Dan's take on Wake

[cville deac]

The reality is that UVA is a really talented basketball team that is really well coached.

Justin Anderson: 4-star (top-50 overall)
Evan Nolte: 4-star (top-75 overall)
Malcom Brogdon: 4-star (top-100 overall)
Mike Tobey: 4-star (top-100 overall)
BJ Stith: 4-star (top-100 overall) or 3-star (top-150 overall)
Anthony Gill: 4-star (top-100 overall) or 3-star (top-150 overall)
London Perrantes: 3-star (top-150 overall)
Devon Hall: 3-star (top-150)

I think it's fair to say that Atkins and Perrantes are the only two guys playing well above their projected ceiling, right now:

Perrantes is averaging 5.9 points (33%) and 4.4 assists.
Atkins is averaging 7.0 points and 6.1 rebounds.

Bennett is turning good players into great players. Rather than being fortunate, he is doing his job. And while y'all bitch about our team and about Manning, keep in mind that Bennett really wanted Mitchell Wilbekin.

We're used to coaches squandering talent; Tony Bennett does not seem to do that. Hopefully, Danny Manning will not do that either.

That a coach turns a top-50 or top-100 player into something special or useful (and we're talking about low first round to undrafted prospects here) really should not be surprising.

Strick, the last rankings I remember seeing on Stith had him as a 3*. And I thought Nolte was a 3* too, but I could be wrong. But whatever they were ranked, they certainly don't play like 4*s. Nolte has finally improved some defensively but is still erratic at best offensively, and Stith doesn't have ACC game. I really think his last name seriously bumped up his ranking.

Also agree with 88's post. Bennett wasn't a popular pick with a lot of UVA fans, though I really liked the pick. But he had the guts to kick his best player off the team for not attending classes and did it his way. Of course he's now beloved around here. And I similarly think that we're going to be pleased with where we are in another 3 years.

As to the discussion on whether we brought it in the 2 games against UVA, I really think it had less to do with our effort and more to do with UVA's effort. UVA didn't bring it defensively against us here - that game and Davidson were their 2 worst defensive efforts of the year. Add to that they have been prone to offensive droughts since Anderson went out and were again that night. But they were way up for the task Wed nite and played a suffocating game defensively. After we got down big, yeah, we prolly let down defensively some, but when UVA is on defensively, they just have a way of taking away your will to live.

 

[Shorty]

Note was a four star, top 100, with over a dozen P5 offers, including one from Wake.

 

[FckVwls]

I know a lot of you will just lolKenpom, but look at Washington St rankings 2002-Present

217, 208, 116, 74, 100, 20, 11, 45, 132, 62, 90, 85, 183, 188.

Bolded are Tony Bennett's 3 years. Hé's just a stud.

 

[deaconson]

Definitely remember his name coming up when Skip passed. Probably would have been available after an interim year of Dino (Bennett's 2nd season at Wazzou).

maybe but don't forget Dino and the staff had a relationship with Bennett and went to him to learn the pack line D to implement at Wake. Not the best use of the the players skill sets but it was pretty effective (especially compared to the previous "no defense" defensive scheme). anyway, if Dino was not retained Bennett may or may not have taken ronnie's call. point is moot since we know ronnie already had his mind made up.

 

[PhDeac]

Dino went to Bennett after he was named head coach.

 

[CantStandYa]

Huge Bennett fan. He has been fortunate that Brogdon and Harris turned out to be future NBA players, when no one forecast that. With that said, he has taken that good fortune, and shaped it into a top 5 team in consecutive years. There are a lot of programs with better talent that can't do that.

Will be interesting to see if Bennett is able to use this success to raise UVA's recruiting profile (and to the extent Bennett wants to recruit top 25 guys), as he will not always land recruits that massively outperform their recruiting rankings.

Interesting point. I wonder if Bennett is of the philosophy that recruiting solid, but not spectacular guys and then coaching them up is the best way to compete, since only a handful of teams are regularly in play for top tier talent. So perhaps it's not in his interest to raise the recruiting profile to a point where they're constantly pursuing a pack of 5 stars (as opposed to sporadically pursuing one or another).

Complete speculation, obviously, but clearly his coaching style and ability is paying off.

 

[deaconson]

Dino went to Bennett after he was named head coach.

my point still stands. There was a prior relationship. had Dino not been given the job Bennett may not have taken wellman's call because of that relationship. maybe he would have. it's all speculation.

 

[Dkin]

Dave Odom 2.0?

 

[AttilatheHoo]

Strick, the last rankings I remember seeing on Stith had him as a 3*. And I thought Nolte was a 3* too, but I could be wrong. But whatever they were ranked, they certainly don't play like 4*s. Nolte has finally improved some defensively but is still erratic at best offensively, and Stith doesn't have ACC game. I really think his last name seriously bumped up his ranking.

Also agree with 88's post. Bennett wasn't a popular pick with a lot of UVA fans, though I really liked the pick. But he had the guts to kick his best player off the team for not attending classes and did it his way. Of course he's now beloved around here. And I similarly think that we're going to be pleased with where we are in another 3 years.

As to the discussion on whether we brought it in the 2 games against UVA, I really think it had less to do with our effort and more to do with UVA's effort. UVA didn't bring it defensively against us here - that game and Davidson were their 2 worst defensive efforts of the year. Add to that they have been prone to offensive droughts since Anderson went out and were again that night. But they were way up for the task Wed nite and played a suffocating game defensively. After we got down big, yeah, we prolly let down defensively some, but when UVA is on defensively, they just have a way of taking away your will to live.

some UVA fans wanted Tubby. had never heard of Bennett myself but someone told me he was a great coach.

they were right.

 

[PhDeac]

my point still stands. There was a prior relationship. had Dino not been given the job Bennett may not have taken wellman's call because of that relationship. maybe he would have. it's all speculation.

Yes. From what we know that "prior" relationship was established after Bennett could have been hired.

 

[cville deac]

Dino went to Bennett after he was named head coach.

My recollection was that he went to meet with Dick Bennett, Tony's dad and I think the creator of the packline.

 

[PhDeac]

My recollection was that he went to meet with Dick Bennett, Tony's dad and I think the creator of the packline.

Right. After his first year taking over for Skip. After the point in time Tony Bennett could have been hired.

 

[Azdeac]

Did Ga Tech only score 28 against UVA because of a lack of effort? Did #67 Harvard only score 27 against UVA because of a lack of effort? Did we get down 32 last year to UVA (and probably could have lost by 40 if Bennett didn't put the walk-ons in the last 4-5 minutes) because of a lack of effort? UVA is 26-1 for a reason. Shit happens, homes.

Skipism - rebounds are addressed "to whom it may concern" and it better concern you. Outrebounded 42-24. I think questioning effort has substance.

 

[Azdeac]

Tony Bennett's teams play the game of basketball the way it is supposed to be played....

It is refreshing to see a coach like Bennett...and a team like Virginia...doing well. They are winning the right way.

This ^^^ I truly enjoy watching UVA play unless its against us.

 

[FlaccidDeac]

I agree that our talent is pretty shitty but I'd be interested to see how it compares with the 4 or 5 teams above us. It's not like we're outperforming expectations. We were predicted to finish 12th and it looks like that's right where we'll finish. Sure, we've had several moral victories but we've also won two games, by my count, where the opponent missed a point blank layup at the end of the game.

 

[deaconson]

Yes. From what we know that "prior" relationship was established after Bennett could have been hired.

fair enough. guess i wrongly assumed they knew each other at some point in their careers prior to 07 when dino went looking for help. good to know they did not know each other prior to that call.

 

[PhDeac]

I have no idea if he did or not. You just made an assumption, a few actually.

I think it's strange that anybody would believe a guy wouldn't take a great job because an inexperienced assistant wasn't gifted the job. Prior relationship or not.

Wellman's key failing was indulging in the desires of a grieving fan base instead of just hiring the best coach after an interim period.

 

[Demonbeck]

Tony Bennett's teams play the game of basketball the way it is supposed to be played....as it was played by many teams before ESPN's SportsCenter turned the game into a series of circus highlites. (I don't recall SportsCenter showing examples of back screens or help-side defense. What thy like to show are breakaway "Thunder Dunks"...which usually come after an uncalled travelling violation. That's not basketball. Those are just circus stunts. It doesn't take any basketball skill to dunk a ball. All you have to do is be tall enough & able to jump. Those are physical traits, not basketball skills.)

It is refreshing to see a coach like Bennett...and a team like Virginia...doing well. They are winning the right way. I wish them all the luck in the world.

 

[deaconson]

I have no idea if he did or not. You just made an assumption, a few actually.

I think it's strange that anybody would believe a guy wouldn't take a great job because an inexperienced assistant wasn't gifted the job. Prior relationship or not.

Wellman's key failing was indulging in the desires of a grieving fan base instead of just hiring the best coach after an interim period.

Only assumption is that they knew each other prior to the collaboration. Everything else I said was it may or may not have affected any interest. Dumb argument To be having.

 

[Deac83]

I have no idea if he did or not. You just made an assumption, a few actually.

I think it's strange that anybody would believe a guy wouldn't take a great job because an inexperienced assistant wasn't gifted the job. Prior relationship or not.

Wellman's key failing was indulging in the desires of a grieving fan base instead of just hiring the best coach after an interim period.

It seemed that there was overwhelming support for the assistant. Beyond sentiment, the fear was we'd lose our highly rated recruiting class. That went as far as , if you made the assistants 'interim' we could lose the class as well.

Looking back it's an easy decision.