The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - UVA Lax Booted By Georgetown From NCAA Tourney; What's Going On With UVA Men's & Women's Lax?

Episode Date: May 12, 2026

The Jerry & Jerry Show headlines: UVA Lax Booted By Georgetown From NCAA Tourney What’s Going On With UVA Men’s & Women’s Lax? Transfer Portal Updates – Odom Remakes Roster UVA Beats Tennessee For 7-Foot-1 Center Ibe How Will The Postseaon Look For UVA Baseball? Director’s Cup Race – Where Does UVA Stack Up? ACC & UVA Football Notebook: Great, Good, Bad, Ugly Subscribe To JerryRatcliffe.com For Only $8 Per Month 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.

Ooh, we've got a Jerry and Jerry is on the air now on the Hootie's Twitter account. I like that, Hootie. Look at your multimedia skill set, my friend. I don't know about that. Good Tuesday morning, guys. My name is Jerry Miller, and thank you kindly for joining us on the Jerry and Jerry show. Multimedia, Hootie Rackleff and I literally hosting the program as I'm retweeting Hootie's 23,000 followers across the I Love Seville Network.

We encourage you, the viewer, and listener, to join us in the discussion. today on what is the most watched and listened to UVA sports talk show out there. Today's program was starting to dot the eyes and cross the tease on the 25-26 sports campaign. Yes, one of the greatest campaigns in UVA sports history is heading to a storybook ending. And not all chapters are chapters of prominence and, and, and, and, you know, and celebration. This men's-the-cross season finishes in disappointment with a loss to Georgetown and the NCAA tournament on Mother's Day here in Charlottesville.

The momentum was positive in ACC championship for Lars Tiffany and his program, the 20th championship of ACC variety and program history. Then they face an upstart Georgetown Hoyas team at home, and this season, playing at home has been a challenge for Coach Tiffany in his program. Georgetown falls down early, I believe, two nothing. And then the Hoyas really start dictating the pace and tempo and get a shocking, you know, come from behind win against Coach Tiffany's team. We'll talk about that with Jerry Rackleff,

who had an opportunity to talk with Lars Tiffany on a couple of occasions. He described a last year's campaign as blasphemous. I'm curious to see how he described this year's campaign that ended in certainly bittersweet capacity. And speaking of lacrosse, the women's team finished with a sub-500 record. Only a short time ago that Julie Myers and Dom Stardja were the head coaches, and they were routinely in the final four in a national championship conversation. Judah, what cameras behind the camera?

He's the Elmer's Glew. Why don't we go to the studio camera in a two-shoe? and welcome. Goodness gracious, a man that's a household name. Fifty years on the athletic, the Atlantic Coast Conference beat. His name is Jerry Hoody-Rackliff, the namesake of Jerryorackliff.com. You spoke to Coach Tiffany. Yeah, and, you know, obviously he was disappointed.

He's a good guy. He's a good guy. He's a very intelligent guy with a lot of energy. And obviously, he was disappointed. everybody was disappointed. A lot of emotion from his players as they walked off the field. They knew that they just didn't get it done. And that, you know, the carrot out in front of them,

having the national championships here later this month, Memorial Weekend, like you said, would have been a great storybook ending for the program, but it just didn't evolve. they got outplayed. It was a very physical game. Georgetown, I think, talking to their coach after the game, he said, nobody, and he said, I mean nobody,

thought we could win this game except for our players. He even said getting down early was a good thing. Yeah, yeah. He said it kind of woke him up. And he said, you can watch Virginia on film, but you can't replicate in practice how good they are and how lethal their offense can be. And so he said, now that you've seen it with two goals and less than, what, three minutes or something, you've seen it now go do something about it.

And they did. They played some pretty good defense, and it just wasn't there for Virginia. They just got out play. as simple as that. And as disappointed as it was, Coach Tiffany came out after meeting with his team for the last time, I guess. Got the Charlottesville's finest given a salute to Jerry Radcliffe right there on the talk show. Yeah.

But anyways, he was, he was, he, um, he, um, he, um, he, um, he, um, he, he, um, he, he, um, he, he, um, he, he, um, he, he, um, he, he, um, he, he, um, he, he, he, he, found a silver lining in all of this and talked about how he felt like that this team had bounced back from last year's first losing season in like seven or eight years and had built a foundation for going forward and that they can build off of that and maybe return to their previous greatness and he's got a whole lot of players coming back including the two Millen brothers who are fantastic. And Georgetown did a good job. They were highly focused on trying to shut down those two guys because they knew that,

if they didn't, that they could run, Virginia could run away with it. So they have a good recruiting class coming in. He said he didn't think they would have to do very much in the portal. And so I think. he's got the program going back in the right direction. I'll ask a very open-ended question to you, Hoots. What's going on in the last two years? First, I'll take a step back.

How would you characterize the 2026 season? Start there. Well, you know, it was kind of a roller coaster, I guess, you could say. They got out to a rough start, three and four. They lost a couple of games. that nobody expected him to lose to Towson. And I can't remember the other one. It was a non-conference game.

And then even though they lost the game to Maryland, he characterized that game as the turning point of the season. Because they hung together and they played tough toward the end and nearly pulled off the win. and they were much better after that for the remainder of the season. Even though they lost Carolina in the first matchup, they nearly won it. With the strong comeback late in the game,

and then pulverized Carolina in the ACC championship game. Beed Duke for the first time in over 20 years, I think. So it had a lot of ups. downs and obviously it came down to a disappointing end. They should have there's no way they should have lost to

Georgetown I don't think and they should still be playing Duke again this coming weekend but that's not to be. The teams at home and I know this because I'm on Jerry Rackcliffe.com $8 a month gets you the best UVA sports coverage possible. It's the

cost of a cup of coffee folks and it's the best coverage possible. We're talking 40, 50 pieces of unique content, pieces of content per month. Johns Hopkins, Townsend. Hopkins, yeah. North Carolina and Georgetown home losses. 10 and 7 on the season.

ACC Championship, the 20th in program history, then the loss to Georgetown in the NCAA tournament. Back-to-back seasons of challenge for Virginia, men's lacrosse. Women's lacrosse this year finishes with a sub-500 record for the women's women's lacrosse team here. I think we're the program, these two teams are almost victims of their own success and the expectation is greatness every single season. Right.

And being great at anything is impossible. It's hard to do. Hard to do. Hard to do. Harder now than ever before, I think, because people throw so much money into everything. I mean, look at the University of Richmond. You of ours. They've done a fabulous job.

A fabulous job. Yeah, absolutely fabulous job. And I think to your point, some of these programs that may not have marquee football and basketball are saying, all right, then lacrosse is going to be our sport. Yeah. And that's... Which is a credit to them. Genius by that. Yeah. Yeah, they had over 6,000 people turn out for their game against Duke, which was.

a first round tournament record. And that just shows you the enthusiasm behind that. I think the NCAA, even though Virginia and Richmond both lost, I think they made a big mistake having those two in the same region because had they both somehow managed to win, and they've been in separate brackets. You know, you could have ended up with those two teams in the final four, possibly, and just think what kind of a crowd that would have brought to Scott Stadium. Now you don't have any area teams in at all unless Georgetown or Duke or Carolina somehow survived.

And they're not even really local. They're not in the state. They're not exactly. Tim Bates watching the program. He's watching from Evington. Renee Petifurts watching in the Triangle, North Carolina. She's excited to talk basketball. Philip Dow, the mayor of Scottsville, watching the program.

We love what Philip Dow watches the show. Viewers and listeners, let us know where you're watching the show. We'd love to shout out your home. And then let us know if you have a question for the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer, Jerry Hoody Rackliff, the namesake of Jerry Rackliff.com. William McChesney, the Mayor of McIntyre, Vanessa Park Hill, the Queen of Earleysville, Virginia watching the program, and comments and questions are already coming in, which we welcome. We want to be the water cooler of everything UVA sports-related.

Tell us what we got from spring sports now. There's a push for the Director's Cup standings, the top spot in the Director's Cup. Yeah, well, you got the softball program in the NCAA tournament, and you got the baseball team it's kind of dangling by a thread right now but as of this moment they should be in the NCAA tournament unless they play their way out of it they play Richmond I think at home tonight

Today at 1 p.m. Today, okay, 1 o'clock. Then they have a series, excuse me, a regular season ACC series closing out at Louisville this weekend before they head down to I guess Charlotte for the ACC tournament.

The track and field team still strong and the men's tennis team is in Athens, the final eight, and the men's golf team is getting ready for the regionals and they're defending national runners up and have just about everybody back from that team,

if not everybody, and expected to make a strong run. So Virginia's hopes of winning the Directors Cup, I think, is still strong. Baseball team, lost two of three to Cal. Call me a little off guard. Yeah, that hurt.

probably not hitting the ball as well as they expected to and dropping two out of three at home to the last place team in the league knocked Virginia out of the top 25 all of the top 25 polls and so I don't know that they'll be able to make their way back in it unless they do some magic out in Louisville or perhaps in the ACC tournament.

Comments, let us know, put them in the feed. This question's come in. Compare and contrast in Brian O'Connor's success at Mississippi State with what's going on at UVA baseball right now. It comes from Richmond, Virginia. How much of this do we put on the coach, the struggles of late? I think Chris Pollard has done a pretty good job, considering that it came in,

and he had to try to retain as much as he could of the Virginia roster and actually did a really good job in bringing along a lot of Duke players through the portal and a lot of Duke's top recruits that had committed to his Blue Devils program. And he and his staff did, I think, a good job of blending those two rosters together. And, you know, they've been a top 25 program all season long. So, you know, there's been some things that probably didn't go the way he had hoped.

I think the pitching's probably been a little better of late than maybe we expected in the hitting that's falling off a little bit. But I think he's done a pretty good job. holding things together in his first year here. 100%. Injuries? 100%. Had some key injuries.

Especially to the bats. Becker is one guy that's been out for a long time. And Roshia was out for a while and another guy was out for a while. So they've had some obstacles to overcome. But overall, I think you'd have to give him a pretty good passing grade. You know, one thing I know about baseball folks, and Jerry Rackleff knows baseball inside and out, knows sports inside and out. One thing I've learned from working alongside this Virginia Sports Hall of Famer is teams can get hot and go on runs in baseball. And we totally understand that, you know, what gets swept by Pittsburgh, and then losing two of three to the last place team in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Cal, is concerning.

And this team's got talent. team can get hot. They got Richmond today at 1 o'clock, and then they're at Louisville for the final three regular season contests of the season before the ACC tournament. Anything can happen. We've seen it in the past. Yeah, we have. There's been a couple of times that Virginia didn't look like they were going to do very well under O'Connor, and they've rallied strong at the end of the season, they ended up doing great in the postseason. So you can't discount the possibility. It's certainly going to be an uphill climb, but it's not impossible if they can

pull themselves together for the stretch run. And, you know, we tip the cap as well to Brian O'Connor, 38 and 14 overall. Yeah, I mean. He's a top 15 program. He's a Hall of Fame coach. and he's coaching one of the premier programs in college baseball. I mean, they throw a lot of money and a lot of support into that program down in Starksville. And, I mean, they're competing in what most people will argue is the number one baseball conference in America in the SEC.

Not even close. You've got to have your act together if you're going to be in contention in that league. And they certainly do. They've got a lot of talent, a lot of money, a lot of support, and incredible facilities down there. So there's no excuse not to have a great program down there. Comments, put them in the feed, and I will relay them live on air to Virginia Sports Hall of Famer Jerry Rackleff. A lot of folks wanted to talk basketball and transfer portal. a lot of folks wanted us to talk football,

still basketball and football driving, the new cycle on the show, and we certainly see it on the website as well. You know, I want to just a few more on spring sports. This golf team, Hoody. The Virginia sports fan that has an opportunity to finish strong with the golf team, they've got a couple of pros on this team. Oh, for sure.

Ben James is going to be, playing on the PGA tour in a few weeks. So he's had one heck of a career at Virginia. Came here as maybe the top recruit in the country. He was certainly one of them and is not disappointed. Paul Chang, who we profiled as the scooter boy, has done a tremendous job. He could end up winning the,

national individual title, for goodness sake, as good as he's been. And they've got a solid lineup. And that's what it takes to win a national title in golf, is you've got to have five guys who can take it low over the course of the tournament. And they have the depth, the best depth I guess that they've ever had right now. And certainly there are going to be something to deal with. in the national tournament. Now, we will talk basketball.

How about a 7 foot 1, 7 foot 2 high school player? That's driving the new cycle over here, Hootie. Oh, yeah. I'm assuming it's pronounced that favor of Ibe. 7-1, 7-foot-1 commitment, a 4-star out of Mount Zion Prep up in Maryland. He was the best available center still out there from the high school ranks. I think he was the number 22 center in the country composite his senior year up there and played on a program that plays really good basketball.

My goodness, he was the number 82 overall player in the Robles rankings for the class of 26. This tells me a lot about him, is that when Tennessee and Alabama and Michigan want you, you're pretty darn good. Tell me about Michigan. Michigan just won the national championship. Tennessee is reloading. They've got one of the top recruiting classes in the nation. And Rick Barnes was really targeting this kid to finish out his recruiting class. Alabama's made a lot of noise in the portal of Villanova.

Tons of other Power 4 programs were after this kid. So I think he's kind of raw in a way and will need some development. But he's a rim protector. He can score on lobs, much like Hugo did this past season. And he's a guy that can learn playing behind Grunlow and spell him, give Grunlow some rest time. on the bench and well I don't

you know he seems like he's built pretty well it's 235 it looks like a man yeah he looks like a man and I think I think they've done a good job

in reeling him in kind of solves their problem that they they needed some depth at that position and I think he's he's a guy that you might you might be able to get him to stick around for four years, possibly.

And he's 7-1. I don't know for a fact, but he might have a little bit of growth left in him still. He could get up to 7-2 or maybe a little more. Viewers and listeners, how much did he drive the needle? Renee wants to talk basketball, and she's super excited about the players that have been added to the roster. I'll read some of her comments on the air. She loves the show.

She can't wait to. She's so excited for the program all morning long. Saw that the men's basketball team got a new basketball player on the team. UBA sports. Renee is driving a lot of these Facebook groups with content coverage as well. Awesome. She does a lot of good work over there. I want to put into perspective the job you think Ryan Odom has done it with the transfer portal

because there's varying reports that are out there with the coverage and the job he has done. my standpoint this man is crushing it i can't imagine anything beyond that i think he's a a great job um i mean uh he's he's filled he's filled the needs i mean uh he didn't he didn't lose much we'll we'll get into this in a few minutes about how important it is to to have retained what you you had but uh he needed a backup center he got one He needed a backup two and three guys, and he got one. And Jerry in Dixon, the guard from UC Irvine, who averaged 16 points a game and shot about 39% from three.

With two years of eligibility left, Big West freshman of the year, then Big West first team player. And then they brought in Christian Harmon, the 6-6 junior wing from Arkansas State, average 13 points, four rebounds a game. Led his team in scoring was third team all Sunbelt, average 15 points a game in Sunbelt competition, shot 39% from three.

In his previous school, Gulf State College, he shot 47% from three. as a sophomore. So those were three positions of need. He filled them. The only other position of need is they might need a backup point guard, but I think he has the option of going with Eliza Gertrude, who originally Tony Bennett felt like that Gertrude could play 25 minutes a game.

He showed us that he still hasn't lost his explosiveness with one particularly strong dunk late in the season. So he could play back up point guard if they need to, or they could still go out and get somebody and it's not too late to do that. And we don't know if they're looking at the still into the portal or maybe even internationally for all we know for a backup point guard. But so he's filled the positions of need and apparently with pretty solid guys.

So I think you've got to give him a really good grade as bringing in what this program needed. And you've got to understand when you're dealing with power four guys that are used to, most of these guys were starting or looking to start is the reason they went into the portal to either for a paycheck

or for more playing time on a better team. And they're not used to sitting on the bench or they don't want to sit on the bench. That's why a lot of them are in the portal. And Ryan Odom had to tell them that if you come here, we've got playing time for you,

but most likely we have four starters back from a 30-win team, you're probably going to have to come off the bench at your position. And these guys had to accept that. And our friend Evan Mayakawa has done a lot of research on this, and he sent me this the other day, talking about how important it is for teams who want to contend for the national title, how important it is for them to retain their roster continuity. and he makes this point that

the elite teams in the sport have continued to value retention from 2022 to 2025 every single national champion had 49% or more

of their minutes played by returning players Florida was close to 70% retention last season. So Ryan Odom retained everybody that he could. And I think that speaks volumes of, one, convincing those players to come back and two, shoring up what you need. and I'm sure it wasn't cheap to get all those guys to stay with the program. It had to cost a lot of that budget.

And so they probably, even if they wanted to go out and sign guys top 20 in the portal, it probably was going to be somewhat of a challenge in that respect. I don't understand any coverage or commentary outside of props and praise. I don't either. He keeps his best offensive player to Ritter. Possibly the ACC player of the year next year. Preseason ACC player of the year most likely. Yeah, he should be.

100%. He was first team all conference. Right. And Caleb Wilson and the booster kit are gone. top five picks in the NBA draft. He keeps maybe the player on the roster with the most upside, most room for improvement in Chance Mallory, already good as a first year.

Upside, that delta between first year performance and what he could be at the end of the second year when he's getting 30 minutes of playing time, 32 minutes of playing time, versus splitting playing time with a stable of guards like last year. He's going to be a star. He's going to be 15. and 15 and 8 with a couple of steals and a ton of hustle plays that don't show up in the box score.

And it doesn't turn it over either. Dunn turn it over. Grunlow, 10 pounds of muscle, 15 pounds of muscle, and one or two new post moves while perfecting the three-point shot. You're looking at an all-conference performer, one of the top shot blockers in the country. Right. Sam Lewis, I swear, I truly believe that Sam Lewis. is underrated with what he can do. Oh, I do so.

I felt that way all year. 100%. That guy, if he was made a... That guy, if he wanted, if he was given the opportunity, could blossom into a number one option. I don't think he's going to be the number one option. De Ritters, he's a Euroleague starter who's playing in the ACC right now. And believe me, he is busting his hump as we speak.

Right. And improving every facet of his game. his workout schedule and the things that he's working on, if he can improve in those areas, he's going to be unstoppable. If the Ritter becomes a more capable three-point shooter, defenses will not be able to sag off him, and if he develops a post move with more efficient finishing with the left hand, the Ritter will be unstoppable in college basketball. Yes.

And he's working with another guy. summer. I don't know if they're in Europe or where they are, but I've seen what they're working on, and it's, I can't divulge the details because I'm not supposed to, but it's intense and it's incredibly detailed, and it's stuff that you, the common fan wouldn't even think about in terms of where he can improve. The Ritter has improved. The Ritter has improved. And I mean, you and I follow basketball sport, you know, we watch it closely. My standpoint, it's, and I'm very curious to your standpoint with Derritter, becoming more efficient with a three-point shot, he relied on it a lot last year, and it wasn't always

consistent. Right. A little better at finishing with the left hand, and this is difficult to do here, especially a player that is, you know, 23, 24 in that range. explosiveness. There's oftentimes where Derritter was not dunking the basketball, where you would see a lot of

fours and fives dunking the basketball around the rim. Leaping, explosiveness, quick twitch. What do you see? Yeah, exactly the same thing. And those are all part of the things that he's working on,

just a partial list of things that he's working on, but those are three things that he is trying to improve on. And I think he will. Me too. If he does, I wouldn't want to be the guy trying to stop him, that's for sure. Who in college basketball is going to be able to stop another year of Derritter? What is his age?

I think he's 23. 23, turning 24, right? Let's see here. I'm going to look this up here. He celebrated a birthday. You're right, Houdie. He is 23 years old, the Ritter. His birthday is January 31. So it would be turning 24

in the middle of the season. He's a bear. He's a beast. And I guess what we're harping on here for the viewers and listeners that are enchanted or almost punch-dry, with Transfer Portal headline, you hit the portal hard

because you have to remake a roster. He returned four, he kept four guys that are starters. And then also knew that Silas Barksdale was coming off a redshirt where he had an entire redshirt season where he was playing in practice against the front court that was Hugo,

Grunlow, and Derritter. Yeah. Antillis. Antillis. And he's got Gertrude and Carter Lang as guys that could contribute minutes. Absolutely. And Carrera. An Carrera.

He's six and nine, I think. He didn't have to reinvent himself with sex appeal on the transfer portal. No. No. And it seems common sense. I totally agree. And again, the areas of need, He filled in nicely, I think.

These guys, I know for a fact that they showed Harmon, the guy from Arkansas State, a lot of white, Jacari White video. They kind of envision him in that role, I think. And so he's the kind of guy that looks like he could take over that role. So you got your jury in Dixon. and Dixon as your Thomas solid Maybe even an upgrade on Thomas

He could be He's taller He's taller I mean he's He's He's He's He's got two years of eligibility

He's Thomas is one He's been at the top of his class I mean like we said He was A freshman of the year In the Big West

as two years ago and then first team all big West last year he couldn't do much better than that

all of his stats looked nice he's just a solid guard and Iby I guess is how he pronounced his last name

seven foot one big man that was coveted by big time programs yeah I mean, including your national champion. You know, if those people are after you, there's got to be a nice ceiling in there for you. Odom beat a guy that Michigan was recruiting. Yeah.

Your national champion. And Tennessee was extremely aggressive in the portal. Make one of the best classes in the portal. Rick Barnes really wanted this guy. A Michigan team that had a center named Mara that's predicted to be a lottery pick. Right. So here you got a Michigan team that has all the money in the world that just won a national championship that probably in the recruiting pitch said here's a center that played on our team that is going to be a lottery pick you can be this guy and Ryan Onum got him. Yeah. And Rick Barnes who's a good recruiter had a fabulous recruiting class out of the portal was probably in the and the

Ivey visited there the week before he came to Charlottesville. I'm sure he was pointing to the fact that, look, we've made it pretty far into the tournament this year, and we've got maybe a better team coming in with all these transport portal guys. I don't think there's any question. We're aiming for the final four, and you could be part of that. So, yeah, for Virginia to recruit him, Tennessee and Michigan and all the others.

I mean, there's a long list of people lined up trying to get this kid. I don't think there's... I think that was a pretty good recruiting coup for Ryan Odom. I don't think there is any question, viewers and listeners. Not a single question from my standpoint. I'll ask this question very directly to a man that knows it better than me. On paper right now, Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, Jerry Hooty-Rackleaf.

Is the UVA roster on paper right now better than where the UVA roster was when Ryan Odom had a full roster through the portal this time last year? I think it has to be, at least comparable. But I think it probably is because you got four guys returning who, I mean, this time last year, these guys didn't,

some of them weren't even here. It never met each other, let alone play together. Well, and this time last year, I'm not even sure Grunlow and Derritter were on, were cleared yet. Oh, well, they weren't. Not at this point.

Not at this point, yeah. I'm not even sure that they even... Were committed. No, they don't think they were committed. Grunlow might have been. There were scuttle-bought and rumblings about a Belgian and, so two Euro bigs. But they didn't arrive until much later in the year.

In fact, I think when we... We showed up at our first immediate day. De Ritter, I think, had just got into town. Yeah, 100%. Maybe that day. 100%. The Grunlow hadn't been here long. And so, you know, these guys have been through the wars together for a year.

They're now doing their off-season conditioning and pick up play. and coaches are allowed to have formal sessions with them some over the summer. So these guys are getting to where they know each other pretty well. And these new players will be coming in probably in probably in a few weeks, for maybe to do some summer school. And they'll be playing pickup basketball with the returning guys. So yeah, I think on paper,

you got to think that these guys are better right now than they were this time, well, at the beginning of the last season. Comments coming in here. We'll get to some comments here. Donald Foley is watching the program. We appreciate you watching the show, Donald Foley. Let us know where you're watching.

Oh, he is. Bassett, Virginia, is where Donald Foley is watching. Who do you think? And he thinks, he says, you guys probably just answer my question. Who do you think will be the biggest impact new player for Virginia men's basketball by the end of the next season? And he's having a good morning watching the show in Bassett, Virginia. The biggest impact new player for the Virginia men's basketball team by the end of the next season.

Of the three guys in this class? I mean, I would say my standpoint, it's Jury and Dixon. Probably so. I would think so. I mean... He's going to be your starting, too. Yeah, I would think he would be the most impactful guy in terms of the three that are coming in right now. Because he slots in, at least on paper, as your starter.

Yeah. And, you know, he's a solid score. Has a pretty good game from everything I understand, a complete game. so I think so I think I'm still thinking that Barksdale is probably going to be better

than people are expecting too 100% He said that redshirting this past year was the best thing he ever did and he He um he um if he hadn't a redshirted he wouldn't have gotten any minutes anywhere no he wouldn't have played

and it would have been a waste but you know instead he built his body and he practiced with the team and so he knows the system uh i'm sure he's much better than he was when he got here and just you know waiting for his turn in the barrel pretty much um so yeah i would agree i think dixon's probably going to be the most impactful of the three Does the, Mark Brown, I'm going to get to your comment here. Philip Dow's got some comments here.

This comment comes in from right outside the Atlanta area. Does the 7 foot one high schooler get minutes this year? Is he a red shirt? Is he looking at a red shirt? He'll play. I mean, he's, this is your Ugo, right? Yeah,

this is Virginia's Ugo. Certainly may need a little bit more. more development. Yeah. Because Ugo had been around for three years. Kentucky and Kansas State. And even though he didn't play much at Kansas State, he still had a good background at Kentucky where he blocked a whole lot of shots.

Yeah. And did a lot of rebounding for the Wildcats and Cali Perry when he was there. But he developed his offensive game under Ryan Odom and Griff Aldrich and those guys. and but this kid, he'll definitely play. He'll get minutes. There's no question about it. The comment is the follow-up here. This is a great comment here.

Can you guys compare and contrast the high school kid to Ugo and what they do similar differently and who's further along? I mean, comparing Ugo to the high school kid is not fair. Ugo is on the cusp of making an NBA roster, folks. Yeah, I think the latest I saw, by one of the mock drafts, was he was up as high as 48. Yeah, I saw the same. So that's not bad.

And like I said, he came here with a lot of skill, particularly as a shot blocker and a rebounder and a rim protector. This kid is just learning that part of that. of it. He is a rim protector. I don't know how effective a shot blocker he is, but I think probably pretty decent. He's a threat on lob passes like Hugo was, maybe not as polished, but certainly has some skill there. Don't know a lot else about his game, but you can't put him in Ugo's territory. Not fair to him.

No. Not fair to him. Now down the road, he certainly could become as good or maybe even better for all we know. But at this point, he's still a little raw and needs some development. And one thing to consider is we would anticipate Grunlow would be further along this season, this coming season. He certainly should be. Then last year. So we could anticipate, and this is a little bit of assuming, but it's reasonable assuming, that Grunlow, because he's got another year of experience, another year of development, can be relied upon minutes-wise more than this past year, especially considering Grunlo was playing with a club for a hand at the end of the year.

Right. I mean, he was, it was his left hand. It was basically clubbed like an offense alignment. Yeah. And they weren't talking about it. Yeah. He had a broken wrist, and we didn't know how bad the injury was. It clearly was limited.

Yeah, no question. He could, it was hard to catch the ball, let alone to shoot it. Right, let alone play basketball. I mean, so the 7-foot-1 high schooler that's coming in, this guy needs to play with hustle and with energy and rebound and do some rim protecting. And if he does that, he's going to be a capable backup. And I think room those minutes will probably increase also because I think he'll probably be smarter in terms of not getting in foul trouble. Well, he has to be.

As much as he did last year. Right. That was one of the knocks on him. Yeah. Cliff Daisy saying, good morning, gentlemen from the eastern shore. He absolutely loves to show. Hey, Cliff. I'm responding to him back.

Good morning. We've got a couple of baseball. I know I'm hopping around here. This is from Mark Brown. First, Mark Brown, what's the know-how? Mr. Rackcliffe got his nickname. name hooty. Ooh, that's a long story.

This comes up from time to time. I actually know this answer here. This is a good story. Should I tell that story? Sure. I don't see why not. Okay. I call you hooty all the time. Yeah.

Well, I call you hooty more than I call you Jerry. A lot of people do. It goes back to my first job. I worked at a small town newspaper. I was pretty much a one-man sports staff. I was sports editor over three different newspapers

at the time. And tell them your age at the time. Early 20s. Yeah. Talk about responsibility. So on Saturday night we all put out a Sunday paper and we had

it was three different sports sections, right? So we would put out my town's new sports section first, then the guy from the other two papers would be working on their sports section. All of us would be working on all three sports sections, and there were some stuff interchanged. But they all had to look different and be different to appeal to those three towns. cities. And so we would put out one sports section and then we would go take a break while they changed the press and then we would, they would put the other newspaper on the press,

and then they would take a break, and then eventually they'd put on the third town sports section newspaper on the press. And so between these breaks, in this small town, we would, It was one of the taller buildings in town, downtown, which doesn't say much. But in the spring and summer and the fall, we would go up there on top and maybe have a pop or two and cool off because the building was usually pretty hot. and so one night we were sitting up there just goofing off and we noticed that one of the

town's police cars was doing their patrol through the alleyways of downtown and it was kind of reminiscent you would think of maybe Mayberry and Barney and Andy. And so

we kept noticing that the police car was going down the alleys and maybe I had maybe one too many pops that night. I wish I was there. For some reason, and I don't know why,

I let out a yell of hooty-hoo! And because it It was really late at night and downtown was, they rolled up the streets at eight or nine o'clock. This was like 11.30 midnight, something like that. And you can imagine it echoing through an empty town through all the buildings down there. And so the old police car, we could have him put on his brakes.

He was squicking brakes. and all of a sudden their spotlight on their police car came on and he was shined it down the alleyways obviously heard my call so we got a big kick out of that and as the guy continued his patrol all around town every now and then we would all let out of hooty-whoo

did you ever ever figure out was you guys Well, I'll tell you, that's what stretches the story out. But this continued on throughout the summer and fall. And again, it was a Saturday night ritual. And you could hear the brakes scree on and the spotlight would come out. And we were up there just laughing our butts off all through town. And so finally it got to be fall and late fall and it was too cold to go up on the roof at night. But I was sitting in my office one Monday or Tuesday morning getting ready to put out the afternoon paper.

And a policeman came in and normally they would come by. my desk and go over to the police reporter and hand them some the daily police report. This time he stopped at my desk and he said, Mr. Rackle, if you were under arrest, I need you to come outside with me in a car. And naturally I was stunned and couldn't figure out what was going on. So he took me out and put me in the back of a police car and drove me to the two blocks to the police station and took me in

and I kept asking what was going on and he wouldn't say anything and we went down to the jail and he took me into the back there and put me

in a jail cell and closed it behind me walked out I was back there for 20, 30 minutes just wondering what the hell was going on you know

Did I do something that I didn't realize that I did? Or did they catch me for something that maybe I did do? But anyways, after about a half an hour, Chief Comer waddled down the hallway in front of my jail cell. I knew him a little bit. And he didn't say anything. He was sitting there staring at me. and he was the old southern kind of police chief

with a little southern southwestern draw. And pretty soon, every cop on the police force, which was not many, I think it was like maybe 10, 12, something like that, all came down and lined up outside the cell. And they were all kind of looking down at the floor, and I was trying to figure out, you know, still baffled, about what was going on. And finally, they all looked up at me and simultaneously went,

Hootie-hoo! I was trying to figure out who ratted on me. But Chief Comber looked at me, and he said, you sum of bits. He said, we finally figured out who you were. And he said, we blew off every case in town. Over the last eight weeks trying to figure out who you were and how we were going to catch you. And so he just, they just got a big, and he started laughing and they got a big kick out of it and let me out. And fortunately, I didn't wet my pants or anything.

I know, right? But that's the story of hooty who and how I got my nickname. Who ratted you out? I still haven't quite figured it out. Nobody confessed. That's a great story. What did your colleagues say when the policeman comes up to the newsroom and puts you in the back of the squad car? They were all blown away.

They were worried even more than I was, I think, because, you know, I was pretty much a good boy. I didn't cause much trouble back in those days. So I think they were more panic-stricken than I was. How did the nickname follow you for the rest of life? One of our photographers was one of the guys that would always join us on the roof. And when I became a sports editor in Danville, Virginia, he followed me down there and became our photographer. And then eventually went to Ron Oak Times and was one of the best photographers I've ever seen anywhere. guy named Gene Dalton.

And he spread it to the people in Danville, and then they started spreading it to other people in the state. And for several years, every time I would go into a press box anywhere, especially here, but anywhere in the state, are some places around the ACC, as soon as I walked in, all the other writers would greet me with, Hootie-hoo!

And so that's how it's spread. That was awesome. And now it's almost his name. I've called him Hootie. I've known the man for, it's crazy to say this, almost 25 years. Let's see, first year was 2000,

second year is 2001, third year was 2002. I walked into that newsroom in 2002. So this August will be 24 years. Wow. That I first mentioned, 24 years. Tom flies, man. Unbelievable.

And over that 24-year period of time, I think I probably called you Jerry. Not very often. Yeah, always hoots or hootie or hootie or hoots. Some people didn't even know what my first name was. I love it. I love it. It's what makes this industry special. So when it's all said and done, just like any industry,

it's really a small little community, especially the news business folks. You've got to keep this industry going, and I think he's done a phenomenal job of doing this at jerry rackliff.com. Let the viewers and listeners know what maybe the plan is for the summer months over at jerry rackliff.com. Next week, we may have, how many teams will be left this time next week? Well, the golf team and the baseball team.

Golf, baseball, baseball, softball could possibly could still be alive maybe men's tennis men's tennis possibly so maybe down to two or three teams

Virginia's done some magical things down in Athens where I used to travel with them down to Athens probably four or five times I've seen them do some incredible things down there including one of the greatest

tennis matches I've ever ever seen when Somdev DeVarman held off John Eisner. That's right. Who had the most powerful serve in, and maybe of anybody. Tennis history. Yeah. Yeah. At that point.

And he was just hammering serves at Somdeb, and Somdeb was returning him like he was a human backboard. Because the tenant. And pulled off the upset and won the national individual championship. Yeah, Sondiv. One of the gutsiest. things I've ever seen in my sporting life. Now a musician, SOMDev DeVarman.

Yeah, I think you mentioned that before. That surprises me. Guitar player and a singer, Sondave Department. Wow. His Instagram, many songs, he's crooning in Indian, Sondave DeV Dvarmint. I have to try to catch that. It's pretty good.

Sunday is the NCAA championship for tennis. Okay. And Athens. Yeah, I guess that will be, settled pretty quickly. And then let me check... I think they go to individual play after that. Let me check softball.

You're right on that. They do then go to individual play. I think softball starts this week. Softball? Wow. Sunday, the NCAA championship as well. Really? They really get through that quickly then.

Hold on. Let me confirm that, Hoots. I want to make sure I'm 100% right on that. You know what? That was a different team. You were right, Hootie. The NCAA Super Regionales are the 21st and the 24th. Then the College World Series is at the end of May and early June.

So you were right. 100% right. That makes sense, yeah. And the World Series Hoots is in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Yeah, that's Father's Day. Father's Day. Father's Day, that's right. Father's Day.

And then the golf, I think they're in the regionals this, either this week or next week. So it's, it may be a while before they're, They're done. Man, these are long seasons. Imagine the student athletes on these teams that are fourth years. And some of these sports play in the fall and then extended into the spring like tennis and golf. Yeah. I mean, I see that with the squash guys.

They're playing in September. And their seasons going through March. Yeah. And to your point, men's golf and NCAA championships are into early June. Right. Unbelievable. This men's golf team, folks, has been playing golf since the 15th of September.

Yep. At a tournament in Tennessee. That's bananas. And practiced before that. Yeah. I mean, it's a job here. All right, Houdie, what's the, for the viewers and listeners, the summer content strategy?

Well, you know, football and basketball are still a year-round sport nowadays, and we'll be still writing about football and basketball throughout the summer. So if you think there won't be football or basketball content, you're wrong, because there will be football and basketball content from now and year round pretty much. We'll be working on some other things as well. We're trying to come up with maybe a few projects that will peak people's interest and doing some retro pieces on things in the past, some of the great athletes and moments in UVA sporting history

and just some things like that that try to keep people entertained throughout the summer and the off-season before things start getting serious again in July. The fabulous and talented, and well-known Scott Rackcliffe points out to us, and we appreciate you, Scott, that the individuals were in the fall for tennis. So thank you to Scott for pointing that out.

I can't wait. I can't wait, my friend. Jerry Rackcliffe.com, $8 a month of subscription, and it gives you 40 to 50 pieces of content per month. I mean, he is crushing it. We appreciate you guys. Just because sports is slowing down doesn't mean we're going to slow down. 40 to 50 unique pieces of content per month at Jerry Rackcliffe.com for $8 a month,

the price of a cup of coffee, the top content and the most prolific content possible, folks. He's a Virginia Sports Hall of Famer. Judah Wickhauer is behind the camera. This is the Jerry and Jerry show, which is broadcasted. and then archived, wherever you get your social media and podcasting content. It's the most watched and listened to UVA Sports Talk Show, period, bar none.

The I Love Seville show is up at 12.30 p.m. For Jerry Rackleff and Judah Wickhauer, my name is Jerry Miller. Thank you for watching. Nicely got.