News was just announced. I’ll have some thoughts and analysis coming up in the thread.
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I want to wish Frankie the best in his personal and academic life going forward. Let’s keep in mind, he’s choosing to remain enrolled. He’s still a Hoo!
His reasons for leaving the program are his own. I don’t know what those are, and it’s really none of our business. What I do know is he hasn’t been with the team since at least early July. It reached a final resolution just before players left for break about 3 weeks ago. So this isn’t something that just happened. They’ve been prepared for the likely situation all summer and planned accordingly.
Impact on this Season
Frankie probably wasn’t going to see meaningful minutes this season. He would have needed to beat out freshman Justin McKoy for a spot in the rotation. Based on everything I’ve heard, that was not going to happen. Justin has turned out to be even better than expected, and they were very high on him before.
Depth is a problem now. We’re down to 10 eligible recruited scholarship players. That’s the bare minimum that Bennett has been comfortable entering a season with in the past. The casualty of today’s news could end up being Kadin Shedrick’s redshirt. It’ll be a much tougher decision anyway. It might come down to how much confidence Bennett has in the walk-ons to be serviceable as playable depth.
Recruiting Impact
The only real change is it opens a scholarship for 2020. It would take the right player to fit at UVA in that class, someone that’s willing to take the long view. The prime target will be someone that hasn’t been heavily recruited for the last year. Those guys expect to play. They’ve been made promises that we can’t match. A prospect that saw their recruitment take off this summer could be a prime target. They often are more willing to take that long view. Think Shedrick a year ago. Or an overlooked gem, ala Kihei Clark.
In reality, the coaching staff is recruiting for 2021 now, even if possibly one of those scholarships ends up used in 2020. It’s all part of the same puzzle. Taking a recruit to fill a future role now eliminates potential 2021 recruits. I expect them to be very choosy. The options (transfers, decommits, overseas) will be more plentiful next Spring.
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How does Geronimo or a re-classed Whitt fit is the scenario?
A lot of questions coming at me on twitter and facebook about the same two guys.
I don’t expect this to change anything with Henry Coleman. This situation with Frankie was resolved before Henry put out his list of finalists. I don’t know whether he actually knew the details but UVA had made clear with him there was room. So I can’t imagine this will be any sort of game changer.
I was told by a reliable source this afternoon that Jordan Geronimo could be an uphill battle for UVA. The coaches were very impressed by him this summer. They saw him play a lot on the Adidas circuit, including Bennett multiple times during the final AAU live peiod. Getting him to make the trip down with his sister was a big step in the right direction. As with most of these recruits, he expects to play right away. So that’s the challenge, convincing him to take the long view. Whether he gets a scholarship offer will mostly depend on how positively he responds to their message.
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Just posted on Geronimo above. He fits the mold. That’s why he’s someone they’re interested in pursuing. Now we’ll see how he responds after being on grounds and talking with Bennett personally. It’s the same deal with Carter. Others, Maryland for one, want him to step right into a big role in 2020. Obviously that won’t happen here. 20-21 team will be maybe the deepest Bennett has had.
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Thank you for sharing, an important point posters on other sites never bothered gleaning. I was disappointed hearing his possible disinterest in NCAA BB last fall, CTB addressed the issue in one press conference (last fall) I believe.
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Frankie’s IG post.
To all of you who have supported me and followed me during my two years on the Virginia basketball team, it is with regret that I wish to inform you of my decision to not continue to be a part of the team this year. It was a very difficult decision to make after spending two incredible years with the team but I realize that I need more time to focus on my academic studies and pursue my passion for music which up until now I’ve had to sacrifice in order to dedicate my time almost exclusively to basketball. There aren’t enough words to thank Coach Bennett, the coaching staff, the technical and medical staff, the fans and my teammates who have helped make these two years such an incredible experience. I will continue my studies at the University of Virginia in economics and music and will always be supporting the Cavaliers!! Go Hoos!
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1pga8WCAZ3VRpvNFrRHSk7CYzbU7F8rFKaLwg0/
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Any insight on why things didn’t work out with Coleman? Always a little disappointing when an excellent local player with tight family connections to UVA doesn’t end up as a Wahoo. I’ve learned over the years, though, that there are many things going on in recruiting that we don’t know and never learn about.
Chase, is whoo I want to known more about after listening to Williford’s WINA interview where he suggest that the more herald recruit needs to work on ball handing…
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Well it’s 2 fold. In the end, it was just numbers. We’ll have 7 underclassmen next season who all expect to play already. I think some people on Henry’s end felt a little slighted that UVA didn’t hold the gate wider open. But that’s just normal Bennett recruiting. He goes all in early but by spring/summer he’s going to take quality players and let the other chips fall. There’s a reason we rarely win marathons. We find detours along the way often with just as rewarding prizes.
Chase could play in a pinch. I’m not trying to say he’d be productive, but he wouldn’t be out of place on the court. I actually think they’re hoping Tomas will be that Brogdon like combo who plays some PG minutes this year. Casey’s never been the lead guy, but he is the dude I want with the ball in his hands with the shot clock running down.
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Thanks for all the insight!
Good luck Frankie!
what are expectations for tomas w? seems like a great shooter, but not much else out there…guessing he isnt athletic?
That’s really interesting. I don’t know the recruiting process at all but do programs typically hold spots for their top choices? It seems like the only way to do that would be to make only as many offers as the number of open scholarships and then wait for the top choices to commit, but surely no team does that. That being the case, what do teams do to “hold the gate wider open”?
I spent several hours last Spring watching youtubed full JUCO games to answer that first question, and I still can’t. Word was Bennett saw a little film and flipped for him right away, loves the versatility. He can play some point (did his first JUCO year) and guard multiple positions. He’s not much of an athlete but he’s really good at creating space to get his jumper off…Ty Jerome like in that way. And yeah he can flat out shoot the ball, 48% from 3, upper 80s from the foul line.
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The act of just offering isn’t always that meaningful, depending on the stage of the process. If we offer a 2020 kid now, yeah that’s big. But a year ago, these kids are just in collection mode. They key is where coaches invest their limited time.
Early on, as in Fall of their junior year thru the next Spring, Bennett typically focuses in on one player at each spot. Meanwhile assistants handle all the other recruits, with the goal of staying in the long race ahead. Other head coaches spread their attention. Bennett goes all in. By Spring, he expects progress. That’s when everything gets re-evaluated and the line between those top targets and the rest gets blurred. By the end of summer, it’s just about getting what they can.
As for holding the gate open. Reece Beekman is the perfect example. They could have gone after a 2019 PG last Spring. Fans were screaming for it. We need another ball handler this year!!! Tony knew he was close with Reece, his top choice from the start, so he did everything possible to keep the opening attractive. Henry insisted on holding his recruitment off until Fall, so even though they always felt good about him, it was too much of a risk to pass up other great options like Justin McKoy.
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HGN, your boy Slater CB Geronimo to UVA. Was he offered today?
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You know what I love about that most. I got like 5 DMs telling me. Made my day. I don’t know if they’ve told him he has an offer or not yet. He announces them all, so that won’t be a mystery.
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Thank you so much for the insight. Very interesting to read and stay in the loop of these developments.
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yes first place i heard of someone leaving was here…