Chris Matthews, widely known as “Lethal Shooter,” has become one of basketball’s most prominent NBA content creators and shooting coaches. He has trained NBA and WNBA stars such as Jaylen Brown, Grayson Allen, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Matthews …
Chris Matthews, widely known as “Lethal Shooter,” has become one of basketball’s most prominent NBA content creators and shooting coaches. He has trained NBA and WNBA stars such as Jaylen Brown, Grayson Allen, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Matthews played college basketball at Washington State and St. Bonaventure before playing professionally overseas in France, Iceland, and Canada, as well as a season in the D League (before it became the G League). He has successfully transformed his passion for shooting into a thriving career and global brand.
In an interview with HoopsHype, Matthews opened up about his journey, discussing how legendary coaches like Dick Bennett and Tony Bennett, as well as Craig Hodges, influenced him. He reflected on his transition into becoming a shooting coach and shared how his beliefs in patience and resilience were shaped by his own experiences as a basketball player.
Tom Izzo comments on Virginia head coach Tony Bennett’s retirement
Last week, college basketball lost one of the bigger coaching names in the country when Virginia’s Tony Bennett retired at the age of 55, citing changes to the college sports landscape as his primary reason.
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo has known Bennett for more than 40 years, and they are good friends. Izzo, who brought up the topic of Bennett unprompted, said he spoke with Bennett this week. Izzo went on to talk about Bennett’s decision, calling it a shame.
‘It’s been a good week, other than losing Tony Bennett, I thought that was a shame, personally, but that’s the way it goes I guess right now… I’ve known Tony since he was probably 8-10 years old, I used to work at his dad’s camps when he was at Steven’s Point and I was in college…
I keep telling you guys, if you write this, if you watch his press conference or looked at it, you should never have to ask me or any other coach a question on whether things are right, wrong, or indifferent, you should be able to figure it out yourself. But that to me was one of the sadder days, you know it bothered me when Jay Wright did it … or Roy, of course Nick Saban … but this one, you know, the guy’s 55 years old, he’s just coming off a national championship a few years ago. One of the great guys in our profession. Good person, good coach, good guy, and the way he said it I thought was very well said.
Same thing I feel: everyone should get paid some … but what we got right now is the wild wild west and it’s out of control, and I just hate to lose Tony Bennett, I really do, it bothers me a lot.’
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Former Wisconsin assistant, championship-winning coach surprisingly announces retirement
Former Wisconsin basketball assistant and longtime Virginia head coach Tony Bennett is announcing his retirement from coaching at a press conference on Friday at 11 a.m. ET.
Tony Bennett, who is the son of former Wisconsin head coach Dick Bennett, coached with the Badgers from 1999-2003. He began on his father’s staff in 1999 — a year that saw Wisconsin’s first Final Four run in over 50 years — before staying on after Bo Ryan took over in 2001.
Bennett surprisingly announces his retirement after 15 years as head coach at Virginia. His resume includes a 433-169 overall record, four ACC Coach of the Year awards, two Naismith Coach of the Year honors, eight ACC titles and a national championship in 2019.
He is the latest college basketball coach to retire far before their career twilight — Villanova’s Jay Wright being the other prominent example.
Bennett was 3-2 against the Badgers in his Virginia career — the latest a 65-41 Wisconsin victory in last year’s Fort Myers Tip-Off.
From a Wisconsin perspective: Bennett was always a popular name brought up by fans when discussing a potential move off of Greg Gard. That move obviously has not happened, and I wouldn’t predict it to in the coming years.
But Bennett’s retirement does take one primary replacement candidate off the board for whenever the Badgers are next searching for a head coach.
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Jay Wright, Rick Pitino and other coaches offered high praise for Tony Bennett.
Virginia men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett‘s decision to retire from coaching sent shock waves through the coaching ranks.
On Thursday, news broke that Bennett was walking away just weeks before the season began. It’s unclear what may have caused the long-time coach to leave, and supporters and fans potentially won’t get insight into those answers until a scheduled press conference. The stunning move leaves Virginia in a bind, and the school will have its hands full trying to find a replacement with such a short turnaround.
Nevertheless, as people tried to process what was happening, another coach who also had a shocking retirement, Jay Wright, praised Bennett, saying, “Tony is one of the most talented and toughest coaches we have ever competed against. We always respected him and his teams at the highest level.”
Tony is one of the most talented and toughest coaches we ever competed against . We always respected him and his teams at the highest level . A class guy – Inspirational – spiritual and an incredible competitor !! @UVAMensHoopshttps://t.co/aSgZxGFfAD
Wright wasn’t the only coach who had thoughts about Bennett. St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino and several others also reacted to the news.
Here’s what they said:
If the news is true, college basketball just lost a man with incredible class, humility, and dignity. Tony Bennett is an awesome teacher of our game. You will be deeply missed!
According to multiple reports, Virginia men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett will retire instead of leading the Cavaliers in 2024-25.
Another men’s basketball coaching legend stepped away from the ACC on Thursday night.
According to Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman, longtime Virginia head coach Tony Bennett will retire effective immediately ahead of the 2024-25 season.
Bennett spent the past 15 seasons at the helm of the Cavaliers, winning six regular-season conference titles and building a reputation for slow, defensive basketball.
His program reached the summit in 2019 with a national championship victory over the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Discounting the shortened 2020-21 schedule, Virginia won at least 21 games in its past 12 seasons with four 30-win campaigns.
True to form, last season’s Cavaliers finished with a 23-11 record with KenPom’s seventh-best adjusted defensive efficiency rating while ranking 362nd in tempo.
Multiple reports, including one from Goodman, confirmed that Bennett’s retirement did not have to do with a sudden health scare or any health concerns at all.
Bennett’s Virginia tenure comes to a close with a 364-136 overall record and an 189-82 record in conference play.
Talk about a surprise just three weeks before the season starts.
In a surprising move, Virginia Cavaliers men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett will hang up the whistle after 15 years on the job. The Wisconsin native leaves the collegiate game with an overall record of 433-169 and with one NCAA Tournament national championship under his belt.
The announcement came as a bit of a shock with UVA set to tip off the 2024-25 college basketball season on Nov. 6 against Campbell. With the announcement of his retirement, the Virginia players now have a 30-day window to enter the transfer portal. With the season just three weeks away and the semester already in full swing, they wouldn’t be able to make a move for this year.
While no one has been named the interim as of the time of the announcement, it would make the most sense for Ron Sanchez to assume head coaching duties on an interim basis. Sanchez served on the staff for 10 seasons before taking a head coaching gig with Charlotte and returned this last offseason.
College Sports Wire will monitor the situation and provide more details as it unfolds. A press conference has been scheduled for Friday.
Notre Dame has part of the ACC for over a decade now, and it has gone against some legendary coaches during that time. While Virginia’s Tony Bennett doesn’t have quite the reputation of legends like Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim or Roy Williams, he has done a great job of building his own legacy.
When the Irish visit Charlottesville on Jan. 25 this season, the Cavaliers will look very different on the sidelines because Bennett reportedly has announced his retirement effective immediately. That this is happening less than a month before the start of the season is nothing short of surprising.
The Irish have gone 3-13 against Virginia since joining the ACC, and Bennett’s tenure with the Cavailers’ predates that period. But even before that, the Irish learned how good Bennett was when he coached Washington State to a 61-41 win over them in the second round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament.
Bennett retires having won one national championship, two national coach of the year awards, six ACC regular-season championships, two ACC Tournament championships and four ACC Coach of the Year awards. He has an all-time record of 433-169:
Best of luck to Bennett in whatever comes next in his life.
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This is unexpected news for the program, especially occurring so close to the start of the upcoming season. There is still a lot to learn about this decision, and fans will likely get more details at Bennett’s press conference on Friday morning.
But no matter the reason, Virginia still needs a head coach on the sidelines for the 2024-25 campaign. One would assume that the hire would come from their internal staff based on familiarity with the roster and system, so here are a few names they will likely consider.
One of these names will likely become the interim head coach. Then after the season, depending on how it goes, perhaps they get promoted to have the gig on a full-time level.
Ron Sanchez
Brett Rojo-USA TODAY Sports
Current:
Associate head coach, Virginia (2023 – Present)
Past:
Head coach, Charlotte (2018 – 2023)
Assistant coach, Virginia (2009 – 2018)
Assistant coach, Washington State (2003 – 2009)
Assistant coach, Indiana (2001 – 2003)
Assistant coach, SUNY Delhi (1999 – 2001)
Assistant coach, SUNY Oneonta (1996 – 1999)
Jason Williford
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Current:
Associate head coach, Virginia
Past:
Assistant head coach, Virginia
Assistant coach, American University
Assistant coach, Boston University
Assistant coach, John Marshall High School
Professional basketball player
UVA collegiate basketball player and captain
Brad Soderberg
(Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Current:
Scouting, Virginia (2021 – Present)
Past:
Assistant coach, Virginia (2015 – 2021)
Head coach, Lindenwood (2009 – 2015)
Head coach, Saint Louis (2002 – 2007)
Assistant coach, Saint Louis (2001 – 2002)
Interim coach, Wisconsin (2000 – 2001)
Assistant coach, Wisconsin (1995 – 2000)
Head coach, South Dakota State (1993 – 1995)
Head coach, Loras (1988 – 1993)
Assistant coach, Loras (1987 – 1988)
Assistant coach, Fort Hays State (1986 – 1987)
Graduate assistant, Colorado State (1985 – 1986)
Assistant coach, Wisconsin–Stevens Point (1984-1985)
Gooood morning, folks! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for rocking with us here at FTW today. We appreciate you.
I’m sorry if you watched that stinker from Virginia on Tuesday along with the rest of us. If you didn’t? Bless your heart. I’m glad you were able to spend your time productively.
Virginia lost to Colorado State 67-42 in a battle of 10 seeds. Well, honestly, calling it a “battle” is probably putting a bit too much spin on it. This game wasn’t very competitive at all. The Cavaliers only scored 14 points on five made field goals in the first half. It’s a wonder UVA even finished with 42.
This does nothing to diminish the good Colorado State basketball team on the other end. That team deserves a spot in the tournament earned it. I just wish UVA didn’t make it so easy for them.
The worst part is that I’d like to be surprised by this result. But I’m not. It’s become par for the course.
Tony Bennett has built a successful program at Virginia over the last 13 seasons. He’s had a ton of tournament success and, obviously, the 2019 championship goes a long way.
But here’s a wild stat for you: Since 2018, UVA only has six NCAA tournament wins. All six came from that 2019 title run. Every other year the Cavaliers have bowed out in the round of 64. Now we’ve got a First Four loss. It’s not quite worse, but it’s still pretty bad.
Virginia continues the most bizarre 8-year postseason stretch in history:
'17: Lose to Florida 65-39 in R32 '18: Lose to 16-seed UMBC in R64 '19: National Champions '21: Lose to 13-seed Ohio in R64 '23: Lose to 13-seed Furman in R64 '24: Lose to Colorado State 67-42 in First 4
Betting big on Caitlin Clark and Women’s Basketball
Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports
Hate her or love her, there’s no question that Caitlin Clark has changed the future of women’s basketball for the bettor. Did you catch that double-entendre? I sure hope so.
“Clark has also led to an increase in betting interest across the 38 legal U.S. betting states, both on Clark and on women’s college basketball writ large. For several sportsbooks, that’s meant offering individual game props (e.g. Clark over/under total points) on women’s college basketball games for the first time, as well as an expanded menu of women’s games to wager on.”
DraftKings, in particular, shared that betting on NCAA women’s hoops is up 14 times year-over-year by handle and 13 times year-over-year by bets placed. Fawkes spoke with DraftKings Sportsbook director Johnny Avello, who told him that Clark is directly linked to this increase.
“She’s the primary reason why handle has gone up,” Avello told FTW. “We’ve done props on her scoring in individual games, breaking Pistol Pete’s record. All of it has added to the women’s handle.”
Clark is a catalyst for women’s hoops in so many ways. The only thing left to see now is if she can bring this same fervor to the next level when she finally makes her jump to the WNBA.
Did you wake up early enough to get a glimpse at the MLB Seoul Series in South Korea? It was a treat.
This morning’s game (or tonight’s game if you’re reading this from South Korea) was the first of two games between the Dodgers and Padres in Seoul, South Korea. It’s the first MLB game ever played in the country and, yes, though the regular season technically hasn’t started yet, these games do count as regular season wins and losses.
That’s good news for the Dodgers, who won the first game 5-2. We saw Shohei Ohtani’s first hit as a Dodger—a single in the third inning against Yu Darvish.
Ohtani also blasted a foul ball through the roof of the stadium they were playing in, which doesn’t count for anything but is still incredibly impressive.
Virginia got taken down by NC State in an intense overtime game in the 2024 ACC tournament, and it’s head coach Tony Bennett who’s taking the heat.
With the Cavaliers up 58-55 and with just seconds to go, Isaac McKneely missed a free throw, and the Wolfpack’s Michael O’Connell launched a three at the buzzer that banked off the glass, rattled around and went in to force overtime. NC State went on to win and advance.
So what did Bennett do? It’s what he didn’t do, actually — Virginia had fouls to give and could have perhaps fouled as the ball was coming up to stop the clock and reset everything.
Bennett’s explanation, as you’ll see below, was to NOT foul when O’Connell was getting close to pulling up for three, which made sense:
Tony Bennett is going to the HALL of Fame, and I'm not even the best coach in my family, but how does he not foul when they had THREE FOULS to give on either of the last 2 possessions? I thought that was strange. Just FWIW…
