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I've got some friends that live in Southern Shores, on one of the roads that google maps is sending people as a back way, or short cut up to Duck and Corolla. On Saturdays sometimes when it gets backed up, their kids set up with a cooler at the end of the driveway selling icy pops for $1 a pop, they have raked in hundreds in a day
I'll have to look into that!
I've been heavily supporting VT since the mid-90's and I can second this statement. Call it my mid-40's swag, call it apathy, call it whatever you want... I'm simply apathetic to VT football anymore. Zero expectations. If we win zero games it literally would not impact my wellbeing whatsoever.
This is probably the least interested I've been in any VT teams in my entire 20 year fanhood.
We stink.
Two QBs in 1 week.
fair - i was looking at football ratings lol. But yea point well taken.
Connelly does a bit of consulting on the side. But the biggest name I've heard is CAI - if you have a go/no-go sheet, it probably comes from them. Pretty sure VT uses them too.
Quick search pops SSA which seems to be focused more on scouting/strategy rather than playcalling. scoutSMART appears to be focused on recruiting.
I think the sentiment in general is that there needs to be a healthy middle class in CFB. You want your VTs, Kansas States, Utahs, Iowa States, NC States, Arizonas, etc being interesting.
But yea, Richard has said unapologetically that while he doesn't like seeing the P12 go away for instance, he isn't going to pretend to be sad about more helmet games.
Wasn't trying to speed up or slow down, was just curious. Outside of Lawal, who I hope can take a step forward this year and play with a bit more control, I have no idea what to expect. Good analysis - leg for you.
Perfect setup, sounds to me. Never know, I might get back to my Claytor days. I do love walleye fishing in the winter/spring. Thanks for the invite.
the old school lunch pain defense.
Don't know if that was a typo or not...kinda hope it wasn't.....
It definitely could be as a feature to determine value of a HS recruit. I doubt it would ultimately be a very negative factor because you are getting immediate value out of the player.
And the models themselves could be useful for determining whether to pony up for a player that is getting P2 offers. A team could have models to project the value of each player on their own team, which could be used to determine whether that team pays the player enough money to have the player stay or decides to let him walk.
There are so much data out there and ML models could learn to project player value and then use those values to identify discrepancies with market value. And with those discrepancies, a team can moneyball their rosters. With the caveat, of course, that so many other factors such as coaching, scheme, player development, etc. would have a great determination on W/L record.
Also keep in mind that the top 10 in a given state in any year might not be a P4 basketball player. You might get the 30th kid from California and that kid could still be better than 60% of the Top 10 of each state.
On SZD it's really only Alex who shares that sentiment (formerly Godfrey but he's an SZD Emeritus). Richard pretty routinely seems baffled by Alex and Godfrey making comments like this about Tech. Probably a byproduct of Richard's age and growing up in Gainesville vs. Alex (who's a similar age to Richard but grew up in Pittsburgh and went to Maryland so he would have had more exposure to Tech football) and Godfrey (spent a formative period of his youth in NOVA in the mid-late 90s and always says he has a soft spot for Tech because of that).
Darkhorse ACC tourney champs?
Haha pump the brakes man. Neo is a good talent but VT media has been going absolutely crazy cart before horse O&M glasses when covering him. TSL calling him a likely all ACC first teamer was just totally insane homer non ball knowledge to me. To me he's a young athletic potential point forward type who would be a tremendous 2nd or 3rd scoring option for this team.
Ideally we have a good facilitator point guard who is also a scoring threat with Lawal being the primary option and Hansberry and Avdalis being 2a and 2b. Avdalis would be secondary ball handler who would be an on ball scoring threat and facilitator, but I think he could be really dangerous off ball too.
Imo he's a guy that could be a nonfactor or severely limited if the defense focuses on him. But if the defense is focused on other players and some lanes open up, that's where he could be really dangerous and you could start seeing 20+ and 30+ point games. Then his role in the offense could increase as the season progresses. I think his offensive success will depend greatly on how much our opponents respect our other scoring options
That's what I figured. I do wonder if Connelly or a baseball analyst were hired at a midtier P4 team, provided with a decent budget and a small team of analysts, and worked with the team's scouting department, whether they could moneyball a midtier P4 team to playoff contender.
Interesting to see how an ML model would predict "likelihood of bailing to a P2 school after his sophomore year if he develops"
Tennessee, OSU, Oregon... those are outliers for a variety of reasons. Even Michigan only has 3 of their top 10, with 2 more going to MSU and the rest leaving the state. MD always lands 1-2 guys out of nowhere, but that's it. But to your point...
I know things are more national, but it still feels like we should be starting from a little higher ground with VA kids and the more you land the more momentum you have with others.
I would agree there is room for improvement here.
Price is the associate head coach. Unless Price is also gone or if Babcock skips over the coaching titles, Price would be the coach if Pry is fired midseason.
Agree here. But I'll note on the coordinator hires, I think the ceiling is higher for the defense and the floor is higher for the offense. And I think both will be improvements over their predecessor.
I don't know if that means the team will be better with the top-level talent from 2024 now gone. But, perhaps the sum-of-its parts including better depth, better coordination (scheme and play calling), more experienced HC, and a healthy (if he stays healthy) QB will yield a better team.
And tbf, 2025 VT could have NFL-level talent. Only Peebles was easily projectable to be elite when he transferred to VT. I don't think anyone felt that APR, Lane, or Tuten were NFL talents prior to the 2023 season.
Price is a bulldog. Cheetah is a motivator to achieve greatness. The OG GOAT Foster is around as well. If Foster is on the sidelines, there will be a sense of energy just by his presence.
If I were crafting a coaching staff, I would want the DC to be the most cerebral and the position coaches to bring the energy. It is uncommon for a DC to have both like Foster that did it for so many years.
The more I think about it, the apparel deal should go to the highest bidder, brand be damned
Adidas has stopped expanding their roster of colleges. Under Armor schools have had a variety of issues.
I'm not saying we shouldn't shop around and understand the market, but don't be surprised if the market isn't as great as it was last decade.
It could apply to both. But I have more hopes for Basketball. One player can turn a team in Basketball. One player is only nudge a team in Football.
If he is Tom Brady, Payton Manning, Drew Brees with his release, he just has to make the first person miss. Neither of them was ever a run threat.
More practice content!:
Disclaimer: I haven't listened to this yet, but plan to on the ride home. Hopefully at least some of it offers something we haven't heard yet.