Iām the exact same age as Fran McCaffery. In high school in Philadelphia, his nickname was āWhite Magic.ā
How many sons has he fathered who played for him at Iowa? Isnāt that an NCAA violation if you keep impregnating your wife, and they all grow up to play for you?
This, and/or player evals arenāt hitting the mark anymore. Donāt think they are mutually exclusive. I donāt know exactly how recruiting worked between 2011-2016ā¦I donāt know if Richie was doing more behind the scenes, but for whatever reason the last 6 years have produced some āquestionableā results with kids either lacking talent or just flat out not fitting our system mentally or play style.
E.g. if Eli doesnāt fit your system of frantically running players around the perimeter for 25 seconds, just to beat the clock by throwing up a random jumper out of desperation, and you repeat this for 40 mins, and you refuse to put the ball in Eliās hands, well, sorry Tony thatās on you.
This wonāt change. Ishan is a perfect example. Not to dump on him, but heās a late bloomer, one dimensional player. He can come off a screen and get a shot off. He has a low and slow release, he canāt put the ball on the floor, probably wonāt create his own shot, and doesnāt play above the rim. So, we either get an electric player with talentā¦and donāt use him (Eli) or we get a guy like Ishan who fits the system better, I guess, but doesnāt provide much in terms of moving the needle talent wise or innovating the offense. If Ishan shot isnāt falling, get ready for another 45 point offensive output. And when you donāt have anyone on the team taller than 6-9.5, (Blake is barely 6ā10) I mean what do we expect?
With Bliss on the roster, and potentially Mallory, I personally donāt see why Eli would stay in the program.
Iām still reeling from the nickname reveal for Fran. Wow.
Iād have to take a look at the sites to refresh my memory and get educated, but idk if I really buy the ābattle winā narrative for some of those transfers. Seems like you really have to have a loose or biased interpretation of what constitutes a battle for some of those guys.
But for HS, in your opinion when was the last time we won a real recruiting battle for a kid that made a difference or stuck around?
This doesnāt make sense to meā¦ rest of your post I agree with.
Mallory is a 2025 recruit who hasnāt even committed. Why would that deter EG from sticking around. If Iām him, Iām using the void left by Reeceās departure to carve out a sizable role next year, understanding this year was impacted pretty heavily by being new to the system and coming off injury. Opportunity is there. If it doesnāt work out youāve got 2 years of eligibility left if you want to transfer
need someone smarter than me to review when we switched back to predominantly B/M on offense. Seems like we were running some varying sets earlier in the year and then Tony just decided to simplify things.
Just curious, how much actual Sharma tape have you watched?
For me, the reason Eli would transfer would not be about opportunity to play. It would be more about opportunity to fit a style thatās more suitable for him.
Yeah I see that. But heās been employed as the primary ballhandler in his minutes. Maybe thatās how weāre planning to showcase him in future years.
Eh Iām not dumping on him. Word is the kid Can shoot but I read a scouting report around the time he committed saying his form had a low release point. Maybe it was bs? Maybe heās worked on it. Granted, there has been a lot of contradictory opinions on him and his skill set in the last 5 monthsā¦he didnāt even have a star until he committed ā¦ the outlets quickly remedied that and gave him 3. I donāt buy his athleticism but thatās just me.
And before you come at me, yes Iāve read a lot of contradictory takes on him on boards, reports etc. maybe there is a consensus now that more people paid attention to him, or maybe heās just improved. Iād love to be wrong and find out heās the next Kyle guy.
They arenāt necessarily mutually exclusive here. Thereās definitely a correlation. Hope he sticks it out and carves out a nice role next year, Iām just saying Iāve seen this movie before.
I believe the star rating is a procedural issue. Non-US players are not rated until they commit.
Tucker Anderson with 24 points on 5-9 shooting from 3.
Bring him in to back up Yaxel Lendeborg at the 4 spot/add that 3pt specialist in the front courtā¦ 
And then the following season Tucker is two years ahead of redshirt cofie construction wise while cofie spends the redshirt year learning from Yaxelā¦
Reece (or Bliss if Reece gone)
McKneely
Brakefield
Yaxel
Buchanan
Gertrude
Leon
Sharma
Tucker
Robinson
Mallory cofie redshirt. Taine gets his mcIntire degree and ends up being the richest guy from this team 15 years from now bankrolling the UVA cyborg player initiative.
Rohde finds a school that focuses on DHO/offenses that more suite his strengths (Iowa or Creighton? Both closer to home too). Dante goes to be a 40 minutes a game starter at Vanderbilt or Belmont back home? Dont think either are ābadā but just think they are really bad fits for Tonyās schemes. Either they will have to evolve their games completely or Tony will have to 180 his offensive approach for either to be really effective here at UVA.
When an ACC head coach signs a player from a foreign country, it can mean different things. But if the player from another country has never played for an American high school or junior college, uh oh.
Itās a gamble for that coach, and a gamble for that player. It usually means that the coach has struggled recently to recruit. Maybe there are exceptions, like if the guy is already considered an NBA prospect based on international play at the highest level.
Which shooting guards did Tony Bennett REALLY want before he gave a scholarship to Sharma? 
Sharmaās from Ontario lol for basketball purposes high major kids from Ontario are closer to Americans than they are other foreign players. They play American AAU ball and their high schools play in the same showcase events American private schools play in. Really only his high school regular season is different. But even with that Iām willing to bet Sharma is playing better competition than Blake did in Idaho or Traudt did in Nebraska
I mean, he was playing at a high school in Oregon. Yes, he is from Ontario, but he had already moved to Oregon well before he committedā¦and he wasnāt ranked and flew under the radar. He had one high major offer, I think. So, I think I understand what you guys are saying, but itās not particularly relevant for Ishan. Heās not coming over from NZ. Heās playing/played HS ball in the States. He got a 3 star Tony bump immediately following his commitment. And over the past 5 months or so, thereās definitely been a trend of more favorable scouting reports coming out on him, which is a good sign.
Didnāt realize the Oregon piece. Hammers home the point even further heās more comparable to a Clark or McKoy than a Stattmann, Murray, or Salt
Sharmaās school (Fort Erie) is in Ontario, though they do play some of their games on this prep circuit that travels between different areas in the US and Canada:
This is good comp; for example Prolific Prep is on the same circuit, and they are pretty elite (itās where AJ Dybantsa plays).
I really dont know how/why I thought Fort Erie was in OR. My bad.
Which assistant would be reaching out to Minnesota players? My brother is an assistant coach for Orono and said we have reached out to a couple players on his team. Brady Wooley and Nolan Groves. Wooley is apparently visiting Clemson this weekend.
