Blake Buchanan isn’t a difference-maker kind of recruit for Virginia, but the 6’10”, 215-pound three-star did pick the ‘Hoos over Gonzaga, so he’s a big get in that sense.
Buchanan, a Class of 2023 recruit, announced his college choice on Sunday. He had narrowed his final two down to Virginia and the ‘Zags, who have had a nice run with bigs as of late (Drew Timme, Chet Holmgren, Rui Hachimura).
Interesting, then, that Buchanan would choose Virginia, which has a solid recent history in developing talents into NBA prospects, but not so much in terms of bigs; other than the couple of cups of coffee for Mamadi Diakite and Jay Huff, the rest of Tony Bennett’s guys in the Association are guards and small forwards.
From the little that I’ve been able to get to see of Buchanan, and it’s all highlights, so you take that with a grain of salt, I’m seeing Kadin Shedrick with the potential to develop into a Diakite or Huff.
Buchanan is athletic as all get-out, a rim protector with a motor, and others who have seen him more suggest that he could develop into a pick-and-pop three guy, which would be what he’d need to do if he wants to advance to the next level after college.
Looking at where he fits in, ideally, he slides in at the five alongside Isaac Traudt, the 6’10” four who was part of the heralded Class of 2022, a banger who already has range out to the three-point line.
The presence of Traudt and Shedrick, who would be a fifth-year senior when Buchanan enters as a first-year in 2023, would help ease the transition for Buchanan, who you’d have to think could be a redshirt candidate for his first year in the program.
That would give him time to bulk up and get acclimated to the Bennett system, as was done with Shedrick, Huff, Diakite, even De’Andre Hunter, a future #4 NBA Draft pick, so that’s no slight on the young man.
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Chris Graham
