Players capable of leading the team in scoring on any given night: Diakite, Huff, Woldetensae, Morsell, Key, in that order. No surprises there, I guess.
3-point shooters: Diakite, Huff, Woldetensae, Stattmann. Clark, Key, and Morsell can maybe get us a three from time to time. List ends there. But, wait, that's kind of a long list, so okay.
I think it’s possible that we have the best frontcourt in the country. No shit.
Relative to expectations, players who REALLY impressed me:
— Mamadi Diakite. My God. This is a complete, dynamic, NBA-ready MAN. He’s ready to average 15 & 8, and he’s clearly honed that perimeter shot while adding an array of hooks. First-team ACC. Reminiscent of Mike Scott's senior season, minus the fadeaway but adding a legit 3-point jumper and low post aggression.
— Kody Stattmann. I was really really impressed with his hustle and grit. Shot looks good. Reminds me of glue guys of the past, guys like Willie Dersch, Jason Williford, and late-career Evan Nolte. Didn’t see much of him handling the ball, but the defense was night-and-day better. He seems really bought-in to the concepts. Saturday, he topped the team in hustle, in my humble opinion. And that’s pretty big, and was completely unexpected. (Holy shit, I might be a Kody Stattmann stan.)
Relative to expectations, players who impressed me:
— Jay Huff. He’s ready for his star turn. Shot’s still there, defense is improved, positioning is improved, feet are quicker, upper body is stronger. Very excited about him on the verge of the season. There will - and should - be times when the offense runs through Jay.
— Tomas Woldetensae. This cat can shoot. He’s taller than I expected, but some of that may be his long neck and big hair. His point guard skills are apparent, which was a mild surprise to me, as I was expecting more of a pure 2-guard. He can facilitate the offense.
— Chase Coleman. Walk-on Kihei Clark. Small, quick, scrappy, tough. Played a lot, clear he’s quickly earned the team’s/coaches’ respect. Could see some game action in relief of what appears to be a thin backcourt.
— Casey Morsell. My expectations were high, and he met them. Mini-Brogdon, that’s about the best compliment I can give a young guard. Not sure about his shot from the perimeter, it didn’t feel pure... but the rest of his game is as-advertised or better, so I’m encouraged. You'll remember, Brogdon had a troubling "flat" shot his first year at UVA... Casey's shot isn't flat, it just seems like an effort to get it off. I'm spoiled from watching so much Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome recently.
— Jayden Nixon. Walk-on looks athletic (wild at times) and tough. Doubt he plays any meaningful minutes, but it is a thin backcourt.
Players who more or less played to my expectations:
— Francisco Caffaro. At one point I accidentally called him “Jack.” He’s maybe less wide/thick than Jack and slightly more skilled. Slightly. But the resemblance is uncanny. Defense not nearly as good as Jack’s, I should add.
— Kihei Clark. Same ol’ Kihei, which is not a bad thing. Still can’t shoot when he has time to get his brain involved in his shot. He seems to have superhuman premonition when it comes to tracking down loose balls that were tapped out by the initial rebounder (Kody is good at this, too). It’s an important skill for our 1-3 guys, because Mamadi and Jay are both really good at that tap. Anyway, I'm still worried about the offense bogging down when Kihei's in the game, but he makes up for all of that with his defense and all of the little things he'll do.
— Braxton Key. He still can’t shoot! But his defense and rebounding are great. He’s crafty on offense, I’ll give him that. I do believe he tops out at about 10 ppg as a scorer. Leadership presence seems to have grown. Diakite is the clear tone-setter, though... which could yield an edgier team than we’re used to seeing.
Players who slightly disappointed me:
— Justin McKoy. Seemed to float throughout the scrimmage, I never saw much aggression or assertiveness out of him. He was overshadowed by the players I’ve named above, and really seemed to disappear. The walk-ons had more of a presence in the game.
— Sam Hauser. He’s clearly very very skilled, and scored a lot, but he didn’t sparkle as much as I expected him to. I’m now certain that Jay Huff leaves early, so we’ll need to really lean on Hauser in 2020-21, and I don’t think he offers enough physical presence. You'll hear a lot about Hauser right now, about how good he looked on Saturday, that he was the best player on the floor, etc. Here's what I say: Not even close. He hit a lot of jumpers, but did nothing else. Diakite was - BY FAR - the best player on the floor. Huff #2. Then about 5 guys jockeying for #3... and I might go with Stattmann in that spot. Loved all the things he did. I'm a Stattmann stan.
— Kadin Shedrick. He reminded me of the 2016 version of Mamadi Diakite, which I guess isn’t really a bad thing. He needs to redshirt, but I like his upside more than Caffaro’s. By the way, we’ve come a long way from when we were recruiting a guy like Jarred Reuter. Give me the athletic upside of Shedrick every time.
I expect our starting lineup to be Clark / Stattmann / Key / Diakite / Huff, with Morsell, Woldetensae, Caffaro, and McKoy off the bench. Coleman and Nixon can play a deep rotation role, if needed. Shedrick redshirts.
GO HOOS!
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