Seven Observations from the Virginia Basketball Blue-White Scrimmage

The Virginia males’s basketball crew held its annual Blue-White Scrimmage on Saturday, giving followers their first style of reside UVA basketball since March. CavaliersNow was at JPJ for the scrimmage and we have collected our ideas on what we noticed from the Hoos on Saturday and what it may imply for the upcoming season. 

Watch the video under for full highlights from the scrimmage after which proceed studying for our seven observations from the Virginia males’s basketball Blue-White Scrimmage:

1. These Wahoos can shoot

Final season, UVA shot 32.3% from past the arc as a crew, which ranked 252nd out of 350 complete Division I males’s basketball groups for the 2021-2022 season. The Cavaliers have been merely horrible taking pictures from distance and their lack of ability to knock down open perimeter pictures or area the ground was solely answerable for a number of of their losses final 12 months. 

That won’t be the case in 2022-2023. We’ll undergo a number of particular person gamers who stood out throughout the scrimmage, however Virginia as a complete shot the lights out at JPJ throughout Saturday’s scrimmage. Unofficially – there have been no official stats saved – the Cavaliers mixed to make 15 of 32 three-point makes an attempt for a crew three-point taking pictures proportion of 46.9%. It is an admittedly small pattern dimension, however that might have ranked first in all of faculty basketball final season. It is much more spectacular that the Hoos have been ready to do that towards themselves, contemplating the sound elementary protection that Tony Bennett’s groups deliver to any setting, together with an intrasquad scrimmage. Each the Blue crew and White crew offenses have been capable of generate open appears to be like from three and knock down contested perimeter pictures as nicely – two issues that have been in brief provide a season in the past. Taking pictures is not going to be the weak spot of the 2022-2023 Virginia Cavaliers.

2. Armaan Franklin is primed for a big-time bounce again 12 months

The Most Improved Participant shouldn’t be one of many awards that the media votes on within the ACC preseason media ballot. But when it was, I’d have solid my vote for Armaan Franklin. His three-point taking pictures proportion plummeted from 42.4% at Indiana in 2020-2021 to 29.6% at Virginia final season. After a summer time of tirelessly engaged on his shot with former UVA star Justin Anderson – a participant who is aware of a factor or two about drastically enhancing his shot between seasons – Franklin regarded like a totally completely different participant on Saturday. 

It began from the very starting of the scrimmage. On one of many first few possessions, Franklin was handed the ball with just some seconds left on the shot clock. He used a dribble transfer and crossover to create some area from his defender Leon Bond III, after which stepped again and shot a deep three-pointer that hit nothing however internet. That is a shot that Franklin would not even try throughout his taking pictures droop final season. Franklin made 4 of his six three-point makes an attempt, together with a couple of catch-and-shoot triples from the nook. He additionally had a pleasant driving layup, displaying how his all-around sport developed final season when he may now not depend on his three-point shot, and completed with 14 factors, the second-most by any participant throughout the scrimmage. Franklin regarded easy and assured taking pictures the rock, a powerful signal that he could possibly be returning to his sharpshooting type this season.

3. The Isaacs will play

Isaac McKneely and Isaac Traudt are as gifted as marketed they usually may simply be much more able to play on opening night time than we anticipated. McKneely completed with 9 factors on 3/7 taking pictures from past the arc and Isaac Traudt had 12 factors, making 4 out of his 5 three-point makes an attempt. 

McKneely is the closest factor we’ve seen to Kyle Man from a pure sharpshooting perspective. He has a fast launch, strikes nicely with out the ball, and is cash on catch-and-shoot threes from the nook. The distinction between McKneely and Man is that McKneely is an effective two or three inches taller and has fairly a little bit of an edge in energy and athleticism. McKneely confirmed off his hops and snatched a couple of rebounds out of the air and regarded greater than able to maintaining in on-ball defensive conditions. He wasn’t as profitable placing the ball on the ground to drive to the rim and he had a layup try blocked by Ryan Dunn, so there’s actually some room for progress, however it was a stable first displaying for the two-time West Virginia Gatorade Participant of the 12 months. Tony Bennett mentioned earlier this week that the Cavaliers have been going to wish McKneely to play as a consequence of his capacity to shoot from the guard place. It appears he’ll have the ability to contribute extra than simply dependable taking pictures in his first season in Charlottesville.

With Isaac Traudt’s offensive skillset – taking pictures, ball-handling, and athleticism – mixed along with his dimension at 6’10”, 229 kilos – we knew it was going to be tough for Tony Bennett to maintain him off the ground even along with his monitor document of not taking part in freshmen a lot. The one considerations have been how shortly he may settle into the UVA defensive scheme and if he has the energy and physicality to battle within the paint with opposing large males. With Francisco Caffaro lacking the scrimmage, it was as much as Isaac Traudt to defend towards Kadin Shedrick down low for nearly your entire time. And though Shedrick ended the scrimmage because the main scorer with 15 factors, none of it got here simple. Traudt greater than held his personal within the publish and on the boards, and Shedrick had a tough time gaining floor on the true freshman within the paint. Traudt did have some foul bother – one thing that isn’t in any respect unusual for UVA large males, particularly those at present on the roster – however general Traudt did nicely on the defensive finish. Offensively, he’s every thing the Cavaliers hoped he could be. We did not get to see him drive in any respect, since his defender normally gave him some area on the perimeter when he had the ball, a call which Traudt punished by pulling down 4/5 three-pointers. He shot with confidence and with out hesitation and in addition made himself a really interesting choice within the decide and roll.

4. Talking of the Choose and Roll

UVA’s offense has gone via a gradual evolution over time as Bennett and the teaching employees have made marginal changes to mirror modifications in personnel and skillset on the roster. The bottom offense – blocker-mover or ‘sides’ as Virginia calls it – has remained the identical. UVA ran sides a ton throughout the scrimmage as regular, however the Cavaliers additionally carried out quite a lot of ball screens, utilizing an virtually infinite mixture of ball-handlers and screeners. We have not seen this quantity of on-ball display motion because the 2019 championship run and I feel it is a testomony to the extent of depth and flexibility the Hoos have on the roster this 12 months by way of offensive playmakers.

Reece Beekman ran an efficient decide and roll with Kadin Shedrick and Jayden Gardner at instances final 12 months. This season, the additions of Ben Vander Plas and Isaac Traudt give the Cavaliers the choice to have both of these bigs “pop” to the three-point line as an alternative of rolling to the basket, one thing that merely wasn’t within the repertoire of the Virginia offense final season. UVA additionally has extra decisions with who handles the ball in these conditions, as we noticed Beekman, Kihei Clark, Isaac McKneely, and even Taine Murray provoke a decide and roll throughout the scrimmage. For anybody who has carefully adopted the Virginia offense throughout the Tony Bennett period, it is a very thrilling growth. 

5. Aggressive Kadin Shedrick

As we talked about earlier than, we didn’t get to see Kadin Shedrick go head-to-head with Francisco Caffaro, because the Argentinian heart was in avenue garments and dominated out of the scrimmage with an undisclosed harm. As a substitute, Shedrick battled freshman Isaac Traudt down low and infrequently Ben Vander Plas. Shedrick led all scorers with 15 factors on 5/9 taking pictures, together with a 5/7 clip from the free throw line. It was removed from an ideal sport for the redshirt junior, as he nonetheless must work on his ending within the publish and on being extra relaxed and easy within the paint. However Shedrick was very aggressive in looking for his shot and fought arduous for rebounds as nicely, incomes his technique to the free throw line seven instances. We had heard rumors of Shedrick growing his exterior shot – apparently he splashed a three-pointer throughout one of many exhibition video games in Italy – however we didn’t see him try a jumper within the scrimmage, so it appears there’s one other aggressive gear for Shedrick to succeed in. On the opposite finish of the ground, Shedrick flexed his safety talents, rejecting Armaan Franklin on a drive to the rim early within the scrimmage. A breakout season remains to be attainable for Kadin Shedrick with slightly extra refinement on the offensive finish.

6. Ben Vander Plas makes an impression

Again in June, I wrote about how Ben Vander Plas could possibly be the most recent in a protracted line of switch success tales below Tony Bennett – beginning again with Anthony Gill, persevering with with guys like Braxton Key, Trey Murphy, and Sam Hauser, and most lately with Jayden Gardner and Armaan Franklin. In Vander Plas, the Cavaliers knew they have been getting an skilled veteran able to having a huge impact on the sport – UVA bought some direct proof of that when Vander Plas scored 17 factors to guide Ohio to a primary spherical upset over No. 4 seed Virginia again within the 2021 NCAA Event. 

From an X’s and O’s standpoint, the addition of the 6’8″ Vander Plas ideally provides UVA an choice at ahead that may stretch the ground along with his perimeter taking pictures, one thing that the Cavaliers have been sorely lacking final season. Vander Plas additionally probably provides Virginia a taller choice than the 6’6″ Jayden Gardner to defend towards opposing forwards. What Vander Plas confirmed within the Blue-White Scrimmage was very encouraging on each of these fronts. Vander Plas knocked down three of his 4 three-point makes an attempt and dished out three assists, wanting very comfy working in UVA’s offensive system regardless of becoming a member of this system just some brief months in the past. The journey to Italy actually helped with that. On the defensive finish, Vander Plas did greater than sufficient to indicate his worth, even doing a decent job guarding towards Kadin Shedrick – who has three inches on Vander Plas – within the publish. It will likely be attention-grabbing to see what lineups Tony Bennett runs with Vander Plas, however the potentialities are fairly engaging.

Talking of transfers, former Wahoo Nigel Johnson, who transferred to UVA from Rutgers and helped the Cavaliers win the 2018 ACC Event title, was acknowledged throughout the scrimmage. Johnson was tragically struck by a automobile on the facet of the highway whereas stranded with a flat tire and suffered critical accidents that required in depth surgical procedure. He’s on the mend however has a protracted highway to restoration forward of him. UVA males’s basketball supplied a hyperlink to a gofundme web page the place followers can assist Johnson in his restoration. 

7. Reece Beekman and Kihei Clark present good chemistry with the brand new guys

After sharing level guard duties for many of the season final 12 months, Virginia’s tandem of level guards bought to function their very own offensives for almost the whole thing of the scrimmage. Kihei Clark and Reece Beekman scored simply 4 factors every and neither hit a three-pointer, however aside from that, it was a particularly environment friendly and efficient offensive day for each Clark and Beekman working their respective offenses. Clark dished out 12 assists and Beekman had seven assists. Lots of these assists concerned the brand new faces on the crew, displaying that Clark and Beekman have already developed a stable chemistry with Vander Plas and the freshmen all through the offseason and the journey to Italy. 

One play that stood out was a drive and kick from Beekman, who penetrated the lane and dished a cross-court move to Isaac McKneely, who splashed the open catch-and-shoot three with ease. That play was very paying homage to a play UVA ran quite a bit with Ty Jerome and Kyle Man again within the day, a play that has not been open within the UVA playbook very a lot of late due to the crew’s spacing points and lack of perimeter scoring threats. With extra dependable taking pictures on the ground, Beekman ought to have the ability to thrive on performs like this, as he forces opposing defenses to assist off of knockdown shooters like McKneely, or threat letting Beekman get to the rim for straightforward baskets. 

It is nonetheless very early and Tony Bennett actually made it clear in a quick message he gave to the group at JPJ after the scrimmage that his Cavaliers have quite a lot of work to do to prepare for the beginning of the season in a couple of weeks. However, primarily based on the product we noticed on Saturday, that is shaping as much as be a really thrilling Virginia males’s basketball season. 

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