Just read your article today from your mailbag. I certainly agree with your take on the academic side of this mess. However, Michigan, an elite public university, wouldn’t admit Caleb Love a year ago, but has had no trouble getting eight players out of the portal under Dusty May. Tony Bennett has zero in a longer period of time.
I really think it is more than the academics in play here. NIL is certainly part of it. Yet, it seems to me, many of these players are not even considering UVA because of the reputation they have acquired over the last five years, which is highly driven by the media.
The best players won’t even harbor the thought, much less come for a visit. Hence the mediocre transfers of the last few years.
K.
I see K.’s point about style of play being a factor in the recruiting issues for Tony Bennett being made a lot by UVA fans on social media, and it’s worth addressing.
First, about the “mediocre transfers” of the past few years: Jayden Gardner and Armaan Franklin led the team in scoring in 2021-2022 and 2022-2023. Neither is an NBA guy now, but same token, neither is mediocre.
Ben Vander Plas, Jake Groves and Jordan Minor were all valuable contributors who came in off the portal.
I don’t dare say anything nice about Andrew Rohde, at risk of being publicly flogged, but I’m still of the mindset that he’ll develop into a contributor over time.
Next, to the general idea that Bennett isn’t getting good recruits.
This is the current roster for 2024-2025. Additions on the way, we all hope.
- Taine Murray (class of 2021): four-star
- Isaac McKneely (class of 2022): four-star
- Elijah Gertrude (class of 2023): four-star
- Blake Buchanan (class of 2023): four-star
- Andrew Rohde (class of 2023): four-star
- Jacob Cofie (class of 2024): four-star
- Christian Bliss (class of 2023): three-star
- Anthony Robinson (class of 2023): three-star
- Ishan Sharma (class of 2024): three-star
Of the guys who played on the 2023-2024 team who are either graduating, preparing for the NBA Draft or transferring out:
- Reece Beekman (class of 2020): four-star
- Leon Bond (class of 2022): four-star
- Ryan Dunn (class of 2022): four-star
- Jordan Minor (class of 2023): four-star
- Jake Groves (class of 2023): three-star
- Dante Harris (class of 2023): three-star
The 2023-2024 rotation was nine four-stars and two three-stars.
The nine scholarship guys on the roster at the moment for 2024-2025 include six four-stars and three three-stars
This isn’t the best players not wanting to play at Virginia because of a media narrative situation.
Bennett has four scholarships to use to address two obvious needs – at point guard and at power forward – and then to, in general, address the ever-present need for perimeter shooting.
The media narrative about Virginia under Bennett being “boring” is hardly anything new. Long before there was a UMBC, the bloviators had their way with Bennett’s approach, and you have to know that rival coaches use the slow pace of play and emphasis on defense in recruiting.
This may be just me, but I say, fine. If a Richmond native like Armando Bacot, for instance, doesn’t want to be a 6’9” guy setting screens, scoring off pocket passes and pick-and-pops, and playing defense, which is how the NBA uses 6’9” guys without a passable jumper, he can go to North Carolina, dominate as a back-to-the-basket post guy for five years, then bounce around the G League until he gets a job in the real world, which is what is going to happen for him.
Bennett has never gotten the level of players that the Dukes and Kentuckys get, but he has turned a guy who had to redshirt as a freshman in De’Andre Hunter into a #4 pick who just signed a $92 million extension, and a guy in Malcolm Brogdon whose final two college choices were UVA and Harvard into an NBA Rookie of the Year who has made $132 million in his pro career, just to cite two examples.
If a kid on the transfer portal would rather run up and down the court for a couple of years and then get a real job, basically, there’s no stopping that from happening.
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Chris Graham
