You’re never going to hear anything from Team Tony Bennett about the failed pursuit of Jarin Stevenson, because that’s Team Tony Bennett – which holds secrets closer than a papal conclave.
If we were to be privy to the reaction to the Stevenson news, my guess is it might be a sigh of relief.
Don’t get me wrong here. I don’t suppose that Bennett wasn’t 100 percent all in on trying to land Stevenson, a five-star power forward from North Carolina, who visited UVA last month and included Virginia in his final three.
No doubt, Stevenson would complicate things, in a good way, but still, he’d complicate things.
You don’t get a 6’10” NBA prospect and have him just out there setting screens, defending the pick-and-roll, doubling the post and rebounding, which is what Bennett otherwise asks from his bigs.
Integrating Stevenson would have required an overhaul in approach, for however long he was going to be on Grounds.
But you’d do it, if you could get a talent like that.
Bennett hasn’t yet had a five-star talent at Virginia, and when you consider that, remember that this is a program that has won six ACC regular-season titles and a national title in 14 years.
Imagine what Bennett could do if he had a five-star every once in a while, right?
But, at the expense of changing things, for what would probably be a year, two at the most?
That’s a tough bargain to have to strike.
For one, in addition to changing up the offense to get more run out of him, and maybe lightening up on the defensive end so that you can keep him on the floor, there’s the impact on the roster that getting a guy who has made it clear that he’s around for a year or two at the most.
What happens, for instance, to, say, Blake Buchanan, the incoming freshman four-star 6’11” forward? Or Ryan Dunn, the 6’8” dynamo sophomore forward that I’m hearing the coaches think is rocketing toward the NBA himself?
Do one or both of those guys, does 6’10” incoming three-star Anthony Robinson, decide to transfer, assuming that their minutes are going to be limited behind the future NBA lottery pick?
If you get two years out of Stevenson, you’re probably OK with having one or two of those guys deciding to bolt.
But what about a one-and-done situation with Stevenson?
It could be that once you dip your toe into those one-and-done waters, you’re in for good, whether you like it or not.
It’s one thing to plug a hole with a guy like a Jordan Minor or a Ben Vander Plas, who are effectively one-and-dones as grad transfers with one year of eligibility remaining.
Even using a guy like that for a year while your freshman learn the system and develop can backfire, as we may have seen be the case with Vander Plas getting minutes last season ahead of four-star power forward Isaac Traudt, who bolted after a redshirt season for Creighton, citing homesickness, but you have to wonder how homesick Traudt would have been had he gotten minutes last season.
At least with a grad transfer, they’re there for one year, guaranteed.
A Stevenson who wants to be a one-and-done might end up being a two-and-done.
Hey, it happens.
I don’t have any concerns about Bennett being able to adapt his system. For all his supposed stubbornness with regard to style of play, he changed everything up in 2020-2021 to get the best run from that year’s Big Three – Jay Huff, Sam Hauser and Trey Murphy, three guys 6’8” or bigger who are best used on the perimeter.
Even last year, Bennett went with more five-high and high pick-and-roll looks to get the best use of having two point guards, Reece Beekman and Kihei Clark, and Vander Plas, a 6’8” center who is a great passer for a big and can knock down open threes.
Bennett would have figured out how to best use Stevenson.
He would have figured out the one-and-done thing.
It would have been a busy next several months to get there.
He has the roster he wanted for 2023-2024, and the ceiling for the group that he has to work with should be high – ACC title high, Final Four high.
Having a talent like a Jarin Stevenson would have been an obvious help toward reaching those goals, but the goals are still there, and are achievable.
And Tony doesn’t have to change up too much in terms of the way he does things.
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Chris Graham
