I had an entertaining email back-and-forth today with Jason Warley, whose son, Jalen Warley, was briefly a member of the UVA Basketball program, before hitting the transfer portal on Tuesday.
Jason Warley, who played at St. Joseph’s in the early 1990s, reached out to take issue with my column on his son’s decision to leave the UVA program, which I reported was the result of him falling down the depth chart at point guard.
ICYMI
I corroborated the initial reporting on this with sources as the father and I traded emails.
Jason, in his initial email, insisted that his son was the starter at the point guard spot despite playing with a “bad hand,” and that Jalen already has offers from three Top 25 schools since entering the portal on Tuesday.
He also disputed a report from 247Sports that Jalen had left open the possibility of returning to Virginia.
“Jalen never had second thoughts about returning. That isn’t true at all, maybe someone is saving face,” Jason wrote to me.
Jalen Warley would be able to transfer and play somewhere in the second semester of the 2024-2025 academic sports year, but his father indicated that Jalen will use the spring semester to rest his injured hand “and get acclimated to school and system.”
Warley had been the first commitment from the transfer portal in the spring recruiting season, after playing three years at Florida State, where he averaged 7.5 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game last season.
Virginia then added a second point guard in the portal recruiting season, Dai Dai Ames from Kansas State, who is now expected to be the starter at the point guard spot when the ‘Hoos open the 2024-2025 season next week.
Interim coach Ron Sanchez also has redshirt freshman Christian Bliss and junior combo guard Andrew Rohde as options to get minutes at the point in the three-man backcourt.
Junior Isaac McKneely is entrenched as the starter at the off-ball guard spot, with senior Taine Murray and true freshman Ishan Sharma competing for minutes off the bench on the perimeter.
The issue that most needed to be addressed from last year’s group was perimeter shooting, and Warley was not going to be a help there.
Warley made just one three last season at FSU, and he was 5-of-21 on the season on jump shots, according to data from Synergy Sports, doing most of his work on the offensive end with dribble penetration – shooting 68-of-145 (46.9 percent) on shots at the rim.
That’s basically what Ryan Dunn was last year for UVA, without the defense – Warley rated as below average on the Synergy Sports scale, allowing opponents to shoot 43.0 percent from the floor and score 0.958 points per possession in 2023-2024.
I’m seeing possible interest in Warley from the likes of Louisville, maybe North Carolina, Penn State and Maryland.
His dad sold him to me in one email as a Ben Simmons-type, which I can see – a big guard who can see over the defense, distribute the ball, and get to the rim.
I wish the kid the best.
It just sucks for both sides that it wasn’t a fit.
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Chris Graham
