UVa Insider, the column: Would Harrell have helped?

Maybe I was wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time.

 

When it was announced at Christmas that KT Harrell and James Johnson would be leaving Virginia’s basketball program, I didn’t think it would be a major loss.

My one caveat was, UVa couldn’t afford an injury.

 

So, when 7-foot Assane Sene suffered an ankle injury that required surgery and a projected 5-6 weeks of rehab, that was my out.

 

Sorry, but I can’t take the easy way out. Sene’s injury would not have meant increased playing time for Harrell, a 6-foot-4 perimeter player, and may not have had a big impact on Johnson, a 6-9 post player now headed to San Diego State.

 

Unless there’s another injury, Virginia has enough post players with Mike Scott, Akil Mitchell and Darion Atkins.

 

But, here’s what struck me Sunday night, when Sammy Zeglinski and Joe Harris were a combined 0-for-9 on 3-pointers:

 

What option does Virginia have other than to leave them out there?

 

There is 6-foot-5 freshman Malcolm Brogdon, but he’s going to get his minutes no matter what happens.

 

I like Zeglinski as a player. Always have. But, his history is that he’ll come up with a clunker several times a month, which means he’s already had his clunkers for January, which is good for UVa since it still has Boston College and N.C. State remaining.

 

But, let’s say the Cavaliers still had Harrell against Virginia Tech or at Duke, where Zeglinski and Jontel Evans were a combined 0-for-14?

 

Maybe you could have added Harrell to the mix and they would have gone a combined 0-for-19, or maybe Harrell would have scored nine points, like he did against Miami in UVa’s ACC Tournament heartbreaker.

 

He was streaky like that.

 

Not that I’m looking to pass out blame. I don’t think Harrell was treated poorly at UVa, where he never seemed to deliver over extended stretches, nor do I think he was wrong if he thought he would never play ahead of Brogdon.

 

I’ve heard that Harrell has spoken to Auburn, a team he considered out of high school, but was in no hurry to enroll at a new school for the second semester.

 

Good move!

 

Harrell could delay his enrollment till the fall, sit out the entire 2012-2013 season, then have two years remaining in 2013-2014.

 

If he had enrolled at mid-year, he would have been a second-semester junior in December 2012, which would have made no sense, except that players do it all the time.

 

WHILE ON MY way to work this afternoon, the subject on ESPN radio was the departure of Rutgers coach Greg Schiano for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the effect it is having on Scarlet Knights' recruits.

 

One of those was Chris Muller, a four-star offensive lineman from Boyertown, Pa., who said that Virginia was among the schools that had contacted him. He said he had received 14 voice messages and 28 missed calls.

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