Basically what K thought with Sulaimon in 2015 and what Hubert thought with Dawson Garcia in 2021-22: throw 'em in and let the guys figure it out. But it didn’t work. It only worked when the guys were kicked out / left.
This is not a “team cancer” point. The point is coaches need to be “intentional” about assembling their rosters. Actual duels were a monumentally stupid idea, and I don’t think PT duels improve upon the concept all that much.
Edit - prebuttal: competition is good, but competition is good the way ice cream is good. It won’t solve all your problems. A little goes a long way.
So, it is now May 3rd. There are twelve scholarship players on the roster. Five (actually six) starters will return next year. There are no gaping holes to be filled. Every position is covered. Perhaps not as well as some would like, but covered nonetheless. There is also depth at every position. Some of it is inexperienced but it is depth. Is there any reason to believe that Virginia will add anyone else from the portal this year? (For that matter, if not for the family connections, is there any reason to believe that Vander Plas would have been added?) There are no pressing needs at the moment. From the staff’s perspective, should there be any expenditure of effort to add another player? From the perspective of a player in the portal, what appeal does Virginia have now? Isn’t it time to move on to the class of 2023 recruits and just give the remaining scholarship to Chase Coleman? It seems to me that the '23 needs far out weigh any current ones.
I can see myself more onboard with Max Jones. Athletic enough to man down the 3 spot as a secondary ball handler but athletic enough to be a really good defender. A realistic target for us in the portal. And the heavy interest from Villanova, Wisconsin, and recently Alabama help verify that there is really good individual talent (of course our own staff’s interest should be verification enough).
On the flip side I also do want to keep a scholarship open incase Tafara or another 2023 mamadi big they discover this summer is able to reclass and redshirt. idk if we could set up a redshirt walkon NIL deal to cover costs.
Completely agree with this. Basketball is above all a team game; chemistry is vital. And once critical mass is reached, adding more guys who have relatively redundant skill sets typically creates more issues than it solves.
I said TW … as in a good way … …
People don’t realize how good TW was for us in games that mattered …
In ACC play his 1st year he shot 38.3% from three.
His 2nd year in ACC games he shot 44.8% from three.
Guess how many dudes under Bennett shot better than 44.8% from three in an ACC season?
p.s
In 2020 he was our 3rd most efficient player on offense behind only Huff and Diakite.
In 2021 he was our 4th most efficient player on offense behind only Hauser, Murphy and Huff.
Also in 2021 only Huff and Beekman were better defensively.
p.p.s.
Woldetensae also shot 86% on FT’s both seasons at UVA.
The lack of playing time Woldo, Shayok and Darius Thompson should be a really clear indicator of how much higher expectations used to be for players on offense. DT’s worst seasonal eFG% in his time at UVA would have been 2nd on last year’s squad behind Shedrick. Shayok’s 3FG% during his UVA years was 37%.
And everyone was like “Eh. They’re fine, but I wish they’d stop holding back the good offensive players.”
Here’s the list of guys who had a better 3 point shooting season in ACC games than Woldo’s best year:
Hauser, Huff, Hunter, Guy, Perrantes and Shayok.
That’s it - the entire list since 2009-10.
And here’s the list of everyone who shot better in an ACC season from three than Shayok did in 2016 - 46.7% from three that year…
Huff - 52.9% in 2019
Hunter - 50.0% in 2019
Hunter - 47.1% in 2018
Perrantes - 48.1% in 2016
Perrantes - 51.2% in 2014
The drop in defensive box plus-minus from 2021 to 2022 is interesting, as his defensive box score stats did not get worse (in fact they got better in marginal ways), but Georgetown went from a good defensive team to a bad defensive team. I don’t think I watched a minute of Georgetown basketball this past season, so I don’t know how he looks as a defender on tape.
One of my (many) bad predictions was that I didn’t think many guys from the Power 5 would take advantage of the 5th year. It seemed to hold more last year than this year (not that I’ve seen any overall numbers). I wonder if the NIL inducement helped… Of course I still have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what a reasonable NIL take home looks like for your average power 5 guy. Not a Ruiz deal, not even a collective deal. Just your standard “this is what I thought NIL was going to be” NIL take home. $10k? $50k? $100k?
