New Season, New Title For Associate Head Coach Jason Williford

New NCAA rules allowed college basketball teams to begin practicing Wednesday, a couple of weeks earlier than in the past, and there were no surprises at defending ACC champion Virginia.

The only intrigue was the question of when Alabama transfer Braxton Key will learn if his hardship application will be decided by college basketball’s governing body, and the fact that freshman recruit, 7-foot Francisco Caffaro, from Argentina, has not participated in any practices since he arrived.

There is, however, a new associate head coach in the program, 10-year veteran assistant Jason Williford. His promotion came when Ron Sanchez left the UVa program to become head coach at Charlotte.

“It was a huge honor,” Williford said Wednesday. “I wasn’t expecting anything from Tony in that regard, but I appreciated it.”

While the title is new, Williford said his responsibilities won’t really change that much. Recruiting, hands on day-to-day action with the current players, checking on their academic progress, some scouting once the season begins, are typically what occupies Williford’s work day. He works with UVa’s bigs in all aspects.

“I guess Tony’s [Bennett] interview requests and speaking engagements that he doesn’t want to do, I’ve got to go do those now,” Williford chuckled.

Ah, the life of the second in command.

While practice officially started Wednesday, basketball is pretty much a year round sport now. Ever since the NCAA allowed, Cavaliers coaches have worked a couple hours a week on developing players individually. Now, they’re permitted to go a little longer.

If there was anything that impressed Williford after Virginia’s offseason, it was the work ethic of the returning players and their ability to use last year’s shocking finish and use it as motivation. The Cavaliers became the first No. 1 seed in NCAA Tournament history to lose to a No. 16 seed, UMBC, ending UVa’s season with a resounding thud.

While some coaches and teams might prefer to bury such a memory, that hasn’t been Bennett’s, Williford’s, or the team’s approach.

“I don’t think you can run from it,” Williford said. “It will be in our face everywhere we go.

“Instead of making it the elephant in the room, we’ve embraced it,” he explained. “We’ve talked about it. Last year is last year. It’s a new year. Use it, learn from it, and move forward.”

Williford believes in being realistic about the stunning end to a 31-3 season, which included UVa’s third ACC Tournament championship.

“We’re going to hear about [the UMBC loss] on the road,” he said. “You’re going to get all the chants from crowds. But our guys are going to have to block that stuff out. Even in the postseason, we’ll hear it all over again. It’s UVa’s story from here on out. And, as Tony has said, we’ve got to keep knocking, and knocking, until we knock down that door.”

While the first game is well into the distance, Virginia fans have asked me several times what I think this particular Cavaliers team will be like.

My answer has been, that while last season’s 31 wins and a mere three losses will be difficult to duplicate, I believe this season’s team could actually be better and more successful, but may not have quite as good an overall record.

I asked Williford what he thought about that assessment.

My caveat was this: If Virginia is to be better, it will have to find a way to play as good defense, or at least close to as good defense as a year ago; and leaders must emerge. Last season, Isaiah Wilkins and Devon Hall, both excelled on the defensive end of the floor and in leadership roles.

“Last season’s record is a hard thing to follow up,” Williford said. “Obviously the year didn’t end the way we wanted, but to try to duplicate the year we had last year, well, we didn’t lose a whole lot.

“Last year was last year, and it was a hell of a year, other than the NCAA Tournament,” Williford said. “We have to focus on defending and then have that same chemistry. I thought last year’s team was very unified. If we can find that, I don’t know what the wins and losses will be, but if we can play together and defend, and different guys step up _ we have guys that are going to have to take on different roles and emerge and become leaders _ and we’ll see how the chips fall.”

Obviously, Virginia has gotten a lot of love from some offseason polls, and with good reason.

The Cavaliers return Kyle Guy, Ty Jerome, De’Andre Hunter, Jack Salt, Mamadi Diakite, all with loads of experience. Then there’s Marco Anthony and Jay Huff, along with freshmen Kihei Clark, Kody Stattmann, Francesco Badocchi (redshirt), and Caffaro.

UVa’s X-factor is Key, the power forward transfer from ‘Bama.

“Braxton has a ton of experience in the SEC, and he’s trying to learn our system, our terminology,” Williford said. “He’s progressing, very versatile.”

No one has a good guess on when Key’s hardship case will reach a verdict.

“We’re just waiting to hear back,” Williford said of the Virginia staff. “The NCAA works at its own pace. I don’t think there’s a rush. For example, some football guys don’t get cleared until right before the first game. Hopefully, we’ll know soon.”

Because Key is a player who can score in a number of ways, he could add to the offensive firepower of a team that has plenty of scoring ability. That could be the biggest difference between last season and this season’s editions.

“We lose a ton of leadership in Isaiah and Devon,” Williford pointed out. “I think we’ll be different defensively. I don’t know if we’ll be as good defensively as last year’s team. We’re going to have to figure out a way to get stops.

“We have some capable offensive guys,” Williford added. “I think Mamadi [Diakite] will emerge as an inside scorer. The three guys on the perimeter (Guy, Jerome, Hunter), obviously can score. There may be some scoring punch, but I’m always looking at the other side the ball, who can we stop. I guess Tony has rubbed off on me after all these years … who can make a stop like Isaiah and Devon?”

Williford believes if Diakite, whose athleticism is off the charts, can stay out of foul trouble, and if his teammates get him touches, that the big man can improve on last year’s numbers (5.3 ppg, 3.0 rpg).

“If you look at our roster, you say he’s going to have to play more minutes and get more time just because of what our numbers look like,” the coach said. “He’s had a good off season, he’s worked hard. I think he’s ready to turn it up and take that next step in his development.”

Diakite, who has great hops and shot-blocking ability, has also added muscle in the offseason and looks somewhat intimidating.

Then there’s Hunter, the ACC’s Rookie of the Year, a matchup nightmare who was the rave of the conference down the stretch last season. He was also a candidate for the NBA Draft after a redshirt freshman season (9.2 ppg, 3.5 rpg), that ended prematurely when he broke his wrist in the ACC Tournament championship game in Brooklyn.

“I think Dre’ (Hunter’s nickname) is going to get better because he’s experienced,” Williford said. “He’s ready for the next step. He’s been through it and knows what to expect.

“He’s worked on his game, he’s going to be good,” the coach said. “But I would caution him to not put too much pressure on himself to think that he has to carry us. We’re going to do it collectively. He’s just got to be steady and give us the versatility that he gave us offensively and defensively last year.”

Williford said he prays that Hunter’s numbers improve because that would help the overall team effort.

“He needs to be as locked in defensively, being able to guard multiple spots, and be efficient on the offensive side,” the coach said.

That’s exactly what Hunter was all about last season. Originally, UVa thought he would be a Malcolm Brogdon type that could defend guards and forwards, and he became that. His offense quickly developed and he became tough to defend because of his size (6-7, 222), his athleticism, and his wing span.

Of course, UVa boasts Guy and Jerome, a terrific backcourt with tons of scoring potential, and lots of experience. Both have talked about the fire in their bellies over last year’s sudden ending to the season and how they’ve used that to fuel their motivation.

“They’re a confident bunch, Guy, Jerome, and Hunter, in that backcourt,” Williford said. “They have worked hard, but we’ve got to go out and do it. All the accolades of last year, well that’s last year. This is a new year. I’m awfully glad those two guys are on our team … De’Andre, too.”

Then there are the newcomers. We’ve talked about Key, and Caffaro hasn’t participated, leaving Clark and Stattmann (what a great name for a scorer, right, Stattmann?).

“Kihei is really quick, good with the ball, can really touch the paint, good at ball screens,” Williford said. “He’s a tough, competitive kid with a high IQ and feel for the game.”

Those last two qualities, particularly, are something that Bennett values in point guards.

“Cody Stattmann is a work in progress defensively,” Williford said. “But that was to be expected. He is very good offensively. He shoots the ball with range, has long arms, he’s all of 6-6, 6-7, long and lanky. He has to get stronger, has to learn our defensive system, but a very good feel for the game offensively.”

The last two associate head coaches under Bennett, Ritchie McKay and Sanchez, have both gone on to become head coaches, McKay at Liberty, and of course, Sanchez at Charlotte.

Now it’s Williford’s turn in the barrel. Does he have head coaching aspirations?

“Absolutely,” he said. “But I’m in no rush. If the right situation presents itself, great. I told Tony that I’ll be here as long as he wants me here.

“I want to see my alma mater, this program, get over the hurdle and get to a Final Four and a national championship, and be a consistent program year in and out,” Williford said. “Of course, at some point I want to be a head coach, but I’m not rushing the process. If it happens, it happens.”

Williford is not one of those self-promoting guys who is out there actively pursuing anything. He would only go if the right situation popped up and the timing was right.

“That has been the path of Ritchie and Ron,” so that’s good with me.

Plus, Virginia is a pretty nice place to work.

“I love my family, I love UVa, and I love the Pittsburgh Steelers,” said Williford, a devout Steelers guy.

For now, that’s good enough. Getting Wahoo basketball back to the top of the collegiate landscape is his main goal, and if all the pieces come together in this roundball mosaic, who knows, this just might be the year.