With Jack Salt graduating, Ty Jerome, De’Andre Hunter, and now Kyle Guy all departing early, and the pending decision by Mamadi Diakite still up in the air as he awaits draft feedback, UVa’s roster situation is very much in a state of flux.

The Cavaliers have several scholarships to work with as they look to replace four or potentially five of their most important pieces from a championship team. Tony Bennett and Co. also have plenty of different options to work with going forward.

In the hope of providing some clarity with regards to UVa’s evolving roster, we have broken down the current situations and several of the options the coaching staff has in their attempt to reload the Wahoos for future title runs.

2019-2020 Projected Depth Chart (Starters in Italics):

PG: Kihei Clark

SG: Casey Morsell, Kody Stattman

SF: Braxton Key, Justin McKoy

PF: Mamadi Diakite, Francesco Badocchi

C: Jay Huff, Francisco Caffaro, Kadin Shedrick

As you can see, UVa will be breaking in at least three new starters, potentially more. The bench is mostly made up of players who have yet to play in a college game, and there are still several spots to fill in the coming weeks and months. Whether Morsell or Stattmann start, UVa currently lacks depth in the backcourt and should be looking to add a player or two, either from the high school talent pool or a transfer.

The Scholarship Situation:

As of today this is UVa’s roster, as well as the scholarships available heading into next season:

2019-2020 Season:

Seniors (2): Diakite, Key

Juniors (1): Huff

Sophomores (3): Badocchi, Clark, Stattmann

Freshmen (4): Caffaro, McKoy, Morsell, Shedrick

Scholarships Available: 3 (4 if Diakite stays in the NBA Draft)

And here is the current scholarship allotment for the following season:

2020-2021 Season:

Seniors (1): Huff

Juniors (3): Badocchi, Clark, Stattmann

Sophomores (4): Caffaro, McKoy, Morsell, Shedrick

Freshmen (1): McCorkle

Scholarships Available:4

For this exercise, we are penciling Diakite in for next year. If he, like Guy, opts to remain in the draft, then Virginia has four scholarships open heading into 2019-2020 and the needs for next year change quite a bit. More on that later. We’re also assuming that no other players decide to leave the program because at this point, that seems unlikely.

If Diakite returns, Virginia will lose five players from this year’s team: Jack Salt along with the three NBA declarations and outgoing transfer Marco Anthony. Those five players combined for 49.1 points per game, or nearly 69 percent of the team’s scoring. They also account for three of Virginia’s top four 3-point shooters, three of the team’s top four in assists per game, and four of the top six in rebounds per game.

As of now, UVa has three newcomers in the fold to join the program. Morsell is an off-ball guard who can shoot it and score at the rim. Their games are different but Morsell is like Guy in the fact that he plays off the ball but isn’t as big as a lot of 2s at just 6-foot-2. Still, of the three freshmen in the recruiting class he is most likely to play a lot as a first-year. McKoy, meanwhile, is a wing who could see time in the 3/4 spot. Think of him as the understudy for Key, who should have an even bigger role this season. Shedrick adds another piece to UVa’s deepest position group: the frontcourt. It wouldn’t be that surprising to see Shedrick take a redshirt year, particularly if Caffaro is ready to play significant minutes after redshirting this season. Shedrick has a great deal of potential on both ends of the floor and should be an integral piece for the Hoos down the road, if not next season.

A ball handler: Earlier in the season, some fans hoped that Clark would play fewer minutes down the stretch and Bennett would lean more heavily on his best offensive lineup. And heading into next season, Clark is one of the few remaining known commodities on the roster and should be in line for a great deal of minutes. As of now, UVa doesn’t have another point guard to roll with. Jerome and Guy are gone and the Hoos are also without combo guards who can step in and play the point when Clark is out of the game. Morsell is the closest thing the Cavaliers will have to a point guard outside of Clark but he’s much better suited to be off the ball. With the departure of Guy, adding a ball-handling guard probably becomes priority No. 1 over the next few weeks.

A versatile guard/wing that can score: If every returning scholarship player doubled their scoring output from last season they would combine for 48.4 points per game. Even with that unrealistic expectation, UVa would still need to get 20 points per game or more from newcomers if its offense is going to operate anywhere near the level it did this past season. Virginia will lean more heavily on Key, Huff, and Diakite (should he return) to be the primary scorers. While they’ve all shown flashes of offensive ability, none of them are anywhere near the scorers that the departing “Big Three” were. Simply put, the Cavaliers need to add a scoring punch. And the best way to do that is to add a wing player that could either start at the 2 and relegate Morsell or Stattmann to the bench, or a player that could come off the bench and contribute in a meaningful way on the offensive end. With the existing depth in the frontcourt and Clark entrenched as the starting GG, wing is the best option for a player to come in and have an immediate impact, whether that be a transfer or a freshman.

More experience off the bench: Assuming Morsell comes in and starts at shooting guard, Virginia’s bench is currently five players deep made up of two sophomores and a redshirt freshman and a pair of newcomers. That group of reserves (Badocchi, Caffaro, Stattmann, McKoy, and Shedrick) have combined to play 103 minutes at the collegiate level with a total of 37 points scored. Most college basketball teams don’t go deeper than an eight-man rotation, and UVa really only used sven players most of the time, with Huff receiving minutes coming in some games depending on matchups. Virginia could lean heavily on Stattmann and potentially one or two of the freshmen but adding a veteran graduate transfer that can come off the bench and provide quality minutes, like Key did this season, would be a big boost to the team.

Adding Grad Transfers: Bringing in a graduate transfer guard (especially a combo guy) would address all of the needs above. It would give UVa an experienced player that could come right in and contribute and someone who wouldn’t be as disruptive to 2020 and 2021 recruiting as well as roster management. In other words, you’d simply be replacing a departing senior (Guy or Jerome) with a different senior and then the roster is still in the same position heading into 2020-2021 as it would’ve been had that player returned. But the Cavaliers have some catching up to do in the transfer market. While they were playing into April, other eliminate teams got a jump on the market and many of the top available transfers are either winding down the process or have already committed. Adding a reserve point guard from the grad transfer pool probably makes more sense than going after a wing, given playing time available and what UVa is looking for at that position. Assuming Clark remains the starter, it’s unlikely the Hoos would land a player that is a volume scorer looking for a starter’s role, like High Point transfer Jahaad Proctor for example. Role-playing distributors like Northeastern’s Donnell Gresham and UCF’s Terrell Allen would probably make more sense for the Cavaliers should they go this route.

Adding a 2019 Recruit: UVa has already added one 2019 recruit since winning the title with McKoy, the former Penn State signee, picking the Wahoo over North Carolina. That addition was an important one before but with Guy now gone and Diakite’s decision still out there the North Carolina native will likely be an important piece in the rotation. Now with three scholarships open Virginia has an opportunity to make some more additions to the recruiting class. In theory the Cavaliers can add three new players or they could choose to add fewer and pocket the remaining scholarships for the future. The most-likely scenario would appear to be the Hoos taking at least one transfer and adding at least one more freshman to the mix this season. The problem is, there aren’t a lot of available high school seniors that UVa has either offered or shown interest in. That can change, just like when the staff went after Badocchi after the 2016-2017 season and signed him that May. One unsigned senior that UVa has shown interest in previously is combo guard Deuce Dean. The 6-foot-3 South Carolina native was an AAU teammate of McKoy, who lobbied for Dean to come along with him to UVa on Twitter this week. Other 2019 targets could emerge, if players seek releases from schools they are signed with that had coaching changes for example, but it’s safe to say most of the players UVa would covet are off the board.

Adding a 2020 Recruit Who Reclassifies to 2019: With most of the high school seniors off the board, this is an option that would be appealing and has been used successfully by other schools in the past. Recent examples of players moving up from their class to enroll early are Duke’s Marvin Bagley III and R.J. Barrett, as well as Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns and Ashton Hagans, among others. UVa has good traction with several top 2020 players, including five-star wing Johnny Juzang, who is expected to announce tonight that he will reclassify to the 2019 class and enroll at his school of choice this fall. Adding Juzang this year would be an absolute coup for UVa: He fills a need and would immediately become the highest-ranked player that Bennett has brought to Charlottesville over his decade in charge. The competition is fierce, however. Kentucky offered last week and is expected to host him for an official visit this weekend. Villanova traveled to LA to visit with Juzang this week as well. Should UVa land him, that would clear up some of the roster issues and the Wahoos could simply add a ball handler and pocket the remaining scholarship, or go a different route if desired. If Juzang goes elsewhere UVa may target other 2020 recruits that are willing and able to reclassify.

Virginia has long been set up for a potentially big 2020 class, which could be its best since the 2016 haul. Winning the national championship shouldn’t hurt their prospects for their next class, either. With McCorkle already in the fold, UVa will pursue some of the best players in the 2020 class, though how many scholarships they have to work with is very much up in the air and will be for a while. As of now, UVa could take a graduate transfer and another 2019 recruit and still have room for three more players in the 2020 class alongside McCorkle. If UVa adds “sit to play” transfers (more on that in the next section), then that could impact the size of next year’s group. But the current roster fluctuation shouldn’t impact UVa’s ability to sign a highly-ranked 2020 group too much, though it could change which players/positions are prioritized.

It was certainly unexpected news when Sam and Joey Hauser announced that they would transfer away from Marquette and UVa was immediately mentioned as a top contender. Without a doubt, both Hauser brothers are talented players who could both play at the next level and would be great additions for Virginia or any other program. But they each would have to sit out next year, which further complicates the situation. Sam would sit out one year and play one more while Joey would sit one and play two seasons at their school of choice. They have made it clear they will attend the same school, which rules out the possibility of taking just one. If nobody else leaves, UVa has a choice to make with its three scholarships. You could take the Hauser brothers (assuming of course that they want to come to UVa) and probably use that remaining scholarship on a graduate transfer point guard. But that would leave UVa without much experience or depth at the wing position for next season which, in fairness, is a position they could find themselves in regardless of what the Hausers do. And what if Juzang decides he wants to commit to the Cavaliers? Virginia certainly couldn’t turn him down, which would leave them with just two scholarships remaining and desperately needing a ball handler for this coming season. Adding the Hauser brothers helps UVa tremendously in 2020-2021 and potentially beyond if Joey continues his development but bringing them on would also likely mean conceding your best possible 2019-2020 roster.

This would be a game-changer for Virginia. His departure would mean UVa would be down another primary scoring option as well as arguably its best defender. The prospects for next season, then, would take yet another hit though another scholarship would open up in turn. Adding the Hauser brothers would make a lot more sense in this scenario, because the 2019-2020 season would be looking more like a bridge year to the following season and the Hoos could still add both of them, a ball handler, and a wing player and then still have two additional 2020 scholarships available to recruit with. Diakite leaving would be a big blow to UVa’s 2019-2020 prospects but if the staff was able to turn those vacant scholarships into some combination of the Hauser brothers, an elite 2020 class with a talented player potentially reclassifying to 2019, and additional minutes for Virginia’s incoming freshmen, then the years to follow would look quite promising. Still, that is probably going to be then case even if Diakite returns, so all things considered, UVa would certainly want the rising senior to come back for another year.

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