Five-star power forward Jarin Stevenson isn’t headed to Virginia, which isn’t surprising. That he’s going to Alabama, and not North Carolina, is the surprise.
“I want to thank everyone who supported me and showed me love. With lots of prayer, I have decided to reclass to 2023 and play for the University of Alabama,” Stevenson tweeted late Wednesday.
The 6’10” Stevenson, who played his high-school ball 15 minutes from UNC’s Chapel Hill campus, had indicated on Tuesday that Wednesday was going to be his decision day.
The ubertalent was rated as one of the top recruits in the Class of 2024 before deciding to reclassify to 2023, which suits his desire to advance to the NBA as soon as possible.
He’d listed Virginia as among his three finalists, though it didn’t seem like the two would be any kind of good fit with each other, despite the mental gymnastics put in by the fan base into trying to make it seem so.
UVA coach Tony Bennett’s system, for one, can be hard for bigs to pick up on the defensive end, with what is required of them defending against the pick-and-roll, in particular.
Two, Bennett’s offense can seem limiting for post players, with the bulk of the offense for post guys coming off pocket passes and lobs emanating from screen action.
Bennett has only had two of his UVA bigs, Jay Huff and Mamadi Diakite, get into the NBA, and both have bounced back and forth between the NBA and G League the past couple of years.
North Carolina has had a long line of bigs have solid success at the college level in recent years, but hasn’t seen any of its recent productive post guys move on to successful NBA careers after their time in Chapel Hill.
Alabama, you might have heard, has issues of its own. The program, which went 31-6 in 2022-2023 under fourth-year coach Nate Oats, is sending Brandon Miller to the NBA, where the freshman is a projected top five pick in tomorrow’s 2023 draft, but on the flip side, there is the messy issue of a murder case involving Darius Miles, who was a member of the basketball team this past season, and has been charged for his role in a January murder in Tuscaloosa.
Miller, the projected top five pick, is alleged to have been at the scene, and according to police was texted by Miles before the shooting, asked to bring Miles his gun.
That’s some flip side, right there.
But, hey, Oats, who is 92-42 in his four seasons at ‘Bama, with three NCAA Tournament appearances, plays up-tempo, so, you know, that ought to work out for the Stevenson kid, in terms of giving him counting stats for his draft push, at the least.
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Chris Graham
