So I missed the part about *not recruiting another backup-athletic 4 man to play behind Jayden and Kadin for 2021? Does anyone think that we are still open to that, even if their offense isnāt as refined as say a Diakite or Akil Mitchell?
Great stuff. Unfortunately, Iām going to have to describe Donald Hand as just a step below being a wahoo legend
The only good forwards in the transfer portal were all guys expecting 30 minutes a game unfortunately. Our best bet would a 2022 reclass over the summer or an NBA-draft feedback transfer good enough to surplant Kadinās potential (but hopefully in this scenario you still play Kadin heavy minutes. He and Reece are the future).
Yeah I was thinking about a developmental 4 who can grow over time and wouldnāt clog up a spot for Isaac ^2.
Does Schutt fall into a similar slotting as Taylor or is he different enough that we could still pursue?
Add the contact with Cam Craft as well.
Schutt they had contacted before Igor was on board when there was the possibility of having a little more wiggle room. Craft they had recruited some early on before McKneely committed. Theyāre both really good. I donāt see much chance of UVA pulling either off. Thereās a lot of process stuff in recruiting. If youāve been involved with a kid at all, you owe it to them to show up and see them play at least once. That might be part of it.
Given how few offers have been made for the 2022 class, I do wonder how much is known about this class. Obviously, last summer no one on the staff was able to evaluate anyone in game situations. I imagine everyone knows who the elite prospects are. However, I have to believe that there are a number of players who might be labelled as āeliteā were they more well known, or more thoroughly evaluated. How much of what the staff knows of this class is second hand knowledge? How much is based on video footage as opposed to āin personā evaluations? Obviously, for fans such as myself, following recruiting efforts is much like watching icebergs. 90% is unseen. Regardless, it seems to me that with the ending of the ādead periodā, this summer is fraught with more recruiting possibilities than are typical if only because less is known. Or, so I believe.
Yeah, there may be some ā22 players that really show out at a mid-major in a couple years because they were unseen or undervalued in this weird recruiting cycle.
I believe that happens anyways. Late Bloomers and such.
Yeah, but itāll be a big batch of late bloomers that no one has really seen for a year. This is where a good coaching network could help out, if a trusted high school coach can reach out to a college coach and say āyou really need to take a look at this guy.ā That happens anyway, but more important when the college guys havenāt been able to evaluate. I was hoping that Bennett would take a calculated risk on an athletic wing or big that could be developed without threatening guys on the roster or ā23ās that we are recruiting hard.
Actually, I suspect the fact that there were no live events last summer will result in more 2021 class recruits being either overvalued or undervalued than those in 2022. I also think that such was reflected in how few scholarships were offered by Virginia for 2021. While there are only a handful of UVa offers currently extended to 2022 prospects, after the staff is able to get out and see them in live games this summer I imagine that will change.
I love Schuttās game - heās the second coming of Joe Harris.
Why are we not involved with Donovan Clingan? I donāt know if heās really 7-1, but I do know that heās still growing.
Cause heās a slow big who benefits from being the tallest kid in his high school games and doesnāt fit at all what we want to do or even what we do in the past (mover blocker and hedging screens). Also not a prominent 3 pt threat and probably wants to be featured more from year 1.
Do you think Caffaro has more potential?
Heās been in our system for more years. But in general we should be preferencing mamadi/kadin/huff like modern bigs in general.
I find recruiting more interesting than the games themselves, but thatās just because if youāre a fan of a college team thatās had a losing season, and none of the players appear to be the type of athletes who suddenly grow 7 inches in the off-season, then itās easy to imagine mediocrity for next seasonās team, and the team after that, too. 
But if you follow recruiting and your school just is one of 300 colleges that offer a scholarship to the nationās top high school player (for example), then you can daydream about what it could be like if somehow the player does pick your school. You could go from being 5-20 to 20-5 by next year!
Anyway Iāve realized that like the fans of any other school, we UVa fans may get sidelined for months or even years, in anticipation of a great player, announcing that they are indeed going to sign with UVa!
But all the time, the player had almost no interest whatsoever in UVa. LOL.
Iām thinking about Trevor Keels, who would have probably paid his own way to go to Duke if they told him, āSorry, we want you, but weāre not giving out any scholarships this year.ā I mean, Trevor Keels had this friendship with Dukeās point guard, who was his former high school teammate, and they had been talking for a year about what it will be like for them to be teammates at Duke next year. Neither U Va, nor any other school, even finished second in this recruiting āraceā(?) But for so long, we were led to wonder, āWill Tony get Trevor Keels away from Duke, and break Dukeās heart??ā LOL.
And really, it was exactly the same with Efton Reid, III. If he had any interest in UVa, I donāt think he would have left the state of Virginia to play his high school basketball at IMG Academy. Letās face it: IMG Academy is not a place where students who are obsessed with academia go, like to Woodberry Forest. IMG Academy started out as a year-round ācampā for aspiring professional tennis players, I think. And theyāve become so ābig-timeā that I think academics are the last thing on a teenagerās mind when he/she decides to go where the weather is warm year-round, the sky is blue, the sun is out, and you can feel like youāre training for an NBA or NFL career in a way that no public high school can train you.
I donāt think Efton Reid, III ever had any serious interest in UVa. Sure, he visited the school, but once he left for IMG Academy, that was not like going to Oak Hill Academy, a place in the middle of nowhere, and a place where players do go to be serious students, because if you werenāt, would you go to spend a year at the edge of the earth (which is what it feels like if you actually drive to Mouth-Of-Wilson, Virginia on a cold, snowy day)?