2023 Off-Season Basketball - Outside UVa

@jazznutUVA

Don’t know where else this goes, says some stuff about UVA

7 Likes

Nothing like bringing up the redshirt idea to scare off a recruit you don’t really want for 2023.

3 Likes

"Everyone loved Bennett, of Virginia, and he’d created an identity of stability and success, with the peak of the 2019 national championship a statement about what his teams could accomplish. His program carried a sterling reputation, the campus retained a natural beauty that rivaled the most beautiful of campuses, even UNC’s. In conversations with the Stevensons, including one in mid-June, Bennett provided an honest assessment of Jarin’s chances to play early.

They weren’t great. Bennett thought it could be worthwhile to redshirt, if Jarin were to reclassify. “I think it sort of works against” Virginia’s chances, Jarin said days later, “but at the same time I see what he’s trying to say. And I see that I still need to develop a lot in order to be ready for the next level, whether it’s college or the NBA.”

Lol Tony really didn’t want Jarin in 2023. No way Jarin would have contributed for us in 2023-2024 going off his aau play. Hopefully it works out for him at Alabama.

22 Likes

Also no school in North Carolina rivals UVA’s beauty. Not even close

7 Likes

That article was a really good read/good indepth look.

It really shows the hesitancy Jarin’s parents had to both reclassing and to Alabama after the Nate Oates “wrong place wrong time” situation. It really was Jarin’s decision at the end of the day

6 Likes

My read is that it was just a massive tension between 1) parents/kids aspirations for him to be one and done, and 2) kid wanting to leave high school as soon as possible.

Basically, that’s why he ended up at Alabama and not UNC or Virginia. If either of those had been more flexible, he’d be at UNC or Virginia.

3 Likes

Maybe Alabama wants him to be one and done in whatever that form looks like. TB just being honest about the dudes college prospects the way TB sees them

8 Likes

Yeah I think Alabama is just taking a more off-the-cuff approach to roster construction. If you adopt that wholesale, it can work for you. But not if you adopt it piecemeal.

Maybe Jarin ends up being patient and OK not playing next year and sticks around for his 2nd year at Alabama? If not, Alabama doesn’t lose much with their portal-ing approach.

6 Likes

In any event F Alabama

8 Likes

These are the two most interesting pieces for me:

"In May, one of those prep schools sent the Stevensons a spreadsheet designed to scare Jarin away from the idea of reclassifying. At the bottom, the school included a quote from Kentucky coach John Calipari: “If you’re not mentally mature enough or physically ready, why would you reclassify? … You’re setting somebody up for failure.” And another from Kansas coach Bill Self: “You’re trying to put growing up and maturing in fast-forward, which I don’t think is good.” And beneath that, a fact of note: “No NBA All-Stars this year were re-class ups.” The spreadsheet listed more than two dozen players who’d considered the same question Jarin was now considering, and who’d decided to graduate high school early. Next to their names, it listed their former recruiting ranking — top 15 in their class, or top 20, or top 30 and on and on — and what had happened to them. Ten had transferred. Ten others had stayed at their schools but were receiving “Low PT,” as the spreadsheet put it. Next to Emoni Bates’ name, it said, “Transfer, Bad Stats … Stock Down.” Next to GG Jackson’s, it said, “Bad Stats, Bad Maturity … Stock Down.”

Jarin held the spreadsheet and studied it. He’d just finished a large bowl of pasta for lunch and his legs were churning away on a stationary pedal machine, allowing him some low-level cardio while he sat on the couch. “I don’t know,” he said, looking over a list of reclassifications gone wrong. “I still think I could do it, if I put the work in.”

AND

“In Stevenson’s case, it was fair to wonder, though, how much any of that mattered. It was fair to wonder how much it mattered for any prospect who arrived in college among the best in their class. Among the top 25 players in the high school class of 2022, according to 247sports.com, 16 spent a year in college before being selected in the NBA Draft. Among the nine who didn’t enter the draft, five returned to their same school while the other four transferred. In the class of 2021, not one of the top 25 prospects spent more than a year at the college they chose out of high school. They all either entered the draft or transferred. It was indicative of the state of college basketball these days, in which the central question is often not what a player can do for a program — which is how many fans and even coaches might view it — but what a program can do for a player.”

7 Likes

Real interesting article.

Lot of talk about how what’s important to him (and many other star recruits) is not college, but the path to the NBA. And Jarin acknowledges that he has a lot of development to do to get there. But then… he spurns the two coaches that also acknowledge that and want to develop him.

Lot of talk (@mac9r quoted it above) about how reclassing often doesn’t work out. But then… he decides to do it anyway.

Lot of talk about how the culture at Alabama is a concern for his parents. But then…

This all makes it a great glimpse into how decisions are made. Kid is sitting here doing all these mental calculations in his head about what would be best for him, but all that is cover for his gut, which has already decided (1) I’m done with high school, and (2) I want to play. Simple as that.

18 Likes

I think Stevenson is in for a rough go on the path he choose. Seems like a good kid, so I hope I’m wrong and things work out for him at Alabama. But I envision the type of results that SKJ had at Kentucky.

11 Likes

I get what Tony’s thinking but this is obviously a guy we really wanted as evidenced by the secret visit and other reporting. So Tony thinks in an incredibly competitive race with UNC and Bama that redshirting him is gonna get the job done?

1 Like

Well should he lie and say he’s going to play? Then we’d have missed on other prospects we could’ve had when he transfers after a year. Not sure the positive that comes from that.

18 Likes

Better to be up front with him than to lie and have him transfer out when he either gets redshirted or plays 5 mpg his 1st year. The staff isn’t gonna sweet talk a recruit whose goals and priorities fail to match up with the program’s.

13 Likes

The article basically confirms a lot of what had been pieced together from the outside looking in, but it’s great to get the actual details. Well, I guess if Alabama doesn’t work out, UVA or UNC will be there in the future for him.

2 Likes

Actually Elon does - I live 10 min from there

2 Likes

Human beings make decisions based on emotions and then use various self-deceptions to provide a quasi-logical justification for the decision. It’s who we are. Every car ad plays to this weakness.

11 Likes

Bullet dodged. On to the next.

2 Likes