The Morning Commute for Friday October 18, 2024

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Tony Bennett is set to make his retirement from Virginia basketball official at a press conference today:

Tony Bennett won a National Championship at Virginia in 2019. His career is something to behold. He’s only 55 years old, he played collegiately at Green Bay for his father Dick before turning professional and playing in the NBA for a few seasons. Soon after he followed in his father’s footsteps and went into coaching. He took Washington State to the NCAA Tournament, and parlayed that job into the one at Virginia where he built up one of the best programs in the country.

From 2014 to 2019 the lowest KenPom rating the Cavaliers held was 12th, and they held 4 protected seeds in the NCAA Tournament including the top overall seed in 2018 and 2019, winning everything in 2019.

Bennett caught flak for his pace and style, but the success speaks for itself.

Until everything changed. Since the 2020 season we’ve seen an explosion in player empowerment rules like the transfer portal and Name, Image and Likeness. We’ve also seen an exodus of some of the most powerful coaches in basketball: Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, Roy Williams and Jay Wright have already called it a career. And all since 2019.

There’s little coincidence between Bennett retiring and the fact that since 2019 Virginia hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game and haven’t finished higher than 19th in KenPom. The NIL era and the portal era haven’t been kind to Virginia with finishes in the 60s and 70s in KenPom versus the top 10 finishes just 10 years ago. Even this year the Cavaliers were projected at 78th in the country, and notably Bennett has been slow to embrace NIL to bolster his talent level. The game you have to play isn’t for everyone.

It’s far more of a grind, there’s far less time for development, and not being willing to dive into NIL opportunities will shorten most recruitments. Some coaches are thriving, Dan Hurley, Nate Oats, Tommy Lloyd, and yes even that guy to the west. Tony Bennett may not have wanted to play the game and now he’s getting out of it completely.

Yesterday at Rock M and Rock M+

• We all know Luther Burden is elite, but just how elite? Quentin Corpuel looked into it:

That athleticism has especially flashed after the catch, just as it did in his first two seasons. A pair of highlight-reel runs against Boston College are perfect examples, which included Burden’s unique ability to medley acceleration and deceleration to create chunk plays.

Burden has been awesome, it’s always fun to remind ourselves of it since the timeline is certainly limited.

• Dan checked out the numbers of how the loss of Joe Moore and Khalil Jacobs could impact the rotation.
• Sammy had the Q&A with #MizzouMade Auburn reporter Adam Cole, and a Mizzou-less College Football Playoff race.
• Who’s excited for Mizzou Baseball? Rory and Matthew have the scoop on what’s new:

Overall, lots of flashes of potential were displayed over the weekend and this team does have the talent to win more games than they did last year. Pitchers who had previous experience in the program stood out immensely and the starting rotation could be a force. However, some newcomers and transfers struggled with command, but with time, they should become more comfortable on the mound.

• Mizzou Soccer takes on Oklahoma tonight, Dylan has the preview:

Now with three matches left on the calendar, Mizzou sits on the edge of the SEC Tournament. While the Tigers don’t have to win out in order to qualify, there are several matchups where points are needed to stay in contention. Perhaps the most important match down the stretch comes to kick off Homecoming Weekend against Oklahoma.

Also on the Olympic calendar today are Softball, Women’s Golf, and Cross Country.

• I’ve still got SEC Previews rolling out, the most recent is on Mississippi State.

• Over at Rock M+, we’re talking about recruiting and retirements, and if you missed it, Matt Harris’s breakdown of the preseason prognostications from all over the web:

The explanation is pat at this point: While MU finished among the top five in the SEC for talent acquisition, there are still unresolved questions about whether those players can guard or rebound well enough to exceed modest expectations. We’re relatively optimistic that coach Dennis Gates and his staff built a roster that won’t be as abject in those areas, but it’s undoubtedly a prove-it campaign for him and his staff.

There’s nobody covering Mizzou Basketball like the data twins on RM+, I’m just trying to chip in where i can.

Rock M Radio: Dive Cuts talked about Preseason rankings

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