While UVa is certainly not the only school to have numerous departures this offseason, the losses of Casey Morsell, Jabri Abdur-Rahim, and Justin McKoy sent many UVa fans into a panic, wondering how Tony Bennett and his staff would respond and fill out the roster.

Then on Thursday night, UVa landed a major commitment when Indiana guard Armaan Franklin announced he was Charlottesville bound.

A 6-foot-4 shooting guard who played two seasons with the Hoosiers, Franklin will be eligible to play right away with at least two years of eligibility remaining and an additional year being possible (although unlikely).

Virginia’s roster for next season is still far from complete but the addition of the Indianapolis native fills a major need and changes the outlook for UVa’s next team.

So today, we’re taking a look at what UVa is getting in Franklin and how he should fit into Bennett’s plans for the 2021-22 season and beyond.

Background: Franklin chose UVa over reported interest from programs like Illinois, Louisville, and Notre Dame, with a potential return to Indiana after the Hoosiers hired Mike Woodson on the table as well. As a recruit, Franklin was ranked No. 140 in the 2019 class, a high three-star prospect. He signed with the in-state Hoosiers over offers from Louisville, Clemson, Ohio State, Purdue, and others. Virginia signed Morsell in the 2019 class to play the same position, so the Hoos weren’t a big factor in Franklin’s recruitment down the stretch.

Performance at Indiana: Franklin began his Indiana career as a role player but saw plenty of action. In his first year with the Hoosiers, he started nine games and played in all 32. Playing behind veteran guard Devonte Green, Franklin averaged 3.7 points per contest as a freshman, with two double-digit scoring efforts.

One of his biggest games came on the final day of the season before the pandemic shut everything down, scoring 13 points and grabbing eight rebounds in 25 minutes against Nebraska in the Big Ten Tournament. Franklin also averaged 1.6 rebounds and 1.3 points per game as a freshman, and shot just 26.6 percent from three on a limited number of attempts.

His usage was up and down depending on the game. Early in the season, Franklin was a starter and played 20+ minutes regularly. Down the stretch, his minutes dropped until the finale against Nebraska. The highlight of his first season in Bloomington came in the Crossroads Classic game against Notre Dame, when he scored 17 points in just 14 minutes of game action, and hit a corner 3 to win the game in the final seconds.

This season, Franklin’s role changed dramatically, and it quickly became clear that the sophomore was one of the Big Ten’s most improved players. He started 20 games (playing 22) with two missed games and two missed starts due to injury. Franklin went from getting just under 14 minutes per game as a freshman to more than 30 minutes per game as a sophomore. He became one of Indiana’s primary scorers, averaging 11.4 points per game, with three 20+ point games.

According to his Indiana bio, Franklin’s 7.7 points per game increase from 2019-20 to 2020-21 was the second-biggest jump in the Big Ten. He also improved his outside shooting dramatically, leading the Hoosiers with a 42.4-percent average from deep. Franklin shot just under four 3s per game this season and made three or more on seven occasions. The sophomore guard shot even better from deep in conference play, making 44.4 percent of his threes against B1G competition, the fourth-best average in the conference. Franklin was also a solid rebounder, grabbing 4.1 boards per game, and one of the team’s top distributors with 2.1 assists per contest. He also got to the line 54 times, making 40 of those attempts. Franklin was 14th in the conference in steal rate, as well. And for what it’s worth, Franklin was named Academic All Big Ten at season’s end.

Deep Range: Franklin’s 3-point average is impressive and the newest Cavalier has a quick, compact release as well. UVa was lucky enough to have several sharpshooters in the 2020-2021 season but all of its top outside shooters could theoretically be gone this summer if Trey Murphy joins Jay Huff and Sam Hauser in departing for a professional career.

But Franklin demonstrated throughout his sophomore season that he is a threat to score from the three point line and beyond. In the clip below against Illinois, Franklin sets up from NBA range, receives a pass and gets off a great-looking shot before help defense can arrive.

Here’s another deep 3, this one in a win against Butler. The Bulldog defense gives Franklin too much space and the sophomore guard does a nice job drifting into open space and squaring up for a good look. Three points for the Hoosiers.

The corner 3 has become one of the most critical shots in basketball, both at the college and pro levels. Shooting percentages are higher in the corner and Franklin did some damage from that spot on the floor as well. UVa hit quite a few corner 3s this year as both Hauser and Murphy were good from that spot and Franklin should get quite a few looks from that spot in Virginia’s offense.

Off-Ball Movement: One element that was lacking to some degree in Virginia’s offense this season was successful off-ball movement from its shooters. Hauser and Murphy are more spot-up guys and cutting through screens isn’t necessarily the strength of their respective games. And obviously, Huff isn’t going to be rolling off any screens.

But in their title run, the ability to lose defenders off of screens was a big part of how the Wahoos created open shots for their talented guards. Franklin has that ability and showed it at Indiana.

The Hoosiers run a lot of offensive sets with screeners and cutters, which allowed Franklin to find space and get open looks from 3.

In the example below, he sneaks by his defender as he rolls around a screen and creates just enough space to squeeze off a good look and make the shot.

The next example of Franklin’s off-ball movement comes on a set play late in a game against Rutgers. The Hoosiers trailed and set up a play to get Franklin an open look for deep. He does a nice job accelerating through the two screeners to the 3-point line and taking the pass before knocking down the shot.

Obviously the screen has to be executed, and it was here, but Virginia will certainly use Franklin on plays like this next season.

Creating Shots: Virginia’s offense in was reliant on making 3-pointers last season and the inability to knock down those shots cost the Cavaliers in several games, including the NCAA Tournament loss to Ohio. Hauser, Murphy, and Huff are great shooters and did a nice job making contested shots or, in Hauser’s case, being creative with turnarounds and pump fakes to create space. But Franklin has the ability to create for himself off the dribble, something that UVa really could’ve used this season.

This first example is a very simple basketball play, but an effective one. Franklin simply takes his defender one on one off the bounce and picks a great time to pull up and shoot. The result is a bucket for Indiana on a play that is almost impossible to defend if executed properly by a good player.

This type of shot was the strongest element of Morsell’s game, so Franklin’s ability to hit these sorts of shots replaces what the Wahoos lose in their departing transfer.

Franklin used his outside shooting ability to his advantage, forcing defenders to respect his shot and then blowing past them with pump fakes.

On this play, Franklin takes the pass in the corner and breezes past his defender before a strong finish at the rim.

And later in that same game, Franklin demonstrated his strength and speed, simply blowing past the defender trying to cut off his driving lane before throwing down a dunk.

Simply put, UVa didn’t have many plays like this and outside of Murphy the Cavaliers didn’t have players that excelled at getting past defenders and to the rim with a strong finish. No disrespect to Kihei Clark but he has to be more creative with his takes to the rim and try to squeeze off shots before bigger defenders can block them.

Creating for Others: Franklin is more than a scorer of course, with 2.1 assists per contest in his sophomore season. In reviewing his game for this piece, there were a bunch of great passes that stood out.

The first is a perfectly-timed lob to teammate Trayce Jackson-Davis. This is a clever “slip screen” play where Jackson-Davis holds the screen for a second and rolls to the basket. Franklin does a great job reading the two defenders and sees that neither rolls with Jackson-Davis to the rim. The result is an easy dunk.

UVa can get these plays in its offense because there are so many screens, so it becomes difficult for defenders to anticipate rolls to the basket like this one.

Indiana beat Iowa twice this season, and in the meeting in Iowa City Franklin had several great passes for easy buckets.

The example below is similar to the play above, just without the ally-oop. The two Iowa defenders stick with him and the Hoosiers take advantage of Luka Garza’s lack of quickness. Franklin reads the play right, and simply dumps the ball into his teammate for the slam.

The national player of the year is exploited again on this next play, though Franklin’s pass is tough to defend. He makes a strong drive to the basket and Garza is forced to help on the driver. Franklin sees that his teammate is now free for the lay in and times his lay-off pass perfectly, resulting in an old-fashioned three-point play.

Packline Experience: New additions often have to overcome a steep learning curve when indoctrinated into the pack-line and that will be the case with Franklin. But Indiana ran pack-line concepts under now departed coach Archie Miller, which should help the newest Wahoo considerably when it comes to his adjustment to life at UVa.

But don’t take my word for it. Instead, here’s a great clip from college hoops film junkie Jordan Sperber, who breaks down how Indiana’s pack line defense looked in their win at Iowa.

Franklin’s film shows a defender who has all the tools to be successful at Virginia. He’s not elite yet, but he will probably benefit greatly from Bennett’s teachings while being able to stay on the floor because of his athleticism and experience running similar concepts. There aren’t as many clips of Franklin as a defender available, or at least not ones where he does something dramatic. But we did find a few clips that show promising defending ability.

On this first play, Franklin is defending Stanford’s star wing Ziaire Williams late in the first half. Franklin is sagging off of the shooter as he should be and after a quick pass does a nice job recovering to contest the shot. Then he scrambles to the corner to gather the rebound. Franklin wasn’t always able to close out on defenders before made shots but any defender in the country gives those makes up now and then.

Here are three clips from one possession against Purdue.

First, Franklin shows some solid on-ball defense away from the basket, not surrendering any space.

After the pass, his man runs through screens to get space but Franklin does a nice job following and sticking with the play.

And finally, Franklin anticipates the cut to the basket from his man and gets in the passing lane to break up the play and create a turnover.

Virginia fans should understand by now that defenders will take time to get accustomed to Bennett’s defense but based on what we’ve seen, Franklin’s defense shouldn’t keep him off the floor like it has other players over the years.

Taking the Big Shot: Franklin has also had a knack for making big shots late in games, and being trusted to do so by his coaches. In fact, here’s a great feature from the B1G Network following Franklin’s game winner against Iowa.

And here is the shot. Another simple off-the-bounce shot, pulling up on a defender that knew he was going to take the shot. Franklin calmly knocked it down and Indiana pulled the upset.

Even as a freshman, Franklin had a flare for the dramatic. In the Crossroads Classic, he hit a big corner 3 to knock off Notre Dame in what was the biggest game of his career to that point.

That shot capped a 17-point effort and was a sign of things to come for Franklin.

UVa Comparison: Kyle Guy

Franklin should be able to come in and have an immediate impact for the Cavaliers. And when searching for a similar player that the Wahoos have had under Bennett, Kyle Guy is our best comparison. The two have plenty of similarities, down to both hailing from Indianapolis.

In fact, see for yourself.

Virginia desperately missed the playmaking ability of Guy over the past two seasons, as the Wahoos never had someone nearly as adept at creating shots off of UVa’s many screens. Franklin should be able to come in and do that right away. He may not be quite as quick or crafty as Guy, but Franklin still has two years of eligibility to get even better at getting open in UVa’s offense.

Here are two clips, one of Franklin and one of Guy, losing defenders off of screens to create open looks.

Both players are also talented passers who can leverage their ability to hit shots against a defense.

Here is the clip from above of Franklin taking on two defenders and dropping off a pass for the dunk.

And here is a clip of Guy hitting Mamadi Diakite on a pick-and-roll action with the same result.

Both Franklin and Guy were the focal point of the defenders because they can hit shots from anywhere on the floor, and both took advantage of that to find a teammate for a dunk.

And both players are also capable of creating their own shot if they don’t get an open look through the offense’s design.

Here’s Guy creating space by sliding out and away from the defender into an open shot.

And here is Franklin, moving well off the ball to get open and pump faking the defender into an open look.

Both of these players demonstrate creativity to get an open look, a skill that comes in handy in the UVa offense where the ball can get “sticky” at times.

It’s probably not fair to compare Franklin directly to one of the best Cavaliers in recent memory, and a recent NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player. But Franklin and Guy share basketball DNA. Perhaps it’s in their Indiana roots but it is definitely easy to see why Bennett and UVa prioritized Franklin in the transfer portal.

Franklin is a gifted outside shooter who can also get to the rim and the free-throw line while also creating shots for himself and teammates.

He also took a big leap forward from his freshman to sophomore season and has experience playing in the pack line. Many of those things could also be said for Guy who, like Franklin, also came up big in the clutch. It’s probably too much to expect Franklin to be as productive as Guy but he certainly has the ability to come pretty close. All told, adding Franklin to the UVa roster is a big boost to the Cavaliers and he should be able to make a big impact as soon as he steps on Grounds.

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