A season of letdowns

I'll try to keep this short. The games were painful enough to endure. I grew up in Charlottesville, so I have always sort of kept an eye on what UVA sports were doing. The basketball coaches I remember include Pete Gillen, Dave Leitao, and obviously Tony Bennett. I will give credit where credit is due; this program was largely irrelevant while the first two were at the helm, and CTB has delivered arguably the best stretch of hoops the University has seen (Terry Holland/Ralph Sampson era). That said, I want to discuss what's happened in the past five years and why it's shocking compared to the previous 6 or 7.

My time as a student began in the fall of 2012, so I experienced the NIT season of Bub Evans, Joe Harris, Akil Mitchell, and the first year class that included Justin Anderson and Mike Tobey. Expectations were low after losing Mike Scott to the NBA and Malcolm Brogdon to injury, but in my mind it was a fun season and a proper "building" year. Following that up with a regular season title was an amazing feat, despite falling relatively early to Michigan State in the tournament. But that's the problem. Every since that game, losing by two as a 1 seed to a 4, this is the pattern under Tony Bennett. The 2019 season was an exception, not the rule, and even that was under fortunate circumstances. Literally all but one game (Oklahoma) in that run was precarious, including an opening game against Gardner Webb. The worst lost in that stretch was not UMBC, it was actually Syracuse. The team in 2016 was better than the team in 2018 and that second half choke job was unacceptable. Can't have that happen with a trip to the final four on the line. People seem to forget that in the narrative because of 2019.

Since 2019, there was the cancelled tournament season in 2020, which realistically was not a team that would have won the title. There were three teams from the ACC alone that finished higher in the AP poll, not to mention Kansas, Gonzaga, Dayton, Baylor, San Diego State, Creighton, and Kentucky. The following season ended in yet another first round exit, this time to Ohio. I would argue that once again, this was a huge waste of talent. A team that included Sam Hauser, Trey Murphy, a seasoned Kihei Clark, as well as young talented players such as Reece Beekman, Casey Morsell, and Kadin Shedrick, should not be losing to an undersized 13 seed whose best player ended up transferring to UVA. 2021/22 was the worst team from an objective point of view in the modern era, with two and three going to this year's team and the aforementioned 2012/13 team in some order. That season was when the changed to college basketball became more pronounced, as well as the fact that Tony Bennett and UVA have not been coping properly. I don't think Murphy was expected to leave, and nobody came in to replace him. Nor Huff, though I believe Shedrick was meant to eventually take his place. Guys like Franklin and Gardner join Groves, D Harris, Minor, and Rhode as examples of why this team is no longer a top tier program. The second group is objectively worse, but the philosophy is flawed. It's already a problem competing with top teams when you're recruiting transfers as the system is unique, but then you add in them being undersized and/or lacking talent, and it's too big a hole to dig out of.

The most worrying bit I see on social media or whatever is this debate of what's wrong and who's to blame. The running narrative these days is that every other year is somehow a "rebuilding" year. How does that even work? What is being built year on year? If the team lacks talent, who brings the players in? If the program is built on developing players, why are one or two year transfers being prioritized over first years? The defense isn't even as good as it was, and the offense has been terrible for three seasons now. Who is answering any of these questions? I don't understand why there isn't consideration as to why the style of play hasn't changed. It's one thing to be defensively sound and play a slower pace, but as some point stubbornness needs to be addressed when it's proven ineffective in tournament settings time after time. I look at players like Ryan Dunn and Isaac McKneely. Realistically, they should be developing a bit more than they have, if I'm looking through a harsh lens. Isaac will be going into his third year as an average defender who struggles to create offense. Ryan, if he stays, has regressed as a shooter, which makes no sense to me. Everything else he's good at, but you can't win if you can't score. And the free throws! What are they doing that they're so bad at them? Is it mental? Where are the guys with mental toughness? Even the leader disappears in big moments. That's a mental issue. So many questions. Who's coming to save this? Reece is gone. Two of the three bigs who played significant minutes are gone. Bond and Gertrude barely played. Great development...

In conclusion, I believe that something has to change. Winning cures all, but each game that passes is one further since that championship, and the current trajectory of this program is down, not up. Who will want to come to a school that's tough academically, plays an unattractive style, and doesn't have NIL incentives other schools do? I don't think "fire the coach" is the answer, as it's not like there are tons of guys who'd rush to coach this program, but something does have to change.