Yup Shayok was always solid, if there was a knock he could be a bit wild, but the skill was there and he needed a system that would let him flow.
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Biggest problem with uva’s high school recruiting has been fit. Taking 4 small guards within a two year period was always perplexing. Each guy made sense in a vacuum but didn’t make sense overall.
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The young man who went to Georgia
Jabari?, he had a whopping 4 minutes of pt in a 20 point blowout win the other night
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Feel like McKoy feels the wrath of our fans more than JAR because McKoy made some less-than-flattering comments on his way out the door where JAR just kept quiet, and JAR also didn’t go to a conference rival in our top 3 least liked list.
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Yeah, I think McKoy pissed people off by going to UNC. And he stays in our consciousness b/c he went to UNC.
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Exactly McKoy made 2 mistakes he went to UNC a rival, maybe even the rival, and he kicked the hornets nest on the way out the door. If he meant to or not I don’t know and don’t care but those comments about becoming uncaged were destined to come back and bite him especially when he chose a rival.
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Agreed with the general sentiment that this thread is silly. It would be one thing if we were mediocre this year and had nits to pick. But we’re a national title contender. This seems to be hitting below the belt a bit.
Always appreciate guys who represent the university well, and choose to explore opportunities they feel might be a better fit. It doesn’t always work out from a basketball standpoint- but there are other considerations (family, significant others, friends, school) outside of the basketball opp we are usually not fully aware of.
McKoy, along with others, seemed like a really nice kid who worked hard. He had one post about being “Uncaged”- which to be fair we read as a dig on UVA. He didn’t specifically disparage the program on his way out. And frankly if he did- so what?
Our average transfer out rate has to be assumed O/U 1.5 every year. With that in mind, this is going to play out over and over. In this iteration, we ended up netting a group that is extremely talented/well suited for another title run.
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Agree with those reasons why McKoy is less popular here than other transfers, but I’m gonna add two more:
- His parting remarks (this may be the biggest one)
- He went to a hated rival
- He was getting major PT here; this wasn’t a case of “had to leave in order to play”
- He’s getting far less PT there (and this was foreseeable)
Put all that together and it sends the message that he disliked UVA so much that he was willing to go sit on the bench at the school he really liked rather than play a major role for us.
All that said, I hope he’s happy with his choice. (I can’t say I want him to do well though because he plays for Carolina.)
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Great additions those are absolutely key factors.
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Agree with all those, and I’d add 4.5, which I know is a bit touchy and probably unfair, the circumstances of his last couple games at UVa.
But I also agree with those who say they’d feel a bit more comfortable if this thread was general transfer chat, and there were some potshots taken at McKoy, rather than a thread started with the general purpose to poke fun at the guy. But Lord knows I’m neither a good nor willing hall monitor…
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Maybe @brogdonfanpage can do a Transfer check-in article mid-season. How is everyone doing stats/starts update? Grab a few quotes, etc.
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Now I feel like I should, out of fairness, make the case for supporting Justin McKoy.
- He was unhappy here. Doesn’t matter why, could be any number of off-court reasons. None of us begrudges him the choice to change a situation that was making him unhappy.
- He wanted to play a different position.
That’s fair.
Still… his choice of Carolina makes it impossible for me to root for him. It’s kind of like how fast we turned on Power after he chose Duke. Just… no.
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I think the way it ended with Justin left a bad taste in people’s mouths. Unfortunately he was the positive covid test that led to a rough ending to the season, not saying that’s his fault. But then to transfer within the conference, and say some things that were interpreted as unflattering…yeah I get why there’s bitterness.
It was a healthy transfer though. He wasn’t what they recruited him to be. So they tried turning him into something else. Meanwhile he still wanted to be that player they recruited him as, which he just isn’t at this level. The choice to pick UNC was questionable but whatever…I expect he’ll use his extra year at some SoCon school. 95% of transfers are a positive with the new rules. it’s like clearing brush.
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Okay real question who’s making me a “Screw McKoy” shirt for when I go to the UNC game in Jan?
(This is really just a humble brag that I’m going to the game)
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There was that brief moment in time, post Roy retirement, post Sharpe going pro and Kessler transferring, pre-Leaky becoming such a swiss army knife defender, and pre-Manek (and Garcia) transfer, when it looked like UNC just needed bodies, and that was the moment when he committed. But if he thought the situation was going to stay like that, he was being foolish. Plus, the wing thing is what never made sense to me. If playing wing was so important, then go somewhere where you can play wing! Like Charlotte, etc.
The fact that nothing about the situation made coherent sense, made me think he didn’t really know what he wanted, never mind how to get it. Which is sad, but honestly sort of relatable. We all have those moments.
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Think you hit on something right there. McKoy struck while the iron was hot, like you said UNC was in a rare uncertain state. And let’s be honest, a kid from NC who already earned a scholarship to UVa is not going to suddenly turn down an offer to go home to play at UNC if it comes along and he wants out of Charlottesville for whatever reason.
The unfortunate problem is UNC did UNC things and righted the ship and McKoy got left holding the bag because from a tactical standpoint he was never the right fit for any P5 really.
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Right? Kid thought he was Dre apparently. Dre made a whole thing about being a guard, not a big, but he was good enough to back it up. McKoy tried the Dre stunt, but without Dre talent.
What I still don’t understand, is that no matter what McKoy wanted to be / perceived himself as, he had two years at the P5 level to see what he was actually good at: being that energy / glue guy off the bench, rebounding, solid defense, know the system, etc., to fill in solid minutes at the 4, or once in a while 3. It’s like he couldn’t accept that as his lot in life. Anyway, enough psychoanalyzing of McKoy from me…
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That’s the maddening part of it isn’t it? At what point do you accept reality (insert easy political statement here)? I can’t help but think McKoy somehow convinced himself that it was UVa and the system that was keeping him from living his dreams as a 3/wing, when the facts were in front of him each and every day at practice and in games. There’s clearly some sort of disconnect.
Honestly, it’s the type of thing where I’d love to sit down with McKoy 5-10 years from now over a beer and ask “What happened there?”
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