The INSIDE SCOOP on UVA Basketball from Ron Sanchez

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Nine days before the season opener, new Virginia basketball coach Ron Sanchez likes where his team is after tons of practice and a couple of “secret scrimmages.”

“As the team grows, we all come in with a plan … it’s kind of like getting married, you don’t know until you get into the household,” Sanchez said Monday. “This is a journey. It’s a process for them to unite and get together. We can’t be so result-oriented after every single practice and say we’re not here. The question is are we getting there.”

Virginia reportedly lost both of its “not-so-secret-scrimmages” against VCU and Georgetown. Some players were missing for one of the scrimmages and Sanchez gave some of the younger players a lot of playing time in order to see what they could do, so fans shouldn’t read too much into those results. Last year, UVA whipped up on defending and eventual, two-time national champion UConn in a scrimmage, which didn’t translate into regular-season success for the Cavaliers.

It was more of a learning experience for the coaches to discover some things about their team, which added several pieces through the transfer portal and regular recruiting.

“We did a lot of good things [in the scrimmages], I’ll share that,” Sanchez said. “We had an opportunity to play a lot of young guys because Blake Buchanan and Isaac McKneely didn’t get as many minutes due to a bit of an illness that I-Mac was dealing with, like a flu-like symptom, so he didn’t play as much, so we got to see Ish Sharma (freshman) get on the floor and play a lot more minutes than we thought he would, so that was good for him.”

The coach liked the way his team shared the ball and understood offensive concepts (more on that later), and liked the team’s spacing on the floor, not to mention solid defense.

“We like where we are defensively,” Sanchez said. “Some things we have to do better, but as far as this group and this being their second exposure to a different opponent, I do feel like they’re grasping things pretty well.”

About that offense. There were hints that Virginia planned to open things up a bit, speed up the tempo rather than play at a snail’s pace. But don’t expect this team to resemble a greyhound’s pace either.

“It’s not a new system, we’re just trying to take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves, getting the 5-man to run hard to the rim in transition, having McKneely sprint hard to the 3-point line, trying to see if we can get a mismatch just as the game flows,” Sanchez explained. “Doesn’t have to be anything that’s super creative or overly complex. It’s just more of concepts, just let’s get the ball up the floor in three or four seconds as opposed to five or six seconds. Just little things like that, that I think will make a difference.”

Much of that begins with a new point guard, either transfers Jalen Warley (Florida State), Dai Dai Ames (Iowa State) or Christian Bliss, who redshirted at Virginia last season.

Sanchez repeated what Tony Bennett said at the ACC Tip Off event in Charlotte a couple of weeks ago, that point guard will be by committee unless someone separates themselves from the pack. All have different styles and thus far, all have contributed.

“Warley is more of a long defender, taller. Dai Dai has more dynamic, kind of boogie to his game, so we have to allow him to be him. We want those guys to play to their strengths. We don’t want to recreate their basketball personae. They have to be comfortable playing the positions within their own talents.”

Meanwhile, Sanchez will be relying on McKneely and Taine Murray, who came on strong late last season, along with Sharma, the Canadian National Player of the Year, for perimeter scoring. McKneely is projected as one of the top five 3-point shooters in the nation.

“I believe that when you’re a good shooter, you become easily scoutable,” Sanchez said.

Therefore, he’s hoping to tear a page from Virginia’s history to help this year’s shooters to develop themselves as more than just a perimeter shooter. The coach pointed to former Cavalier Joe Harris, for instance, who also became adept at attacking the basket and getting to the rim so that when defenses tried to take away his strength, he had another answer.

“We tasked Isaac and Taine to improve their shooting, their plays off the dribble, attacking close-outs, et cetera, so they can be more productive on the floor.”

The Cavaliers have plenty of size in the frontcourt, but not all of that size translates into post play. Duke transfer TJ Power, for instance, is around 6-9, but not a post-up guy.

“He’s more of a shooter, so for him to contribute, he’ll have to shoot the ball well, share the ball,” Sanchez said.

Power has great feel and is a terrific passer, meaning he can make plays for himself, but can also share the ball and make teammates better.

“He’s progressing really well and I’m excited he’s here,” Sanchez said of Power. “He’s got great size. He can shoot the ball. He’s scrappy. He’s got a great voice within the group. I do think that he’s going to contribute. How much and where, we’ll determine to see basically on his ability to shoot the ball.”

Buchanan was tossed into the fire early last season because UVA needed his 6-10 size, even though he wasn’t physically equipped for major college basketball.

“Part of his development was just in the weight room,” Sanchez said. “He needed to get stronger. You can’t speed up Mother Nature no matter what you do, so they have to spend time in the weight room, kind of working on their physical development. His touch around the basket, his free-throw shooting, some of those things were also part of his skill-development package.”

Sanchez said he has seen Buchanan’s improvements in all those areas.

One of the players who has impressed early has been Elijah Saunders (San Diego State), who led Virginia in scoring in both of the scrimmages. Not only can he mix it up in the paint, he can shoot the 3-ball.

He can play the 5, but he’s not limited to that space.

“We’re going to play different personnel at different spots,” Sanchez said. “At times we’re going to play small ball. We’re going to play Elijah at the 5 at times, just because he is physical enough to guard the position. He can switch positions and he can also shoot the ball, so it’ll give us a different dynamic of offense without having to change offensive systems, just because the guy can really shoot the ball.”

Freshman Jacob Cofie can play some different spots as well because he can be physical and he can shoot. He is progressing defensively, has great hands and a good feel offensively.

Sanchez described Saunders as an Anthony Gill-type player in that he can defend positions 2 through 5, meaning he will draw some defensive assignments against some of the best offensive opponents this season.

“Because of his physical strength and because of his stance, he’s got great balance. He moves his feet fairly well. We don’t overdo it with him, I think he will be a really good defender for us.”

With the season looming in just over a week and some extremely challenging opponents early on in the schedule, Virginia will be battle-tested before the bulk of ACC play begins in January.

“Sometimes you get there through failure, you get there through a bad practice, you get there through an exciting practice,” Sanchez said. “For us, it’s managing the expectations of ourselves as coaches, but along the way understanding that we have to journey well, but I like where we are as a team. I really do.”