I would make the call I think.
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Yeah, Iâm not a fan of the new normal. I still think a smart coach can find enough level-headed kids to build a roster. Itâs easier to swallow if the program is continually built from underneath with solid high school prospects. If you lose your PT to a younger guy who is developing better, well at least you had your opportunity. But if we bring in upperclass transfers that take PT from a second or third year guy, thatâs a house of cards IMO.
The reality is that JAR wasnât good enough this year to earn playing time. The 8 minute audition against Gonzaga yielded 0 points, 4 personal fouls and slow-footed Swiss-cheese defense. Not all great high school players are great college players. Iâm sure heâs a good kid and I hope he can turn it around at his next destination.
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How do you avoid that, though, if youâve got freshman and sophomores transferring out? Iâm not sure you can just replace them with more freshmen recruits, particularly given the timing of when transfers are announced. Iâm uncomfortable with the transfer culture thatâs been building for years and is now accelerating; though I think a lot of my feelings are wrapped up in my enjoyment of watching the development of players at UVA from freshmen to seniors. As zblakey points out, I guess our coaches have got to play the transfer game now and our fans have to get used to it.
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My point is that I think bringing in upperclass transfers with the idea of playing right away is what causes, or at least contributes to, rising sophomores and juniors transferring out. Iâm not behind the curtain to know, but you have to believe that Murphyâs 30 mpg cut into potential PT for JAR. To be fair, Murphyâs transfer was originally planned with a RS year in the weight room and then 2 years of on-court development. Then the free transfers happened, and his on-court play was unexpectedly advanced (I still believe he has a lot to improve on before he ever sees an NBA floor). But JAR committed to UVA before Murphy transferred and jumped him in line. Or that has to be the perception. Now JAR leaves and itâs still possible that Murphy leaves, and UVA has two wing roster holes with not much to show for the whole ordeal. If Murphy stays for another year, maybe itâs a wash if we can pick up another wing recruit (gives Murray a year to work in the rotation as a backup). But if we bring in other transfers, whatâs to keep Murray from getting frustrated too since heâs already committed? Whereas some see transfers as a way of stabilizing a roster (I can see that in some situations), you have to consider the destabilizing effect for players unhappy about getting jumped in line.
Edit: I used Murray as an example, but there is probably bigger worry with Shedrick and McCorkle, who have already been waiting.
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Kids are going to face the same issues at every school in this new climate, and itâs actually going to be more important now than ever to always be recruiting because youâre simply not going to be able to count on anyone staying put when they can leave and play right away for any reason.
Jabri could pick a school that three weeks later gets a commit from a 5-star high school stud at his position. Stuff like that is going to happen because at the end of the day a coach needs to bring in the best talent he can, while maintaining some semblance of roster balance, and then itâs up to the kids to earn their minutes.
I mean, any kid who thinks theyâre not going to have to compete to see the floor shouldnât be playing high-major college basketball anyway.
But all coaches are going to have to adapt to whatâs going on nationally, not just at UVa, and I feel quite confident that ours will adapt just fine.
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Disappointing to see but not surprising. Wish him well wheverever he ends up next.
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We better, because kids arenât going to be as patient anymore. The requirement to âsitâ one year changes everything!
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Some fans are going to freak over transfers out, and I get it. But the issue isnât really with them leaving, itâs that they werenât working out here. One underperformed badly and the other was way behind schedule.
Casey would be gone even if he had to sit. He needed a fresh start. Jabri might have been back under the old rules, but he probably would have left next year after still fighting for playing time. It feels like a bigger loss than it is because peopleâs impressions of him are still what they expected out of HS, and they never got to see him struggle on the court at UVA.
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All of us armchair coaches, myself included, love to point out who the coaching staff should and shouldnât play. At the end of the day, we donât see what happens in practice, where it has been proven every day is a chance to earn playing time. And believe it or not the coaches want to win every game too.
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I think thatâs right but Itâs also about the holes they leave on the roster. One hole was small the other was overinflated but looms large based on how itâs filled. Of course itâs magnified with the expected losses and the potential loss of Trey
If he could have helped he would have played. Is that way starting at the varsity level in high school all the way through professional sports. TB has played many freshmen meaningful minutes including Malcolm, Joe, London, Ty, Kyle, Reece and even Casey.
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Thatâs thing I never understood. If Abdur-Rahim had addressed an immediate need, he would have played if he were ready. I still believe the way to kill a kidâs confidence is throw them to the wolves regardless. Some kids can handle but other may not. And you nailed it, this myth of Bennett doesnât play first year kids if they are ready, is just that, a myth.
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Agree. Not having a full out of conference schedule hurt as well. He may have received more opportunity in those games and we all would have seen that he wasnât ready.
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So would you chalk up the string of guard misses to bad luck? Or is there something thatâs changed in our evaluation process? Itâs still early for Carson but man 2017-2020 is a long time to go without landing a single guard who can score. That would severely handicap even John Woodenâs UCLA teams.
Grady to Kentucky,
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Can it be somewhere in between? It seems like some guys come in and are fully capable of playing ACC basketball but theyâre not ready for Bennett basketball. Meaning theyâre not at the standard for Pack Line or our offensive scheme, but theyâre fine talent-wise.
TB has proven that if you canât play his scheme to his level of expectation, you wonât see time. Hauser was an exception to start this year.
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Who hasnât played that deserved minutes but didnât get them? If a first year player can contribute, when has Bennett not played them. Bottom line to me is if you canât handle the process, go somewhere else.
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I think the issue with JAR leaving is more about the optics and recruiting acumen than potential on court losses. The optics are awful. Two successive top recruits fail to pan out and transfer within days of one another. And then thereâs the recruiting. Reece had a promising first year, but before him, it had been a dry spell. Whomever we bring in whether through transfer or commitment better be high level, otherwise the fan meltdown will continue.
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If you think the fan meltdown is bad now just wait until Keels decides to head to Duke on Sunday. The boards are gonna be an angst ridden mess until we get a shred of good news
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