Virginia Basketball 22-23 Roster Preview: Armaan Franklin

Will the former Indiana transfer get his shooting stroke back this season?

Matt Newton | Oct 11, 2022

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Virginia Cavaliers

The countdown is on for the start of the 2022-2023 college basketball season. Less than a month remains until a new season of college hoops tips off. With that in mind, it's time to preview the roster for the 2022-2023 Virginia men's basketball team. CavaliersNow will be going through the UVA roster player-by-player over the next few weeks in preparation for the season, which begins on Monday, November 7th against NC Central at John Paul Jones Arena.

Today, we begin with senior guard Armaan Franklin.

Click on the links below to read our player previews for the rest of the UVA men's basketball roster:

Francisco Caffaro

Armaan Franklin 2021-2022 stats: 11.1 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.4 apg, 1.0 spg, 39.2% FG, 29.6% 3pt FG, 76.0% FT

Tony Bennett knew he was going to need some reinforcements in the perimeter shooting department of his UVA roster following the departures of Sam Hauser, Trey Murphy, and Jay Huff after the 2020-2021 season. The solution to that problem was Indiana shooting guard Armaan Franklin, who transferred to UVA last year after shooting 42.4% from three the previous season with the Hoosiers.

Franklin's first two games as a Cavalier were quite polarizing. He shot 1/7 from three in the season-opening upset loss against Navy and then followed that up with a lights-out performance against Radford, knocking down 5/8 three-pointers. Of course, the natural reaction to those two games was that Franklin just needed to shake off some rust in the Navy game and that his more normal shooting tendencies were reflected in the Radford game.

Not so.

Franklin's poor shooting nights ended up being the dominant trend of his first season in Charlottesville while the hot shooting games were the rarity. Franklin went a combined 0/8 from three in his next two games and would go on to have ten such games with zero three-pointers made throughout the season.

There were a few good perimeter shooting showings for Franklin in the regular season - 4/6 3pt vs. Providence, 4/7 3pt at NC State, 3/5 3pt vs. Wake Forest. But, his shooting struggles largely persisted and he was forced to adjust his game to take more mid-range jumpers than threes. Most of Franklin's better offensive games were those in which he relied more on two-point field goals, such as in his 23-point performance against Georgia in which he made 8/16 field goals but shot just 1/7 from three.

There were glimpses of Franklin's sharpshooting self during the regular season, but for the most part, Franklin was another subpar shooter on one of the worst perimeter-shooting teams in college basketball last season. Virginia ended up ranking 252nd out of 350 Division I basketball teams with a team three-point shooting percentage of 32.3%. If UVA had been just a little bit better from beyond the arc, the Cavaliers likely would have made the NCAA Tournament.

Instead, Virginia was sent to the NIT, where Armaan Franklin ended the season on a very high note. In three NIT games, Franklin made 12 of his 27 three-point attempts, including shooting 5/8 at North Texas and 5/11 against St. Bonaventure in a pair of 17-point scoring performances to lead the Cavaliers.

Armaan Franklin and the UVA coaching staff probably would have preferred a better shooting season for the Indiana transfer in his first season in the orange and blue, but the way the 2021-2022 campaign progressed actually gives three strong indicators that Franklin might have a very promising season incoming.

First, Franklin's outside shooting struggles forced him to adapt his game. He developed his mid-range jumper and also became a better driver with the basketball to get to his spots at the elbow as well as to the rim. Second, there is hope that Franklin's run of good three-point shooting at the very end of the season will serve as a confidence-booster that will allow him to carry over that momentum to the start of this season. Between Ohio transfer Ben Vander Plas and first-year Isaac McKneely, UVA should have more viable perimeter shooting threats this season which should lead to better spacing and more open three-point looks for Franklin. Third, Franklin improved on the defensive end of the floor as the season went on and he became more and more comfortable in Virginia's Pack Line defense. With another offseason of practice and experience within UVA's defensive system under his belt, Franklin should be an even better defender this season.

If Armaan Franklin can shoot even a little bit closer to 40% from three, he could be the key to a totally revamped UVA offense in 2022-2023 and Franklin could find himself in discussions for Most Improved Player.

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Published Oct 11, 2022

MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.