Austin Nichols
- Thread starter CYdways432
- Start date
It's not like Virginia is some joke of a program.
Transfer recruiting is 5x more competitive than it was 5 years ago.
Maybe, but even more it is a matter that we were not getting transfers like Nichols in the past. We got guys with strong previous ties or with heavy baggage, or both.
We had wide open playing time to offer this year for sit out transfers.
The transfer market wasn't deep, we didn't really have anyone manning the ship during the prime transfer recruiting season, and it's way more competitive than it used to be.
I think we should be able to land 1-2 good transfers next year but "flocking" is probably not going to happen any more (if it ever did).
Isn't it pretty widely assumed that UVA tampered with him before he even announced transferring? It's not like he was ever really out on the open market.
I think we should be able to get a top mid year transfer this year, with a scholarship likely being open, coaches now in place & PT to offer.
I agree our conditions are perfect to land a mid year.
My concern would be that mid years are hit or miss on quantity and quality.
Hopefully someone like McKay or Burton pop up. A post player is probably a requirement too.
The stadium that Virginia plays in is named after a prominate Memphis multi millionaire family there are connection to him and his father. It is why Memphis originally stretched UVA onto his restricted list. Once that was removed it was assumed by most experts that it was a done deal. Result he took his only visit there and committed before leaving.
I'll let u judge if that constitutes "tampering" by the program per se but, guessing there was an "understanding" prior to him seeking a transfer he'd have a place there. No other programs were probably really considered once VA came into play.
It seems to me that the reason he was ready to fight so hard to remove the restrictions is because he knew the one place he wanted to go. Whether that was due to prior tampering or not will likely never be public knowledge.
Virginia is the two time reigning ACC Champs I think. It is not like he transferred to Northwestern.
Virginia is going to struggle quite a bit now that the shot clock dropped down to 30 seconds. Tony Bennett has done a tremendous job at UVA, but he took major advantage of the 35 second shot clock. Dropping it down to 30 is going to make it a little tougher for him to make a game plan. If Nichols wants to be a high-flying offensive guy then he made the wrong choice by picking UVA.
Nichols is a traditional post up type center thus running full offensive sets is preferable to his style of play.
I don't feel dropping the shot clock 5 seconds will eliminate the slow down game as much as people think. Teams still have to get a cross the time line in 10 seconds they just have 15 seconds to start there offense instead of 20. 5 less second to hold the ball will stop teams from just standing an extra 5 seconds at the top of the key. IMO it will increase possessions and scoring overall but not force teams like UVA or Wisconsin to now run and change their system.
Teams like UVA or Wisconsin will adjust. I think the only teams that may struggle a bit will be the mid major types that use a slow style of play to cover for their team's lack of athleticism.
Overall I think it will have a minimal effect other than making games a little more watchable.
Overall I think it will have a minimal effect other than making games a little more watchable.
Last edited:
While you're right that dropping the shot clock by 5 seconds won't kill programs like UVA, it will help with not letting them dictate a slower style of play AS MUCH. I expect UVA to not be as good this season as last during the season, but should still compete for a 5 or 6 seed, IMO. I'm still a believer in the 24 second shot clock and that college needs to drop it to 24. Eventually it'll probably happen.
I just watched Kansas play in the WUG with a 24 second shot clock and it did pretty much exactly what I thought it would, led to more turnovers and lower shot percentages. What it DOES do that I liked is give the teams with more depth and athleticism a bigger advantage since the teams did more running. FIBA rules also do not allow for live ball timeouts so guys were getting more gassed. I'd love to see that rule added to the college game as well. Too many timeouts in college that break and chance for a run. Overall, the 24 second shot clock isn't going to lead to BETTER basketball, just DIFFERENT basketball. I actually thought it was worse overall to watch.
