Virginia’s 76-54 road loss to Notre Dame was indeed unexpected.
How unexpected?
The Fighting Irish brought a 5-7 record into the contest, which if that’s where you stand before conference play begins in earnest is not good.
But a deeper dive into that 5-7 record is where it really gets ugly for ND.
For your consideration, included in the seven defeats: a 10-point loss at home to Western Carolina, a 10-point defeat to an awful Georgetown team, and the most telling, a 20-point loss to The Citadel.
Along the way, the Irish struggled to beat Marist, winning by four, and narrowly slipping by Niagara, the school, not the Falls.
The point here is that this was a historically bad Notre Dame team.
Losing the way UVA did today is more than embarrassing, it’s troubling.
And it wasn’t the first blowout loss for Virginia this season.
This was butt-whipping number three.
And before anyone says it’s time for someone to light a fire under the team, it’s time someone lights a fire under the coaching staff.
And it starts with head coach Tony Bennett.
Or can it be lit?
It’s like the lyrics in an Elton John tune that goes, “Your candle burned out long before your legend ever did.”
I’m not saying that Bennett has forgotten how to coach. He hasn’t.
I’m not suggesting he can’t recruit. He can.
If I had a kid good enough to play major college basketball, and Tony Bennett wanted him, he’d have him. My kid wouldn’t have a choice.
This might be deeper than Coach Bennett having problems with his current team. This might be Coach Bennett having a problem with the ridiculous low that college athletics has plummeted to.
NIL. The transfer portal.
I’m not seeing the connection between those two, and the Five Pillars that Bennett has used as his foundation in building the Virginia basketball program.
Instead, I see a huge disconnect.
Could Bennett be seeing the same?
Start with the transfer portal.
What my sources in the college basketball coaching circles tell me, most big-time transfers are simply looking to get paid.
They’re not looking for the right fit, the right coach, the right school, they are simply looking for the biggest check.
To add salt to the wound, they don’t try to skirt around that fact.
Their handlers make that clear, from the beginning.
I just don’t see Tony Bennett playing that game when looking to overhaul his roster.
In other words, the Five Pillars are not likely to become six, with the sixth being, come to UVA to get rich.
It would be hard to imagine that Bennett would be against a player using that tool to earn money for himself.
He said he is not.
But again, my sources say the NIL has more than crept into the high schools, it’s crashed the door down.
Kids in high school are now looking for deals.
Before even talking with a specific school, they want to know what the NIL guarantees are.
If that’s the players’ attitude, then it’s hard to think Tony’s Five Pillars will have any impact.
Not sure how the coach counters that.
No one ever thought Tony Bennett would be a lifer in the college basketball coaching community.
He’s got too much to offer than simply coaching.
In fact, if Bennett dislikes the current affair of college athletics, he may have a far greater impact on being in another role.
Like as an administrator, where he could be on committees that can help mold a new framework for college athletics that can be sustainable.
The current climate is not.
Which all leads me to this.
Why exactly did Ron Sanchez leave his head coaching job at Charlotte?
Sanchez, who was a long-time assistant with Bennett, had been at Charlotte for five years before resigning after the 2022-2023 season to return to UVA as associate head coach.
And don’t think he was pushed out the door. Last season was his most successful, going 22-14.
It may have been for financial reasons. His salary in 2022 was about $500,000.
But usually, coaches don’t move back down the ladder.
This is just my thought, but here goes: Could Bennett see the finish line as far as coaching in the college ranks goes?
You can’t say that’s not possible.
It’s quite possible.
Maybe he’s let the folks at UVA know that as well.
Tony Bennett has certainly earned the right to not only walk away from the deplorable state of college athletics, but he’s also earned the right to do so on his own terms.
In his love for UVA and Charlottesville, he might want to have input into who might succeed him.
Enter Ron Sanchez.
If so, then this season is about transition.
Tony Bennett is still going to coach his style of UVA basketball (albeit some usage of a zone defense is a bit puzzling), while allowing Sanchez to familiarize himself with coaching at the major college level again.
I won’t go as far as to proclaim this is Bennett’s final season on the UVA sideline, but I will say the finish line is right in front of him.
Hopefully, if so, we can keep Bennett involved in college athletics.
Virginia’s loss might be college sports’ gain.
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