This one hurts to write, about Jacob Cofie, heading out of the UVA Basketball program to take his talents to Southern Cal.
It’s understandable, though.
Cofie, at 6’9”, was the only big from the 2024-2025 Virginia roster that I would have prioritized going forward, but that is based entirely on potential, not necessarily what we saw from him on the court in his freshman season.
I’m assuming his stunted development is the result of poor big-man coaching, and that the NBA talent that we saw in spurts will start to come out once he gets better coaching.
Cofie is solid around the rim (56-of-80, 70 percent), but not as much on paint jumpers (15-of-34, 44.1 percent) and in the midrange (9-of-27, 33.3 percent).
The issue on his jumpers is a tendency to fade away on his shots, which, fortunately, can be coached out of you.
Cofie shot 75 percent from the foul line, which should translate into better numbers on jumpers than what we saw – including his attempts from three, Cofie was 31.7 percent on his jumpers this past season.
Cofie rates as a solid rebounder – his 9.1 percent offensive-rebound rate is in the 62nd percentile nationally, and his 19.1 percent defensive-rebound rate is in the 75th percentile nationally, per CBB Analytics.
And again, I assume he only gets better with better big-man coaching.
By going cross-country to Southern Cal, Cofie is going to be much closer to home – he’s a Seattle, Wash., native.
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Chris Graham
