@haney try to articulate my point better without getting bogged down in the merits of high school rankings too much: I agree Jennings is a question mark. But I think most players we land are question marks. Buchanan with adding weight and learning defense. Bond and Dunn with their shooting. Gertrude now with his knee recovery. Debating these questions marks is half the conversation on the board over the summer lol
I mainly just want to get out against the notion I see Jennings would be an uninspiring addition. Like we are adding a Badocchi or Caffaro or McKoy type of guy. I donāt agree with that. Jennings has legit length and athleticism. He has tools to be excited about defensively. I think Mark Adams signing him out of high school is another reason to be excited about his defense. I also like the fact Tony liked him out of high school and was interested before filling up.
I also think we need one of these guys every two years. We havenāt landed one in 5 years. Imo Jennings has a decent shot to pan out to at least the Atkins/Wilkins junior year level (aka not saying their ACC DPOY seasons) while not scaring off a more highly rated athletic 4/5 in the 2024 class. I donāt get why people are down on the prospect. Iād add Minor, Jennings (or another Sophmore), and then another athletic 4/5 in 2024. Get the pipeline back on track
I agree with legit length and athleticism and good defensive tools. And Iām also hoping he wouldnāt scare off a more highly rated guy. Though that will really depend on how we use him.
Also, @lodger96 subsequently made the Atkins / Mitchell comparison. I think those are fair comparisons and Iād hope Jennings gets there (unless he stays in Lubbock, of course). I mean, I guess I will still vaguely wish him well.
Yea I mean thatās essentially my frustration: for 3 years weāve all been clamoring for an Akil/Darion/Zay/Mamadi. Tony goes out and targets 2 of them!! Reaction is largely āoh now why would we do that?ā Lol imo we should be intentional about re-establishing one of those guys every other class. A grad transfer, rising sophomore, and a 2024 would do that nicely
I think you have this group confused with other groups in the:
āI trust Tony crowd so donāt opine differently than what he thinks.ā
Tony is ācruitinā him so his #412 ranking doesnāt mean anything. Funny.
Really?
Minor was unrated as a recruit (meaning not top 500) and has been playing at a very low level of competition since.
Jennings was a composite #211 recruit. And did very little as a freshman in college for a bad team.
Akil and Darion were ages ago before rankings were as accurate as now. All the way back to 2011 and 2010 when UVA was still not very good and had to take chances on lower ranked guys - but lengthy and athletic at least.
Wilkins was #146 nationally and Diakite was #32 nationally - our highest rated recruit under CTB.
How many guys not ranked in the top 200 since 2011 have been high level starters that produced efficiently on at least one end of the floor?
What were San Diego Stateās bigs ranked? Houston on their Final Four team? Those teams from ancient past, ya know
Also Iād argue the rankings were more accurate in the 2010/11 range than they are now. Many of the best guys have left the business. Now you have people like Jamie Shaw trying to rank all top 150 players by themselves
Also if you think we donāt develop bigs then why do you care who we target? We donāt land finished products and whoever we land wonāt be developed anyway so what does it matter?
We just landed 2 in Traudt and Buchanan.
Your words are finished product - not mine.
Mine is high level talent that produces and gets better every year they are at UVA.
Akil and Darion both improved a lot more after UVA than while in college. So did Tobey.
I would also like a Traudt replacement! Look Dave there are two separate but related objections I see:
a) Minor and/or Jennings arenāt good enough
b) I donāt like Minor and Jennings from a roster fit
I think A is reasonable. Iām not sold on Minor myself. But Iāve seen a decent amount of b too. And, what I was originally (and clumsily) trying to argue against is āaā used as the foundation of the reason for b, if that makes sense. And I donāt think itās correct. I think a grad transfer 4/5 and another sophomore 4/5 is ideal. And then add another one, hopefully ranked more like Mamadi, in the 2024 class. I think thatās how we get back to peak Bennett ball. Houston and SDSU won a ton of games with that type of roster construction the last 3-4 years, which is why I brought their Final Four teams into the discussion.
I think if you told me that we got a high major big like Daron Holmes, along with Minor and Jennings, Iām happy. But if it is just Minor and Jennings, I get a little nervous. My guess is that if we get Minor and Jennings that we are going to look for a big impact guy in the front court. Maybe Iām being too optimistic though. I like Minor and Jennings but agree it may be a little underwhelming for next year if thatās it.
Minor, Jennings, Dunn, and Buchanan is not bad at all I would think.
Dunn + Minor as your 4 and 5 is WWAAAAAAYYYY more athletic and several inches taller than this yearās frontcourt. and then if Jennings and Buchanan could be a second unit at the 4 and 5 I donāt think you can complain at all. Especially if they could get Reece back and one more backcourt shooter.
Minor + Jennings + a good floor spacing big (Amzil a possibility?) + Blue Cain OR a good reclassed '24 CG/PG seems like a good haul.
Minor + Jennings alone seems a little underwhelming.
Shooting / scoring next year is a concern, other than iMac (and Reece, if back, not that heās a marksman), but at least we have a lot of arrows to shoot at the target.
Yeah I think Reece, Imac, transfer shooter, Dunn, Minor
with second unit of: Harris, Eli, Bond, Jennings, Buchanan would be very very good
It is hard to overstate how physically lacking last yearās team was and a bulked up Imac and Dunn (hopefully) a fourth-year reece and physical dudes like Minor and Jennings would go a long way to fixing that
I see both sides. I think those two alone are a little underwhelming. But I do like both players. I also understand the appeal of Dunn, Buchanan, Jennings, and Minor. I think itās very athletic, and young outside of Minor. It would be good to have all of them just get some run even if it sacrifices success in the short term, the long term benefits could be massive
In terms of size, Iām not concerned about lack of size. Iām all in on the Norchad Omier Miami model. But I am concerned about lack of size if weāre not making up for it with shot making ability. Not saying this roster canāt shoot. But not many have proven that yet.