Disclaimer: I want to preface this post by saying that I LOVE the podcast the Cavs Corner team puts on. Its by far the best in the UVA mediasphere and the reason why I subscribe to rivals -- to show my support for the product they are putting out weekly.
All of that said, I'm not sure I can handle Brad's line of argument that has been trotted out several times over the last 2 months that "anyone who watched Kadin Shedrick knows why he was benched" and the implication that we are a better team without Shedrick. That statement is not objective fact - as he claims - for several reasons:
I humbly ask the podcast crew - and Brad in particular - to refrain from making the declarative statements that Shedrick was "obviously" a poor performer who should know why he was benched. That's not an objective fact and the continued assertion that it is makes the podcast hard to listen to. Again, I love the podcast, but this has been gnawing at me for weeks and I can't stand to hear it argued over and over again.
All of that said, I'm not sure I can handle Brad's line of argument that has been trotted out several times over the last 2 months that "anyone who watched Kadin Shedrick knows why he was benched" and the implication that we are a better team without Shedrick. That statement is not objective fact - as he claims - for several reasons:
- Debate Across UVA Fans - There is significant debate in the UVA fandom around Tony's decision to bench Shedrick in favor for BVP. Tony is the best coach to ever lead the program - that is not for debate, but Tony can make mistakes. In my opinion, he made a massive mistake in taking BVP as a transfer this year, thereby marginalizing our best post player (Shedrick) and best underclassman prospect (Traudt). Yes BVP had a great game against UNC and unlocked the triangle offense as a scheme until the ACC figured out it could switch defenders and dare BVP to shoot. By all accounts, BVP was great in the locker room. But playing him as long as he did brought imbalance to the team, especially after it was clear that BVP had a hurt back. We lacked rim protection and we failed to utilize the pick and roll that would have been lethal with Beekman and Shedrick running it.
- SHEDRICK PLAYED WELL! - Shedrick was arguably our 2nd best player to start the season in Vegas. He was arguably our best player to end the season vs Furman. Advanced statistics objectively identified him as our first or 2nd best player on the team over the course of the entire season (e.g. Bart Torvik had him leading the team and 3rd in the ACC in BPM at 7.4). Yes, Shedrick had a fouling problem and looked awkward at times, but he was among the most efficient defensive and offensive players in the country objectively. And he was objectively our best rim runner and rim protector on the team.
- We Did Not Win The Offseason - Brad on the most recent podcast said that UVA did not put up an L in the offseason and tried to argue that the transfer portal made us better. While getting Beekman back makes us an NCAA tournament team again and Rhode looks very promising, we likely took a net negative impact in the transfer portal (not counting Beekman's NBA decision). Groves and Minor are great players and I will root for them, but would anyone take them over Traudt or Shedrick? In both cases they seem like the lite version of the legacy players that left in terms of raw skill, size, and familiarity with the system. In my opinion, had we kept those 2 and Beekman, we'd be NCAA title competitors next year instead of just a top tier ACC team (which is a great accomplishment in and of itself!). Our ceiling is lowered because of this season's transfer portal comings and goings.
I humbly ask the podcast crew - and Brad in particular - to refrain from making the declarative statements that Shedrick was "obviously" a poor performer who should know why he was benched. That's not an objective fact and the continued assertion that it is makes the podcast hard to listen to. Again, I love the podcast, but this has been gnawing at me for weeks and I can't stand to hear it argued over and over again.
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