Cavaliers plan to arrive in Indiana on Friday; also update on our new podcasts

By Jerry Ratcliffe

It appears that Virginia’s basketball team is healthy and will head to the NCAA Tournament in a couple of days.

Dan Gavitt, the NCAA’s senior vice president of basketball, said Wednesday that Virginia will arrive in Indiana on Friday for the Cavaliers’ Saturday night game (7:15 p.m. truTV) against Ohio University. The game will be played at Indiana University’s Assembly Hall.

Gavitt said that Virginia’s team and staff will be tested upon arrival and will quarantine for 12 hours, test again after midnight. Then players will return to their hotel rooms.

If all is clear, the Cavaliers will practice Saturday morning to prepare for their game later that day against the 13th-seeded Bobcats. UVA is the fourth seed in the West Region.

Tony Bennett told media on Sunday night that the majority of his team was in quarantine, which should end Thursday. He was hopeful the Cavaliers could practice together sometime on Thursday, and that in between the players have been going through isolated shooting practice and isolated conditioning to keep in shape for the game.

As of Sunday night, only one player in the UVA program had tested positive for Covid, that having come last Friday morning, resulting in the Cavaliers ACC Tournament semifinal game against Georgia Tech, being canceled. Tech automatically advanced to the finals where the Yellow Jackets upset Florida State.

Virginia’s entire team and staff have been tested daily ever since the positive turned up. Bennett said that the player who tested positive will not be allowed to play in either the first- or second-round game. Privacy rules do not permit the university from publicly identifying any players who test positive.

Meanwhile, Virginia’s program received a compliment from Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, whose team lost on a last-second shot by freshman Reece Beekman in the ACC quarterfinals last Thursday.

“It’s very hard to get to the top of the [ACC],” Boeheim said. “I give Virginia so much credit because they’ve been able to do it. Duke and UNC are such great programs, but they’ve slipped a little bit.”

Podcast update

For a complete analysis of Virginia basketball, what has transpired with the team over the past week, what to expect going forward, a breakdown of first-round opponent Ohio U., and a look at the West bracket, check out our newest podcast with yours truly, Chris Graham of the Augusta Free Press and Luke Neer, host of WINA radio’s “Best Seat in the House.”

You’ll enjoy the analysis. Graham breaks down the analytics of Ohio, while Neer, who probably watches more college basketball than anyone on the planet, gives observations about the Bobcats, Creighton, UCSB, Gonzaga and the rest of the West bracket.

If you missed our first podcast from last week, talking to former UVA guard Ricky Stokes, you can find it here. Stokes, currently associate commissioner of men’s basketball for the Mid-America Conference, talked about Beekman’s winning shot, how he compares himself to Kihei Clark, and gives us an update on the health of Othell Wilson, his backcourt mate in the early 1980s for Terry Holland’s Wahoos.

I decided after more than two years of doing the “Jerry Ratcliffe Show” for ESPN-Charlottesville, that I needed to move on. The timing of the show made it difficult to reach the wider variety of guests that I’d like to have.

The podcast allows for much more flexibility in obtaining guests and fans can listen to the new podcast-show at their leisure. We also plan to do several podcasts per week going forward, including this week in building up to the NCAA Tournament. Please check this site daily for updates or follow me on Twitter @JerryRatcliffe for updates and links.