Scattershooting … UVA offense is good on third-and-a-mile; hoops rankings, quotes of week & golden nuggets

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Scattershooting around the ACC, while wondering if Virginia can break out of its slump Thursday night in chilly Atlanta …

The Cavaliers are in a three-game losing streak and 3-point underdogs to Georgia Tech in a Thursday night affair (7:30, ESPN). Tech is favored to win a game for the first time since last October, but the Yellow Jackets are 2-0 under interim coach Brent Key.

Key, who came to Tech four years ago after three seasons as Nick Saban’s offensive line coach at Alabama (2016-18), was the Yellow Jackets’ running-game coordinator until Geoff Collins was unceremoniously dumped a few games into this season. Key said playing UVA on a Thursday night brings back memories of his last game when he played right guard for the Yellow Jackets (1997-2000), because Tech played the Cavaliers on a Thursday night.

The new Georgia Tech coach said he doesn’t see a Virginia team that matches its 2-4 record when he watches them on film. He believes Brennan Armstrong is a dangerous quarterback with receivers that have potential to break games wide open – that is, if they don’t drop the ball.

While UVA is not very good on third down in general, Key pointed out that third down can be scary for opposing defenses.

“One stat that is really interesting, that you very rarely see, is Virginia in second-and-long, which is second-and-11 plus, and third-and-11 plus … they are like one of the top teams in the country and that is terrifying,” Key said. “That is scary to see, just statistically. Usually on defense you are trying to get [the offense] off-schedule and get them behind the sticks, but these guys are one of the top teams in the country in third-and-11 plus, so when you are looking at the overall game plan, it kind of throws a little wrench in your plans.”

While that stat may be impressive, it is also one of the reasons Virginia’s offense has been so lackluster because it is second- or third-and-long way too often.

On UVA’s Basketball Ranking

When the Associated Press’ preseason Top 25 poll voted Virginia No. 18 earlier in the week, I thought that was fair. KenPom’s rankings, which had UVA No. 5, was a bit extravagant.

A lofty ranking like that is normally reserved for teams that at least finished with a Sweet Sixteen-or-higher performance a year ago and has players returning. The Cavaliers, you’ll remember, were an NIT team. Yes, they return their top six scorers from a year ago, have a solid grad transfer and talented freshmen, but you have to earn that kind of ranking.

In the AP poll, eight of the voters didn’t have Virginia ranked at all.

As far as the ACC poll, I voted UVA second to Carolina, ahead of Duke because with so many new players (the Blue Devils have only one player that matters returning to the team — Jeremy Roach — that I think it will take time for them to adjust).

ACC Stat of the Week

One of the reasons Clemson is so good is that the Tigers own the “Middle 8 Minutes” of games, the last four of the first half and the opening four of the second.

Clemson has outscored its foes 69-26 during those collective eight-minute spans this season.

Last year, when the Tigers struggled to a 10-3 record, they were outscored 58-28 during the Middle 8.

Clemson’s record since 2015 when it owned the Middle 8? 61-2.

ACC Quotes of the Week

• Virginia basketball coach Tony Bennett on landing Ohio U. grad transfer Ben Vander Plas, whose father was one of Tony’s teammates under Bennett’s father, Dick, at Wisconsin-Green Bay: “I figured I’d be the worst recruiter ever if I couldn’t get a guy named after my father,” Bennett laughed. Vander Plas’ full name is Bennett Vander Plas, named in honor of Dick Bennett.
• Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said he could teach his 2-3 zone to his players in two weeks and said it wasn’t as difficult as people think. Then he motioned to the room of reporters and said, “I can probably teach it to you guys in three weeks.”
• Boeheim also took a shot at the Big Ten, which gives him Brownie points in my book. Boeheim said he would take finishing fifth or sixth in the ACC if it means making the Sweet Sixteen in the postseason. “You can say all you want about the Big Ten. They sucked in the [NCAA] tournament. If you can’t play in the tournament then you’re not good.”

Short Yardage …

• Virginia women’s basketball recruit Kymora Johnson has been bumped up to a 5-star in the latest ESPN recruiting rankings. Johnson is also now the No. 24 overall recruit nationally in her class.
• Our pal Danny Neckel noted that Virginia has nine players on NBA opening-day rosters and that none of them were 5-star or top-25 recruits. That’s a strong message to high-school prospects desiring to be developed, especially when you consider that those nine are under contract for more than a combined guaranteed $375 million.
• Former UVA and NFL star quarterback Matt Schaub, who retired after last season, could become the next executive director of the NFL Players Association.
• Another former Cavalier, Oday Aboushi, has worked hard to get back on the field for a 10th year in the league with the LA Rams.
• Congratulations to UVA Ortho department chair Bobby Chhabra, MD, for receiving the prestigious Green Mentorship Award from the Hand Society. Chhabra regularly appears on WINA radio to discuss sports injuries and occasionally on JerryRatcliffe.com podcasts to do the same.
• Former UVA three-time All-American lacrosse player Kris Snider (‘78) was inducted recently into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame.
• Danny Neckel with another nugget … Most ACC men’s basketball regular-season titles by active league coaches: Tony Bennett with 5; Leonard Hamilton with 1; and Jim Larranaga with 1.
• Former UVA pitcher Andrew Abbott was named Southern League “Pitcher of the Month,” with a 0.00 ERA in 16 innings pitched, 21 strikeouts and a .143 opponent batting average.
• Thanks to Twitter follower John Schick (@JohnSchick) for noticing that I used “festooned” in a recent piece.
• Celtics’ Jayson Tatum when asked if Sam Hauser is a better shooter than him: “Hell no … I tell Sam he should send me a thank-you card for being on the floor together.” Of course, Tatum was razzing Hauser, saying Hauser gets more wide-open shots because [Tatum] is on the floor and attracting defensive pressure. “Sam is obviously a great shooter and I’m happy for him.” Hauser saw the comment and replied: “[Tatum] claimed he’s a better shooter than me, but I don’t think that’s true. We’ll see.” Touche. Another Celtics player, Derrick White, called Hauser one of the best shooters he’s seen. “He’s bigger than you think he is … from that first year to the second year you see a lot of big jumps.”