When Kihei Clark said in the spring that he would return for a fifth season, the response from too many UVA Basketball fans was, But Kihei being around holds Reece Beekman back.
Truth is, the only thing holding Reece Beekman back is Reece Beekman.
Beekman is an NBA talent – elite on defense, showing flashes on offense.
On the defensive end, Beekman, who should have been the ACC Defensive Player of the Year last season, ranked in the Top 10 nationally in points per possession, score percentage and turnover percentage among the 393 players with at least 250 defensive possessions in 2021-2022, according to Synergy Sports.
Offensively, it’s hit-or-miss, sometimes from game to game – case in point, Beeks had 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting in the loss to Clemson in December; next time out, he had two points on two shots in a win at Syracuse.
That’s where the fans who weren’t what you’d call ecstatic about Clark returning think Clark being in the mix holds Beekman back.
Beekman needed to make the team his last year, but didn’t – and now we’re going into another year where he needs to make the team his, and you have to wonder if he’ll be able to, with a guy likely to be in the starting lineup beside him who started and played 33 minutes in the 85-77 win over Texas Tech in the 2019 national-title game.
If Beekman is in the starting lineup beside Clark again this year, yeah, it’s hard for Beekman to be the Beekman he needs to be.
They’re both point guards who need the ball to be effective at setting up teammates who aren’t themselves great from three – Clark shot 34.6 percent from three last year; Beekman 33.8 percent.
And both being on the floor at the same time for long stretches means less minutes for perimeter shooters like Armaan Franklin, Isaac McKneely and Ben Vander Plas, whose presence on the three-point line can make Beekman, in particular, more effective on the offensive end.
Beekman is a tough cover for most college point guards on dribble-drives one-on-one; it almost always requires help from a big sliding over when he touches the paint, which sends the entire defense into scramble mode.
Ideally, you’d have two options on the perimeter for him to pitch out to, and two bigs in the post available for rim runs, to make Beekman most effective.
The 2022-2023 ‘Hoos are going to be most effective on offense when it’s Beekman in the backcourt with some combination of Franklin, McKneely and Vander Plas as the perimeter options, and some combination of Jayden Gardner, Kadin Shedrick and Isacc Traudt as the bigs.
Which isn’t to say that having Clark around is at all a bad thing.
Having a guy who started a national-title game as the backup would be a nice luxury for coach Tony Bennett, were he to choose to go this route with Clark.
There will be games where Beekman gets into early foul trouble, and it will be nice to have Clark to come in to finish out the first half without the team having to miss a beat.
And sometimes, from a matchup standpoint, Clark can give Bennett flexibility defensively, to allow Beekman to match up with a good scoring two, allowing Franklin, another plus defender, to focus on checking an adept opposing three.
Clark should be a guy giving the Cavaliers a good 15 to 20 minutes a night off the bench, in a clear support role.
But that’s all up to Bennett – or rather, it’s all up to Beekman.
The big question heading into the 2022-2023 season for Virginia is, Can Reece Beekman force Tony Bennett’s hand and make the coach give him the reins?
Spoiler alert: I don’t expect it at the outset, but if Beekman isn’t the clear starter at the point, with Clark coming off the bench, by the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, it’s not either Bennett’s or Clark’s fault.
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Chris Graham
