It’s official: various sources have been reporting since this morning that Justin Anderson will forgo his senior season of eligibility at Virginia and throw his name in for the NBA draft. He’s meeting with agents this week, and will seek to finalize the process before the undergraduate deadline of April 26th.
I talked about a lot of this last month, but I’ll revisit some of it. This makes a lot of sense for Justin: he’s leaving while his stock is high, and before regression or serious injury had the opportunity to impact it. An elite athlete’s window is a small one, and it’s hard to blame them for pursuing the dream with all of the cautionary tales that have come before. His decision was hard to accept, but because it’s bad for me, not for him. This is fine for him. I, on the other hand, have spend many of my idle moments daydreaming about next year’s loaded team since the moment the horn signaled the end of the Michigan State game. Additionally, Justin has given and received a lot of love from the Virginia faithful over the last three years. One could tell he loved playing for these fans, with these guys, and for this school and coach, and that it was all reciprocated in kind. Those are the guys you miss when they finally leave, and I’m going to miss rooting for him and watching him create highlight after highlight. Now, it’s time to move to the next phase: rooting for him to find success at the next level and become an ambassador for what Virginia basketball can do for you.
This obviously dampens some of the excitement for next season. Our offense nosedived without a healthy Anderson this past season, and CTB will need to find someone who can draw attention to fill that wing role in addition to shooting, shooting, and more shooting. Marial Shayok and Darius Thompson look to take on his minutes, with Devon Hall still waiting for the chance to prove himself and join them. This opens up a scholarship, which could be banked for ’16, used on a late-breaking recruit, or spent on a transfer (eligible for ’16 or not). With Anderson, B.J. Stith, Richie McKay, and Brad Soucie all leaving, next year’s team will have a different feel. Tony Bennett has proven adroit at filling out a roster and hiring a staff — I’m excited to see what he does with these new openings.
