The *type of projects we take on are very important too. We should always have 2 athletic, rebounding, shotblocking, defensive power forwards on the team. Either a first and third year or a second and fourth year. These guys raise our floor, during those defensive years, and they won’t scare away our “talented” offensive players which will raise our ceiling.
The type of projects we should NOT take are the small, unathletic, low-upside type of players IF they have not shown a profound offensive arsenal in highschool.
We tried to get an athletic big in Frankie Badocchi, but I think he had a health thing and gave up hoops. We basically went with an all lottery ticket approach for a few classes and Kihei is the only one who paid off.
Yeah Frankie was coming along pretty well, and then went to do Theatre (maybe it was Music?)- which is cool. But he was the next Akil/Darion in line. I wish he would have stayed.
While the “past performance is not a guarantee of future results” one coach has a history of lying, one does not. Did Pearl “lie” to Kessler, I guess it depends on how one hears statements like this from Pearl on Kessler’s commitment - "“Kind of like an artist, I’m just excited to get my hands on a piece of clay. “He’s a 7-foot-1, stretch 5-man who will be a joy to play call for and utilize as a mismatch.” As for Kessler’s reasons for leaving UNC, he said it was influenced by Covid so that he wanted to be closer to family. But, as one observer noted, UNC’s “scheme . . . didn’t allow him to play the way that he prefers, had quite a bit to do with his decision to leave. . . .[Kessler’ll] presumably have the opportunity to play more face-up basketball and fire off a lot of outside shots in Pearl’s system at Auburn, along with being much closer to his hometown in Fairburn, Georgia.”
Do I think Tony ever said you’ll have to work hard, you bet I do. Do I think Tony said you won’t be allowed to shoot 3s - as you said, seems equally nuts in light of Jay Huff’s season.
I think you are right that we weren’t seriously in the mix for Kessler on the transfer (although we were very much in it in his original recruitment), but I’m not sure that was Kessler’s choice. As I said, I believe Tony was apprehensive about anything that could adversely affect his 2022-23 recruiting and that shaped his approach to the transfer portal.
And, yes, we are in agreement - talent needs to be recruited. The new kids will be fun if they are given the opportunity to get off the bench.
And there is talent on the bench - I really like Taine and Igor, particularly if they get in good work with a trainer like Altizer after the season and during the summer.
I think Franklin will be very good next year. As pointed out by haney above, Gardner distorts how Tony wants to play. I’d like him back, but not to see 3-14 games when he can’t work inside and his 12-15 footer isn’t falling.
I sort of rambled a bunch - really like the discussion going on.
I didn’t read through all the responses and I get it’s just venting after a tough loss. But some perspective…
The national championship was won in the middle of the 2020 recruiting cycle. The only players recruited after that are underclassmen and transfers.
A national title isn’t really a game changer in basketball recruiting anyway. It did help in highlighting the success of individual players though. That’s what matters. You won’t suddenly get better “talent”. But it does make it easier to get similar players that you’ve proven to have success with.
I used to have all this charted but if I remember right about 35% of Bennett’s high school recruits had offers prior to July. It’s been 5 out of 9 since, and without the dead period it surely would have been more, definitely 6 with Bond.
They are recruiting a lot better actually, pretty much what anyone who understands the landscape could have hoped for. It’s just that they haven’t hit the jackpot as often yet. Casey Morsell and Jabri Abdur-Rahim were much bigger recruits than Brogdon or Hunter. haha
I do wonder what Tony realistically thought of this roster as he wrapped up recruiting/transfers last year.
I’m sure he expected Franklin to shoot the 3 better, which has really hurt the starting lineup.
But you’ve still got the Kihei/Reece awkward backcourt fit, and the Jayden/Kadin awkward frontcourt fit. None of these pieces seem to work well together even on paper, and don’t trend towards the 4-out offenses Tony has been preferring. Did he expect more from the young bench? Think Shed would be ready to contribute more offensively?
I’m also not sure how much another 2-year transfer or two (shooter, and big man seem like obvious holes now, but when was that apparent?) would have really inhibited the ‘22 class recruiting, which seems to be the prevailing wisdom. These guys expecting to walk into starter minutes next year? They’d be incredibly rare amongst TB recruits to do so.
That all being said, I would like to largely get off the transfer treadmill, so maybe this year and next year are just the medicine we have to take— just hurts to ‘lose’ a couple seasons under an all-timer coach.
Listening to Tony in the off-season it was very clear this season was going to be a struggle. I don’t think he thought the rebounding would be nearly as bad as it has been and that the defense would at least be a bit better
I was talking about last night how the Wake transfers have surprised. It’s interesting to look back at where people ranked transfers going into the season verses what they’ve done. CBS re-ranked the top 20. 8 of 20 including the two Wake guys weren’t in their preseason top 100. Gardner comes in at 12.
There are a lot of disappointing transfers. I think coaches are learning they need to study them as carefully as high school recruits. The way players are used can make them look a lot better or worse than they are.
Among other things, I am not convinced that “talent” is the biggest issue for this year’s team. Experience is a much greater concern, IMO. First, for a variety of reasons, this is just a ten man roster. I doubt that adding more youth to it would have been helpful. Clark, Stattman, and Caffaro were the only players with more than a year of playing experience with Coach Bennett when the season began, and Stattmann’s and Caffaro’s experience had been limited. For all intents and purposes, this might be considered Shedrick’s first year of competition, and his development has been seriously disrupted by illness and injury. People are posting as though Murray, Milicic, and McCorkle have nothing to offer. They may become significant contributors. They may not. All recruiting is a crapshoot. However, before you dismiss them, consider the career paths of Devon Hall, Mamadi Diakite, and Jay Huff. At similar points in their stays at Virginia, they contributions were pretty much the same, if not less.
By and large, recruiting has been fine. Attrition has been a bigger problem. Since the end of the 2019 season, Virginia has had four early departures to the NBA. It has had one player quit basketball to pursue other interests, and three underclassmen have transferred out of the program. Of those seven, five could have been members of this year’s team. Who knows what their contributions might have been had they stayed? I believe the staff has taken some chances trying to fill the holes created by the attrition, and the results have been mixed. Both Gardner and Franklin have had good games, and both have had bad games. The bottom line is that Virginia lacks experienced players this year. It especially lacks experienced senior leadership. And, IMO, Coach Bennett’s schemes demand experience.
FWIW, next year is going to present similar problems. It’s just a guess on my part, but I am a bit skeptical that any of the fourth year players will stay for that bonus year of competition. Among other things, if there is no unexpected premature attrition this spring, there won’t be room for all of them. I think a potential back court of Beekman and Franklin has a lot to offer. Hopefully, all the other returnees continue to improve so that the incoming frosh can gain playing time as they earn it, and not be thrown into the fray before they’re ready. Next year, may or may not be a huge success, but I think it will set the table for a 2024 season which should be outstanding.
