The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Virginia Defense Stifling In Win Against Miami; What Did Wahoos Do Well Against Hurricanes?

Episode Date: February 6, 2024

The Jerry & Jerry Show headlines: Virginia Defense Stifling In Win Against Miami What Did Wahoos Do Well Against Hurricanes? UVA Basketball Riding 7-Game Winning Streak Nation Best 23-Straight Home Wins For Wahoos How Has Tony Bennett Turned Season Around? Is This Tony Bennett’s Best Coach Year In CVille? Will The Cavaliers Make The NCAA Tournament? UVA at Florida State, Saturday, 8 PM, CW TV 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. We are live wherever you get your social media and your podcasting content. And what a difference a couple weeks makes for a Virginia basketball team that is riding a seven-game winning streak, a Virginia basketball team that is riding a 23-game home winning streak, which is the longest home winning streak active in the nation right now, a team that looks completely reinvented and revitalized with Jordan Miner inside, with Jake Groves looking like he cannot miss a jump shot.

It's almost gotten to the point with Groves where you're shocked when he misses. With Dante Harris coming into the starting lineup and offering fantastic on-ball defense and an alternative ball handler for Reese Beekman, who looks like a completely different basketball player than he did last semester or at the close of 2023, Beekman hunting, hunting his shots, especially around the rack and the rim as he's looking to finish in the paint. Judah Wickhauer is the director and the producer. If we can go to the studio camera and let's welcome the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer. He's got 40-plus years on the beat.

The man is a multi-time Virginia Sports Writer of the Year. He has got every accolade and trophy known to media mankind. And he had a fantastic vantage point, my friend Hootie Ratcliffe did on Press Row last night at the John Paul Jones Arena. Hootie, I was watching on TV. You got the VIP spots on Press Row. On television, Jim Laranega was brewing. I mean, he was like outside the huddle, arms crossed, on the bench, refusing during timeouts to even take part of his team's huddle. He was that angry. Yeah, I was talking to Corey Alexander after the game.

Excuse me. Got a little bit of a frog in the throat. But, yeah, Corey was saying, were you able to see Jim during the timeouts? And we said, no, we couldn't see the visiting bench that well. And we were usually probably tweeting anyway. But, yeah, apparently Jim was disengaged from his team. And I don't know if that was just him showing his displeasure in the way they were responding or not responding or if he just felt like it was a hopeless situation. And that's very atypical of Jim Laranega, who normally is active and affable

and as engaged as any coach in the country. Rene Pettiford, we'll get to your comments here in a matter of moments. We love Rene Pettiford watching the program. We have fans in Lynchburg and in Richmond and Virginia Beach with questions right now. We'll welcome Northern Virginia to the show, folks in Tennessee and in Georgia on the broadcast. You, the viewer and listener, can ask Hootie Ratcliffe questions

about this basketball team live on the show. Just put them in the comments section, and I will relay them live on air. Hello to Bill McChesney in Charlottesville. Hootie, we'll get to you. I want to highlight the positives first. Everything was clicking last night. Where do you want to start with what you saw? Defense.

I know that most people get tired of hearing about it, but it all starts with defense. We've seen incredible defensive performances from Tony Bennett teams over the past 15 years, but it was so dominant last night. He was asked after the game that if he could rate that performance compared to others in his career. And that's a tough thing to ask a coach, particularly after a game,

because they'd have to stop and think about it. And they don't do that. They don't have time to stop and think about it. And they don't do that. They don't have time to stop and think about it. But he said, you know, when I'm long gone, I'll look back and try to rate these things. But you could tell he was euphoric about how they performed last night. I mean, Miami, for goodness sake, was averaging 80 points a game. They didn't get half of that last night.

They had 38 points. It's the lowest amount of points by a Miami team since before Jim Laranega was even born. And Jim Laranega is 74 years old. He's not a young man. They had several guys. Luga Poplar had been tearing it up Matthew Cleveland had been really good

O'Meara had been terrific Nigel Pack had been terrific Pack as Jonathan Cotton said last night signed an $800,000 NIL with Miami last year

with SmartWallet or some company whose stock has apparently gone out the window, which makes you wonder what's going to happen to some of those NIL packages. But PAC was 0 for 8, 0 for 5 from the three-point line. Scored two points both at the free-throw line. Miami shot 28.6% from the game. This is a team that scored 56 in the second half two days prior against Virginia Tech. They made 14 of 49 shots. They made two of 23

point attempts. They turned it over 11 times. They were just completely disjointed and taken completely out of their game by an incredible, ferocious Virginia defense. Comments coming in fast and furious right now. We'll get to Renee's comments. We'll get to Thomas' comments. We'll get to Carter's comments, Jennifer's comments,

Jackson's comments on the program. We'll get to Hootie's Twitter feed with the old ball coach in the 757 giving CTB some props for coaching them up right now. Let us know if you have props or comments or questions for Hootie. Put them in the feed. We'll relay them live on air. Let's get to this one on Reese Beekman.

This is a fantastic one from Carter. Beekman looks like a completely different player. Please highlight what is doing well, highlight what is doing well, what Reese is doing well, and why he looks different from just a month ago. Great question. Yeah, I think it's just his natural progression. I think we talked to him back in October about what to expect from him. He talked a lot about

going to the combine and working out for pro teams and all that stuff and talking to scouts and GMs and coaches. I think he walked away from that experience with more confidence, particularly offensively. We already knew he was a great defensive player and a great ball handler. He's like a lot of guys, and I think he was just reluctant to take shots sometimes. He would defer to other people.

Part of that's being just an unselfish player, but I think he learned in that environment when he was going up against guys every day who were trying to carve out a pro career about how aggressive you have to be and how uh how you have to hunt shots and i think he walked away from that experience with a brand new attitude toward his game and it i think it took a little while to translate. We saw a little bit of that early, but the past several weeks, particularly when Virginia was in a little trouble and they were struggling to score,

I think he just decided to put things on his back and try to take this team as far as he could take them. And we're seeing a guy who is doing straight line drives to the basket. He's looking for done on the back doors and the alley-oops. He's putting up some threes. He's got a nice little mid-range when he wants to use it. He's just become a very aggressive basketball player. I think it's just all a mentality that has developed as the season's gone along. I want to highlight Reese Beekman's

performance over the seven-game winning streak here in a matter of moments. Reese is hunting shots now. We do want to highlight with Groves and McNeely dropping jumpers from downtown, it does open driving lanes for Reese Beekman. And when Reese Beekman attacks the rack, it creates offensive rebound opportunities for Miner on the weak side. And we're certainly seeing that with Miner attacking the glass. Here's Beekman's lines over the seven-game winning streak, which started on the 17th of January, a Wednesday night against Virginia Tech.

Against the Hokies, Beekman had 16 points, four dimes, and four boards. And a victory against the Rambling Wreck in Hotlanta, 19 points, 11 dimes, and six boards. Against NC State, overtime win, 11 points, six dimes, four rebounds. Against Louisville, only a single-digit performance, but the assist output was outrageous. 9 points and 9 dimes in the win against Louisville. Against Notre Dame, he goes berserk offensively. 21 points and 6 assists. 14 points and 4 assists

against Clemson. Fantastic victory. A nail-biter in Death Valley. And against Miami, 16 points, seven assists, four rebounds, one block, and only one turnover for the Florida General Hootie. And a lot of steals on top of all that stuff. Dick Vitale, my buddy Dickie V last night. On Twitter. Yes, Reese Beekman of UVA Men's Hoops has been a terrific PTPer offensively and defensively. Once again tonight, he sparks UVA to their seventh straight win as they routed Miami. But when people like Dick Vitale are noticing, that speaks volumes about how he's playing right now. Because even though Dickie V likes to hand out praise, he's watching and he knows. You're getting props.

Donald Marcella giving you some love. Twitter is blowing up right now. We'll get to Twitter here in a matter of moments. Before we do, Hootie, I want to throw this your way. When Beekman is attacking and looking for his shot, especially off the dribble, he's got the kick-out opportunity to Groves and to McNeely. It allows Miner and Dunn to crash the glass for offensive tip-ins. We see Dunn really getting a lot of points on tip-ins on offensive rebounds here. If you could highlight the significance, though, of a second emerging perimeter scorer

in Groves. That has helped tremendously. They've been waiting for that person to emerge, and we saw a little bit of it early before they had to move him into center because they had no other options because Miner just wasn't ready. Buchanan was a true freshman and was getting pushed around. And we'll talk about him later because he's playing his butt off right now. They needed somebody to desperately step up and make shots. They thought it might be Rhodey, but it's not there. Groves, when he was at Oklahoma last season,

there were times where he was almost unstoppable. He went into one scoring slump late in the season. But he's the kind of guy that when Carolina two years ago was so good and they had the kid also from Oklahoma, whose name I can't think of at the moment, but he was lighting it up from three. And he's doing the same thing for Virginia. And that's taking some pressure off McNeely, who people, as great a season as he was having and still having,

people were ganging up on him, running him off the line, which has made him a better player. Any great three-point shooter will tell you that they have developed the ability to draw that attention to the line and pump fake or make a move and get a closer in shot. And he made, I think, four shots from the two-point range last night. But it takes tremendous pressure off McNeely to have another guy who can light it up. And it stretches the floor. It makes the defense choose their poison. And if they're busy worrying about those two guys, then that opens up driving lanes for the other guys

and opens up that back door for Dunn to do his work. Jake Groves, last four games. Listen to these stat lines. Unbelievable numbers. Nine points against Louisville, whereas three or four from downtown. 75% for bonus fear. 18 points against Notre Dame. Six of eight from downtown. 17 against Clemson, 6 of 8 from downtown.

17 against Clemson, 3 of 4 from downtown. 12 against Miami, 2 of 4 from downtown. He is scintillating from bonus fear to use a phrase that I've seen Huda use in print in his award winning columns

many, many, many times. Compliments McNeely so well. Takes the pressure off of McNeely a little bit. Defenses have to be mindful of Groves and McNeely as opposed to running doubles at McNeely and making him shoot deeper and deeper from the logo. Yeah, absolutely. And it just elevates everybody's

offense on the entire team and makes Virginia so difficult to guard. You can see the frustration from Miami last night. They had no answers. Every

time they thought they had somebody shut down, somebody else would open up. And, I mean, Reese Bigman was 6 of 11 last night. And Virginia only made it. The impressive thing is prior to the Clemson game Saturday down in Little John, Virginia was, I think, 9-1 or maybe better when they had made

I can't remember the number of three-pointers now. It was like 9, maybe they were 12-1 or something when making X amount of three-pointers. And only 4-5 when they didn't. But they didn't make that many three-pointers against Clemson. They only made five last night, and they won both games, which means that some of the other parts of the offense are coming alive and making them more difficult to beat. So, you know, again, it's like some of the Virginia teams in the past.

You have to choose your poison, pick your poison. Do you want them to kill you with the three-pointer or do you want to guard the perimeter and let the inside guys kill you? Last night, Virginia outscored Miami 32-18 in the paint. And, I mean, what are you going to do? What are you going to do? Nancy Farrell-Johnson, welcome to the program. Don L. Spinner in Lexington, thank you kindly for joining us.

Kevin Yancey in Waynesboro, thank you kindly for joining us. We're going to get to a question from Virginia Beach here for Hootie Ratcliffe. The team still concerns me with what they do with the free throw line, shooting less than 65% at the stripe. We've seen misses become an issue. We saw it against Clemson. How can a team with such great shooters struggle so much from the free throw line? That's the 64,000, well, probably $64 million question these days,

but I don't know. I don't know that there is an answer for that. They're one of the worst free throw shooting teams in America, which is puzzling because they have really good shooters. It's not like they don't practice shooting free throws. They practice all the time. It's weird. I don't know that anybody has an explanation or a solution to that problem. You just keep working at it and hope it gets hope it gets better i mean last night they were um three of six didn't get many opportunities but three or six ain't great no i mean that's 50 and that's you know you can almost close your eyes and make half half your free throw especially

with how good they are from downtown i mean jake Jake Groves, this is, this, Jake Groves has become automatic from downtown. He's shooting 50% on the season for bonus fear, yet he's shooting 70% at the strike. You got Beekman at 77% at the free throw line. Really the only automatic guy at the free throw line is Isaac McNeely at 89%. Ryan Dunn, who's going to be in there at crunch time, 58%. Rody's at 33% for the season from the free throw line. Bond, 64%. Jordan Miner, 60%. Blake Buchanan, 56%.

Dante Harris missed at the free throw line against Clemson, 50% for the transfer from Georgetown here. I know they practice. It's just a mental aspect of it. That's all it could be because, you know, they look at these guys' techniques on film to see if there are any flaws. They work with them in practice. They get up plenty of shots. It's got to be

a mental thing because, again, they look at the mechanics and most of these guys are good shooters. So it just doesn't make sense. It doesn't equate. Maybe they need to bring in the free throw doctor guy. How about Bob Rotella? Maybe Bob Rotella has an answer. He worked with Jim Laranega when Jim was an assistant coach here with Terry Allen back in 84 when they went to the Final Four. And he worked with that team a lot,

particularly Olden Polonese at the free throw line, who was just a horrible free throw shooter at the time and helped. So, yeah, maybe Dr. Bob is the answer. Bob Rattella, for those that don't know, is a sports psychologist. He does specialize in golf, but he has crossed many sports lines. He lives in the Keswick area in the Glenmore neighborhood, plays a couple rounds of golf almost every day, then finishes it with a soda pop or two in the clubhouse. Chad Wood watching the program right now, he says, so I guess the game has not passed Tony Bennett,

like Twitter said three weeks ago, hmm, if only they had a coach that could shoot. That's a little zing right there at their free throw struggles. Judah, if you could put on screen this lower third, so folks know we're talking Tony Bennett right now. Is this Tony Bennett's best coaching year in Seville? And coaching, coaching ING if you could. That's a question for the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer.

I mentioned it a couple of times over the last week or two that if he can turn this, and even beyond that, when they started to make some improvements, I said if he can turn this team around and get them into the NCAA tournament, this might be his best coaching job ever. So you're taking an ever. I initially said, since he's gotten to Charlottesville, you go ever. It very well could be because, I mean, it's easy to – well, not easy, but it's a lot easier to coach a team when you've got all the answers, you've got all the talent, things are going your way. staunchest fans questioning if your style

works anymore and various aspects of his basketball knowledge and you have guys who are new and you're trying to weave, blend that

talent with what little guys you have returning. At first, it's just taking longer to come around than maybe you anticipated. That's hard. They had three players, and Hootie's highlighted this from the beginning of the Jerry and Jerry show. Three players this season return with any minutes of significance. Dunn, McNeely, and Beekman. Three players this season return with any minutes of significance. Dunn, McNeely, and Beekman. Three players.

We're not going to include Murray in that group. Murray did not get quality time last year. Is he playing well this year? Absolutely. He had a brand-new basketball team. Yeah, and from all corners of the country. A couple freshmen, a couple of red shirts, four transfers, who didn't know each other, didn't know the pack line,

didn't know the system, never been to Charlottesville. These guys have got to come in together and not only bond as players, but as just teammates i'll take it a step further for you is tony bennett the acc coach of the year at this point of the season wow uh he should be i mean because unc came back with a loaded basketball team oh yeah and they they i mean they had they had some issues in rebuilding their roster too but they're able to do it a little easier than virginia's because of their blue blood reputation in terms of attracting talent but um you know and having baycott and davis back in in bad yeah early on they they you know people might have been talking Clemson,

but I think that talk has disappeared now. Yeah, I mean, who better to be your coach of the year for maybe the millionth time? But, I mean, when some of your own fan base turns on you and questions your abilities and everything about you and your program, and you still are able to put together this kind of a winning streak. I was looking at something that our friend Danny Neckle, a research analyst of the Patty Mono podcast, he had a nice little tweet late last night. Best men's college basketball teams since January 15th,

according to the Bartovic efficiency metrics. Number one, UConn. Number two, Houston. Number three, Purdue. Number four, Kansas. We're all familiar with what they've done this year. Number five, Virginia. Who would have said that a couple weeks ago? What he's done with this team is magnificent. He's had to develop so many different guys and bringing Miner along

slowly but surely and making him a key cog in how everything has turned. I mean, he's not only presenting a physical presence in the lane, but he's a great screen setter. He's rebounding. He's finishing around the rim. He's been encouraging Blake Buchanan and vice versa. We talked to Buchanan last night and he had a really nice game last

night, particularly on the defensive end of the floor. He's starting to get some offense flowing too. His confidence is way up. Trying to fill a hole until Harris was healthy again after that nasty ankle sprain. Finding offensive solutions when people were ganging up on McNeely. Being able to, with Miner being efficient, that allows him to move groves back out to his natural position, a stretch forward where he can cause all kinds of damage. Beekman just playing out his kazoo.

Dunn still probably needs a little more offense to hunt shots a little bit more, but you let him anywhere near the basket and you're dead because he's just going to wipe you out. Rhodey's still searching, but Antane Murray has been a nice contributor too. A lot of people didn't think that he would be a factor at all this year. He's coming in and giving them some depth and some minutes and some scoring when they need it.

Not only scoring from downtown for Tane, he's showing signs he can put it on the deck and get to the rack. Yeah. And he makes heady plays. He takes care of the basketball. He's not the most athletic guy out there but he comes in and provides solid minutes you mentioned Jordan Miner Miner fantastic against Clemson I know we had the boneheaded foul at the end of the game that yeah I'm sure he regrets he had regrets

you should see we both I saw his face on television the man was crushed by that foul. Could have been very costly. But we look at what he did against Clemson's big man, and he performed admirably. Yeah. I mean, Clemson's big man was, he finished with 19 points, but 10 of those points were at the free throw line, and it was four of 16 from the floor. That says something.

That says a lot. And you've got to love it for Miner. He's a great kid with an incredible personality and great confidence throughout all of his struggles. And you pull for guys like that who people have kind of written off and, you know, here he comes. And he could be the MVP of the whole team if you stop and think about it. Because if he doesn't emerge, do things change?

I don't know. I don't think so. Probably not. If he doesn't emerge, Groves has to play more interior, which keeps him from shooting from downtown. If he doesn't emerge, they continue to get dominated on the glass rebounding-wise. If he doesn't emerge, some of these driving lanes created by his screens and picks aren't there. He's clearly the best screener on the basketball team.

They continue to gang up on McNeely. Yep, they continue to gang up on McNeely. Don doesn't have the attacking or slashing ability to the rim because he's one of the few guys with size that would have to play inside. And having Don with his feet set three or four feet from the rim is not utilizing Don's athleticism or leaping ability. Great point by you on Minor Hootie. Yeah, I mean, that just came out of nowhere, but you stop and think about it.

I mean, if he doesn't emerge, this team doesn't emerge. And where would we be if that were the case? A lot of these people would be claiming they were right all along. This is a great question. Let's highlight some of the viewers and listeners first. Kevin, we'll get to your question from Waynesboro here. He wants your take, and we'll get to this later in the show, on the Florida State lawsuit,

now that they've named individuals as the basis for the lawsuit. We can get to that later on. We're talking Virginia basketball now. Tons of questions on the feed right now. Chad Wood thinks Hubert Davis will be coach of the year, but Tony Bennett should get it. Donnie Lanter is watching in Roanoke. Thank you, Donnie, for watching the program. This is a great question from Grayson right down the street.

Can Hoody make an argument that Reese Beekman could be the defensive player of the year and the ACC player of the year? And he adds, if memory serves correct, was it Malcolm Brogdon both? Yes, he was, and that's a rare double, but it's possible. It's really tough for a Virginia player to win that honor, maybe not quite as much now because the way they vote for those things now is not as open as it used to be used to be by the entire body of the Atlantic Coast Sports

Media Association which the majority of which were located in the state of North Carolina but now they have committees of people to try to make it a more equal voting process, and so it's a little easier to carry that off than it used to be, although Malcolm did it under those circumstances, but he could be. He could be. It won't be easy because there's some other guys that are having really outstanding years, but I don't think there's any question that he's defensive player of the year again. Unless you think Ryan Dunn, I think Beekman's the defensive player of the year slam dunk. For the sake of a talk show, does Ryan Dunn split the vote, which could keep Beekman from getting it? He will split some of the vote, no question about it. But Dunn may take some votes away from whoever else is contending as well. But Reese is, I think, putting together just as good a year, if not better, than he did last year when he won it.

So if somebody can beat him out, I want to see their numbers. Lenardi this morning, last four in Virginia basketball, according to Joe Lenardi, Mr. Bracketology. Yeah, I know he was ripped severely by Jim Boeheim over the weekend over only having, what, three ACC teams in the 68-team tournament? Why is the ACC getting so much shade? That's a good question, and I don't know the answer to that. I know for years there was some jealousy from other parts of the country

because the ACC had been so successful and it was talked up a lot. And some of it was because the ACC has a good marketing machine, a good political machine, if you will, in promoting ACC basketball. ACC wins. It wins. And, you know, it's on paper. Yeah.

But there's been some professional jealousy about that. And I think it's spread over into some of the media, which is a shame. But I think that's spread over into some of the media, which is a shame. But I think that's a reality. For the last several years, there's been a lot of shade cast on the ACC. And the last two years in particular, I don't understand exactly why. But I think Jim Boeheim was right in his criticisms that, you know, he says, I don't know what metrics you're looking at, but they're blind metrics.

Coaches can tell you. They use the eye test. I remember when Terry Holland and Craig Littlepage were members of the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee and even chairman of that committee. And they would tell you that, and they both watched a ton of basketball, and, you know, they looked at all the metrics and stuff, but all those guys, Terry and Craig and a lot of the coaches on the committee, will tell you it's more about the eye test than it is metrics.

And you can't ignore the metrics, but, you know, you can, if you've been, if you're a keen basketball observer, you can watch a team and tell if they're really good or not. Absolutely. Absolutely. So, you know, I think some of the bracketology is out of whack, but I really think the net is out of whack. It can be manipulated, as Seth Greenberg pointed out this week. And I think they need to – it has flaws and it needs to be looked at. But, yeah, I've seen some different bracketologies,

having them as the last four out. I've seen that. The last four in. Even one had them in the tournament. So it'll be interesting to see how it plays out. But if they can just continue to play the way they're playing and not stub their toe, I don't think they're going to have any problems. I'm going to throw this to you. Reece Beekman right now, he is leading the Atlantic Coast Conference in assists with 6.1 assists per

game. Nathan George at Georgia Tech is second. He's a full assist per game behind Reece Speakman. Reece Speakman is leading the ACC with 2.4 steals per game. Judah Mintz, not Judah Wickauer, Mr. Consistency, but Judah Mintz from Syracuse. I'm sure your jumper is just as wet as Judah Mintz from Syracuse, Judah. He is second in the ACC at 2.1 steals a contest. We got a legitimate argument here for Reese Beekman, maybe double dip and defensive player of the year, which I agree with you, I think is a slam dunk. He's the defensive player of the year, which would make him two-time defensive player of the year, which I agree with you, I think is a slam dunk. He's the defensive player of the year,

which would make him two-time defensive player of the year in the conference. R.J. Davis is very compelling at UNC. He is. He's the guy that's running that train down there. 21 points plus a game. Reese is at 13-6. So a fair discrepancy there between RJ and Reese. The short list has got to have Reese for player of the year.

He's going to get votes for sure. There's no question about it. How's that vote work? I think now there's two or three teams. There used to just be one team, the media team. It was the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association. It used to be everybody that was in the association got a vote. And then at one point the coaches would name their own team

because they didn't necessarily agree with the media's team, although it was usually pretty much the same. And the AP would do their own team. Now, I'm not sure how many teams there are now, but I think the way the media association does it now is they pick a couple of voters from each state rather than let the mass amount of people do the voting. They'll pick some people that they have confidence in and not regional bias and people who know college basketball to do the voting.

So I think in that aspect, it's a little more fair because you don't get the regional bias that you used to get. Liza the dog loves what Hootie is saying right now. The I Love Seville mascot is making some noise off the studio right now. Hootie loves dogs dearly, and every single morning that he comes to the Jerry and Jerry show, he slips her a little piece of bacon, and bacon seemed to be a theme last night at the John Paul Jones Arena. Yeah, that one guy made everybody's night. One of the

Miami players, I can't remember what his name was, but that was by far the loudest I've heard JPJ in a long time was when he had missed the first free throw and people were smelling that bacon cooking and the place went bananas. And he made everybody's night by missing the second shot. That's a great question that's come in the feed for you. Spencer watching the program. He is watching in western North Carolina. And he says, is there a scenario where Virginia finishes second in the ACC regular season

and does not make the NCAA tournament? I can't see that happening because to stay at number two, they're going to have to continue to win. And winning cures everything. So I don't see that scenario as any possibility whatsoever. What do you think of the remaining schedule? I'll rattle off the games here. Florida State Saturday. So they have an extended break after three games in a short period of time. Florida State in Tallahassee Saturday. Unfortunately, on the CW network, my least favorite of any of the networks. Then they Pittsburgh Tuesday, John Paul Jones Arena.

Wake Forest, John Paul Jones Arena, where they've got 23 straight wins. Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Hokies are a pretty good basketball team when they show up. They are. Especially at home. North Carolina in Charlottesville. Boston College, Chestnut Hill. Duke in Durham. Georgia Tech to close the season on March 9th

before the ACC tournament in Washington, D.C. And John Scott Ratcliffe just got his press credentials approved for the ACC tournament. Props to Scott right there. He's going to go watch. He's a happy guy. Maybe my favorite tournament of any and all of sports, the ACC tournament.

And I love the NCAA tournament. I'm just partial to the Atlantic Coast Conference. Well, it's part of your blood. It's in my blood. You grew up with it. I did. I used to take off. My dad's a UVA graduate.

And who do you appreciate this? So tough on my brother and I when it came to school, but we were allowed to take off from school for that first day of the ACC tournament. The four games, the first day, yeah. Yeah, it's amazing that I know when my kids were in school, a lot of times the teachers would roll out the TV, and they would spend the entire day watching the ACC tournament. It's ingrained in all of us.

Certainly I was back when I grew up with the black and white TV, and the ACC tournament was the first they were the first conference to put the tournament on television CD Chesley was a way ahead of his time and Skeeter Francis was the PR machine that they got the ACC going nationally but that the ACC Networks series on the ACC tournament was one of the best things I've ever seen in my life. If you haven't seen that, I highly encourage you. I'm sure they'll bring it back near tournament time. And it's some fascinating stuff even though I grew up uh watching ACC basketball all my life and covered it

for a major part of my life and got to know so many people there was stuff in that documentary that that I learned that I didn't know and uh it's just some fascinating stuff but um what do you think of their season the rest of the schedule to close the year? Yeah, I forgot where we were going with that. But it's a challenging schedule still. I think the Wake Forest game here is going to be huge. They need to avenge that loss in Winston-Salem. Pitt is sneaky good.

You can't take them for granted. I was talking to Corey Alexander last night on the way out of the arena, and he thinks that as good as Tech is and as tough a place as Castle Coliseum is to play, that if this Virginia team goes in there, that this Virginia team can win. If the former Virginia team, they'll get their doors blown out. So I think as long as they can continue on this path, they'll have a chance to steal one down there, and it won't be easy.

Carolina, as good as they are, they've got to come here. And this is no easy place to play, especially if Virginia's playing well. So you can't count that as an automatic L. I think they could win that game. Going to Cameron is not going to be easy because I don't think this Duke team is as good as some of their recent teams, but it's at Cameron, and it's a tough place to play. Kyle Miller watching the program, the star of the Kyle Miller Show,

Thursdays at 2.15 p.m. on this network. Olivia Branch is watching at Keswick Hall. We call her the Queen of Keswick. Yes, that's exactly right. She is fantastic. She says, I used to go to the tournament every single year, Hootie. Hashtag the good old days. Saw her there often.

She said, Olivia Branch, she's always styling and profiling. Olivia Branch, watching the program, we love you. Questions are coming in fast and furious here. How many teams make the NCAA tournament, Hootie? I think five at this point. So you say UVA, Duke, UNC, Slam Dunks? Yes. You say those three are Slam Dunks?

I think so. Okay. And then the remaining two, I'll call up the standings here, Hootie. You've got the Wolf Pack at 15-7, 7-4 in conference play right now. The Seminoles, 12-9, 7-4 in conference play right now. The Seminoles, 12-9, 6-4 in conference play. 14-7 Wake Forest, 6-4 in conference play of the Demon Deacons. Would you say the remaining two from that threesome? Probably, and you still can't count Clemson out either because they have a high net ranking. That net ranking is so befuddling it truly is i i can't grasp the the why they put so much trust in in that system i it just

again has too many flaws for me but i think a couple of these teams are going to emerge as we go down the stretch. I think it will be a no-brainer to have five teams in. That would be fantastic, five teams dancing in March. This question has come in for Hootie Ratcliffe. What was the best ACC tournament he has ever covered and why? Roger Voisinet, Mr. Virginia Hockey, Mr. Solar, Mr. Real Estate, watching the program, Mr. Woolen Mills, Roger Voisinet, the best tournament you've ever covered and why? That's a tough question.

Yeah, because there's been so many. I've been covering them since – I haven't missed one since 1974. Wow. I think – You haven't missed an NCAA tournament since 1974? No, ACC. ACC since 74? Yeah.

Hootie, I've got to bust out the calculator. That was my first tournament. 50 straight years? You're coming out on your 50th straight ACC tournament? That's amazing. That was my first Final Four as well. That's a milestone. I didn't even think about that. I didn't realize it was that long. You've got to get some props at this tournament. Do the media folks know? The ACC front office know?

I don't know. I'm not sure. I don't know. I think it's the longest streak out there. But anyways. That's amazing. That first one was incredible because of the NC State-Maryland rival race. Some people say that was the greatest ACC game in history

when NC State and Maryland played for that championship. Incredible game. Lefties was trying everything in the world to beat NC State and David Thompson and just couldn't do it. And so that was one of the most incredible tournaments. 76 with Virginia pulling off the three upsets in three days. Some of the Ralph tournaments with the stare down between Virginia and North Carolina with all those great players just standing there staring at each other for most of the game

because Dean Smith was in the four corners and Terry Holland would be damned to come out of the zone and play one-on-one against, or man-to-man against that Carolina team with some of those great players that they had at the time. There's been so many. The two ACC championships by Virginia since then, down in North Carolina and up in New York. There's been some others.

The Randolph Childress one when he went off. Just too many to mention all of them. The 74 one was pretty special just of that NC State team was just unbelievable. And to be able to get a credential for the Final Four that year in Greensboro, thanks to Skeeter Francis and Ed Seaman, the NC State SID, who took a chance on a snot-nosed kid. I know. How old were you then? Not very old. I know. Did you even have facial hair then?

I grew a mustache, so I wouldn't look so baby-faced. No, seriously, how old were you in 74? That's too much math for me, but if people will remember that, that's when NC State stopped UCLA's run of championships. They beat them in triple overtime in the Greensboro Coliseum in the semifinals with Bill Walton and that gang. And, I mean, it just doesn't get any better than that. Hootie Ratcliffe on fire today.

Gloria Diane West in Lexington, Virginia says, congratulations, Jerry, on all your accomplishments. Chad Wood says, congratulations, Hootie. And he says, Joe Harrison, the pouring snow in Greensboro, is up there for him. Oh, yeah, no question about it. That was a great few days there for sure. We'll forget the snow part. I think I almost got stranded down there, but yeah, that was a great memory as well. 50 straight ACC tournaments for Hootie Ratcliffe. That is a

milestone, ladies and gentlemen. And we just came up with this on the fly over the course of conversation. I didn't even think about that. That is absolutely amazing. The comments are coming in fast and furious here. Jennifer, giving you props in Richmond. Congratulations on 50 straight years.

Wow, that's all I've got to say on that one. This question's come in. What's it going to take for Virginia to potentially challenge UNC? That's a hell of a question. UNC is loaded. They are loaded. It won't be easy, but, you know, again, JPJ is a tough place to play. And we've seen a lot of good Carolina teams,

probably better than Virginia, come in here and lose. Virginia just has to be Virginia. They have to play Virginia basketball. They have to play great defense. I'm sure Tony and his staff are going to be dissecting film on Carolina and trying to find any kind of vulnerabilities they can, what they can take advantage of, what strengths they can take away, which is very important.

And with some really good on-ball defenders, you might see that them putting a little pressure on Davis out there. He might not have the kind of game that he's accustomed to having. He is awfully hard to stop. Oh, my gosh, he's incredible. I think one of the keys will be if Miner and Buchanan can handle Baycott down low because we've seen Baycott at his best and his worst against Virginia. There's been times where he has dominated the paint and Virginia had no answer,

and there's been times where they completely shut him down. What do you think of Baycott's statement on the ACC talk show that the Atlantic Coast Conference runs through him? Did you see that statement? I heard about it. I was a little surprised for him to make a comment like that because it's great to have that kind of confidence in yourself. We'll see. We'll see.

Time will tell. Time will absolutely tell. He makes the point that, remember, North Carolina hits the John Paul Jones Arena, maybe the toughest place to play in the country right now. And I know there's more challenging places, perhaps from an audio or noise level,

than the John Paul Jones Arena. But the Hoos right now have the nation's longest home winning streak at 23 games, and the last time I checked, winning is how you gauge in sports. Comments are coming in fast and furious. This is a really good one for you from Thomas. Please help us understand how the top 25 polls work and how Virginia is still in receiving votes in both. Well, the two polls, one is the media poll, which they have, I think there's two voters from each state, I believe, that the AP, whoever the AP writer I think is in each state, tries to find two people to vote, and they vote every weekend.

I think it's harder to find good voters now because of a couple of reasons. A few years ago, when sports journalism got caught up in a big ethics campaign, some of the people felt like it wasn't proper for them to vote in polls, so some of the good voters stopped voting. Also, when the AP poll became more transparent and they published the writers' votes, that discouraged some guys from wanting to continue to vote because it wasn't worth the trouble to vote West Virginia 24th when their fans thought they should be in 12th and you would get your inbox

bombarded with vile comments to a lot of media people. It's not worth the trouble. So I'm not saying people aren't qualified to vote, but I don't think you have the pool of experienced voters that you used to have. So I think that's probably affected some of those polls. The coaches poll, I don't know what it's like today, but I know back in the day a lot of the coaches would turn that vote over to their sports information director to do the voting for them. They just didn't want to be bothered with it.

I know some coaches did take it seriously and voted themselves. I don't know what it's like today, but that's the difference in the two polls. Virginia in receiving votes in both polls, ladies and gentlemen, a little bit higher in the AP poll. Actually, let's see, St. Mary's is 26, TCU 27, Indiana State 28, Boise State 29, Colorado State 30, Virginia 31 in the AP poll right now. St. Mary's 26 in the coaches poll, Indiana State 27, 28, TCU 29, Colorado State 30, Virginia in the coaches poll. So basically in the same position here. Those questions come in. It's outside in the ACC type of question. Is UConn the best clear-cut team in the country? I say this on the talk show, previous shows, my wife went to UConn, graduated from UConn. You have inside information. We watch every single UConn basketball game.

She's a diehard Husky fan. She loves the Jerry and Jerry show she's watching right now. For my money, I don't see any team beating UConn. This team is absolutely loaded. I haven't seen them as much as I'd like to, but I know they have a great coach and an incredible fan base up there. I've been to UConn on their campus venue a couple of times and to Hartford for a game, and they have as good a following as anybody in the country. But I know Virginia scrimmaged them in one of the secret scrimmages in the preseason,

and they both went after each other pretty hard. Clear cut, I don't know if they're clear cut. They're certainly one of the top three or four. Purdue can't be discounted. Nope, not with that big man. No, he's fantastic. You can never count Kansas out just because there's such a collection of talent. They did get upset last night. Did you see it?

I did, yeah. Kansas State? Yeah. There are a handful, maybe more than a handful of programs out there that are good, and they just need to get on the run at the right time. But if I were a betting man, I would say right now it's between UConn and Purdue. And you know the beautiful thing about the NCAA tournament and why we all love the madness is anything can happen.

And a team can just get hot at the right time of the year. And they can ride a streak. We've seen it with VCU. Heck, we saw it with UVA in the national championship year. UVA, they had a lot of bounces. I bleed orange and blue. Anyone who watched that run to their 2019 title knows that Virginia got bounces go their way.

George Mason. Yeah, that's another one. Jim Larenaga's team. Yeah. After 1984, I believe in any kind of miracle in basketball because that Virginia team, the year after Ralph, nobody thought was going to be any good. They had to bring in Rotella because the players were convinced

that they were not going to be any good because media and everybody else said, without Ralph, this team's nothing. And they didn't play well. They finished with like 17, 18 wins, lost in the first round of the ACC tournament to Wake Forest. They didn't think, I guess they thought they were going to go to the NIT. Somehow they made the NCAA tournament field and ended up in the Final Four and could have won it all.

They could have won it all without Ralph Sampson. And after witnessing the intricacies of that from day one all the way through to the end, you can't convince me that nothing is impossible in sports. Phillip Dow, Washington, Scottsville, Virginia. Phillip, he says, polls don't mean a thing. I understand why coaches ignore them. He's right. He's 100% right, especially at this time

of year. It's about catching fire at the right time and seeing if you can ride that streak into victory lane. And we're seeing that with Virginia riding a seven-game winning streak. It's a good question for you right here. How does Virginia improve upon what they've done over the last seven games? If you see a problem, what is it? Well, the free throw shooting. If you continue to shoot free throws like that, it's probably going to bite you at some point. They better hope it's not the postseason, should they be fortunate enough to get there, which they should.

Or it could prevent you from getting to the postseason. If you end up in two or three tight games and fail at the free throw line, it could bite you hard. That's the flaw right now. Sixty-five percent as a team from the strike. Yeah, it's just not good enough. There's going to be some close games, believe me. From here on out, people are fighting for their lives right now.

Every game is going to be just a knock-down, drag-out battle because nobody's taking anything for granted at this point. I don't think they have to do anything else in terms of improving. I think they just have to keep doing what they're doing and not take a step back. Here's a follow-up question on the UNC matchup. Does Miner go man-to-man, one-on-one against Baycott, or is Coach Bennett going to have to send a double?

I think they'll have to double the post against him most likely. He's just too much of a hoss inside. Even minor as physical as he is, he's not as big as Baycott. And, I mean, that's one of the beauties of the pack line defense is you don't let a big man beat you, and rarely does it allow that to happen because you double the post down inside when he gets the ball. But there may be times where Miner plays him mano a mano,

but I think for the most part, he'll probably be doubled. This question's come in for Hootie Ratcliffe. Tony Bennett, you've mentioned, is on the short list for Coach of the Year this season. Who else could challenge Coach Bennett for that award? You've got to go Hubert Davis, right? Yeah, Hubert has done a fantastic

job down there. He's dominating. Look, they were in dire straits last year. They didn't even make the NCAA tournament. And they lost a lot of people through the transfer portal. He had to do some rebuilding of his roster as well. He's done a fantastic job. And I'd say right now, unless somebody else gets hot, it might be a two-horse race. I mean, Steve Forbes, I think, is one of the more underrated coaches in the country down at Wake Forest.

He's fantastic. If he gets that team going, watch out, because they have talent. They have a lot of talent. I don't think he gets, – you may disagree with this. I think his physique almost works against him with some credibility, the Wake Forest head coach. I mean, he's a big guy. He is a big guy.

Yeah, but he knows basketball, and his team always comes prepared to play. He's a hell of a coach, and he's a hell of a guy. I mean, he's the kind of guy you'd love to sit down. Belly up to a bar with. Go back here behind the building on one of these places on the downtown mall and belly up at the bar with. If you didn't know he was a basketball coach, you wouldn't know. He's just a really good guy. he's got an incredible sense of humor he appreciates other good guys he

was one of the guys was singing Mike Bray's praises last year when Bray was having a hard time at Notre Dame he's just a good guy and a good coach. I think Lake Forest basketball is in good shape to have him there for a long time. Absolutely. Here's a great question for you. Viewers and listeners, you guys have made this program well. Time is absolutely flying. I promise we'll get to the Florida State lawsuit question here

to close the program. Virginia basketball, if they get an ACC tournament, We'll get to the Florida State lawsuit question here to close the program. Virginia basketball, if they get an ACC tournament, if they get an ACC regular season victory and do well in the tournament, what seed does Hootie think they could be picked in the big dance? Oh, wow. I'm not very good at that. I'm not one of these guys that studies the field like some of our friends do I have no clue I'd have to take it sit down and take a look at it

if they can continue on this path I don't know I think I think they'll be okay in the seating but I don't really think it think they'll be okay in the seeding. I don't really think it matters, honestly. We've seen them falter at number one seed and number two seed, and we've seen them falter at lower seeds. And we've seen them succeed. So I don't really think it matters where you're seeded. I think it's just a matter of how you're playing when you get into the tournament

and if you're able to maintain that level of play. They've been a disappointment since 2019 in the postseason, and they need to do something about that, and this year would be a good place to start. Hootie Ratcliffe on fire today. 11-26, time flies when you're having fun. Florida State lawsuit, individual's name, it's getting nasty. Yeah, I mean, who knows where this is going?

They've sued and countersued. The ACC has hired five or six attorneys from a law firm in Tallahassee, some of them Florida State grads who will be fighting against their own school. It's going to get nasty. There's probably stuff that's going to come out that's going to embarrass Florida State and the ACC at some point. It depends on how nasty the attorneys want to get. Once individuals are named in it, the door's wide open, brother. You be careful what you wish for. But I don't

know. I have no, we need to get our friend John Grisham in here to break down the legal aspects of a case like that. He might bring Nolan Ryan with him. He might bring Nolan Ryan with him. The fireballer was, bring the heat. Let's bring the heat. The fireballer was in the house at the John Paul Jones arena. On his birthday. On his birthday, on his birthday. Last question here, and I should have asked this earlier. Multiple viewers and listeners are wondering if Laranega, if the time has passed him by after last night. I say no way, Jose. No, no way.

Jim Laranega is brilliant. We're talking about one of the good guys in college athletics, and college athletics needs people like Jim Laranega. He's just a wonderful person. He's not just a basketball coach but he cares deeply about his players. They've had a tough season with injuries. His best player got hurt in the first few minutes of the game last night. Why? The scouts were probably there.

Probably. That added to his frustration. I'm sure he was just embarrassed. I mean, he's had such a great history in this town, dating back to his days on the Virginia staff. And he's brought some good teams in here and caused some heartbreak at JPJ for Virginia fans in the past. I think almost every game Virginia and Miami have played

have been decided by 10 points or less. So I think he was probably just crushed last night that his team was getting manhandled, and he didn't have any answers. And if he did, his team wasn't responding. I think he was just frustrated and embarrassed. No way the game has come past this guy. He knows more basketball.

He's forgotten more basketball than most people will ever know. He's a brilliant coach and a good guy. And, you know, if his team stays healthy, they'll be okay. Absolutely. What's in the hopper for JerryRackliff.com? Well, you know, we'll be following up on last night's game. We've got a game story, a column, notebook, and box score on today's pages. We'll be probably going over to the lacrosse fields today

to talk to the men's and women's coaches about their season openers coming up this week. Both of them should have good programs. Especially the men. They're loaded. They're always loaded. They're always loaded. We're so fortunate. Lars Tiffany is a heck of a coach. The second national signing day for football is Wednesday. We'll be over at jpj they're not going to sign anybody but we'll be talking to a few a handful of the transfer players that came in after the last signing day we'll be doing some uva baseball talk about

brian o'connor going into the College Baseball Hall of Fame. Talk about his team and what their expectations are. While keeping a watchful eye on that Florida State game coming up, that's a game they really need to win. It could have an impact on this team going forward. So we'll be loaded with stuff this week for sure. JerryRackliff.com, the website, guys. JerryRackliff.com.

We're on it every day because we're diehard Wahoo fans. Jerry Rackliff and his team, fantastic content on the regular. Hootie, you crushed it today. The Virginia Sports Hall of Famer, Mr. Consistency behind the camera, Judah Wittkower, the director and producer of the talk show. MVP. MVP, absolutely. Judah Mintz has got nothing on Judah Wittkower. This show airs anywhere you get your podcasting content or your social media content. Saturday, Florida State in Tallahassee. We'll cover it on the next edition of the Jerry and Jerry Show, Tuesdays, 10.15 a.m.

Thank you kindly for joining us. So long, everybody. Thank you.