The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - UVA Has Lost Two-Straight Games; What's Up?; Virginia Has Four Regular Season Games Left

Episode Date: February 25, 2025

The Jerry & Jerry Show headlines: UVA Has Lost Two-Straight Games; What’s Up? Virginia Has Four Regular Season Games Left Best Starting Lineup + Next Coach For UVA? UVA at Wake Forest, 9 PM, Wednesday, ESPNU Miami Targeting Duke Assistant Lucas As Coach Isaac McKneely 52nd Hoo In 1,000-Point Club UVA’s Kymora Johnson Joins 1,000-Point Club Spring Sports Started – What Are You Watching? 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. Great to connect with you guys in downtown Charlottesville, Virginia, less than two miles from the Dish, less than two miles from Klockner Stadium, less than two miles from the John Paul Jones Arena, and less than two miles from the John Paul Jones Arena and less than two miles from Scott Stadium. You, the viewer and listener, can shape the show by asking us questions, pushing back. We don't mind a little pushback.

Agreeing, disagreeing. Just enjoy the program through some participation. Of course, the Jerry and Jerry Show airs wherever you get your social media or podcasting content. Hootie Ratcliffe's Twitter account is on fire right now. We're all over Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Apple iTunes, every podcasting platform known to mankind. Judah Wickower running the audio-visual.

The gentleman is a talented individual, as talented with audio-visual as Isaac McNeely is with shooting a basketball. And that says a lot because Mr. McNeely, the West Virginian, has now joined the 1,000-point club, the 52nd Wahoo to do it. And it happened in a period of time, a weekend, where Kimora Johnson on the women's basketball team eclipsed the 1,000-point barrier. So two milestones we're going to celebrate today on the Jerry and Jerry Show. Judah Wickhauer, if you could go to the studio camera and then a two-shot and welcome the star of our program, a household name who needs little introduction. And if you would like to get to know him, visit jerryrackliff.com

to read his award-winning commentary and analysis. 51 straight ACC basketball tournaments on the near horizon for my friend and our star, Jerry Ratcliffe. We start with the scatter shooting every Tuesday morning. I love to just throw open-ended, where would you like to begin, Jerry Ratcliffe, on things that you're watching and following? Well, you know, we've got to watch rely on the basketball

season and how they finish up. Hopefully they can finish strong and at least carve out a winning season out of what's remaining and keep their position so they can make the ACC tournament.

And, you know, it's been fun watching Isaac McNeely kind of grow up. I got to know him a little bit his junior and senior year over at Poco High School in Poco, West Virginia. He was on some of our podcasts, and I was immediately struck by what a mature, solid young man he was even then and got to know his high school coach a little bit, classic high school coach from West Virginia, really good dude. It's just been fun watching him develop. He's been everything I think people thought he would be, excellent three-point shooter, and I still think the best is yet to come with him. It's just been fun watching him develop. He's been everything I think people thought he would be.

Excellent three-point shooter, and I still think the best is yet to come with him. Reaching 1,000 points is certainly no easy deed, especially when you make a living out in the bonus sphere, as I call it, and the focus of everybody's defensive uh attention yeah i mean this guy is hit a thousand points where he's getting double team triple team and he's the number one focus of any uh opposing defensive coordinator um with with schemes i mean and and i'll cut to the chase it's not really been the most balanced of offenses during McNeely's tenure and term here in Charlottesville. Yeah, and yeah, he must be in incredible shape because he's having to run constantly on offense to try to come off screens and get a quick look at the basket. He just needs a brief opening to be able to get off a decent

shot. We're starting to hear things about how he and Kyle Guy go at it against each other in practice. That must be fun to watch. He's just a good kid and I wish him the best. I hope he ends up having a great rest of this year and a great senior year. Absolutely. Renee Pettifer, we love when you watch the program.

She's got comments already for us about who the next head coach will be. That chitter-chatter is certainly heating up, viewers and listeners. And it's in particular heating up because what's happening in the ACC already, this news broke over the weekend. ESPN reported this. Duke associate coach Jai Lucas is the focus of the Miami opening. Jim Laranega no longer in Coral Gables. And Jai Lucas, the associate head coach, the lieutenant of John Shire, has emerged as the focus of this hiring committee. The deal is not completed, ESPN has reported, but the plan is for the search to come together on a traditional timeline close to the end of the regular season. John Shire said, I'm just finding out about this, but without question, Lucas is a head coach in waiting.

He's 36. He's considered one of the country's top assistant coaches. He's worked at Texas, at Kentucky, and now Duke, and is one of the best recruiters in the country. I found this intriguing. Why I found this intriguing was Miami realized the timing is now in the transfer portal. Anywhere you want to go with this, Hootie Rackless? Well, yeah, they certainly can't afford to wait. If they've got the guy they want, just bank up the cash truck

and let him get what he wants out of there because it's a tough job down there. Not many guys have won at Miami. What Laranega did was near a miracle, really, and getting those guys to the Final Four and winning a couple of ACC championships, something that their football team hasn't done. And I think that would be an attractive job for a guy like Lucas. He has a great background. Like you said, the son of John Lucas from Maryland days.

Well-traveled and in good programs. Sounds like a solid catch to me if they can if they can close the deal um does this put pressure on virginia to figure out its coaching search a better question is this has ron sanchez done enough to keep the job uh i don't know that's a good question i don't know if anybody knows other than carla williams and the search committee and I understand they've hired a search firm to screen some candidates as well, some company in Georgia. But I really think that their number one target has been Shaka Smart at Marquette, and that makes sense.

I mean, the guys did a great job at VCU, kind of flamed out at Texas. But at Marquette, he's built a pretty solid program. Just looking, according to USA Today, his last salary was just a little over $2 million, which is not that impressive. So Virginia could easily enhance his financial picture. And the arena, Al McGuire Arena up there in Milwaukee is a pretty small place. I think it seats less than 5,000 people. So he would be getting an upgrade in a lot of things if he ended up coming here, although he has signed a contract that keeps him at Marquette to the 2029-30 season.

It could be maybe they're putting their eggs in one basket and going after Shaka, and if they can't get him, that Ron Sanchez all of a sudden becomes a much more attractive candidate. Who do you think Rackliff knows his stuff? The Al McGuire Center, 3,700-seat arena. It's pretty small. It's extremely small. Smaller than VCU, I think. Yeah, 3,700-seat arena. It's pretty small. It's extremely small. Smaller than VCU, I think. Yeah, 3,700 seats.

I mean, that's extremely small. I mean, just out of curiosity, I'm curious, and I'll figure this out here in a second, how many people attend the Hampton-Sydney basketball arena. I'll find that number. I'll throw this to you here. I mean, let's talk timing. If they're going to make a change, does the change have to happen the day the regular season finishes? Hampton City's capacity, the Kirby

Fieldhouse, just over 1,200 to put it in perspective right there. So you guys are looking at just a little bit bigger than a D3 basketball arena over there. How about timing with regular season, Hootie Radcliffe? Well, we don't know what they're thinking at UVA. Obviously, they're not sharing their thoughts, and you can't blame them for that. They're trying to keep things as quiet as they can.

But I think that I don't know that you have to have it done by the end of the regular season although if you're positive you're gonna make a change and you have it the candidate you want you might as well go ahead and pull the trigger and get it done although you have to take the candidates situation candidates' situation into consideration as well, because Marquette could make a nice run in the NCAA tournament. So timing doesn't always go the way you want it to. I guess you could agree to something, but would that take the wind out of the sail for Shaka Smart's teams if,

you know, say he were the candidate? I don't know that you would want to say you're leaving and then try to coach your way through the NCAA tournament. Can a deal be brokered while he's still coaching? I think it could be agreed upon. I don't know if it would actually be signed or not. But, you know, a lot of times some of these coaching changes and hires aren't announced until the Final Four. We've seen that happen almost every year.

That was when I used to go to the Final Four quite often following an ACC team. It always seemed like part of the buzz was who's going to be hired, and who's going to be fired during that weekend. So, yeah, I mean, it could, but it doesn't have to be. I remember Pete Gillen was hired at the Final Four by Terry Holland, and I remember the frantic phone calls I was making. I didn't go to that Final Four. And I was desperately trying to get a hold of Terry Holland,

and Anne Holland helped me out a lot there, and we were able to get the story but it was uh it was all done at a hotel out and wherever that was that year I can't remember where the final four was that season. Rich Jones makes the comment I believe that coach Ron Sanchez deserves the chance to be Virginia men's basketball coach he's done a great job in a situation that he was placed in. Your thoughts on unpacking that? I see that all over the feed right now. Ron Sanchez deserves a second chance. There's a lot of people in his corner right now.

I think the Virginia fan base is somewhat divided. The ones who would like to see him get a second shot point to some of the recent wins in the player development which are all positive. Which players have developed? You've got Rohde and Robinson that have significantly developed. Oh, no question. Will we say additional development has happened player-wise? I think Day Day Ames has come along. Blake Buchanan I think has made some strides.

Kofie sometimes looks way more than just a true freshman. You know, I think they've worked hard in trying to find McNeely, drawing up plays for McNeely to help him enhance his game and his shooting. It seems like to me that he's better at coming off screens this year than he was in the past, and I think he's learned some things from Kyle Guy that's helped him. On the other hand, the recent lopsided losses to Duke and Carolina, the people who were not in favor of Ron and would like a coaching change are even more adamant because of those games that there should be a change.

So it just depends on what side you fall on. And I think he's done almost as much as he could possibly do under the circumstances. Certainly was, I don't know if he was thrown under the bus, but he was certainly thrown in front of it with the timing. And, you know, he's had to scramble and do some on-the-job training. And I know his detractors say, well, this is no place for an on-the-job training. But, you know, I've seen some improvements to the program as the season has gone along. And, you know, if they can finish strong, I think you've got to give them some consideration. They come out of the gate in Chapel Hill deer in headlights.

Yeah, that was terrible. And it's fresh off a loss to duke where they looked overmatched and overwhelmed and early in the game they missed a lot of point blank like bunnies and layups that they should have finished with mcneely said after the game that he thought the team started intimidated um with with the the aura of being in the Dean Dome and 20,000-plus being in attendance. Your thoughts on that comment? I thought that comment was, I don't want to call it an indictment on preparation, but it's certainly a sign of prep.

20,000-plus fans, that's something you've got to expect and cannot be intimidated from the start. Yeah. Well, if you, you know, I don't know how many of our viewers have been to the Dean Dome. I've been there probably a hundred times or more. It can be an intimidating place. You look up in, I mean, you know, the tradition, you look up in the rafters and you see what seems like endless banners of NCAA tournaments, Final Fours, retired jerseys, Michael Jordan greeting people to the game, all sorts of things like that. Everything is Tar Heel blue, man.

I mean, if you like that color, that's your place to go. You can't look in any direction without being overwhelmed by a flood of Carolina blue. And it can be an intimidating place but the fans apparently have really come alive the last couple of games down there one of them was pretty much on a heavy snow day in Chapel Hill and the students really showed up in numbers and were very boisterous. And that sort of coincides with Carolina playing better. They're turning the corner. Yeah, they were not a very good basketball team until recently,

and they have turned the corner. They put together, what, three straight wins, I think, and played themselves sort of into bubblicious territory. Their front court guys had not been playing well, but they're getting some effort from some of those guys, the Withers guy in particular. They've been pretty tough to beat lately, and Hubert Davis knows how to take advantage of that. Add all that up, and it can be an intimidating place for a team like Virginia,

where a lot of those Virginia players had never been there before. You've got to consider some of these guys were in high school last year. Some of them were at colleges scattered around the country. Had only seen Carolina on TV and probably bought the hype and the mystique. Same thing could be said about going into Cameron, which I think is even more intimidating. But that can be an intimidating thing, and your coach has to, it's his job to get your mind right and to not be intimidated going into a scenario like that. And if the coach has failed on that,

because all the other coaches have been there, Ron's been there many times, so they should be able to get their guys prepared mentally and not be so juiced up in a bad way. It's good to be confident and fired up but not intimidated and worried about what might happen. And it looked like like they were intimidated. They fell behind 21-2.

They went eight or nine minutes and didn't have a single rebound. There's no excuse for that. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts. We've got comments coming in the feed here, which I'll get to in a matter of moments. You guys speak to development. First, William McChensey

watching on the elliptical at ACAC. He says that he loves the program. I love the shows on the feed right now. Vanessa Parkhill, thank you for watching the program as well. You guys speak to the development of players. I want to push back. As Jerry said, it's encouraged to do. Outside of Robinson and Rohde, can we really say that development has happened with this roster I'll push back on that comment I respect the comment Day Day Aims has clearly improved like who Heraclis has said and and and Saunders while he's been injured he's shown some flashes and I also want to highlight the offensive proclivity that's being shown by Blake Buchanan because

last year that certainly was not there does Buch Buchanan have a ways to go? Yeah, he absolutely does. His hands and his finishing ability in particular need to improve. And frankly speaking, maybe the best player at that spot is probably Robinson. His upside seems absolutely amazing. But I'd say Sanchez has developed some players, and his staff has. Yeah, I don't think there's any question about it. At that stage of the game, you might not see leaps and bounds and turn these guys into superstars overnight,

but most of these guys are pretty young players. They're freshmen, sophomores, only a couple of juniors and only one senior on the team. I know some of the players have spoken out recently and said they would like to see Sanchez return, which makes you feel like if that happens that they would return as well. You certainly would not like to see a mass exodus of players after this season.

But I don't think there's any question that some of these guys have developed their game this season, particularly since December. That part of the schedule was over. I think

once they hit ACC games, a lot of these guys have improved. And Day-Day's one of them. I think he's got five or six straight games of double-figure scoring. They've turned him loose. He's got a nice shot. And, of course, Rhodey has been unbelievable. He didn't have such a great outing in Chapel Hill,

but it wasn't that bad, but I thought he's come on like gangbusters in the second half of the season. I mean, if anything, Rhodey, and think about what I'm saying here, last year versus this year,

Rhodey's shooting over 40% from downtown. If anything, maybe Rhodey's shooting over 40% from downtown. If anything, maybe Rhodey needs to get more looks from downtown. To put his shooting in perspective from bonus fear, he's at 40.7%. 40.7%. McNeil is at 41.8%. If not, get this guy some more touches.

And he's got an all-around stat stuffer type of game where it should not be fly under the radar of the contribution the guy is doing here. This is an interesting comment that's come in from the Nashville area. Wouldn't we want an entire roster turnover with a season like this? No, I don't think so. I mean, again, this is a pretty young basketball team. And some of these guys have made some significant improvements.

I don't think you would want to turn over your roster and start all over again. I mean, what do you accomplish doing that? There's no guarantees you're going to get the players you want if you go that route. And these guys, again, I've talked to a lot of people who said, man, I hope we can keep these guys together for another year because there's a lot of potential there. Yeah, they have a losing record right now, but again, first time

in the ACC for most of these guys and I just think they're getting better. I think another... Should they be able to keep them together for another year, I think they

could be pretty decent next season if they add a couple more pieces. What's the pieces you think they should add, portal-wise? True point guard? They're going to have to add a true point guard at some point, and it might as well be as soon as you can. They had one, and certainly I don't know if they have a shot at him anymore in Chance Mallory.

But probably that, maybe another shooter, and another guy in the front court. If they have that much room on the roster, I don't know if they have that many scholarships available. Those would be the three components I think that would help complete this team. If they bring back just everybody that they have, they should be an improved basketball team next year.

Who's the player on the roster most susceptible to entering the portal? Wow. Most people would point to Day Day, I think, because he's a sophomore. He has shown he can score. I think there will be some people probably trying to lure him away. That would be the most susceptible guy, I think, in that respect. I think some people might come after Kofi, him being a West Coast guy. Maybe even Saunders, who's been around a little bit I think some people may come after McNeely but I think

he's pretty loyal to the cause I think he'll stick but certainly he could command a pretty high NIL arrangement somewhere else if he really wanted to but I think Virginia has enough money now that they can try to keep

their own players happy and keep them from leaving. Comments, put them in the feed. We'll relay them live on air. I see the comments coming in quickly here. What is considered a good finish for Virginia and Coach Sanchez? I mean, is it 500, Udi, with the overall record? Virginia right now is below 500 with the overall record. Virginia right now is they are below 500 with the overall

record and certainly in Atlantic Coast Conference play 13 and 14 overall for Ron Sanchez and Virginia. Four games left at 6 and 10 in the ACC and those four games left Wake Forest Wednesday night 9 o'clock ESPNU

at Wake. Host Clemson on the 1st of March at the John Paul Jones Arena. They got the Seminoles on the 4th of March, and then they travel to Syracuse for what should be a chilly tip-off against a Syracuse team that is frankly struggling. So you got a Clemson team that's pretty darn good. You got a Wake Forest team that's pretty darn good. You got a Florida State team that's just above you in the standings, and you've got a Syracuse that's significantly below the standings. On paper, it would suggest it would finish

8-12 in conference play. Two wins, two losses. And 15-16 with the overall record. Yeah, most of the projections I've seen have reflected what you just said. And I think it would be nice to see if they could finish 500 or have a winning season. But it's a tall demand because, like I said, Clemson's pretty good. They're beatable, but they're pretty good.

And Wake Forest is going to be playing with some desperation because they just got knocked off the bubble this past weekend in a horrible loss to NC State. But Wake has had a tendency the last four years, at least the last three years, of kind of coming apart at the seams down the stretch of the seasons and miss the NCAA tournament when they looked like they were locks earlier. So, not sure what kind of Wake Forest

team you're going to run into on Wednesday night down there at 9 o'clock for some reason. I don't know why you schedule basketball games that late. But it's going to be tough to finish 500 or above 500, that's for sure. What's the best starting lineup at this point of the year? And do you play a lineup that offers experience, you know, gaining experience for next year, or are you straight out, flat out trying to play to win here?

I think I know the answer to this one, but still I'll ask you anyway. I don't think they've thrown in the towel. Even though they're below 500, I think they're still trying to get every ounce that they can out of this season. I don't think they're playing for next year at all at this point. I think they're still trying to win and go with experience. That's why Robinson is coming off the bench, I think, instead of starting. Had they thrown in Natal, I think he would have been starting a few games ago.

But his minutes, I've felt like he should get more minutes than what he's getting. But I think Sanchez believes wholeheartedly that the guys he's been starting lately are his best lineup, at least to start a game. And it's not always who starts, it's who finishes. But I think he tries to start with experience early so that they won't fall behind like they did at Carolina, which obviously didn't work. But I think that's his philosophy,

is trying to go with experience and trying to hang in there as long as they can. What do you – some of the fan base pushing back on Saunders at the four and undersized front court with Saunders at the four. Your thoughts on that? Because rebounding has been an issue. Yeah, well, he hasn't been – Healthy.

The Saunders we saw earlier in the season since he was injured. I don't know if he's fully recovered or just slow. He's obviously slow coming back. His numbers have dropped off dramatically since he got hurt, and I don't think he should be taking three-point shots like he was earlier because he has hardly made any, if he's made any, since he came back. His rebounding totals have plummeted as well. He was the team's leading rebounder.

I'm not sure I would give him a lot of time right now if he's not performing. I don't know if he can play his way back into being effective or not at this late in the season, but I would almost prefer seeing Kofi in there or Robinson and have them go in there with Buchanan and try to be a little more effective. Yeah, be more effective on the glass.

Because they got killed on the glass in Carolina and Duke. Yeah. You just can't do that. No, you can't do that, especially when you're a team that's lacking talent. You've got to win the game with possessions and tempo if you're lacking talent, and that's not what happened against North Carolina and Duke. A lot of rebounding is desire. It's effort.

You don't have to be the biggest guy in the world. We've seen some incredible rebounders who weren't huge guys. Dennis Robin, Charles Barkley. Absolutely. Those two were the first two that came to mind. If Saunders isn't healthy and can't perform like he would

like to, then that's not helping your rebounding totals at all. Right. Absolutely. Put your thoughts in the feed. We'll relay them live on air. Thoughts are coming in here quickly for Hootie. Shaka Smart on the short list. Who else does he think is on the short list? This is what all the viewers and listeners seem to want to know.

We feel you. We feel you. Again, I'd say if it's like most search committees, and I think there's probably at least one other candidate out there that we have no idea that they're talking to, maybe a couple. We've all heard the familiar names of Shaka Smart and Ryan Odom at VCU, who's having a fabulous year down at VCU by the way and a lot of people would like to see Ryan just because of his dad his dad Dave who was a long-time assistant coach here and Ryan was a ball boy too yeah Ryan was a ball boy he used to be over at U-Haul doing that duty during some of the heyday years of Virginia basketball under Terry Holland. And he still has some associations here in Charlottesville. He grew up here.

So I know when he brought his UMBCc team down to charlotte and they beat virginia we talked to ryan uh in the press conference the day before and he has nothing but fond memories of charlottesville and i doubt that he would mind coming back here but uh i you know outside of that i i don't i don't know those are the only names that seem to be surfacing right now and but again there's probably a couple of people or at least one other person on that list that nobody has heard uh their name mentioned at this point uh this from youtube kenneth uh nichols watching the program right now. Knuckles, excuse me, Kenneth Knuckles. Does the number of scholarships

even matter in this day and age of wild, wild west money? Well, you I mean, there's a limit. There's a scholarship limit, so you can't go over that. So yeah, it does matter. NIL can

change that really quickly if you lose a few people due to the NIL, but you still can't have more than the scholarship limit on your team. It doesn't matter how much money you have. Virginia basketball, guys, has got some questions. Remember, if it can finish ahead of the bottom three spots in the ACC regular season, it qualifies for the ACC tournament, so an opportunity to get some more playing time. Right now, it's looking okay.

Now, they have four games left, Hootie, but below them in the standings, California at 5-11, UVA 6-10, Syracuse at 5-11, Boston college at 4 and 12 nc state at 4 and 12 miami's at 2 and 14 a couple of games separating virginia from the bottom three hootie rackliff yeah well you know i think they're going to make the acc tournament as long as they don't just totally nosedive and uh all four of the remaining games are winnable, but all four of them are losable as well. You can't take any of those teams for granted, particularly going to Syracuse to play. It's not an easy place to win unless you're Tony Bennett. He seemed to have a mastery over the carrier dome or whatever they call it now.

But Florida State, they should win that one here. Clemson, it's a tall order to beat them because, again, this is probably their best team that they've had in a while, although they were pretty good last year. And then Wake Forest, you don't know what you're going to get when you go down there. Wake is traditionally tough to beat in Winston-Salem, and they're playing for their lives. They're trying to get back on the bubble and get back into the action.

It's been a long time since they've been in NCAA tournaments, so there's probably a little pressure on Steve Forbes down there. He's a good coach. He's a good coach and a good guy. And you'd like to see him succeed. But they're going to be playing like their hair's on fire. So Virginia better bring some intensity to that game. Virginia guys, four regular season games left, and then the ACC tournament time will tell. Nine o'clock Wednesday, keys to victory for you against the Deacs, Hootie.

Rebounding, for sure. Big time. They've got to do a better job on the boards. They've just been crushed the last couple of times out. Because that leads to other things like second-chance points and points in the paint and all that stuff. You can't get beat in all those categories and expect to win. They've been doing a great job of taking care of the basketball, so I think they have that issue resolved.

But I think obviously you got to play defense but they've got to score they've you can't have these long droughts like they did against Carolina and Duke and just not be able to put points up on the board and particularly against Wake because they're going to try to play a higher tempo game. And they've got some guys who can light it up. So Virginia's going to have to match that, not just the intensity, but the scoring. We'll see. We'll watch it Wednesday at 9 o'clock.

The keys to victory from Hootie, I think, absolutely on point. Ron Sanchez playing not for just Wahoo Nation, but for potentially a job here, especially as some of these other positions are starting to get rumor-milled filled. We'll follow it closely. We've got 15 minutes in the show. We've got to talk spring sports. Baseball's underway.

Lacrosse is underway. Not the start some anticipated for baseball or lacrosse. I try to emphasize this to everyone. It's early. And baseball in particular, who opened as the number two ranked team in the country, ladies and gentlemen, they had a very difficult schedule to start this program. They're three and three overall. They got losses, Virginia baseball to Michigan and extra innings to start the year.

Oregon State, which was number seven in the country, then they lost a heartbreaker to Oklahoma. They have VMI on the docket for today, three o'clock first pitch at the Dish. Three and three, Brian O'Connor's Virginia baseball team, Hootie. Yeah, I agree with you. I would much rather see them go out

and play really top-notch competition on the road. And two of those losses were extra inning games. It could have gone either way. One ended on a throwing error, so they're right. They could have won both those games. I'd much rather see them do that than open up playing at home and just rolling over teams from the Northeast that can't play with Virginia. I don't see what you accomplish by that.

I think it's going to be good for Virginia in the long run. They've seen some quality arms so far and gone up against some really good hitting teams. I think that's going to help prepare them for the ACC season and will make them better in the long run. Absolutely. Brian O'Connor, one of the best coaches, guys, in college baseball, if not the best.

I mean, look at his record since he's come over here in Charlottesville. No one's duplicating the success he's had in the win column since he's come to Charlottesville. Lacrosse, Hootie Ratcliffe, also at.500. Two and two for Virginia men's lacrosse. A loss to Richmond in Charlottesville and a loss to Ohio State, lopsided lost Ohio State in Columbus. They have Johns Hopkins in the Doyle Smith Cup,

ladies and gentlemen, on Saturday in Baltimore, which is very quickly when the lacrosse season, where there's not a boatload of games, looking like a very important contest for Lars in this two and two program that's always a big game when they play Hopkins and in honor of Doyle Smith and who I guess went to Hopkins and was the longtime Virginia lacrosse SID and a beloved character who I got to know when I first came to Charlottesville. But I think they're a little banged up and have lost some personnel.

I think they lost an awful lot of scoring and experience off last year's team. So I think they're a little young as well. I don't proclaim to be an expert on them. I haven't seen them play yet. But I think they've had some injuries that have set them back a little bit too. But Lars is a good coach. I think he'll probably get them straightened out. It may take a while, but I think they'll, like last year, they find a way

to be there at the end. Phillip Dow in Scottsville says, I think Sanchez deserves another season. I'm very, not shocked, but very surprised with how many people are going to bat for Rod Sanchez. He says this team is showing signs of life. He is showing he'd be a great coach. And remember, he was put in a very, very bad situation. He also highlights with VMI, don't overlook VMI. They're undefeated in seven games with a record number of stolen bases. We love when you watch the program at Scottsville, Philip Dow. Thank you kindly for watching. This is a question that's come in the feed here. VMI leads the nation in scoring and in stolen bases. They have 67 stolen bases.

Unbelievable. Most teams don't steal that many bases in a year. In a season, right. And the closest team to them has 25 stolen bases. So that shows you how dramatic they are on the base path. A little bit of small ball from VMI over there, ladies and gentlemen. James Watson and Vanessa Parke, I'll get to you guys here in a matter of moments. Here's an intriguing comment that's coming from North Carolina.

If Virginia struggles with spring sports, with lacrosse and baseball in particular, after struggling in men's basketball and struggling in football, that's when the pressure's going to be great. I think the commenter means the pressure on the administration and the athletic department. Well, of course, she just signed a new contract, so I don't know how much pressure there is. But pressure like that usually comes from heavy hitters or from fans not showing up. So I don't know. Will there be pressure?

Who knows? We'll have to wait and see. I think baseball is going to be fine. They've only played a tenth of their season. I think lacrosse will be okay as well. It just may take a little longer than it normally does. UVA is usually pretty strong in all the spring sports i i think they'll probably all go on and have pretty good years vanessa parko makes a fantastic point and the nil era um the scholarship is it just a token if a player is getting paid millions of dollars let them pay their own way give the scholarship to the second string or some

of the non-revenue sports spread the love she says there's a there's so many formulas out there that have been introduced or proposed and i don't know uh who ends up making those decisions but i guess the ncaa does but um yeah I mean, Ralph Sampson had some great ideas about NIL as well, you know, to put a cap on it and put it in a fund for the guys so when they leave school they'll have the money. Because, you know, most of these guys are not going to the NFL or the NBA or whatever and could use that money to start their careers in something else. But there's been so many ideas out there.

Somebody needs to take a look at some of these thoughts and try to make them become reality because it just can't keep going the way it is. It's unsustainable, and it's just madness out there right now. This comment comes in from James Watson on the I Love Seville group. He says, I believe it would be best for UVA to hire Ron Sanchez. Once we solidify getting into the ACC tournament, they should announce that he's the next coach. He's the coach for the next year. And then he can go lock in some recruits.

If they wait until the season is flat out over, that'll impact recruiting big time. If they go with somebody new, I don't see anybody coming in here making a phenomenal difference overnight. Ron is a stand-up type guy, essentially chosen by Bennett, Tony Bennett, to lead this team. And Virginia is not an easy place to coach in basketball, he says. Well, yeah, like I said, the fan base is sort of ripped apart. You're either highly in favor of Sanchez getting a second shot or you're not. Ron's a really good guy. You've got to consider it.

Tony Bennett's first two years in Charlottesville weren't exactly great. They had two losing seasons, I think, in a row. Barely under.500. Once he was able to I mean he always had his eye on the big picture trying to build a program that will last which his main goal I'm sure that Ron is borrowing from that philosophy and he's trying to do all he can, I think they've developed and shown improvement. It might not be to the fans' liking, considering what they're accustomed to, but I wouldn't be upset if he ended up getting

another chance a second year. A lot of people would you know, I wouldn't be opposed if they decided to go in another direction either. So whatever they need to do, they need to do it and wrap it up as quickly as they can for whoever the coach's sake is because, again, that guy made a good point that they're going to the recruiting this is going to be a crucial thing and not just recruiting new players keeping the players recruiting your own players keeping your current players most maybe most important um there are two schools of thoughts and i certainly i certainly appreciate james's comment here and and and like cootie i i can see both sides of the argument here with keeping Ron Sanchez

or going in a different direction. The school for thought for the other direction is what Louisville has done, where they fired a new coach and he completely reimagined the program through the transfer portal. And now Louisville's the top 25 team. Another school for thought, and it's not an apples to apples comparison because John Calipari is a legend, is he leaves Kentucky, he goes to Arkansas, and he brings a lot of his Kentucky players with him to Arkansas. You saw this with the Indiana head football coach, leaves JMU, heads to Indiana and brings a lot of his players with him. So if you do get a talented coach, like say a Shaka Smart,

do players from his current roster follow him to his new place? That's a good point. I haven't thought about that. Certainly possible because he's got a couple of good players up there. And I guess anything's possible in these times. Right. It's the wild, wild west, as we've said. But that's a very interesting point that i had not considered but uh certainly is

possible um time will tell uh marquette guys to to put it in perspective for the shock of smart lovers out there market is ranked number 21 in the ap top 25 and number 22 in the coach's poll so this is a top 25 team here mar Marquette's 20-7 overall. A very good team playing in what is, I mean, frankly speaking, one of the best conferences of college basketball. I watch a lot of Big East basketball because my wife's a UConn grad.

And this conference is loaded. Rick Pitino was asked, his St. John's team is the top 10 team, seven in the country. They just beat UConn St. John's. They beat them twice on the season already. St. John's beat UVA. Rick Patino was asked after one of his victories, how are you going to reload? Much of your guys have exhausted their eligibility. Patino tells the media, well, we're not going to be recruiting high school guys, that's for sure. Yeah, well, Patino is not in the Hall of Fame for nothing.

Guy can coach. He can recruit. I miss Rick Patino. I know a lot of people didn't like him. Patino was good for the ACC. He was. I thought he he's a

great interviewer, and he's really fun to hang out with and listen to him tell stories. But the guy can coach. He can flat-out coach. He wins everywhere he goes. He might not win the right way, but he wins everywhere he goes. Yeah, St. John's was fed up with losing, and they decided to make a huge commitment and go out and take a risk.

And he's 24-4 right now. Yeah. He's 15-2 in the Big East. And already he's got a co-share of the regular season championship with a lot of games left. I mean, there's a two-and-a-half game gap between St. John's and Creighton in the second slot. And the Big East is loaded. He knows how to go out and get players. Yeah.

And he's not afraid to do it. And, you know, it depends on what your school's philosophy is. St. John's was fed up with losing and being frustrated. You know, I don't know if Virginia is at that level right now because they haven't been losing that much up until this year. So, I mean, if they want a dynamic new coach with a fresh look and a fresh style, you know, that's their option. It just depends on what they decide they want to do. And we don't know what they're thinking because nobody knows.

We do know that they're talking to people, and we do know that the search is on, but we do know that Ron Sanchez is part of that search. James says, would it be awkward if they hired Jason Williford? He's definitely put in his time here in Charlottesville. I don't think that's going to happen. I think if they were going to hire Jay Willie, they would have done so when Tony stepped down. So I don't think that's going to happen.

I don't think we're going to see that. I think Jason would be a fine coach. I love Jason. He's a great guy. He's come on the program. He's a great guy and I think a solid coach, but I just don't think that's going to happen. And does Jason Williford want to be a head coach?

Well, I think he does, but maybe not now. I don't know. The window closes on you after so many years, so I think he's had an opportunity to coach at a few programs and decided that's not what he wanted. It wasn't the right place or the right time. But I know his contract runs out, I don't know if it's after this year or after next year.

So that's all to be determined. Viewers and listeners we appreciate you watching the program how about a little football scatter shooting over there for us? I mean we're getting close to spring here. Yeah spring practice is right around the corner we haven't had much contact with them lately I know they're out beating the recruiting bushes, looking at high schoolers right now and getting ready for the spring. And I guess there's been no coaching turnover per se. So I think they're just trying to figure out a way to make this system work with all the new faces coming in. A lot of key roles to be filled in by newcomers and to try to get these guys on the same page in the spring

so that they can go into the fall a little more united as far as chemistry goes because you know you got 19 i think it's 19 transfers and and a lot of them are playing key positions so that's a lot to incorporate into a program what do you got in the hopper at jerryratcliffe.com? A little bit of everything. Baseball game today, certainly the opener against VMI will keep our eye on spring sports. Basketball, the coaching search.

I'm going to be writing a really sad story in the coming days about my good friend Danny Wilmer, who has some really failing health. I went to see him yesterday. Scott German and I went to see him. A guy that I have the ultimate respect for is probably the greatest recruiter I've ever known. He's not doing well. I'm afraid the end is near. I know a lot of his former players and

fellow coaches have been out the same lately. So I'm going to be writing some remembrances of Danny Wilmer. Fantastic recruiter. All-around great guy. Incredible guy. Yeah. Danny Wilmer. Jerry Ratcliffe, guys.

The namesake website, jerryratcliffe.com. I was on there this morning. I'm on there a few times a day follow him on twitter judah wickhauer behind the camera we have a lot of news left as virginia tries to figure out who the skipper is going to be for this virginia men's basketball team as we head into spring football and as baseball and lacrosse navigate national championship expectations for jerry rackliff and judah wickhauer, my name is Jerry Miller, and this is the Tuesday edition of the Jerry and Jerry Show.

So long, everybody. Thank you.