AFP Podcasts

UVA Basketball-Louisville preview, point guards update, Ron Sanchez

UVA Basketball gets Louisville on Saturday in JPJ, with the Cardinals fresh off a 13-point win over North Carolina.

In this podcast, we preview the UVA-Louisville matchup, with updates on the status of point guards Dai Dai Ames and Christian Bliss, and we get a glimpse into the thinking of interim coach Ron Sanchez, with every game, at this point, being a must-win.

Online

• Preview: What UVA Basketball fans need to know about Louisville

• UVA Basketball: Updates on point guards Christian Bliss, Dante Harris

• UVA Basketball: Ron Sanchez not focused on what happens ‘three months from now’

UVA Basketball coaching search, NC State preview, FSU-NIL

The UVA Basketball team hosts NC State on New Year’s Eve in the ACC home opener for the ‘Hoos, with a lot on the line, including, apparently, the job prospects of interim head coach Ron Sanchez.

I’m overstating that, as I discuss in this podcast – the writing is on the wall as far as the coaching search is concerned.

We go into that, and also get into the weeds on the odd story coming out of Tallahassee regarding a suit filed against FSU Basketball coach Leonard Hamilton over NIL payments.

ICYMI

UVA Basketball: Our first dive into the pool of guys who could be the next head coach

Preview: What UVA Basketball fans need to know about NC State

Suit: FSU Basketball team threatened to boycott Duke game over NIL payments

#TeamAFP predicts winners, losers at AEW ‘World’s End’ PPV

AEW has had a nice run of shows as lead-ins to Saturday night’s “World’s End” pay-per-view, which will feature the semifinals and final of the Continental Classic and a four-way match for the AEW world championship.

I had #TeamAFP resident AEW beat writer Ray Petree on the podcast today to review this week’s “Collision” and “Dynamite,” as the basis of us then trying to forecast the eight-match “World’s End” card.

The card:

• MJF vs. Adam Cole for possession of the Dynamite Diamond Ring
• AEW International Title match: Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs. Powerhouse Hobbs
• TBS Title match: Mercedes Mone (c) vs. Kris Statlander
• Continental Classic Semifinal: Will Ospreay vs. Kyle Fletcher
• Continental Classic Semifinal: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Ricochet
• Continental Classic Final: winners of Ospreay/Fletcher and Okada/Ricochet
• AEW Women’s World Title match/Tijuana Street Fight rules: Mariah May (c) vs. Thunder Rosa
• AEW World Title Match: Jon Moxley (c) vs. Orange Cassidy vs. “Hangman” Adam Page vs. “Switchblade” Jay White

AEW ‘Dynamite’ returns to Washington, D.C., its ancestral home

AEW returned to Washington, D.C., this week, for the “Holiday Bash” edition of “Dynamite.”

The show, which featured an instant classic between Darby Allin and Will Ospreay, a TBS title defense by Mercedes Mone and backstage musings from Swerve Strickland, Ricochet and Toni Storm, got a nice jolt in the ratings, and drew 3,000 people to the Entertainment & Sports Arena.

#TeamAFP’s Ray Petree was there live, and I had him on for this week’s podcast to talk about how the TV show played to the live crowd.

UVA Basketball: ‘Hoos showing signs of progress, but the margin for error going forward is thin

For some reason, Memphis coach Penny Hardaway played UVA Basketball for the first 20 minutes on Wednesday night – measured, precise, largely halfcourt basketball.

Go figure, it didn’t work – the Cavaliers led 30-21 at the break, and seemed poised for the upset of the 21st-ranked Tigers.

Hardaway unleashed the hounds of hell on the ‘Hoos in the second half, pressing full court after makes and misses, utilizing halfcourt traps to get Virginia out of its offensive sets.

The stratagem turned the nine-point halftime deficit into as much as a nine-point second-half lead before UVA was able to right the ship.

Ron Sanchez’s steering corrections came too late in what turned into a 64-62 Virginia loss.

AEW hosts ‘Winter is Coming,’ continues march to ‘World’s End’ pay-per-view

AEW continues to struggle in the ratings, averaging 594,000 viewers for its two-hour “Dynamite” on Wednesday.

The show had more ups than downs, though.

I talked with Ray Petree, our resident AEW beat writer here at AFP, to review the show.

We also discussed the controversy that has arisen backstage with Toni Storm making her return on Friday’s “Rampage,” and the lingering issue with the contract status of Ray Fenix.

Podcast: There’s more to the problems with UVA Athletics than meets the eye

You want to blame UVA Football coach Tony Elliott, or UVA Basketball coach Ron Sanchez, or the athletics director, Carla Williams, but the truth is, the problems with UVA Athletics are more than what you think.

Our #TeamAFP resident Chicken Little, Scott German, joins me on the podcast for a rousing discussion of all that ails UVA Athletics.

Included in our rather depressing chat:

• We’re losing the starting quarterback, Anthony Colandrea, for no good reason.
• We’re keeping the offensive coordinator, Des Kitchings, for no good reason.
• Is Carla Williams even around in a few months to have to deal with all of this?
• Do the issues involving UVA Health and the external review of the Nov. 13, 2022, shootings play a role in all of this?

Photo: UVA Athletics

UVA Football, Tony Elliott, at a crossroads after late-season swoon

UVA Football showed improvement in 2024, winning five games in coach Tony Elliott’s third season, after back-to-back three-win seasons.

But with Elliott facing having to replace 43 seniors and grad students off the 2024 roster, and his starting QB, Anthony Colandrea, hitting the transfer portal, his career at UVA, and the UVA Football program itself, is at a crossroads.

AEW ‘Dynamite’ was a big letdown this week, after a solid ‘Full Gear’ PPV

AEW dropped the ball with a lackluster “Dynamite” following the solid Nov. 23 “Full Gear” pay-per-view.

I welcomed AFP resident AEW beat writer Ray Petree to break down the past week in All Elite Wrestling.

We discus “Dynamite,” “Full Gear,” look ahead to “World’s End,” and discuss the ongoing odd behind-the-scenes drama with Ricky Starks, and the booking for Darby Allin, who is either headed toward a main-event run with AEW world champ Jon Moxley, or is being booked into oblivion after suffering two squash losses in recent weeks.

Getting you ready for the Tech-UVA annual football series game

It’s not a rivalry, any more than there’s a rivalry between bugs and a bug zapper, but anyway, this week is UVA-Virginia Tech football week.

It’s my job to get you ready for the annual beatdown, so, here goes.

• Virginia Tech may have to go with freshman Pop Watson at QB for UVA game
  The folks in Vegas aren’t fooled by the strong possibility that Virginia Tech is going to have to go with its third-string freshman quarterback.
• UVA Football Injury Report: Vaughn needs to step up at RB, good news with Trell Harris
  UVA Football lost tailbacks Xavier Brown (broken collarbone) and Kobe Pace (knee) during last week’s 33-7 loss to College Football Playoff contender SMU.
• UVA Football: Can we stop calling UVA-Virginia Tech a ‘rivalry,’ please?
  “It’s two in-state schools. It’s houses divided. It’s bragging rights,” UVA coach Tony Elliott said on Tuesday, musing on the topic of, ahem, rivalry week, such as the annual UVA-Virginia Tech football series can be considered a “rivalry.”
• UVA Football: The suits running the show are perfectly happy with things as they are
  There even is a UVA Football program because the University of Virginia, like every other college and university in America that plays football, has made a Faustian bargain. We, like the others, let kids truck each other into head injuries and various other upper- and lower-body injuries and maladies involving broken bones and ligament and cartilage tears and bruised spleens and the like that will affect them the rest of their lives – the whole point to us doing that being, because it gets other kids to decide to apply for admission.