I think some of the angst/apathy comes from A) having so little film and info to go on and get hyped about, and B) none of our foreign players to date have become star-level players. We’ve had guys from overseas for a long time now - Caffaro, Stattmann, Badocchi, Woldo, Salt - and Salt has been the only major contributor to date. Diakite is in a bit of a different category, as he was playing in the US in high school and everyone could see how he fared in the US playing style and against future D1 players.
I personally think Murray and Milicic are a different level of overseas recruit than we’ve gotten before, and I’m pretty psyched for Murray’s immediate impact and potential (haven’t gotten to watch enough Milicic to have an opinion). But I’d guess those reasons are why you’re seeing folks respond differently.
I’d also be cool with 2022 resetting to the big class every 2 years strategy Jay Wright mostly goes with. Could help with player retention in this era.
But yea transfers will be a bigger piece than ever. No doubt about that. Will probably settle down a little next year since all of this year’s transfers can’t do it again but the numbers will remain high.
If we could move from like second to last in all of D1 in pace to maybe 20th or 30th to last, that might help while not changing too much. But I don’t expect it to happen, and clearly we win with the style we play right now.
Yeah Villanova plays slow and they dont get that narrative shoved on them because they aren’t dead last. There are plenty of programs that play slow but havent been demonized by ESPN. I do believe you can still run an aggressive offense when being slow, and that ppg isn’t the only defensive metric to rank defenses by.
We were deadlast this year in pace but schools ranked in the slowest 50 schools by pace this year also include: Villanova, UConn, Purdue, Houston, Oregon state, UCLA.
Meanwhile Georgia was 7th in pace, and their entire team transferred out.
We haven’t even gotten to second to last since Malcolm graduated (well not total. Maybe we have offense only?) lol I agree getting to just 300th would mostly disarm it on the trail
The dead period ends June 1st, as I understand it. I suspect the 2022 prospect pool will begin to grow. Who knows who will be the emerging talents? Furthermore, I still believe that major strengths of Bennett’s Virginia teams have been experience and continuity. Depending on where a player is in his career, there is a bit of sacrifice in those qualities when a transfer is accepted. The RS requirement helped compensate for that, a bit. Braxton Key was something of an exception, but he was still considerably better, IMO, during his second year in the program. I thought both Hauser and Murphy struggled with the defense early in the year, and, though they improved, were never really up to the standard we have come to expect. I really wish Murphy would return for another season because I think he would blossom further, but, as he is picked to go high in the draft, I don’t blame him a bit for taking advantage of that opportunity. I still have memories of the sacrifice Dex made. I am unsure where this “one time exemption” in the transfer portal is going to take college ball. I don’t think I like it. While everyone seems quite excited about the additions of Franklin and Gardner, I am not as sure as most that their contributions will live up to those expectations. At least, not immediately. I don’t think that a third of the roster should be transfers, but I do believe that those who are accepted should have at least two years of eligibility remaining, and that they shouldn’t be needed as starters. But that’s probably just me.
I agree with you on continuity. I was using that as an arugement of taking a high school prospect versus a freshman transfer with 3-4 years left. If the high school recruits leaves for the pros or transfers after 1-2 years, not much continuity there. Also I absolutely agree there will be road bumps in the non-conference next year but a lot of teams will struggle. Almost the entire top 50 will have entirely new rosters. This isn’t just affecting us by any means.
I absolutely am on the same page that grad transfers are not ideal unless there is a gaping need on the roster due to attrition or early NBA declaring.
Yo, it’s a message board. The whole point is to post opinions and have civil discussion. Don’t think the poster took personal shots at anybody or anything like that.
Second, I think every Virginia fan on earth would say Tony is the best basketball coach we’ve had and that this period is the golden age. But fans can still have discussion about the golden age as it’s happening and what is most likely to perpetuate it. That doesn’t mean they’re not appreciative. All of this same type of discussion happens on Duke, Villanova, and UNC boards as well.
Nah on the UNC boards their discussing their want to go after Quincy Guerrier and Jarace Walker, effectively double recruiting over McKoy. And Duke is getting giddy over a momentum change overnight in their favor for Patrick Baldwin Jr (tbd where he ends up but apparently its happening this week), effectively pushing Keels to the bench unless they bench Wendell Moore and put Mark Williams on the bench.
But forreal yeah even Duke fans are extremely appreciative of coach K and will look back fondly on his career, but also were frustrated with the lack of defensive coaching and whether that will hinder their super team next year.
1 - Thanks for the content.
2 - Not every stakeholder in this scenario accepts your frame of reference. They have their own sets of costs and benefits to analyze.
3 - There are more inarguable facts than the greatness of the UVA Mens Basketball program that are contended in the modern world.
Generally agree with your concept but not sure you’re going to be able to have this many transfers. Transfers aren’t going to come to your program to come off the bench, as a general rule. Therefore you can’t have 5 transfers because there would never be starters minutes for normal recruits. I think the new reality is closer to 2-3 transfers on your roster at all times. Some years you’re taking one transfer. Some years three.
Oh yeah not 5 transfers in one year. 1 or 2 a year in a normal year. 3-4 in year like this where we lost 6 players and only return two players who really played
I think accepting that would mean accepting that we won’t get Jordan Hall (Ty jerome playmaker/can play 2 dynamic pointguards on the court without sacrificing shooting)/Quincy Guerrier (athletic defender/shotblocker and the perfect 4 to play alongside Gardner at the 5 with his rim protection). It’s like someone stuck in the past looking for the button to go back in time. The sooner they acknowledge that there is no button the sooner they can move forward…
But I refuse to move forward LOL.
Again, in another post on another thread I wrote I was completely okay with a pg, Armaan, Taine, Jayden, Kadin lineup which reminds me of those 2014-15 teams where we work our way up to a 1 seed after being ranked in the teens/20s. And we can run it back the next year with everyone returning from that line up.
But fanfiction me is like “hmmmmmmmmm no”. Still want to fill the Murphy/Jabri spots with upgrades. And this part of me is more likely to be let down.
I just want another player solely on the fact that there seems to be a LOT of smoke around both Patrick Baldwin Jr to Duke (with some weird Georgetown smoke too) now and this truly being Coach K’s last season before he drives off into the sunset. This will be Tony’s last chance to beat Coach K and I want to us to basketball-wise punch that super team in the face, God ESPN is going to be so obnoxious and Coach K’s hair is going to be the blackest of blacks. Buy stock in any chain stores in Durham that sell shoe polish.
I don’t think he implied we’re done with transfers. Just said no serious targets at the moment and it would be a case but case thing. Plus my personal opinion is we’d be nuts not to get another experienced college player and that certainly holds weight with the staff.