Background

Kadin Shedrick comes to UVA from Holly Springs High School in Holly Springs, North Carolina. Listed at 6’11 and 214 pounds by UVA, he’s most likely to spend his time between the four and five positions for the Hoos. His primary role, however, will likely be at the four as he displays enough mobility and ball skills to face up and see some time working the perimeter.

As a senior, he won Player of the Year honors for the South Wake Athletic Conference after leading Holly Springs to a conference championship. He averaged 17 points, 10 boards, and 4 blocks per game during his final high school campaign. He also earned First Team All-Conference honors and Third Team All-North Carolina Basketball Coaches Association honors.

Shedrick played his AAU ball for Garner Road out of Raleigh, North Carolina. The program is headed by former NBA and Xavier star David West’s brother Dwayne. UVA fans should be pretty familiar with that program as 2020 commit Carson McCorkle also plays for Garner Road.

Kadin picked the Hoos from over thirty scholarship offers. Besides his UVA offer, other notable scholarship offers came from Xavier, Wisconsin, Florida, Georgetown, Creighton, Providence, Indiana, Minnesota, Ole Miss, Illinois, Arizona State, Baylor, and Connecticut. Within the ACC, he also held offers from Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, and Louisville.

Per 247 Sports’ composite ratings, Shedrick is a four star recruit. In their final composite rankings for the 2019 recruiting class, he was ranked the number 68 recruit in the country.

Kadin didn’t have a serious focus for basketball until he experienced a tremendous growth spurt in high school. He grew from a 6’2 freshman to a 6’11 senior. Before he was a serious basketball prospect, Shedrick was actually known as a baseball player. He even has a recruiting profile on the baseball site PerfectGame.org. He was a prospect at first base and as a pitcher. At the time of his profile’s last update, he was only 6’7.

It should come as no surprise to UVA fans, but Shedrick’s background is a great match for the program’s Five Pillars philosophy. During his high school years, Kadin spent considerable time volunteering in his community. Among the organizations and causes he supported were the Holly Springs Elementary Literacy Night, the Interfaith Food Shuttle, Brown Bag Ministries, and the Holly Springs Youth Basketball Clinic.

Strengths

Shedrick has the raw tools, potential, and disposition to be a great one during his career at UVA.

It’s going to take time and development to get there but that’s where the disposition comes into play. Shedrick knows that he needs time and work to develop his skills. UVA’s reputation for development and redshirt practices were often cited by Shedrick in explaining why signing with the Hoos made so much sense.

His film also shows an aggressiveness on the court when he attacks his defender in the post or attacks the rim on a dunk. In my view, that bodes well for how Shedrick is going to attack his development.

King Kong vs. Godzilla, Sampson vs. Ewing, and Shedrick vs. Todd!

And that’s where the raw tools are going to come into focus. Prior to his freshman basketball season in high school, Shedrick was 6’2. Now, as a first year at UVA he’s listed at 6’11. And to be honest, I’m not entirely sure he’s done growing. One of the first things you’ll notice about Shedrick on the court are his long arms and size 19 feet. His wingspan has been reported to be 7’0, 7’3, or even 7’4 according to stories or posts online.

And that’s going to make Shedrick a very difficult cover when his game matures and he gains experience. You can still see some remnants of Shedrick’s guard skills from when he was much smaller. It’s mostly in his range that extends to the perimeter. He’s unlikely to be a Jay Huff type outside shooter but he’ll still be a threat that defenses have to account for. 

His post skills are still developing but his strength and aggression are big assets here. He finishes strong at the rim trying to dunk everything. And he attacks his defender with what post moves are currently in his arsenal. But also echoing back to his time as a guard, I’ve noticed that Shedrick is an underrated passer. He’s shown a knack for hitting cutters and shooters spotted up on the weak side of the defense.

But my favorite thing I’ve seen from Shedrick is something basic and fundamental to his position. But when it’s not done, it can be incredibly frustrating. When he rebounds the ball, he’s strong to secure it and then holds the ball high over his head. It’s such a little thing but had me legit excited.

Weaknesses

Like any first year big man in college basketball, and especially in UVA’s systems, there are a couple universal truths that Shedrick will have to confront.

First, he needs to work on his body to improve his size and strength. Shedrick is young for his class. And at his listed 6’11 214 pounds, any additional S&C work will only serve to make him a more effective player in the Hoos’ frontcourt. Any additional strength and mass added by Mike Curtis will likely work on improving his overall athleticism too if it’s put on correctly. I’d like to see the Hoos avoid the temptation of making Shedrick a top heavy Hulk best suited for setting Jack Salt-like screens. Instead, a program that focuses on good bulk while maintaining, or even increasing, Shedrick’s agility should be the goal.

And second, he’s operating with a sizable experience deficit. For a big man at UVA, that’s going to matter most on defense. When people talk about the difficulty in learning Tony Bennett’s Packline, they’re mostly talking about the complexity as it relates to the bigs. There’s a lot going on responsibility wise and it’s so much more than simply covering another big down on the block or playing some passable screen and roll defense. The hard hedge on high ball screens usually takes a UVA big man several seasons to master. Then there’s the litany of help responsibilities, communication responsibilities, and clean up responsibilities at the back end of this defense.

There’s going to be a lot on Shedrick’s plate before we even consider how he’ll adjust to covering mobile big men on the perimeter. There’s no doubt that he’ll get there but he’ll be behind all the other bigs on UVA’s roster that have already worked through these things.

One thing I saw in limited review of Shedrick’s AAU film is that he, like a ton of young bigs, needs to develop better judgement regarding when to leave his feet to challenge a shot and when to hold his ground. Predictably, Shedrick was in “try to block everything” mode. In high level D1 basketball games, that will get exploited without mercy. The ability to discern when to leave your feet and when not to is something that often takes time for young bigs if it happens at all. As a coach, you want to develop discipline here without blunting a player’s natural talents and instincts. Odds are Shedrick will get there with time and additional experience.

Role

If history is to be our guide, Shedrick’s first year at UVA will be spent learning, soaking, and developing his body.

But in a more general sense, Shedrick profiles as a mobile 4 and possibly small ball 5 at UVA.

There’s a lot to like about Shedrick’s game. His ball skills and agility for a big man give him tremendous plug and play versatility in UVA’s systems, especially if the CBS offense is here to stay. On offense, he can do some face up things that we see from Jay Huff, albeit with a more limited range. And he’ll possess enough ability to score on the blocks to attack similarly to Diakite, albeit with less explosion.

On defense, he’ll likely slot in the happy medium that exists between Diakite and Jack Salt. It’s unlikely that he’ll ever be tasked with slowing down a Ben Lammers or Matt Haarms style big. But how many of those really exist in college basketball to begin with?

Reasonable Expectation

Mamadi Diakite. Jay Huff. Braxton Key. Francisco Caffaro. Where does Shedrick fit in this season?

A redshirt is highly probable if not practically guaranteed this year. During his redshirt season, Shedrick will practice with the team which will be highly beneficial to his development. He’ll also eat, drink, and sleep the Mike Curtis S&C program. Expect him to look like a grown man to begin his redshirt freshman campaign. The redshirt season will also allow Shedrick to become more proficient in his role in the Packline.

This is now all but a rite of passage for big men at UVA under Tony Bennett.

Optimistic Expectation

Shallow backcourt depth and a lack of development from Kody Stattmann forces Braxton Key and Justin McKoy to play a ton of minutes on the wing. This opens a path to minutes in the frontcourt and Shedrick is the logical choice to absorb them.

Furthermore, Kadin shows an unexpected proficiency at putting the ball in the basket for a first year while the Hoos have an obvious need for points with the departures of Ty Jerome, Kyle Guy, and Dre Hunter.

This particular mix of circumstance materializes and Shedrick finds himself an important cog in the rotation instead of taking a probable redshirt.

Even in this optimistic scenario, Shedrick still probably tops out around 5 points and 5 boards per game. But he makes a big impression and creates some Kadin-mania heading into the 2020-2021 season.

Final Analysis

There is a ton to like about Kadin Shedrick, as a person and as a basketball player. Like Casey Morsell, he’s another 5 Pillars guy.

But unlike Morsell, he’s going to need to bide his time this year.

And as much as I like Morsell’s future in Charlottesville, Shedrick has a much higher ceiling to me. 

His ball skills and shooting range developed prior to his growth spurt make him an intriguing fit for the modern game and CBS offense. And his aggression when attacking from the post will eventually be difficult for college bigs to handle. 

On the defensive end of the court, Shedrick also oozes potential once he’s comfortable in the system. He’ll move his feet well enough to guard in the paint and in space. He’ll rebound and challenge shots well.

It all adds up to a player who has the potential to be special. But before that potential begins to be fully realized, Wahoo fans will need to be patient as all the individual skills come together into a fully molded player.

By Karl Hess

UVA sports fan since the mid 80s. Graduated from UVA in 2000. Currently residing in Virginia Beach. Also not the hoops ref.