LSU made the sweet 16 once, and he has outperformed expectations everywhere he's gone. He's made the tournament 8 of the last 9 years (I'm counting the COVID year since LSU would have been comfortably in) at 3 different schools, and he has recruited very well as an assistant and HC at every type of school imaginable.
I respectfully disagree that Will Wade should get credit for LSU making the Sweet 16 in 2019. If anything, it’s a mark against him that an assistant coach has made it further in the tournament. And I’m not sure I’d consider a fired Will Wade as making the tournament in 2022 either.
Okay.
But what makes you think Wade is better than any recent ACC hires like Pat Kelsey, Ryan Odom, Micah Shrewsberry, or Andy Enfield?
Pat Kelsey is also a great hire, and Enfield should do well at SMU. I don't think Shrewsberry will succeed at ND, and I don't expect Odom to be anywhere as good as Bennett was at UVA but he'll probably do well enough to last a while.
Speaking of Ryan Odom, his recruiting has been really weird. His most effective strategy has been to hone in on transfer portal players that already have their so-called final list cut to 3 or 4 schools, do a zoom meeting in which he drops a bag that is significantly more than any other offer, and tell him he needs a decision now. His hot box technique has worked several times.
Will Wade is the Hugh Freeze of college basketball. We’ll see what happens when he doesn’t have a huge “recruiting advantage”.
Truth. UVA is paying between $13 to $14 mil for next year's roster. They were at $10 mil before last week. Malik Thomas is over $2 mil, and the bidding war for Thijs De Ridder started at $2. UVA apparently won that & his commitment should be announced once NCAA Clearinghouse issues are settled.
It's UVA - very much an elitist wine & cheese crowd as far as public universities go. They have money.
Virginia has an alumni base with some very, very deep pockets. The JPJ was made possible, essentially, by a single donor. I have a suspicion that $3 million is/was not a very great obstacle. It is also worth remembering that the school's baseball, soccer, lacrosse, swimming & diving, and tennis programs enjoy national success and have their own donor support. Additionally, I remain a bit skeptical that UVa bought an NCAA bid. It may happen, but there is only a single player returning who has ever suited up in a UVa uniform (Elijah Gertrude), and that was two seasons ago. On paper, this looks like a very promising squad, but, for the moment, they're just a collection of talented players. They are not yet a team. No one knows what sort of chemistry will result. And, until they demonstrate that they are a team, no thoughts of post season play are worth considering. We'll know more after Christmas. FWIW, Kansas State looked as good, if not better, on paper last year, and they enjoyed a very mediocre season.
Very, very wealthy alumni. Plus, UVA is one of the schools that pays players directly.
Among other things, I don't think Coach Bennett did believe in it. I imagine it is one of the reasons he stepped down as Virginia's coach. It is also worth remembering that, from 2014 through 2023 (I think), UVa's basketball team had the best overall record in the ACC. He obviously had a pretty good idea of what worked prior to NIL, and I don't think that paying players was one of his Five Pillars. As far as Virginia's finances go, despite its smaller alumni base, when I was in school (a half century ago), Virginia had the largest endowment of any public university in the country. That's changed as large schools such as Michigan and Texas have overtaken it, but it is still significant. Lastly, UVa's athletic department enjoys support across all its programs. Since 2010, Virginia has won 19 NCAA titles, including: basketball, baseball, men's soccer, men's lacrosse (2), men's tennis (6), women's swimming & diving (5 in a row), and women's rowing (2). The AD has the resources to compete.
