You could argue three with Kadin due to his in season illness.
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Kadin redshirted last year. I really hate he got sick. He was playing good. Hope he gets more time in these last games. We are really going to need him next year
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Oh I know, but essentially itās a second red shirt season due to his illness. Just pointing out that in addition to the highly rated guys who are essentially red shirting due to a lost senior year of high school, we have a talented big scheduled to come back who essentially played no meaningful minutes this year.
What injury was that? His recruiting stature was repressed due to a broken leg that caused him to miss his sophomore year in high school. But he played two productive junior/senior seasons and was ready to go at UVA. He looked great in UVAās summer games in Spain. He said in interviews he was pretty discouraged at being asked to redshirt and, according to his brother, was pretty pissed.
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I donāt mean this to be a snotty question but Iām not sure how else to word it: in what way has the staff handled the covid limitations remarkably well? Seems they handled the restrictions poorly with the 2021 class and it is yet to be seen how their 2022 approach will go.
My statement was prefaced with an āifā none of the 4 were ready next year. Carson and Jabri have been practicing with the team and even had a few minutes of game time so far.
I actually think theyāve handled it pretty well from the start, and extremely well once things turned to 2022. But Iām more interested in process than results, where we probably differ. Only the first can really be controlled. They didnāt take any risks last year. Lots of these kids that emerged last summer that other schools signed are unproven. And they managed to get a pretty good player in Taine Murray in a very difficult spot to recruit for.
They have a clear vision for what theyāre after in '22 and have managed to identify and build relationships with top targets at each spot, not to mention get another to commit. There arenāt many players out there that have played enough competitive basketball in the last year for someone like Tony Bennett to feel good about recruiting his way. They found two that theyāve had the opportunity to thoroughly evaluate in Nunez and Traudt. Oh and another overseas. Iād wager all of them have talked to Tony Bennett more than any other head coach since the Fall. Players that heās confident about wanting and is recruiting harder than anyone else. Itās been about perfectly laid groundwork as could happen under the circumstances.
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Iām not just about results but I feel like their 2021 process was very flawed. Seemed like a case of being too selective. Passing up good in the pursuit of perfect. Which I think has always been a potential risk of Tonyās recruiting strategy. Iām sure weāll all be complaining when Brizzi is the 2025 Big East Player of the Year, for example.
That being said Iām optimistic about 2022. I just wouldnāt say itās proven to be remarkable yet. McKneely is a great start but they still need to prove this new approach is working.
Angelo brizzi gotten his lunch EATEN by Carter Whitt like 3 months ago. Brizzi will be a good player in like 4 years under Wright. And thatās not a given/potential is never a given. But he is FAR from an instant impact player. And we already have Carson in that role.
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Yeah I was gonna say thatās TB recruiting all the time. Personally I love it. What makes his recruiting unique. And I think the key to success the program has had.
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Yea I guess I view it differently. The key to success has been Tonyās system, player development, and ability to scout opponents (maybe the assistants on the last point). Recruiting has been adequate to a slight weakness but certainly not the strength of the program. If Tony had the recruiting success of a Jay Wright or a Mark Few weād be the undisputed best program in the country.
Clearly heās focusing on players who he believes fit the profile for the university, the program and its pillars, and have the talent/skill level he seeks. Itās a sliding scale of fit. The top tier are obvious fits and as you go further down the list, it is less certain that the recruit will pan out. With that in mind is the process really better if Bennett hands out 15 offers and gets early commits from guys who are further down the list, and then those guys donāt really work out? There is risk either way. Whether it is a more successful or flawed approach is a matter of opinion colored by the results for a particular class or two. The primary takeaway is that recruiting is a very imperfect science.
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As a bit of a side note, if we want to talk about missed that are hurting us right now, I would bring up Juzang as exhibit 1a. He would solve so many problems that we have right now, especially on offense
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Hunter injured his ankle during the fall of his freshman yearā¦pre-seasonā¦he was in Spain during the summer before the injury that led to the RS discussionā¦
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I was really disappointed with the Juzang miss, mostly because he was such a good fit for the university profile, given his academic background. And then he chose to be a sixth wheel recruit at a basketball factory. Just never understood that and was disappointed with what I saw (and I have no right to project my opinions onto the man) as a poor choice and missed golden opportunity for him.
Edit: Iāll also add that JAR seemed like a sure thing for instant offensive punch. So even with guys like him and Juzang, you just never know if, when, and how much a guy will make an impact until it happens.
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I saw a brief mention of that in a news article, but it came across as a rationalization rather than a reason. Judging from Hunter himself, he wanted to play. I see plenty of press about his ankle sprain at Duke where he came right back. Also the dude played the rest of an ACCT game with a broken wrist. Probably would have played out that year had he been given a choice. I think he has a pretty high tolerance for discomfort and did not need to sit out his freshman year because of an ankle sprain. And in the context of this conversation, his injury is being compared to the more impactful injuries/surgeries experienced by JAR and McCorkle. This is essentially a redshirt year for each of them. Their minimal playing time doesnāt count against them. Surely Hunter would have played some if it didnāt take away the redshirt.
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Hunter played in the ACC Championship game with a broken wrist. It wasnāt known until after the tournament. Iām sure we all would have been happy for him to play in the NCAA but that was taking a huge risk for him
Yea I get it. And my main question in previous years was why were those standards lower for international players and late cycle players? Why have lower standards for the pools of players that are less talented than the early signing US pool of players? Thatās the big positive side out of the 2021 cycle imo. We didnāt lower those standards to take flyers like we have in the past. Hopefully that remains the case moving forward. Especially with the new transfer rules coming.
I suspect that international prospects have an entirely different timeline in mind than domestic players. I suspect a lot of international players expect to sit their first year while they acclimate and are willing to accept that. That isnāt as true for domestic prospects
Think that varies a ton with each kid and family.