UVA, Tech coaches don’t hate each other, but they DO want to win

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Virginia will put the nation’s second-longest home winning streak on the line Wednesday night when the Cavaliers host rival Virginia Tech in the “Commonwealth Clash” (7 p.m., ESPNU).

UVA (11-5, 2-3 ACC) is unbeaten this season at John Paul Jones Arena at 9-0. The Hokies (10-6, 2-3) have lost three of their last four outings.

“I think it’s a healthy rivalry,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “They’re always hard-fought games. We just want to play as well as we can and try to be as successful as we can, no matter who the opponent is, but certainly [the rivalry] generates excitement.

“So there’s a lot of intensity, but respect. It’s not a hatred. I don’t hate Coach (Mike) Young and I hope he doesn’t hate me. But does he want to beat us? Do we want to beat them? Absolutely.”

Tech’s Young felt much the same about the rivalry and Bennett.

“I have the utmost respect for [Bennett],” Young said. “You guys know that. I’ve said it. He has an exemplary program. I have great admiration for how his teams play, how he runs his basketball team. We often times watch them when we’re scouting someone else in our league to see how they guarded that team. I think a lot of Tony. How could you not be, he’s a first-class gentleman.”

Young also understands the importance of the two games the rivals play, home-and-home.

“It means a great deal because it’s important,” Young said. “It’s important to a lot of people. It’s important to our fan base. It’s important to me. It’s important to our team. [Our team is] certainly aware of it. I don’t spend any time talking about it. I don’t need to. I love the competition. I love the games.”

While this season has taken a turn for the worse at Virginia — the Cavaliers have struggled to score, to play good defense in losing four-straight road games by a total of 80 points — Bennett isn’t about to throw in the towel with 15 games remaining, all conference matchups.

“This is certainly a work in progress,” Bennett said. “Hopefully you just keep improving. In the spot we’re in, we’re struggling to just get back to saying, alright, just keep getting better. The Green Bay Packers, where I’m from, are a good example of that. Some people say pound the rock and keep knocking. You just keep attacking, improving.”

Bennett is asking for more accountability from his players, but at the same time remains encouraging.

“This is part of our journey and this is producing some good stuff, whether you see it in the next game or later in this year, who knows?” Bennett said. “Our program has been at a high level of experience and right now, okay, we’re not off to a great conference start. We’re in a little different spot of building it up again. I think there is a process to it, so at the end of the season, wherever you end up — hopefully in a good spot — but wherever that is, there is so much incredible experience that our younger guys are getting, that you know is going to prove beneficial in the following year.

“All you can do is work and address those things, but because of the young guys getting these opportunities, I think there are some good things and part of this plan of building for a two-year cycle, maybe longer, but also living in the moment as well.”

So Bennett is hoping Virginia can turn its season around just like his beloved Packers did, but because of the inexperience and the complexity of his system, he can’t guarantee it will pan out for this season. Time will tell. Certainly he’s going to give it his best shot. That work in progress might not show the desired results until next season after these guys have more time in Bennett’s system.

NEXT — Wednesday night’s key matchup: Beekman vs. Sean Pedulla, coming up Wednesday afternoon.