What We Learned From the Virginia Men's Basketball Blue-White Scrimmage
We got our first look at the 2023-2024 Virginia men's basketball team on Saturday as the Cavaliers held their annual Blue-White Scrimmage at John Paul Jones Arena. CavaliersNow was courtside for the scrimmage (see our full video highlights from the Blue-White Scrimmage here) and now it's time to break down what we saw on Saturday and what it means for the upcoming UVA basketball season.
Leon Bond III and Dante Harris make strong arguments to be starters.
In most of the discourse leading up to this Virginia men's basketball season, the general consensus has been that four of UVA's five starting spots are penciled in: Reece Beekman, Isaac McKneely, Ryan Dunn, and Jordan Minor. There are few contenders for that fifth starting spot and it'll depend on what Tony Bennett and his staff are looking for from a position standpoint. Two of those contenders made strong arguments during Saturday's scrimmage, as Leon Bond III and Dante Harris delivered impressive performances on both ends of the floor.
With the exception of Isaac Traudt, who transferred to Creighton this offseason, Virginia's 2022 recruiting class could be one for the ages. Isaac McKneely and Ryan Dunn are poised to be stars on this year's team, and based on his performance on Saturday, Leon Bond III is ready to join them. Bond led all scorers with 13 points on 6/8 shooting, including a nice catch-and-shoot three-pointer from the corner. His length and athleticism were on display even as he battled against Ryan Dunn early in the scrimmage and he proved to be a smooth finisher around the rim. On one particular play, Bond slashed along the baseline and appeared to be headed out of bounds where he'd have to make a desperation jump pass, but instead, he planted his foot and dove back into the paint before finishing with a great reverse layup. On the defensive end, Bond has the tools to guard several positions and could be the key to Virginia achieving Tony Bennett's standard of excellence on that end of the floor.
Dante Harris, meanwhile, proved that Jason Williford wasn't speaking out of term when he told Jerry Ratcliffe last week that Harris "has the potential to be a better on-ball defender than Kihei Clark." Like Clark, Harris plays with high energy, especially while harassing opposing ball-handlers. The Georgetown transfer gave Reece Beekman some serious trouble while bringing the ball up the floor and even poked the ball away from Beekman on a couple of occasions. Harris had some difficulty finishing inside as Ryan Dunn in particular blocked a couple of his layup attempts, but Harris consistently attacked the paint and even managed to split the double team on Virginia's patented hard hedge strategy on ball screens a few times. If the Cavaliers are interested in replicating their two point guard system from the last few years, they will certainly consider having Beekman and Harris on the floor together for extended stretches this season.
Virginia's back court has elite defensive potential.
Building on our discussion of Dante Harris, if the Georgetown transfer starts or at least gets extended playing time (which he should), then Virginia could have the most elite defensive back court in the ACC and maybe the country. Obviously, Reece Beekman is the reigning ACC Defensive Player of the Year and should again be one of the best on-ball defenders in the country in his senior season. But add in Dante Harris, who seems like he could be an ACC All-Defensive Team candidate, and the Cavaliers should be able to go toe to toe with the great guards of the ACC. UVA would also benefit greatly from Isaac McKneely taking a big step forward on the defensive end.
Reece Beekman's pre NBA Draft experience seems to have paid off.
Before making the decision to return to Virginia for his senior season, Reece Beekman went through almost the entire NBA pre-draft process and got valuable feedback on what he needs to do in his final season of college basketball to improve his draft stock. His efforts to become a first round draft pick got off to a good start on Saturday, as Beekman scored 11 points on 5/9 shooting and also dished out three assists. Beekman was more aggressive in hunting his own shot, hitting a couple of jumpers off the dribble. His ability to take and make shots like that while also facilitating for the rest of UVA's offense will be crucial for Beekman's own draft stock and for Virginia's success as a team.
Bright flashes from the young guns.
Saturday's scrimmage offered our first look at Virginia's quartet of freshmen and the first years, to varying degrees, showed flashes of promise. Blake Buchanan knocked down two of his three field goal attempts, including a nice fadeaway jumper over Jordan Minor, and held his own in the paint from a rebounding perspective. There's still a good chance Buchanan could carve out a decent role for himself this season as the backup center. Elijah Gertrude looked like he's still working back to 100% after tearing his ACL at the start of his senior year in high school. He lacked some of that explosive athleticism that made him such a prized prospect, but Gertrude still made some nice plays, including blocking an Isaac McKneely corner three and knocking down a pull-up three-pointer at the buzzer to end the scrimmage. Anthony Robinson, who is rumored to be a likely candidate to redshirt this season, looked like he could contribute to the Cavaliers this season. He strongly finished two big dunks in the paint, including one through contact plus a foul.
Lastly, Christian Bliss, who is supposed to be a senior in high school right now but reclassified up a class and is redshirting this season, definitely looked a little lost on the floor at times, but held his own and had a beautiful lefty layup finishing through contact.
Worried about perimeter shooting?
By far the most concerning aspect of Saturday's scrimmage was Virginia's struggles from beyond the arc. The Cavaliers made just four threes as a team on roughly 25 attempts. That's certainly worrisome given the team's perimeter shooting troubles late in the season last year. With that said, it was just a scrimmage and was only a 30-minute sample size of basketball. Furthermore, Tony Bennett told the crowd at JPJ that the team had done essentially a full practice in the practice gym before the team came out into the arena for the scrimmage. I'm not saying fatigue was the main reason for UVA's shooting struggles, but I wouldn't be surprised if it played a role. As always, we shouldn't put too much weight into the results of an abridged intrasquad scrimmage.
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