The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Thoughts On Tony Bennett Court Ceremony At JPJ; Tony Bennett Honored Players, Coaches & Staff

Episode Date: February 24, 2026

The Jerry & Jerry Show headlines: Thoughts On Tony Bennett Court Ceremony At JPJ Tony Bennett Honored Players, Coaches & Staff Mallory, White & Cavs Send Canes Packing Where Does UVA Win vs Miami Stackup This Year? #11 UVA (24-3, 12-2 ACC) 2nd In ACC, 1 Game Back NC State (19-8, 10-4) at UVA (-6.5), 7PM, ACCN How Close Is UVA To Being A Top 5 Team? Inside The ACC: The Great, Good, Bad & Ugly 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. It's an absolute pleasure to connect with you guys through the I Love Seville Network on a show that spotlights Virginia Sports Hall of Famer Jerry Hooty Rackliff, a household name in ACC sports circles. And of course, across this UVA sports landscape that is deep, robust, passionate, and certainly has a lot to cheer for. Goodness, we could make an argument that the start of the 2025, 2026 sports season at UVA is maybe the best start in Virginia athletics history. You have the most single season wins for a football team, Tony Elliott, this past, what, a couple of weeks, a month and change, couple of months. Now you've got Virginia basketball knocking. on the door of the top 10, a matchup against the Duke Blue Devils looming, and a team that

clearly looks like it can make a deep run in the NCAA tournament. We'll talk about all those storylines and more, including an impressive victory against the visiting Miami Hurricanes, where Miami punched UVA in the mouth multiple times. Virginia staggered against the ropes. They did not fall. Again, resilient, stood up to the physicality and sent Miami packing to South Florida on a night we will all remember as Tony Bennett's iconic signature is now glazing the hardwood of the John Paul Jones Arena. We encourage you, the viewer and listener, to join us in the discussion. Judah Wickhauer is behind the camera.

If you can go to the studio camera, then a two-shot as we welcome Jerry Hootie Racklep to the program. Goodness gracious, my friend, we have Tony Bennett's signature on the court. We have the fantastic surprise that support staff, coaches, and former players, had their signatures also included into Coach Bennett's. We had a win against the hurricanes, and we have Duke looming, so much to cover. Yeah, that was a glorious day last Saturday, for sure, with the dedication and the win.

That was, I think, when they look back on it, that's going to be a big win for Virginia in terms of the season. We're down by 11 points at one point, in the first half, down 44 to 39 at halftime, and came back and fought like crazy. I mean, it was a hell of a basketball game. There was 14 times in the game that the score was tied, and 12 times the lead changed.

It was back and forth until the bitter end when Chance Mallory made incredibly heavy play. taking the ball and grushing down the court before Jai Lucas could call Tom out and drew the foul on a three-point shot. And then made all three free throws with three and a half seconds left to play. And then Derritter made a nice defensive play at the end when Miami was going to try a desperation three. And he intercepted the inbound pass and it was all over. And a heck of a win.

24th win of the season and you're right about the Tony Bennett ceremony it couldn't have been done any better I don't think the fact that Ryan Odom played a key role in that I thought was special Tony Bennett had actually asked

or suggested that Ryan keep his team and himself in the locker room instead of coming out on the court pregame because it was such a big game he didn't want to distract from that. But Ryan wouldn't have it. He felt like it was important for these players to witness a part of Virginia history and get a feel for the university and the program, which turned out to be a really good idea, I think. And Ryan was, you could tell he put so much thought into trying to figure out the best ways to handle that situation.

and the fact that he came up with the painting of Tony Bennett and his father, Dick Bennett, in an embrace, I guess, from the Final Four or the national championship was incredible. I don't know that you could have given a better gift that would have touched Tony Bennett more than that. I thought it was special on so many different levels and ways. the fact that Dave Odom and Ryan Odom were on the floor. The fact that Tony Bennett made reference to his parents who were not there. The fact that Tony Bennett on the broadcast when he was a guest for a handful of minutes, was it West Durham?

West Durham, my friend, West Durham. Randolph Chilbert. He'll be here again tonight for the NC State game. For the NC State game. And the entire time during the broadcast when Wes and Randolph were trying to heat prey, on Coach Bennett, he changed the direction of the conversation to the game flow and what was happening on the basketball court, or he passed the attention on to former players and assistant coaches and support staff. The fact that in the signature, Tony Bennett's signature on the court,

the former players, coaches, and support staff have their signatures included is one of the most selfless acts I've ever seen. It reminded me of Coach Bennett when he was, when he earned a race. he was performing, he was winning, he was living up to his contract and then some, he was entitled to more money. I thought he was frankly underpaid and he said, I don't want any more money. I want to give this money to the coaches, my assistant coaches. I mean, it's, it made, it got me choked up watching this. Yeah, and he didn't want people to know that then. John Oliver told me that, and I wrote a story about it. Otherwise, I don't know that we would have ever known, but yeah, he turned down a raise.

I mean, who does that? These guys are usually figuring every angle that they possibly can to get a race, let alone turn one down and share it with their staff. But I agree with you. It was a brilliant idea from Tony's part to ask for that, to have all those names embedded in his signature on my name. the floor. I'm going to go by early tonight just to take a look at that and see what it

looks like up close and personal. I didn't have time to do it the other night. It was too many people still in the arena after the game, but yeah, that was an incredible idea on Tony's part. Cliff Daisy's watching on the eastern shore. He says, happy Tuesday morning, gentlemen.

Hey, Cliff. On the edge of my seat for the UVA Miami game, what a win. I'm looking forward to the ACC tournament. I hope you both are doing well. Cliff Daisy, thank you for watching the program. Renee Pettiford, does she watch in Charlotte, North Carolina? I think she's in Durham. In Durham, Renee Pettiford. One of the biggest Virginia sports fans, basketball fans that I know. And she says, oh my goodness, Jerry, we made an 8-0 run. And Wes and Randolph and Tony on the broadcast were completely into the game. She says she's still smiling. And she loved what Ryan Odom said to Tony Bennett and that she was texting with friends during the game when Tony was in the booth and they

made the run and my friends said keep him in the booth. I thought the same thing, Renee Peddeford. The run was going on and goodness gracious, Coach Bennett was so into the contest talking about Jacari White, talking about this team, their depth. Lisa Green is watching the program. Vanessa Parkhill is watching the program. Like and share the show. Folks in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Northern Virginia, Maryland. Pennsylvania and Kentucky on our feed right now as Wahoo Nation is captivated by what is a magical start to the season. Number 11 in the polls, Virginia basketball, a looming matchup against Duke. We will talk the matchup against NC State tonight.

First, let's talk this Miami victory. Miami came out with physicality. As physical a matchup, I have seen Virginia play this year an opponent. And at first they staggered, Hooty. Yeah. They were staggering against the ropes, Virginia, and they got their footing, a basketball analogy, and started fighting back. And I'll give the officials some credit, too. They let them play a little bit, which I think is a good thing, because once you get into NCAA tournament play, it seems like the officiating loosens up a lot, and they let people play. and you better be prepared to do that.

And if they're getting accustomed to that now in the final weeks of the regular season, that's a good sign. And it was. It was about as physical a game as you could ask for this season so far. And Miami, you give them credit, they didn't back down a bit.

In fact, they took it to Virginia early, and Virginia had to respond. they did a good job of responding. Virginia is one of the more physical teams in the ACC, if not the country. It was something that Will Wade even pointed out yesterday in his ACC teleconference that he's concerned about that if his team can match that physicality.

And I think that's every coach that's played Virginia this year has mentioned that, that if the Virginia, Virginia is much more physical in person and you can detect on film and the scouting. And so it takes a real life adjustment when you get into the arena with them and they start making it up. If you don't have an answer, then you're going to get, you're going to get beat up. I also, I mean, I also think Virginia basketball is playing its best basketball the season right now. Jacari White, we cannot emphasize enough the importance of Jacari White for this Virginia men's basketball team and his three-point shooting. and he appears darn near close to completely healthy.

He was one of the key components to the win against Miami with his three-point shooting. The cast has gone from, you know, a cast for a broken hand to a splint to now a rap. He's bouncy. He's confident. He's attacking the rack. He's smiling. He plays with joy. Yes, he does.

It is contagious. This team. is certainly better when Devin Tillis is healthy. As a guy who can come off the bench and give him anywhere from 10 to 14 minutes. But I think his return is imminent. He's, what, is he questionable tonight? Yeah. It's NC State.

Yeah, a couple of the riders bumped into him in the parking lot, walking into the arena before Saturday's game, and he said he wasn't going to play that night. But did he hope to be back by Tuesday? but we'll see how that goes. My standpoint, just as a guy with a microphone, I let Tillis, who's got historic and chronic knee issues to get completely healthy, missed the game tonight against NC State,

so he's fresh and healed for the Duke matchup on Saturday. Those are just mine two cents. Chance Mallory deserves tremendous attention. Renee Pedifer is exactly right. Mark Brown's watching the program. He says, I absolutely love that. this show. Shift God 137 on YouTube is watching from Northern Almoreau County. We'll get to your comments on YouTube. If you like the show viewers and listeners and you love what Jerry Rackleff is doing,

support him. And we have some big time news on the near horizon with Jerry Rackleff.com. And that news, we will be very, very soon to pass along to you, the viewer, listener, and the reader. And it's going to be news of significance for Jerry Rackleaf.com. But if you like this show, hammer the like button, subscribe to the YouTube channel, ask a question, share the show. We're asking you kindly to do that. Chance Mallory goes to the free throw line. He has three of the biggest free throws that he's made potentially in his entire life. Three of the most significant free throws that I can remember for Virginia basketball since 2019 when Kyle Guy had three straight free throws. I'm not putting them in the same category, but not since 2019 have we seen three free

throws the significance. One of Miami's players was talking tremendous smack to Chance Mallory. Don't doubt that at all. The entire, the television broadcast showed it prior to the free throw, the first free throw, a Miami player went up to him, literally got in his face, got in his head, was trying to talk smack so he would miss it. Chance was barking back. And then he basically nodded at his head and said, watch what I'm going to do here and made three straight. you're not going to intimidate chance Mallory he he's never backed down and he has a not just a physical toughness but a mental toughness and if you're trying to intimidate that guy you're wasting your time I couldn't agree with you more talking smack to Chance Mallory is the opposite of what you should be doing yeah his makeup is yeah his makeup is one where you where where you just you're You stay quiet with him.

You don't talk smack to Chance Mallory. And he's a pretty darn good free throw shooter, too. Yeah, and he made all three of those that wasn't a problem. And I kind of thought he might make all three. I thought the same. I thought in that scenario, when the Miami player was talking smack to him, he was going to drill all three of these to make a point. I got to ask you a question.

They're the clear-cut number two team in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Virginia at 12 and 2, Miami's 10 and 4. That win against the hurricanes was huge from a tie-bit breaker standpoint. Yes, it certainly was. Dot the eyes and crossed the T's against NC State last night, or tonight, and then you have a matchup of number one against number 11 on Saturday, which we will get to. Talk to us about Virginia and what you're seeing at this part of the season. Are they peaking in your standpoint?

I think they're edging toward that. Jim Beheim made the comment a couple of weeks ago that we haven't seen Virginia play their best basketball yet and he was correct but I think they're inching toward that and we saw that in the first half at Georgia Tech which it's not a great example because Georgia Tech is not playing that well even though they did beat

NC State I think recently. But Virginia did what they had to do in that game. They took it to Tech on the road. They didn't let up until the second half when it was kind of hard to keep your interest with essentially a 30-point lead or whatever it was. But they took care of business,

then they came home and got ready for one of the better teams in the league and won a dog fight on their home court and set themselves up for a nice finish to the season. And it won't be an easy one because NC State is pretty good. We all know about Duke. Wake Forest can jump up and bite you. And we've seen what Virginia Tech can do if things are falling their way. So nothing is guaranteed.

But I think they are, he is bringing this team along to where it's going to peak at the right time, which is in the postseason. And that's when teams should be playing their best basketball. 7 o'clock tip against the Wolfpack on the ACC network, John Paul Jones Arena. Estanoche, that's Spanish for tonight, ladies and gentlemen. The line open at 5.5. Depending on where you shop, it's now 6.5. Virginia favored. Shift God 137 watching in northern Almaro County. I'm happy to see Virginia

finally getting some respect in the polls. Tonight's game is very important regarding momentum. Amen, brother. And we appreciate when you watch the program. If you like the show, hammer the like button, hammer the subscribe button. Ask us a question. We work hard for you. That's the only thing we ask in return. And stay tuned for some news of significance on jerry rackliff.com, which is the source of the source for anything Virginia athletics related. Jeremy Wilson is giving props to the show in Eastern Tennessee. James Manison is watching in Mineral Virginia. Bobby Kohler is watching the program. He said, I'm so glad Grunlow had a good game. If he gets his mojo going, Virginia is going to be that much more dangerous. Grunlow was a very good point. Grunlow was fantastic. He was, that was maybe his best game

the other night. Maybe perhaps not from the scoring standpoint, but from the overall standpoint. 12 points, five blocked shots, which is pretty amazing, four rebounds, four out of five field goals,

two out of two from the three-point lark. A stretch five. He was active all over the floor. And if they can get that kind of effort, from him to go along with Hugo man that's a big punch

in the middle of your in the middle of your defense to have two seven footers who are playing at their peak of their game Glenn Dotson watching the program I believe it's the first time he's interacted with the show with a

like standpoint on Facebook the show airs on 15 Facebook pages 15 Twitter accounts iTunes Apple Podcasts, the Fountain app, the Rumble app, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, anywhere and everywhere you get your social media. Glenn Dotson, where are you watching the show, my friend? Grunlow, when he is playing well, he offers a stretching of the floor capability for Virginia hoops, which I think is extremely important for Derritter's upside.

When Derritter is able to get the basketball, I think he might be at his best when he's able to get the basketball. I think he might be at his best when he's able to get the basketball at the top of the key or somewhere behind Bonisphere, take three or four power dribbles, and then start utilizing his wide shoulder base to maybe get to his right hand, where he either has a right hook or he's able to finish around the rim. He's even introduced a new left-handed hook of late. But when Grunlow and Jacari White, Chance Mallory and Top and. are shooting well from outside. That opens up the interior.

Sam Lewis for Derritter. Your thoughts on that, Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. I think that's the whole key to this team is the perimeter shooting. And it's a luxury to have two seven-footers who can play like they do inside. But I think what really makes this team go is DeRitter when he has space to work. And if they're not making their shots from the perimeter, They can crowd him down in the paint and keep him under control, double teaming when they need to. But if these guys are bombs away from outside, they can't afford to do that.

They can't clog up the middle. They have to respect the shooting. They have to get out on the line and try to at least harass the three-point shooters. But if those shots are going in, that gives you a clear path to the beach. basket and once he gets that, you're not going to stop him. You're either going to let him score or are you going to foul him? And either one is bad news for you. Glenn Dotson's Washington, Danville, Virginia. Welcome to the family, Glenn Donson. We appreciate your support, your viewership. Make sure you check out jerry rackliff.com. Significant news on the near horizon at jerry

rackliff.com. NC State tonight started at five and a half, now at six and a half the Wahoo's favorite. Coach Wade in his comments on the teleconference, this is a completely different basketball team with a healthy Jacari White. He straight up said Jacari White won Virginia, the Florida State game. And I'm going to tell you right now, Chance Mallory and Jacari White, this entire team, but Jacari White had 17 against the hurricanes. Jacari White did. Yeah, and he was five of eight from the arc. And you could just tell he was on from the very beginning. other night and I mean he's back he's so valuable to this team because he's such a pure shooter and he made a lot of big plays and the one down the stretch was huge and then

chance finished it off but coach Lucas mentioned in this post game he said that when he was reviewing the scouting film on Virginia and going down their personnel. Unlike, who was it the week before? Oh, the Florida State Coach, who said when he went down the thing, he kept looking at the roster and checking it all saying, grown man, grown man, grown man, grown man. Well, Lucas saw immediately that and commented, he said, I could tell that Chance Mallory is the swagger of this basketball team.

And he and Jacari White are the swagger and the personality of this team. And it's pretty evident that when those guys are on the floor and they're playing well, they're almost unstoppable. Troy Foster watched the program in Lynchburg, Virginia. We have 13 states on the Jerry and Jerry show right now. talking Virginia basketball, the 11th ranked team in the country. What separates Virginia basketball against Duke? My wife and I are two sons.

We spent all of Saturday watching basketball. We watched Virginia win. We watched Yukon play. We watched Houston lose. We watched Duke beat up Michigan and a hell of a ball game. I'll tell you what. Duke is effing loaded. They are.

The boozer kid who looks like a top five draft pick, top four draft pick, he got into foul trouble and he still finished with nearly a triple double was the best player on the floor and at times was unstoppable. Yeah, and that's who he is. He's probably the number two guy in the draft behind the BYU kid, I think, who I saw a little bit of him Saturday night as well. That guy's had some Michael Jordan-like moves toward the basket. But, I mean, Duke is loaded. They're always seemingly loaded, and this is no different. They have terrific players all over the floor. Their only weakness going into the season,

which is probably not a weakness anymore, is that they were so young. But it's like Ryan O. said of Chance Maui the other day he says chance is not a freshman anymore well those two guys they're not freshman anymore either and they're a really good basketball team they're playing really well right now just like Virginia is they're at home where they're almost impossible to beat and I think it's going to be a basketball war when these two teams play and the thing that Virginia has to be very cautious about is going into Cameron.

And I know buildings and environments usually don't beat you. I know Coach Jones has told me about that several times. He's not a big believer in that, but even he would admit that if you go into a place like that and you don't get off to a good start, the other team is playing well, that the environment can swallow you up. because everything intensifies and you put more pressure on yourself.

And having covered games at Cameron since the late 70s, I've seen so many great basketball teams over that stretch of time, some of the great Carolina teams, some of the great Virginia teams. I saw UCLA coming there once. They were one of the top teams. in the country and just had a total meltdown in Cameron because of all those factors. So I think you've got to make sure you get off to a good start there. And I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing that none of Virginia's players have

ever played there before. So it's definitely a different intimidating environment than you're normally going to run into. James Watson watching the program, he says this show is actually. absolutely fantastic, and he looks forward to the program every single week. We appreciate you, James Watson. Mark Coleman watching the program loves the show. He says, let's beat that wolf pack. Mark Coleman, amen, brother, he's watching the program.

I can just tell on the program with the viewership and the listenership and the engagement, countrywide engagement on the program right now, that the passion and the interest is palpable. It's tangible through an internet service provider while doing this program, ladies and gentlemen. Hammer the like button, share the show, visit Jerry Rackliff.com. Glenn Dotson says that he loves the program and he's been a Wahoo fan since 1980. We got Wahoo fans of all ages watching the show right now. Let's talk about Virginia and 11th in the polls here. the 11th ranked team in the country.

I kind of hinted at this last week, and I've been talking about it on our 1230 show, the I Love Seville Show. This might be the best start to an athletic season at the University of Virginia, maybe in the school's history. There's no person that's better suited to answer this question than you.

How long have you been covering Virginia athletics? Since 82. Since 1982. Yeah. This is this the best start to the sport season at UVA since? You've covered the program. Probably so because, I mean, the fact that the football team won 11 games and played in a decent bowl game.

And obviously, that's a record. The program had only won 10 games once ever before. So to surpass that was a milestone. and the fact that the basketball team is on the verge of the top 10 in the country, it's hard to match that. I mean, 2019 was a great year, and the fact that they won the Atlantic, or excuse me, the Coastal Division title for the only time and played in the ACC championship game, played in the Orange Bowl,

and the basketball team won the national. championship. You'd have to go back into the 90s, I think, some of the George Welsh teams from 89 to maybe 91 and maybe around 95 and 98 somewhere in there. I had some great starts and great, some seasons. And at the same time,

Terry Holland and Jeff Jones teams were doing well. But I'd have to go back and look at it year by year, but I think this would be hard to match because of what the football team accomplished with a top 25 finish and now what the basketball team's doing. We have viewers and listeners watching the program and pumping us with questions and comments, and we love it. Hammer the like button, share the show, ask a question. question. Jeremy Hu, Jeremy Ronica, one of the biggest UVA sports fans that I know,

thinks 11th in the national polls is still underrated. I thought the same, Jeremy Hu. I thought, I still do not think national pollsters truly understand the depth and the talent and the resilience of this roster. Now, I could be living in a fishbowl. I'm sitting in a chair less than two miles away from the John Paul Jones Arena, wearing an orange Brooks Brothers buttoned down shirt while eagerly awaiting a 7 o'clock tip-off with my wife and our two sons against NC State in a house that's four minutes, five minutes from the John Paul Jones Arena. Okay, I understand I'm in a fishbowl. I frankly also believe that 11th in the rankings was undervalued. Your thoughts on that? Well, I think probably the reason for that is that they don't.

have any teams, any wins against the elite teams in the country. They don't have a marquee win. Exactly. And when you get into that atmosphere, where your top 15, top 12, on end of the top 10, you usually, a lot of times it's like in the big 12, it seems like every night you're playing against somebody else that's ranked in the top 10 or 12 or 15 or whatever. So I think that's the one thing that has held their ranking back is that they don't have a, like you say, a marquee win.

They have some really good wins over some really, really good basketball teams. If I was somebody from another league, I would not want any part of playing Miami or Florida State in the postseason. And, you know, NC State can jump up and bite you even though they got clobbered by Louisville a couple of weeks ago. But I think that's the one thing that's probably held them back out of the top ten is the ACC doesn't have enough teams ranked that high to where it counts to the point where it can get you an entry into the top ten in the country.

Right, right. That's where the North Carolina lost hurts Virginia. Yeah. The Louisville win does not have the same street cred as it would had Louisville's point guard been healthy and in the starting lineup. National pollsters are very well aware that this Louisville team is different. Now, if they beat Duke, it all changes. Different story on Saturday. Different story on Saturday.

We'll talk about the Duke matchup. If you beat the number one team, I mean, gosh, you beat NC State. And I don't want this to be a trap game. I think every game that's on Virginia's roster, R. It's scheduled from here on out to potential trap game because Virginia is clearly getting the best their opponents have to offer, except for Damon Stoddemeier's Rambling Rack, who look like a junior varsity high school team on the floor, especially in the first half against Virginia. But Miami, that's as good as Miami is going to play. Oh, yeah. Miami did that on the road in the John Paul Jones Arena.

And Miami had a double-digit lead and clearly for most of the first half looked like the better. ball club. And then he came, he's done a very good job, Ryan Odom, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, uh, that's something that, uh, that's something that, um, I think his father Dave was really good at, um, that Terry Holland was pretty good at. And, uh, Tony Bennett was a master of doing. Um, and I think Odom, uh, Ryan Odom is just falling right into that category. He, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, makes a lot of in-game adjustments, but he makes some really solid halftime adjustments, too. And that's allowed them to win a few games that perhaps some other teams would not have pulled out.

Wesley, Wesley, I hope I do not mess up your last name. Is it Kinchillo? Am I saying that right, Wesley, Kinchalo? He says, I want to, can you guys, he's watching in Waynesboro, by the way. He says, can we talk about the lack of coverage for Virginia and its sports teams? He says, I always tell my buddy that Virginia is the Rodney Dangerfield of sports. He says the lack of coverage for an entire athletic department disappoints him. He's a diehard Virginia fan.

He's got the Cavalier mascot, the old school one, the OG Cavalier mascot as his profile pick. He loves the program. ACC Network tonight? Now, there's been a couple of times as well where I'm kind of quite a 12 o'clock tip-off for the Duke matchup. Yeah, I'm surprised at a noon game time for that one, but you would think that would be a little more prime time. You know, I don't know. It's hard to figure out how the TV companies determine. who's going to be playing at what time and all other.

There are so many of them involved now with the ESPN and ACC Network and Fox and CBS and what your favorite, the CW. CW. But, you know, the good thing is that Virginia basketball, just about every one of their games. I think all of their games have been on some sort of TV. even though it might be the X

ESPNX extra or whatever which is not always easy to get but I don't know how to answer that I think they're getting a pretty good exposure around the country

I thought that maybe I think sometimes when it comes down to stuff like game day and stuff like that for football. They've been ignored by ESPN, and I don't quite understand that. There were a couple of games this season. They probably could have hosted game day.

They've hosted it in basketball several times before. But I think generally they get a pretty fair share. And the ACC Network, the only thing I don't like is the 9 o'clock games because it's hard for fan bases. to get the games that start that late and end that late, and even for some people who have to get up and work the next morning, to be able to stay up and watch the games. And, of course, the kids, their UVA fans,

depends on what your parents will believe in as to whether you can stay up and watch the game or not. One of the few things my wife and I argue about is allowing our 7-year-old and our 3-year-old to watch the end of a 9-clock battle. basketball game with dad. They're probably asleep anyway. I am all for that. My wife is not all for our seven-year-old and our three-year-old staying up to 11 o'clock to watch the end of a nine-clock game. Sometimes we sneak them out. I sneak the boys out after she's falling asleep. She's watching right now.

I will catch some grief from her. I love her. Yes, you will. James Madison is watching the program. And fellas, he says, don't forget about the great starts for the baseball and softball teams as well. Yeah, they're tearing it up, and it's great to see. And the women's basketball team is flourishing, too. I mean, they're, let's see, they play Carolina. Was it Thursday night, I think? And if they win that game, they'll be in a tie for third, I believe, in the ACC regular season standing. So they have their most regular season.

season wins in a quarter of a century going all the way back to 2000. So there's a lot to celebrate if you're a Wahoo fan. Jeremy Wilson in eastern Tennessee says Ryan Odom needs to be the coach of the year. What he has done in his first year is nothing short of amazing. I think he is now the ACC coach of the year. I think Lucas, the Miami coach, was his main competition for ACC Coach of the Year, both first year coaches, both taking over for legends, both taking over programs that suffered down on their luck this past year. Lucas and Odom both riding high. Odom beats Lucas, Odom gets the edge for ACC Coach of the Year.

Maybe the folks in Durham say John Shire should be the guy. Shire's loaded with talent. draft pick, which is a little bit different. Not saying UVA is not loaded with talent, but there's no top three draft pick here. Again, I'm living in a fishbowl and I'm biased. I think Odom is the ACC coach of the year. My question for you is short list for national coach of the year, and then what keeps him from getting national coach of the year? Who's his competition? Well, he's definitely on that list. I don't know how short or long it is, but yeah, he and Lucas are the are the two fastest first-year ACC coaches to 20 wins since Bill Guthridge did it back in 1997.

Dean Smith's right hand? Yeah, when Dean Smith suddenly shocked the world and announced in the summer that he was stepping down. And I remember dropping everything. I heard the news that morning and I dropped everything and drove straight to Chapel Hill for the press conference. from here. But, yeah, Odom did it in 24 games. Lucas did it in 25 games. The national media is misrepresenting that statistic.

Well, yeah. They did it again in the UVA Miami game. And they said Lucas was the youngest. Yeah, I've noticed that. Or the quickest to do it. The quickest, yeah. They haven't done their homework. But the both of those guys,

are definitely on the list. Actually, somebody said that Lucas wasn't on the national list, which I think is a mistake because he's done a fabulous job in Miami. Shire, of course, there's a lot of argument for him winning it because of what he's done in the last couple of years. And even though they blew the big lead in the finals last year, I think this team is not as talented as last year's Duke team, but maybe more resilient. And so that's something that in the corner, the BYU coach, I think, is on that list for national coach of the year.

I haven't examined that list very thoroughly, but I'm sure there's quite a few candidates on it, but Ryan Odom is definitely on that list. I want to give you a statistic viewers and listeners here. Virginia is 24 and 3 overall. Ranked ahead of Virginia, Illinois at 10 with six losses, Gonzaga at 9 with 2 losses, Purdue at 8 with 5 losses, Florida at 7 with 6 losses, Yukon with 3 losses at 6, Houston with 4 losses at 5, Iowa State with 4 losses at 4, Michigan 2 losses at 3, Arizona 2 losses at 2, and 2. Duke, two losses at one. Just from an eye test standpoint, and we know why they're ranked at 11,

it's the lack of marquee victory, maybe it's the depth of the ACC and how it compares to the southeastern conference or some of these other conferences. More than Big 12 this year. Big 12, right? But from an eye test standpoint, they should be ranked ahead of Illinois. From an eye test standpoint, they should be ranked ahead of Purdue. And Florida's got six losses at that. at seven. Florida's pretty good, though. Ford is loaded. Yeah.

They got six losses, though. Yeah. They're loaded. Yeah, they play a tougher schedule. But, yeah, I mean, I wouldn't be, I wouldn't argue that Virginia should be in the top 10, but I think that, again, that's the one thing that's holding them back. And it's a shame that the ACC, as good as it's been this year, hasn't gotten a little bit more national respect, I think.

in terms of the top 25 polls. And part of that is because, you know, Florida State got off to a slow start. Louisville got off to a slow start. Carolina's had their struggles. But come tournament, Tom, if I were some of these other leagues, I wouldn't want to play an ACC team in the NCAA tournament. This team has got Duke on Saturday. What do you think that line's going to be?

I'm guessing maybe four and a half, something like that, maybe five at the most. I can't imagine it being more than that. It might be less than that, but I'm certainly no odds maker, but Duke on its home floor is you're asking a lot of anybody to go in to Cameron and beat those guys when they're good, and they're normally good. good. And again, it's just a different, I've been in a lot of arenas in this country over my career, and I still have run into anywhere that's as intimidating as Cameron can be when things are snowballing on you. And so I think that's the biggest thing for Virginia in that game is to get off to a good start

and not fall behind and put pressure on itself in that game. Comments continue to come in. Jeremy, who wants to know what you think Virginia's ceiling is come March Madness? I hear a lot of people say Sweet 16, which would be a major accomplishment for a guy to come in and rebuild a roster of guys from all over the country and outside the country and take them to the Sweet. would be one of the best coaching jobs that you could ask for. So that sounds about right to me,

and obviously once you get into postseason play, if you get the right matchups, and if you're playing well and you get hot, anything can happen. We've seen that time and again here with teams that got hot at the right time and ended up in the final four, and went into the national title in one instance,

we've seen some others that were probably, probably had the capabilities reaching the Final Four and blew it for one reason or the other. The other team got hot. You got cold at the wrong time. 2016 is something I will never forget. When they had a huge lead against serious. Syracuse in Chicago, and we were sitting there making reservations during the game for Houston in the final four,

and we saw what happened when Syracuse threw the full court press on Virginia, and they fell, they became unglued. It's one of the saddest locker rooms I've ever been in in my life after that game. So, you know, once you get into the postseason, it's so unpredictable, and a lot of its matchups and how you're playing at the time. Comments continue to come in from the viewers and listeners. This is a great question. Hootie Rackleff, what do you think is the best closing lineup for this Virginia team?

I think the one we saw on the floor, and we're seeing on the floor a lot, with DeRitter, Ugo, Lewis, Mallory, sometimes Hall, And, uh, jacari. So it just depends on who you want to pull in or out of that. But that's my closing lineup. That's, that's, that's, that's the one that's the most potent. Yeah, that's my closing lineup. Uh, Ugo, uh, de Ritter, Sam Lewis, Chancashari, uh, you go Jikari overhaul.

Yeah, because of the, well, it depends on what the game situation is. Because Hall's a little better free throw shooter. If you need a three-point shooter or you need a guy playing a little better defense and a free-throw shooter and ball handler. Yeah. Chances on that floor. So definitely the four lock for me are chance, Sam Lewis, Derritter, and Hugo, and either basically what Hootie just said. If you're down and you need a little offensive punch, Jakari, if you're up and you're trying to hold the lead, Hall over Jakari, because Hall has the edge on ball handling and free throw shooting and defense. Regardless, nice little problem to have.

Yeah. And not even Malik Thomas in there. Exactly. Yeah. Nice little problem to have. Or Grunlow. Or Grunlow. Yeah.

He's playing like he did the other day. Right. Other thoughts that we haven't highlighted on the show? Well, again, I know a lot of people are looking to Saturday, but, you can't ignore NC State. They can come in and beat you. They're 19 and 8. They're 26th in the net, which is only 11 spots behind Virginia.

And they're tied for third in the league, and they're fighting for a double buy in the ACC tournament as well. And they're a different team than Virginia. They don't have the size that Virginia does. They're not as physical as Virginia, but they have a lot of guys who can score. They have four guys averaging between 13 and 14 points a game. They clobbered Carolina recently. They lost a one-point game to Miami.

That shows you that they're no joke. They beat the Hokies. They're only bad loss. lately was when they were just completely obliterated at Louisville. But Virginia's, like you said, a five and a half to six-point favorite. And Will Wade was talking about the fact that they've changed some of the things with their team. In that first meeting back in early January,

Darien Williams, their 6-6 senior, and Kadar Copeland, another 6-6 senior, their roles have changed a little bit in the fact that they're the two principal ball handlers now, which has added more stable nature to their offense. Offensively, it's a pretty good team. A lot of guys can jump up and bite you. They're not the best defensive team in the world.

They've given up 75 points and 80 points a lot in the last seven or eight games. And they gave up 118 against Louisville. So it could be another thrill or diller tonight at JPJ. Like so many of these games have been of late. And make sure you take your pepto before the game. You got the PEPTO. I got the IPAs for me. Jeremy Hu says the tickets for Saturday on the secondary market, more than $1,000 a ticket.

I'm not surprised because, I mean, Cameron, it's not a big venue. It seats just around 10,000 people. And they had chances years ago to build a new arena or enlarge that one. and they decided to keep it as it is and make it a special ticket to be able to get into, which is genius. As long as you're good, it works. 100%.

And it's absolutely genius. And they've been good. Yeah, they've been very. They've been very good. They've been very good. And so I'm not surprised at the ticket prices. You never know who you might see in the crowd of Cameron, former players, celebrities, etc.

because, again, it's a bucket list venue like Lambeau Field and Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium and places like that that a lot of people want to experience once in their life as a sports fan. And it's certainly Madison Square Garden, et cetera. It's one of those places, Fall Gowan Arena. it's a special place and you know you're going to pay you're going to pay to go to those places especially for a big game how about we close with this you want to give a little tease for the viewers and listeners we've got nine states currently watching we topped out at 13 states earlier in the show you want to give a little tease to the viewers and listeners what's on the near horizon for

Jerry Rackleft.com. Yeah. Interviewed Craig Littlepage last night, the former Virginia A.D., about his role in bringing Tony Bennett here. We're just kind of feeding off of last Saturday's enthusiasm for the program

and to celebrate Tony Bennett. We tried to get Craig last week, but he was tied up. He does a lot of consulting work and searches for ADs and coaches and stuff for a company. And so we were able to get him last night for a podcast, the Hootie and JJ show this week. So if you want to know the inner workings of how to find a great basketball coach

and how to talk a guy in the coming year program all way across the country when he's turned down Indiana, Marquette, LSU, Stanford, et cetera, you'll get all the inside scoop on that from Craig right out of his mouth. That will be covering the NC State game like crazy, obviously gearing up for the Duke game this weekend, and then we'll have all the other Olympic sports. etc. as the week goes by. Jerry rackliff.com, ladies and gentlemen.

Some announcements on the horizon as well at jerry rackliff.com. We encourage you to stand by with baited breath, my friends. He is a Virginia Sports Hall of Famer. He is an iconic institutional. He is a Virginia sounding board and just a breath of fresh air. Jerry Rackleff for Jerry Rackleff.com. Judah Wickhauer is behind the camera, just doing some amazing things digitally and problem solving for our company. My name is Jerry Miller, and I think what you see here is the water cooler of conversation when it comes down to Virginia sports and UVA athletics.

I've had so many people come up to me in the arena and grocery stores and everywhere else and just talking about how much they love this show, and they make it part of their weekly regimen. So we thank you for your support. Absolutely. And we're grateful for your support, guys. For Judah, for Hootie, my name's Jerry Miller, the I Love Seville Show guys at 1230. Thank you kindly for joining us so long, everybody.