barely, they should have, certainly should have met or surpassed. I think they have a chance to surpass it this year, and I've given reasons why in previous shows, but they have something like 18 to 20 starters back, plus some transfers who started elsewhere that don't really count as starters here a year ago. So they have tons of experience back. They have two quarterbacks I think they can win with. They have some dynamic receivers

the defense has to be better than last year and a lot of that will depend on staying healthy but they have some guys on that side of the ball Jerry that have played five six seven years years of college football. There's a ton of experience on that side of the ball. They have a couple of good defensive backs that are rated high by pro football focused. They have 85% of their offensive productivity returning, which is in top five in the nation.

They got two quarterbacks? They have two quarterbacks I think they can win with. Two starting quarterbacks? Yeah, two starting quarterbacks. They got a big wide receiver playmaker? I think a lot of the success is going to boil down to the offensive line, which essentially returns intact. is going to boil down to the offensive line, which... That's what it is right there. Essentially returns intact.

Yeah. But then again, they have... There's a caveat. There is a caveat in that they haven't proven that they can protect these two experienced quarterbacks. Right. And that they can punch holes in the defense for Kobe Pace to run through.

They got a running back that was a starter at Clemson, two starting quarterbacks. They got a wide receiver that transferred from Notre Dame, grew up in Richmond, that is a dynamic playmaker. They got a possession-wide receiver. They got a defense that's got talent all over the ball. They got a coaching staff that has significant... They've got to prove their worth this year. There's a lot on the line here.

There's a lot on the line. I think Tony Elliott is safe unless they just lay an egg and win three games again. I think that would be really hard to swallow. But I think they're going to do better than that. They should. I mean, we've talked ad nauseum about needing to learn how to win, and that's what held them back last year.

That team didn't know how to win. It kept beating itself in critical junctures of games and made just silly mistakes, poor judgment that drew penalties that killed them. Special teams was a disaster. That's something that they really, really need to turn around this year and make it a strength instead of a weakness because that cost them a couple of games last year. And I think they will. I think Tony Elliott has put more of his own personal attention into the special teams to try to make that more stable.

But, you know, I think if they take care of business early, who knows, you might be able to spring an upset somewhere down the road that could put you into a bowl game. Viewers and listeners, we are less than 60 days away from the opener. You got the Richmond Spiders on the docket, Saturday, August 31st, at Scott Stadium. Less than 60 days. And before we close the show, two items out of the recruiting notebook from Hootie Ratcliffe.

Virginia has added a Michigan offensive tackle, as you reported, to its commitment list. And we also have a basketball tidbit to throw out there with the St. Ann's basketball product narrowing his list to six schools Hootie yeah they've they've added four football commitments in the past week or so one kid from Georgia who is very intriguing who picked Virginia over Georgia the latest is is Jim Harris, Jr., a three-star 6'5", 285 offensive tackle from Muskegon, Michigan, rated the number 75 tackle in the country, number 21 overall recruit in the state of Michigan. Picked Virginia over Cincinnati, West Virginia, Pitt, Indiana, and Vanderbilt,

along with a handful of MAC conference schools. Sounds like a pretty good prospect, really. He's their 16th recruit and their third offensive lineman as we mentioned earlier in the show the baseball team picked up three right-hander through the transfer portal three right-handed pitchers i think they're going to add to this. One of the guys, Wesley Arrington, is originally from Keswick, played football and basketball at the Covenant School and was part of Lynchburg Hornets national championship team a year ago. They got back into their Division III College World Series this year,

but he's a big kid six four two ten and uh has a lot of experience he had 45 starts at lynchburg and um had a 3.86 era this past season through a no hitter uh was outstanding player of the ODAC Conference Tournament. And a couple other guys, all Southern Conference second team pitcher, Will Riley from VMI. Throws a lot of strikeouts. And Alex Marcus from William & Mary had 18 appearances, 13 starts, and has a fastball that's been clocked between 95 and 96 miles an hour.

That's pretty quick. That's pretty quick. I don't care what division you're playing in. Basketball-wise, local kids, St. Ann's Bailfield, Chance Mallory, Father Joe used to box back in the day. Five-foot-nine point guard, one of the top recruits in the country. Number 11 point guard in the country, according to On threes composite rankings number 35 overall prospect in the country has narrowed his choices to six schools virginia tennessee clemson mi, Villanova, Virginia Tech. He's broken his ankle, so he won't be playing anymore this summer.

So he has a lot to think about. He said he's planning on announcing his decision on Joe's birthday, which is October 30th. Can't always hold a kid to that. But as a junior at St. Ann's last year, he averaged 26 points a game, lit it up, had over 40 a few times, and is a dynamic player. Is a dynamic player. Fingers crossed it's a Virginia commitment.

That would be sweet. That would be very sweet. I mean, you're looking at a potential point guard of the future right there. Um, this show, we came in, in the dog days of summer. We're like,

what are we going to talk about today? And then the show just takes a life of its own with the help of the viewers and listeners. The start of the program where we were talking, the best prep athletes out of central Virginia garnered significant interest from the viewers and listeners. This man is an Oracleacle of athletic information, and he's a Virginia Sports Hall of Famer for a reason.

His name is Jerry Hootie Ratcliffe. I encourage you to check out JerryRatcliffe.com. I visit his website two to three times a day, generally in the morning, perhaps when I'm on the think tank, and on the evening as well, JerryRatcliffe.com. Judah Wicower behind the camera with a fresh haircut. Looking very sleek. Very dapper. Manicured beard as well. You want to know

something interesting here? What's that? The Renaissance man, he gave that haircut to himself. Seriously? Yeah. Isn't that amazing? I'm impressed. I'm very impressed. If I did that, I wouldn't go out in public. Literally, that's what I said to you here. That's how good the man looks over there.

Judah Wickower, a renaissance man capable of doing many, many, many, many things well. For Hootie Ratcliffe and the freshly manicured Judah Wickower, my name is Jerry Miller, and this is the Jerry O'Jerry Show. So long, everybody. Thank you.