It’s been a little more than a month since the Virginia basketball team won the National Championship. Go ahead, read that again and bask in the glow. Again.
That seems like par for the course with UVA fans the past month after all. CavBen posted this on Tuesday: “Anybody else still having to pinch themselves a bit that we won the natty?” HooBear posted this on Wednesday: “Is anyone else just completely enjoying this natty and planning on enjoying it at this level forever?” Those types of posts are common these days. It’s a widespread case of National Championship Cloud 9 fever.
Of course, there’s plenty of focus on what’s next too with commitment Tomas Woldetensae on board and more decisions coming from other recruiting interests too. Plus, Mamadi Diakite continues to work out (spotted with the Hawks this week) and he’ll take part in the NBA G League Elite Camp as well before UVA fans get to see if the’s coming back or not.
Roster management with the different draft exploration rules in place is a tough task for college coaches as Adam Zagoria wrote about in this article. Coach Tony Bennett says in that piece that “”It’s good for the players to get feedback but that creates a little more tension on your roster on what spots are available and that’s the dynamic that you have to navigate and it’s challenging, it really is.”
With that in mind, it’s time for Fan Fridays here on the site with the focus all on the Wahoo faithful. We’re moving our Fan of the Week, Student Fan of the Week, and Feature Photo of the Week elements into this article along with a Fan Take Of The Week, Post Of The Week, and more. If you’re featured in any of these elements, you get a free EDGE subscription for a month by emailing us! Think of it as a virtual seat in the stands.
Let’s Go!
Fan Take Of The Week
We enlisted HamptonHoo for this week’s segment. Since Hoo fans still have basketball on the brain, it focuses on questions about Coach Bennett’s squad.
Virginia is the National Champion! During the tournament run, my favorite moment(s) … The images that will always be with me are Kihei’s pass and Mamadi’s shot sequence, Kyle’s 3 free throws, and Tony’s kneeling once the championship game was over. While I will forever replay portions of all of the tournament wins in my mind (Ty’s big 3’s, etc.), these three moments are my favorites.
With these 10 players the current “knowns” on UVA’s basketball roster next year (Braxton Key, Jay Huff, Kihei Clark, Kody Stattmann, Franceso Badocchi, Francisco Caffaro, Casey Morsell, Justin McKoy, Kadin Shedrick, Tomas Woldetensae), the most exciting thing is … Seeing which of these names, who we haven’t really seen either a lot of or nothing at all, will turn out to be ready for prime time and make significant contributions right away. I am particularly interested in Morsell and Caffaro, but the opportunity for any of these players to either step up their game (Key, I hope will become more assertive) or show us what they can do (everyone else) is going to be something for me to focus upon.
With these 10 players the current “knowns” on UVA’s basketball roster next year (Braxton Key, Jay Huff, Kihei Clark, Kody Stattmann, Franceso Badocchi, Francisco Caffaro, Casey Morsell, Justin McKoy, Kadin Shedrick, Tomas Woldetensae), the most concerning thing is … Clearly, identifying the players who can take and make shots at a critical time is a big issue. The players who’ve moved on took tons of experience and confidence with them. It will be mandatory for Coach Bennett and his staff to rebuild the team, using all these new names and new capabilities, so that the success we’ve all gotten used to continues. I have no doubt that this will be the case.
Fan(s) Of The Week
Hoos love the National Champions!
Student Fan(s) Of The Week
5 Pillars!
Feature Photo Of The Week
Lamont Atkins tries to escape the tackle of T.C. Harrison.
Post Of The Week
This week’s selection comes from the off-topic board “The Corner” with a hearty congratulations attached! Share your own good wishes in the thread here.
Question Of The Week
The basketball National Championship inspires thoughts on other boards too. DeltaPsiberHoo shared a thought about the ACC Champion men’s lacrosse team here. Meanwhile, KABASHA63 asked this question on the football board: “Do you think basketball title success helps with football recruiting?” That started a good thread of responses that you can see when you click here.
