You have to wonder about Morsell’s future. Right now, let’s call a spade a spade… the kid is not a value add presently. He clearly lacks confidence but above all, he’s just not a reliable or efficient scorer. I could easily see him getting passed over again next year in favor of better shooting, and frankly, I wonder how much of a fit he really is on our roster at this point and with what Tony likes to do. Factor in we already have point guards that aren’t elite shooters and his presence means even less spacing.
I’m not one to forecast transfers so I won’t do that but I do wonder if Morsell would rather play in a system that fits him better. I’m always so worried about players transferring out but with how little depth we’re playing this year, I’m bracing for some attrition and honestly don’t see that as a bad thing given Tony’s ability to fill roster holes. My hope is that Jabri, after an offseason with Mike Curtis, is ready to come in and contribute because he’s just what this team needs right and will need next year.
That’s unfortunately an accurate assessment. I really really expected him to take the normally reliable 2nd year CTB leap. As you said I am not sure what role he fills going forward if he can’t be a plus on offense.
I have concerns about several of our guys not currently getting court time deciding to look elsewhere. If they go, I support them, everyone has to look out for themselves because no one else is going to. That’s something I had to learn the hard way in my career.
Looking at next year’s roster, I think we can pencil in Shedrick and Caffaro at center. The Hauser role maybe goes to Murphy and maybe McKoy. On the wing you have Stattmann, Abdur-Rahim and Murray. At the 2 there’s Morsell and McCorkle. And Clark and Beekman at the point. That’s if there’s no attrition out or transfers in.
Right now we’re starting Clark and Beekman in the backcourt, but maybe that’s because we can afford a little less outside shooting from there since we have Huff Hauser and Murphy shooting in the frontcourt. Next year, who knows?
I hesitate to predict any Freshman to do anything so I have no expectations for Murray.
If Keels is looking at that and has in his mind that he needs to develop point guard skills to prepare for the NBA, I’m not sure I see it here. I don’t see it at Duke either and if anything there’s more competition for playing time there. Villanova has the clearest path toward playing time but maybe Slater and Quinnerly should be cautionary considerations.
I see a clear path at the 3 with us, but that will mean he’s beaten out Morsell, Abdur-Rahim, Murray and a senior Stattmann to start which is great for him, but worrisome for us.
Really, my nightmare scenario is a mass exodus of Morsell, Abdur-Rahim, McKoy and Stattmann this summer. Someone please talk me off the ledge about that.
I’m just unsure as to what system fits him better. His offensive game is a mid range step back, that’s what it was in high school for the most part too. He could get away with subpar ball handling at that level but not here. It’s been really disappointing to see how he’s played since the second half of the VT game, I really thought he had turned a corner.
I mean, thats a worse case scenario of course and not impossible. If that were to happen I suspect we’d backfill 2-3 of those spots with transfers and late signees. JAR would of course be the biggest long term hit
As long as Jabri comes back we will be fine even if we lose the other 3. On the court at least. Would stink from a fan emotions point of view. But on the court those guys are JAGs at this point and we can find more JAGs on the transfer market.
JAR seems unlikely. This is effectively a redshirt year and he’s likely to get good minutes next year. The other guys I wouldn’t blame although I can see McKoy playing more although likely not a starter next year. I still think our starter at the 4 is not on the roster presently. I could see a transfer filling that position.
So to play devil’s advocate here- I think the unstated part of all of this is that this is a free eligibility year for everyone. Not saying that Morsell (or anyone else for that matter) is looking at a 5 year track, but I think it reorients potential development timeline.
The comparison everyone has utilized for Casey is Devon Hall in terms of long-term development, and I don’t think it is a bad comparison. Devon had the redshirt year, then steady gains in min/game (10.6, 21.9, 27.4, 32.1) and ppg (1.8, 4.4, 8.4, 11.7). His shooting splits also improved over the course of 4 years (3pt %: 33.3%, 33.3%, 37.2%, 43.2%).
Casey has seen a dip in minutes from 1st year (21.8 to 16.6), but much improved shooting (3pt %: 17.6 to 28.1%; overall 27.7% to 42.3%). As with first year, he has had games with flashes- but tends to struggle with inconsistent minutes, resulting in shaken confidence. I still think the staff needs to find ways to get him going to the hoop more to be the most effective version of himself.
There is a real opportunity for someone to seize the 2 and 3 guard spots next year- and I think Casey could fill that role. The message to he, Reece, and even Kihei will be improving outside shot, as teams will play the GT gameplan (from yesterday) all year. Casey is a bit undersized for the 3 spot (compared to Devon), but has the wingspan to make up for some of it.
I’d be shocked if that worst case scenario happened, and to be honest even if it did, Abdur-Rahim may be the only true loss in that. Kody is a rising 4th year I believe, McKoy and and Morsell are rising 3rds neither of whom have locked into sustainable roles. Morsell is seeing his minutes drop in his 2nd year rather than rise, and for whatever reason McKoy can’t seem to get on the court after the third game of the season.
I never want to see a player transfer but sometimes it’s for the best for everything. Also I’m not sure if there would be a massive net lost if those guys left considering Morsell is the only known commodity of the group.
I think Morsell would portend some trouble on the WCAC/AAU track in the future. Also, I still think he has a decently high ceiling if he can ever pull it together, though I’m now becoming skeptical he can.
I think the disaster scenario is incredibly unlikely. If kids are transferring, it’s likely to be because they are not seeing an easy path to playing time. And each subsequent transfer alleviates that issue.
Also, if we do see a lot of transfers, that could mean that someone made a big jump. A lot of people were rattled when Thompson, Reuter and Shayok (who seems to be a decent Morsell comp rn) transferred. Those transfers occurred in part because it became clear that their minutes were going to disappear with the rise of Hunter, Diakite, Jerome, etc.
Great point on the last exodus. Those guys definitely did not have a chance at minutes as the big 3 rounded into shape with Diakite coming on strong as well. It’s very possible that is Jabri gets his D together and Reece continues to grow and Trey get’s a bit stronger and becomes and inside out threat (all possible) that all of a sudden you have a solid and tight rotation for next year and someone could want out.
I think Casey gets just enough run and given the potential confidence issues he may be having, he may actually be good with current role and may even be shy to go elsewhere and take on a bigger one.
With Jay, Sam and maybe Woldo graduating that opens up lots of playing time for Justin and two other wings. Alot of players who aren’t getting time this year will be directly competing with each other as those spots are wide open at this point. Even the 2 spot is open as we haven’t solidified that spot yet this year!
Everybody wants to play more and play sooner and this could lead to transfers from time to time but we don’t know these kids and sometimes there are other things that they value other than just playing time when they are underclassmen. Huff and Diakite didn’t really blossom until part way though their 4th (RS-Jr) years. We wanted them to play earlier but they were not ready. I am sure that Jay was frustrated at times but he seemed to be a guy who loved his teammates and the UVA experience and it would have been hard to transfer in search of more playing time. We don’t know the current young guys so who knows how they feel. It could just finally click for Casey at some point and Justin could see improved playing time with Sam gone. I am not really concerned with Jabri and essentially Carson at this right now.
I don’t think Carson is a huge concern. He is a reclassification so I think this is probably going according to plan. JAR is definitely a bigger risk but the starting spot is gonna be there for him if he can take advantage and get it
Feel like people may be overreacting to Casey’s minutes against GT (2). He had double digit minutes in the previous games, including 25 against VT and 12 against NCSU (most off the bench). Could be that Tony liked other match-ups better last night or saw Woldo was playing well and rode that.
Yeah Johnson has been good and has played alot. I don’t feel to bad about him though unless he can shoot? From what I understand Tennessee does NOT have the shooters though.
