Background

Casey Morsell is a pioneer of sorts. The Fort Washington, Maryland native played his high school hoops in the famed DMV at St. John’s College High School in Washington, DC. The 247 Sports composite four star prospect had his choice of programs in the area with offers from Maryland, Georgetown, George Washington, and George Mason. Outside of the DMV, he had also collected offers from notable programs like Florida, Wake Forest, VCU, Virginia Tech, Temple, and Oklahoma State.

But it’s the DMV portion of the story that’s interesting. You see, UVA has not had a scholarship men’s basketball player from that region since Mamadi Diane was getting his confidence stomped by former Wahoo coach Dave Leitao. A shallow analysis of Casey’s recruitment would figure to have the Hoos on the outside looking in.

That sort of analysis does not account for the fact that Morsell appears to have been grown in a lab for the purpose of playing basketball at UVA for Tony Bennett. 

Morsell is a 6-3 shooting guard with a reputation as a rugged defender. He does not have exceptional size for the position but his 6-9 wingspan more than compensates. Good luck with those lazy perimeter passes with Morsell lurking!

A winner, plain and simple, during his senior season Morsell led St. John’s to the WCAC championship game. As a senior, Morsell posted averages of 17.0 points per game, 5.5 rebounds per game, 3.0 assists per game, 1.5 steals per game, and 1.0 blocks per game. He also made 90 threes and shot 80.0% from the foul line.

Morsell earned several honors after his senior season concluded. He was named WCAC Co-Player of the Year and Washington Post First Team All-Metro. In addition to those honors, he also earned recognition as the 2019 Gatorade Player of the Year and USA Today Player of the Year in Washington DC.

And as a member of Team Takeover on the Nike AAU circuit, Morsell was a key player and important leader for a team that won everything in sight during his final season of AAU hoops. Under Morsell’s leadership, Team Takeover went 8-0 during the preliminary rounds of the Nike EYBL summer circuit. That earned the squad a berth in the prestigious Peach Jam event which they won. Winning the Peach Jam sent Team Takeover to Las Vegas for an event called The 8. It featured the top eight Nike EYBL teams. And Morsell helped pilot his squad to another championship scoring 12 in Team Takeover’s 75-66 win over CP3.

And typical of the top players in Tony Bennett’s program, Morsell displays real leadership and face of the program qualities. As a junior and senior, Morsell was honored by his high school for his academic achievements. And Morsell was an active volunteer in his community mentoring high school freshmen, collecting donations for the Salvation Army, and spending time at animal shelters, nursing homes, and assisted living facilities.

Strengths

Morsell has a mature game especially for his age. Already showing great signs of Coach Bennett’s favorite descriptive word, completeness, Morsell’s game should make him an early crowd favorite at JPJ.

The first thing you’ll notice about Morsell is his competitive intensity. Following the lineage of Malcolm Brogdon, Zay Wilkins, and Ty Jerome, Morsell has a knack for willing his team to victory. He has the uncanny ability to make the play his team needs in a close game. It could be a defensive stop, a tipped pass, a steal, a drawn foul, or a huge bucket. Casey seems to find a way to insert himself in the game’s important moments and then deliver through sheer force of personality and desire to win.

Along those lines, it will not take Morsell long to become a lock down defender in Virginia’s backcourt. When you combine the effectiveness of the Packline with Morsell’s natural defensive abilities and Kihei Clark’s speed, ability to anticipate, and mongoose like nature, well…opposing backcourts will not be looking forward to playing the Hoos any time soon.

Now, this isn’t to suggest that Morsell will be a drag on the offensive end of the court. There are things that Morsell does well offensively.

No one is going to confuse Morsell with Kyle Guy or Ty Jerome but he’s more than adequate as an outside shooter. He has a nice stroke that teams will have to honor. And he’s not afraid of the moment either.

What’s more interesting, however, is that Morsell figures to make a mark attacking the basket. Throughout his career in the WCAC, in AAU play, and in USA Basketball camp appearances, Morsell had a habit of getting in the lane and making things happen. Despite his height being less than the prototypical off guard, Morsell’s length allows him to finish well at the rim. These talents should show well in the Hoos’ Continuity Ball Screen Offense.

And that lends itself to a possible strength that’s been absent from UVA’s offense for years: a consistent threat to get to the foul line. This remains to be seen but it’s a little something to watch for during Morsell’s freshman campaign.

Weaknesses

When you evaluate players at this level, you’re often picking nits when talking about weaknesses, but that’s what separates the elite from the just really, really good.

With Morsell you’re looking at three main things. He’s not an elite shooter. His height doesn’t fit the profile for the off guard prototype, and he needs to tighten up his handle.

The height thing is largely superficial. His 6-9 wingspan should mitigate the concern. And the Hoos just won a national title (love typing this fact) with Kyle Guy who UVA listed one inch shorter than the 6-3 Morsell and 20 pounds lighter. But when Morsell is ready to take his shot at the NBA, you’re going to hear the height thing mentioned.

Singling out his shooting fits in the picking nits category. But after losing the trio of De’Andre Hunter, Kyle Guy, and Ty Jerome it’s important to consider where the shooting will come from in 2019-2020. The trio shot 43.8%, 42.6%, and 39.9% from three respectively last season. Per RealGM.com, in Morsell’s final season of AAU play for Team Takeover, he shot 36.6% on about four attempts per game. For additional context, Kihei Clark shot 34.1% from three during his first season at UVA.

The shooting is something that Morsell undoubtedly works on consistently. And it’s something you’d expect him to keep working at, and improving, throughout his career at UVA.

What will need the most work, however, is his ball handling. It’s not poor by any stretch of the imagination. But it’s not elite either. For a team lacking proven ball handlers beyond Kihei Clark, Morsell’s handle will be an important aspect of the upcoming season. For now, it’s what keeps Casey classified strictly as an off guard and possible combo guard in optimistic reports instead of being a player that’s described as one that can handle large minutes as the lead guard for the Hoos. Again, this is an area of Morsell’s game that one would expect to be a source of constant improvement throughout his career in the orange and blue.

Role

You’ve probably heard a time or two that Virginia lost several players off their 2018-2019 national title team. With that comes the need for new players to fill new roles and absorb major minutes in the process. 

Casey Morsell walks into a situation where the off guard spot in UVA’s starting lineup is there for the taking if he can shoulder the load.

If Morsell is the player and competitor that we’re all expecting, he’ll be on the court with the rest of the starters when the Hoos open their title defense in Syracuse. 

He’ll be counted on to play major minutes while assuming all the responsibilities you’d expect for a starting off guard in ACC hoops. 

It’s also not out of the realm of possible that Morsell could be UVA’s sixth man, especially early in the season, if Coach Bennett elects to feature a bigger lineup consisting of Kihei Clark, Tomas Woldetensae, Braxton Key, Mamadi Diakite, and Jay Huff. I don’t think this is something that Wahoo fans should expect but it’s also not something completely crazy either.

Reasonable Expectation

Casey will have a big role on this team as a first year. The roster composition makes it unavoidable.

It’s not crazy to expect Morsell to start at least half of UVA’s game this season while challenging for a spot on the All-ACC Rookie Team.

That’s kind of the floor from where I stand.

Optimistic Expectation

And the ceiling, from where I stand, goes something like this…

Morsell enters UVA’s starting lineup for the season opener and remains there for the duration of the season. He becomes an easy choice for the All-ACC Rookie Team. And he becomes a team leader on both ends of the court as the Hoos look to him take big shots on one end of the floor while locking down the opponent’s most dangerous perimeter threat when games are on the line.

If you’re getting young Malcolm Brogdon vibes, I won’t be the one to talk you out of them when considering Casey’s ceiling this year.

Final Analysis

It feels weird to have a suspicion that a player you’ve yet to watch play a full game will become your next favorite player in the program. But it’s not totally crazy either.

Everything about Casey Morsell screams UVA basketball player for Tony Bennett. This is the mold. Excellent student, high character individual, contributes to the local community, not a flashy personality on the court, intensely competitive, an eventual plus defender, a versatile game on offense, room to improve, and a disposition to grind away in pursuit of completeness.

It’s as if Morsell was carved out of the pillars that represent the program itself.

That may be a bit to place on a first year player’s shoulders. But in this era of college basketball, there are freshmen every year that encounter these kinds of expectations and face exponentially more pressure.

But Casey also has a massive opportunity awaiting in a program known for its veteran lineups. It’s something that won’t come along often at UVA under Tony Bennett. And by all accounts, Morsell appears to be uniquely constructed to embrace and thrive in the role.

His skills are a great fit for the way UVA plays basketball. But even then, at the beginning of the season it would be wise to temper expectations a bit. He’ll still need to find his way as he adjusts from WCAC hoops to Division 1 basketball. By the end of the 2019-2020 season, UVA fans will likely be talking up Morsell’s expected contributions next year.