HOOS Place Studio

We are please to bring back Virginia Women's Soccer head coach, Steve Swanson, to recap the season that culminated in Virginia claiming the ACC regular season crown, in what Swanson called the deepest ACC ever.

Prince Akeem Joffer, a frequent crossover guest for our "Behind the Lines" segments on Women's soccer, joins Val Prochaska in the studio to discuss all things ACC Women's basketball, as well as this Saturday's game between Florida State and Virginia.

In honor of Washington State's statewide day of action this past Friday and in solidarity with all of the University of Virginia athletes speaking out for the Black Lives Matter movement, Seattle Hoo and special guest Isaiah Wilkins discussed police treatment of Black citizens, Isaiah's experiences, the protest movement, some of the solutions that have been proposed, including defunding or abolishing police departments, and the political activism of UVA athletes - including Isaiah himself. This podcast presents the views of Seattle Hoo himself and does not reflect a HOOS Place corporate statement or position. All of HOOS Place's contributors have complete editorial freedom and Seattle chose to express his views on this timely issue.

Hoos Place recruiting guru StLouHoo joins Seattle Hoo and Val in the virtual studio to talk football recruiting. StLou gives the rundown on transfers for 2020, including the latest get, then breaks down the early 2021 commits and what it all means. Football is not the only program with great recruiting news right now, as Val tells us about Steve Swanson's great 2020 class for women's soccer.

Seattle Hoo and Val return after a real-life-dictated hiatus to finally review the 2019-20 season and discuss some team awards. They also ponder the imponderable: What's your favorite season of the Bennett Era? But first, they welcome the newest hoops Hoo, Trey Murphy, with some analysis of his game and a review of his history with UVA. We would have had StLouHoo to run down the football recruiting, but Seattle experienced brain dysfunction and told him the wrong time. Hopefully we can coax StLou on next episode.

Women's Soccer Head Coach Steve Swanson joins us on the show to share his thoughts on this past season, what he and the staff are doing to keep the players busy during Coronapocalypse, and his true thoughts about Val. Enjoy this special HOOcast while sheltering-in-place.

The Hoos gave Mamadi Diakite and Braxton Key a happy sendoff with yet another Senior Day win over Louisville. Seattle and Val talk again about the two seniors, pay homage to Grant Kersey and all the other walkons, and get into the Miami and Louisville wins.

Seattle and Val celebrate the wins over Virginia Tech and Duke and how they bring the Hoos to within striking distance of another ACC Regular Season Championship. Then with Senior Day coming up, we honor a couple of Champions: our Seniors Mamadi Diakite and Braxton Key, without whom UVA would not have an NCAA Men's Basketball Championship!

Seattle and Val try to process those last three minutes against Pitt so we can enjoy the fact of a road win against a talented team that plays well at home. Then we look at how the Hoos beat up on Boston College, addition by subtraction, and that opportunity awaits. How high can the Hoos go and what do they have to do to get there? Beating Tech is first and we tell you how!

It's been a while, but we are finally back to talk hoops. But first, Val fills us in on some women's soccer news, as two Cavaliers will be playing for our country. Then we dive into the men's basketball team's triumph over the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill and place it into context. Casey's getting better, Tomas is getting better, Kihei belongs on the All-ACC teams but is he or Mamadi the team MVP? The real issue animating Seattle and Val, however, is whether it is the Texas Two-Step or a reverse Texas Two-Step. Finally, Seattle grieves the departure of Vic So'oto.

The Hoocast crew went into the studio feeling great after a two-game winning streak. Seattle Hoo and Val get into the nitty gritty of shooting stats and hard hedges, celebrate the winning efforts, and flesh out the Hoos' standing as they head into a week off. It feels so much better after a couple of wins!

In this belated episode, Val updates us on the men's and women's soccer players who got drafted and how the teams might recover next year, allowing Seattle to segue into basketball. Seattle and Val break down the basketball team's last three games - the loss at Florida State, win at Georgia Tech, then the demoralizing defeat at the paws of the NC State Wolfpack. Stay tuned for some rambling overview of the talent and coaching challenges, with some theoretical discourse you might find either enlightening or purely hubristic. We end with a quick look at the football schedule.

Two losses have dented the spirits of the Wahoo faithful, but the banner still hangs. Val and Seattle break down the losses to Syracuse and Boston College, and delve into the effort level and how to fix the offense. Seattle presents a scouting report on upcoming opponents Florida State and Georgia Tech. Are the Seminoles as fierce as Val fears? Listen to find out.

Seattle and Val go deep into the Hoos' evisceration of Virginia Tech, then welcome back guest Kevin Wall of NunesMagician.Com to preview the Syracuse game. The three also talk about Tonight's games between the Cavaliers and Boston College, and Syracuse and Virginia Tech. There might also be a little banter about some other ACC teams.

Seattle Hoo shares his thoughts on the Orange Bowl and the hoops game with Navy, plus a short preview of the Virginia Tech hoops game coming up Saturday.

Former Hoo footballers Earl Sims and Ahmad Hawkins join Seattle and StLou to preview the Orange Bowl. Listen to these two Hoo greats reconnect with some great stories from their playing days - and oh yeah, dish a little on the game and make their predictions. After The Earl and Ahmad Show, StLouHoo jumps into the studio with his mountain of data and breaks down the matchup. This is a great one to enjoy on your drive to Charlottesville for the basketball game, or while traveling to Miami for the football game!

We talk a little basketball and a little football, as Seattle Hoo coerced Carson McCorkle's dad Brad back onto the show to update us on Carson's injury, then StLouHoo broke up Seattle and Val's grousing and moaning about the HOOps team's holiday spirit against Stony Brook and South Carolina to analyze the football early signing day results. As bad as the basketball team looked against South Carolina is about as good as the football recruiting class looks! Then Seattle ruins the mood with horrible puns on the way out.

Seattle has the pictures so he was able to get JORDAN SPERBER back on the pod to break down the UVA offense and talk tactics. Seattle and Val also commiserated over the men's soccer loss on PKs with Val telling us why he actually likes the PK shootout and Seattle complaining about all the substituting in college soccer.

With a first-ever ACC Championship Game appearance and a pair of big-time basketball games, your HOOS Place Studio gang had a lot to discuss! Val was out with an injury but StLouHoo stepped in to help keep Seattle in line, and 2017-18 ACC Defensive Player of the Year Isaiah Wilkins joined us from Poland. The mood was upbeat following the Orange Bowl bid and the bounceback win over Baby Blue.

StLouHoo joins Val and Seattle, and the whole HOOS Place crew gets into the nitty gritty of the football win over Virginia Tech and berth in the ACC Championship Game, and the basketball team on the eve of the ACC-B1G Challenge. StLou previews Purdue and UNC, while Seattle and Val take stock of the Hoos hoopers based on the data from the first 7 games.

Seattle Hoo and special guest Evan Hughes from TechSideLine.Com preview the upcoming Virginia-Virginia Tech football game and marvel over the early season successes of Mike Young's Hokies basketball team - even before the huge upset of #3 Michigan State in Maui!  Then Seattle and Val get into the soccer programs and finally mosey on around to men's hoops at the Mohegan Sun.

Special guest Brad McCorkle joins us to talk about the Hoos, his son Carson who just signed to play basketball for UVA, and Larry Bird.  Val and Seattle break down the Columbia win, preview Vermont, and give kudos to the soccer and field hockey teams, the latest Hoo teams to win championships, earn #1 seeds and advance to Final Fours!

Host Val Prochaska and Seattle Hoo are joined by special guest Kevin Wall from SBNation's Syracuse site NunesMagician.Com, @NunesMagician, to talk about the ACC opener for both teams on ACC Network.  Does Kevin's Elite Eight shot find the mark better than the three-point attempts of both teams?  Val and Seattle also talk JMU, Hoos women's soccer, and the men's hoops team's upcoming tilt with the Columbia Lions.

HOOS Place senior writer StLouHoo joins Seattle Hoo for to preview the 2019-20 season and the Syracuse game.  What does the national championship mean to us, and what do we expect this season?  Hoo will prevail in the ACC season opener?

Seattle Hoo put his legal research and analysis skills to good work getting an understanding of the process college undergraduates go through to enter the NBA Draft, and maintain their eligibility for NCAA competition if they so choose.  Then he and host Valentine look at the prospects of Virginia's four prospects.

Not ready to let go of the championship celebration and move on with life?  Neither are we. The HOOS Place Studio Crew got together to exult and discuss some of the salient issues arising from the championship game. Seattle Hoo uses the Moretti Infinity (it is his ambition to name Big Bang Theory episodes) as an excuse to go all Jay Bilas on instant replay, and the Crew tackle some of the game's big moments.

The HOOS Place Studio gang are joined by JORDAN SPERBER for analysis of the Texas Tech matchup, then talk about the Auburn win and give their own takes on the Texas Tech contest and what will be needed to win, including Seattle Hoo's "Four Worries" from what he has seen so far this tournament.

Tony Bennett is finally here and for many of us it has been a 35 year wait.  The Hoos are having fun in Minneapolis before getting down to business, and the HOOS Place Studio Crew had fun getting down to business.  Analysis and revelry as we look at the Auburn matchup, look back at the games that came before, and contemplate what might be if we can get past Auburn!

Valentine was home alone.  Seattle Hoo was surrounded by Purdue Nation in the KFC Hoo! Center.  They got together shortly after the game through the magic of the Internet and shared their experiences of the night.

The Hoos Place Studio gang gathered after the victorious weekend with an effervescence like orange vanilla Coke to break down the Oklahoma game and spend a lot of time deep diving into the Oregon matchup and the overall Sweet Sixteen.  Seattle Hoo was riding high because he will be in Louisville (as he made sure to tell you several times).

We did it!  We survived the 16 seed and the Hoos advanced to the Second Round!  The Hoos Place Studio team got together to bounce their first impressions off each other.  How did it feel?  What did we think?  Some strategic analysis and criticism, and some impressions, and some forecasting of the next game, then it's off to Happy Hour for Seattle Hoo!

The playbill for the final act has been distributed to the ushers and the audience is about to pour through the lobby into its seats. Seattle Hoo and Valentine are joined at long last by Hooamp, HOOS Place's newest author.  The crew reflects on a couple themes from the ACC Tournament, then looks forward to Virginia's potential path in the NCAA Tournament. Seattle shares some analysis based on a speed watch of two of Gardner-Webb's conference tournament victories.

Virginia's ACC season came to a premature-feeling end Friday evening with a loss to Florida State in the semifinal.  Seattle Hoo brings his analysis of the outcome and draws some lessons for going forward.  He also makes a prediction for tonight's final game between Florida State and Duke and tells us why he thinks losing to Florida State might end up helping Virginia.

Seattle and Valentine meet on Sunday after the Louisville season finale to recap the game, including a Seattle Hoo rant and some digression about the other players who may have played their last home game, then they look ahead to the ACC Tournament, with some premature discussion of NCAA Tournament one seeds.  Who is going to win the ACC and who is going to be the MVP?  Do the guys agree, or is there a knock-down, drag-out donnybrook?  Knowing Seattle....

Seattle Hoo and Valentine geek out on Ken Pomeroy, lulling him into a false sense of security so that the big reveal can slip out.  No, really, is his system the most accurate?  Or is there someone else he looks up to?

After that, our hosts try to feign interest in ho hum blowouts of Louisville, Georgia Tech and Pitt, but they do find some interesting topics and Seattle goes off on things that cannot be measured.

Seattle Hoo and Valentine sat down Wednesday night after watching Syracuse and Carolina hammer Louisville and Duke to talk about the Virginia Tech game, the upcoming battles with Louisville and - oh yeah - Georgia Tech, and what's going on in the ACC.

Seattle Hoo and Valentine are back with comments on the Duke game, the Duke-Louisville game, the Cheatolina beatback, and some anticipatory reflections on Notre Dame, Virginia Tech and Louisville. Seattle Hoo really wants to know: Louisville, who ARE you?

Seattle Hoo and Valentine are back to talk more about Duke.  But first, they recap the Clash of the Tiny Titans, and Seattle gives Mamadi Diakite some recognition.  There's a little recruiting talk at the end, and, oh yeah, Carolina, too.

Valentine returns to co-host and save listeners from another aimless Seattle Hoo ramble, as we look back at the Hoos' latest victories and anticipate a visit from the Miami Barelygaleforcewinds.  We also present special guest Houston Wilson from Prephoops.com with some exclusive recruiting information.  There might also be shade thrown at some other ACC programs and a shocking confession from Seattle Hoo!

Seattle Hoo and StLouHoo get together to rave about Jay Huff and Kihei Clark in the last two games, and break down the upcoming battles with Duke and Wake.  Chief question: What does it do to Duke if Tre Jones cannot play?

HOOS Place author Valentine joins producer Seattle Hoo in the studio for Episode 2 of the Hoocast.  In this episode we find out what is going on with women's soccer, review the men's basketball Florida State and Boston College wins, preview Clemson and Virginia Tech, and segue into a discussion of the ensemble nature of this team.