James Johnson Also Leaves Virginia Basketball Program to Transfer

OK Guys, silver lining time!

First, as has been said, neither of these guys have been playing for us lately. These transfers could still hurt us in the long run, as they were both young in the program, but I prefer to look at the positives:
1. If a Guard goes down, there are promising kids like Doug Browman who can step in. Sure they won’t be as good as KT, but the energy and hunger of a walk-on who looked solid in short time this year would be welcome for this team.
2. If a bigger guy goes down, Darion Atkins was already the man to step up instead of Johnson. Atkins is also a freshman and, in very limited minutes, has outperformed Johnson. Let’s be honest, it’s not the recruiting accolades that determine how good someone plays in college, it’s the work ethic once they’re on the team.
3. By getting rid of the players that don’t want to be there, the attitude in the locker room improves. Turnover like this will cause those players remaining to come together and form a stronger bond. Coach Bennett preaches the power of teamwork, and getting rid of the bad attitudes (as Johnson and his dad were rumored to have due to James’ lack of PT) will help him achieve that.

Bottom line, though, whether it’s because a player (KT) can’t keep up with the increasing talent of the players around him, or because a kid (JJ) can’t adjust to the college game/lifestyle (as has been rumored), the program must move on. The true test of a program’s strength is the ability for the team to continuously grow with a “next man up” attitude. Stay away from the panic button, enjoy the recent and future success of the team, and look forward to the fresh young talent that will take those newly open scholarships in the coming years.

Come on, Brian. The losses of Johnson and especially Harrell were troubling, but time to panic? no. We’re 10-1 without significant to any help from either player. Our depth is shallow and long-term this isn’t the best case scenario, but for this season I don’t think anyone is panicking.

Long-term, I can see Tony Bennett maybe using a different strategy in recruitment; he could recruit more long-term guys along with the 4 star blue chips who would whine about playing time. With only 9 scholarships in use right now (3 of which are graduating following this season) we offer new recruits an opportunity to help this season’s success immediately when they get here. The guys that will be ready to play offensively and defensively (Justin Anderson, Mike Tobey and Evan Nolte) have to be happy about the opportunity that they’ll have to play next season.

This also means that UVA will have to pick up another couple of guys as either transfers or even post graduates. TB should bring in guys that he can mold and really fit into his system. He’s a great coach, we just need some guys that are patient enough to really buy into his system.