The positionless basketball point is really underappreciated. The NCAA isn’t the NBA: talent is distributed differently, it’s even harder to find two-way wings with legit range, teams go after offensive rebounds more aggressively in college, etc., so just slapping NBA trends onto the college game and saying “this is how people should play” doesn’t always make sense. Obviously spacing matters, but it’s harder to maintain spacing and not get crushed on the glass/or be seriously flawed defensively in college, as compared to the NBA.
In college (and even the NBA), a mobile 4 like Diakite who can stick some threes and keep up with big wings defensively can be super valuable, because being big on defense is really helpful in college. Additionally, given that most offenses run a lot of pick and roll, having a second rim protector to cover when your primary rim protector is being put in ball screens can really shore up your ball screen defense. I think that’s where Holmes fits in with bigs like Reid/Furst (or the 5s already on the roster), especially if he can develop his shot, as a way to play big and still spaced.
Coach Williford is in Wheeling, WV today for the Cancer Research Classic. Main interest is '21 forward Jeremy Sochan. He’s fresh over from the UK at La Lumiere (IN). UVA is a little deeper with him than it might seem. He was MVP of the U16 Euro Championships this summer, the same event our own Johnny Carpenter coached in. So that helped them identify him a bit ahead of the crowd. I don’t think they’ve offered a scholarship. Bennett hasn’t seen him yet. But my impression is he’s the other guy being recruited in that forward spot with DaRon Holmes. He’s taken a couple visits to Michigan State and Marquette.
Roman Catholic ¶ is also in Wheeling. That’s a team they’ve seen a lot of this Fall. They have a pair of 2022 studs in big man Jalen Duren and guard Justice Williams.
Jeremy Sochan - unless his competition was really weak, this kid seems legit, aggressive, commits to the hoop and finishes well. soft touch from 3, can create his own shot, good timing for blocks
Mater Dei (CA) big man discusses UVA interest. I don’t want to downplay this too much because they are interested and Soderberg has been out there. But well, I don’t really believe UVA is one of the three recruiting him hardest right now.
I agree with this. With the way the roster is setting up, 2021 seems like a swing for the fences plan and if you miss, try to find a diamond in the rough or a solid role player for the future, sort of the in Marco Anthony and Frankie Baddocchi mold. After this cycle, my guess is Bennett will “all of a sudden” have become a great recruiter or the narrative of “Virginia is boring so no recruits want to play there and Bennett can’t recruit” will start to pop up again.
Holmes used his junior year official visit to Virginia in November. He can do it again after August. Of course, he can come almost any time he wants on his own.
As for when he might decide, that probably depends on how things play out. Think of April and July as resets. if a recruitment doesn’t change after going through April’s live periods, it’s usually wise to start moving toward a decision.
And if you’re wondering why people are asking about Holmes, The Arizona 247Sports site has an interview for subscribers picked up by the UVA site. He mentions upcoming visits to UVA and Marquette with no details. I expect Foresthoo is right above. He means after the season, and probably hasn’t cemented anything. We’ll reach out to DaRon to see if he wants to clarify.
I am thrilled to see us being named by top players like Breidenbach. He is no. 89 in the 2021 class by 247 sports. That is impressive. He is a top national player and I am glad to see that UVA is attracting players of his quality consistently now. I don’t think the comparisons to Anthony or Baddocchi are fair or close to a fair comparison. Maybe Brogdon was in this ranking range out of HS (I don’t remember but was thinking that it was around 90). UVA has never consistency recruited players of Breidenbach’s quality over a string of consecutive years. Our current two year streak is our best to date. So I for one am thrilled. I think he has a cool name too. And we have done well with California players. They seem to my novice following of rankings to be more frequently than east coast players to under ranked on a national level.
I just looked it up for grins. Brogdon was ranked # 98 by 247 Sports in 2011 class. Rankings are not everything. But my simple point is that getting the attention of Top 100 players is fantastic as this is an impressive group. Top 50 more so. Top 10 is dream. lol! UVA is moving up in the world of college basketball.
Evidentially for UVAs program, Recruits in the ranking range of 25-50 would be the best possible targets. I believe nearly all of our attention is on recruits in this range, and I personally think we can take a step up now and consistently start to get commitments from this higher tier level of talent. Im thinking top 10 is more one and done territory and it seems like Bennett is not interested in that type of recruit.
DaRon only said that those visits would probably be after the season. Which I’d expect if it happens would be somewhere around May-June as April gets busy with AAU. His dad handles all that sort of stuff, usually a good thing. Sometimes you have to read between the lines. Just that he’s talking about re-visiting two schools he’s already been to in the somewhat near future is good sign that they’re looking to narrow things down.
