Why harrell and johnson left uva

When Johnson decided to redshirt, he acknowledged that his time would be further in the future, as is often the case for college big men, and happily accepted a year of free tuition and high-level basketball training. While I can't know all of Johnson's calculations, deciding not to continue to work hard and wait his turn is a surprise.

James didn't play his senior year of high school, redshirted last year, and now must sit another year because of transfer rules; the 3.

To be blunt, Harrell and Johnson had done little this year for the team. This isn't to take away from their talent or all the hard work they surely put in, but it simply hasn't translated to the floor in this young season. Johnson has yet to play meaningful minutes. Harrell's struggles have made him a liability thus far. Yes, KT likely would have worked out his problems and been able to help the team this year, but clearly the attitude wasn't quite there.

Depth in the case of injury or foul trouble becomes the next problem. By taking the redshirt off of Jesperson, Bennett takes a step toward correcting it. A little added pressure on Jesperson as our fifth wing player and Atkins as fourth in the frontcourt seems to be the most glaring impact on the rest of this year. Obviously, the potential for injury is a concern, but we would have been similarly thin in that case with or without the transfers. Player performance in recent years has shown the value in having veterans leading the team.

Mustapha Farrakhan, Jerome Meyinsse, and Will Sherrill all got off to beginnings as role-players or benchwarmers before making huge impacts their 4th years. Assane Sene is on that same path, and even Mike Scott turned few heads when he made his debut for UVA about ten years ago.

After investing scholarships in Harrell and Johnson, it's a shame that we won't see how far they would have progressed. Regardless of the fact that others will surely step up and fill their roles, they each had large potential to grow into major contributors, and we'll lose that chance.

Additionally, the transfers have directly led to the loss of the potential fifth year of eligibility for Paul Jesperson, which has similar negative impacts. Another area of concern is the chance that continued attrition becomes the target for negative recruiting by rival schools.

I'm not too worried about this hurting too much. I'm sure that it will be employed against us, but that type of talk doesn't seem to resonate with recruits as much as the potential for playing time, which conveniently just became easier to obtain down the road.

James Johnson's dad was unhappy with the coaching staff's handling of his son. After announcing the transfer decision, Johnson's father, Ted Johnson, released this statement. On the surface, it seems a classy goodbye to those who worked with his son, expressing support for the team. However, as Ted thanks his son's professors, the Director of Basketball Operations, and seemingly everyone but those working in the JPJ dining hall, the lack of a mention of Tony Bennett or the coaching staff is a glaring omission.

For whatever reason, the Johnsons were not happy with how the situation played out, and he used this letter as a chance to take one more passive-aggressive shot at the coaches. Not classy after all. My first thought But, the answer to this one should be coming in the next couple weeks.

I'd expect to see both closer to home at places where they could see playing time as soon as they are eligible. Tougher to guess for Johnson, there are plenty of California schools that would surely be interested, but we'll see soon enough. Hopefully, both find situations that they are more comfortable in and excel there; after all, you only go to college once! Jesperson was the Wisconsin Player of the Year last year and is known for his outstanding shooting ability just check out this video Paul, I'm expecting a few of these per game.

On the other hand, he planned on redshirting for a reason and is at a sizable disadvantage after missing out on the first part of his college career. It will be interesting to see how fast he adjusts to the speed of the game and fits into the team's offensive and defensive sets. It's too early to tell. Transfers are increasingly a part of college basketball, though Bennett's recruits seem to jump ship at a higher rate.

For a coach who runs a very specific system and tends to shoot it straight with his players, this is expected. When Bennett signed a 6-man class, it was a good bet that not all of the "Six Shooters" would be walking the lawn for graduation, though losing four is obviously surprising.

These transfer decisions are no reason to panic, and they won't be the last ones to leave the program. If this becomes a pattern among recruits, I would be a tad concerned, but not while the program is at its highest point in years.

Essentially, there are two possibilities. First, the sudden loss of two teammates and good friends could be a bit jarring. A potential reaction would be to treat the news as a distraction and lose focus. I don't think this is the mindset of our players. Even worse than having players leave would be having teammates who want to leave. Their departures could serve to bring the team closer together and cause them to really buckle down the rest of the way.

The team is excited about what they are capable of accomplishing, and I see them continuing to strive to reach those goals, regardless of outside circumstances. In case we forgot, UVA is having quite a year! Maryland-Eastern Shore is and ranked out of teams by KenPom. We don't have to fear any Seattle-like struggles against these guys; fans could just relax while our strong RPI goes down the drain.

And now, on the eve of his junior season, he knows his role on the team has changed from Our offense really flowed through him, and I think on that end of things, I gotta take it upon myself to be a lot more aggressive. At Chelan High, a small school that had about students, Harris played three sports football, basketball and baseball as a freshman and sophomore.

Dick Bennett coached the Cougars for three seasons before turning the program over to his son, Tony, a former NBA guard who after getting the head job started pursuing the younger Harris.

And so when Bennett left for UVa after the season, Harris was intrigued. Bennett did not share those doubts. About six weeks later, he committed to the Cavaliers. By the start of last season, Baron and Regan were gone, and Harrell and Johnson left in late December after the team returned from a trip to the Pacific Northwest.

Back then, he carried only pounds on his frame. But that has helped him be a little bit more explosive, be a little bit more physical and embrace that part of his game, which has been good to see. As a freshman, Harris started 25 games and averaged More than half of his field goals that season came from beyond the 3-point arc. As a sophomore, Harris diversified his game, scoring more in the lane and around the basket.

But his work and his effort have been tremendous the last two years. Bennett played for his father at Wisconsin-Green Bay.