It’s clichĂ© at this point to say that transfers are the new norm in college basketball. Of course the NCAA passed a new rule this year for 1st time transfers to have universal immediate eligibility, so the era of the mandatory sit-out year is almost entirely gone.
As Virginia saw three players graduate, another leave early for the NBA, and then three underclassmen transfer out in the spring, Tony Bennett opted to go out and get two proven transfers to fill out UVA’s 2021-22 roster.
Like we did with the freshmen yesterday, we’ll start by revisiting what we wrote in our commitment articles for our two transfers, wing Armaan Franklin and forward Jayden Gardner. With that foundation laid, we’ll then update our thoughts for the contributions for the coming season and their remaining time at UVA based upon what’s happened since and what we’re hearing going into the season.
Armaan Franklin
What We Said About His Recruitment
Indiana fourth-year coach Archie Miller was fired on March 15th with an underwhelming 67-58 record in Bloomington after being one of the hottest young coaches in the game when he moved up from Dayton in 2017. Eight days later, on the 23rd, it was announced that sophomore Franklin was going to enter the transfer portal, though at the time he acknowledged this was simply to keep options open given the uncertainty over IU’s coaching future. As is the case with any coaching change, especially this year, the IU program had a ton of roster uncertainty along with Franklin, with promising young lead guard Kristian Lander and wing Jordan Geronimo entering the portal with him, and top big man Trayce Jackson-Davis a big risk to go pro.
Indiana eventually hired Mike Woodson as their head coach, a former Hoosiers star player and most recently an assistant coach for the Knicks, in a move that looks a lot like IU trying to capture some of the same magic that Michigan did in their similar hiring of Juwan Howard in 2019. In an interesting wrinkle, Woodson brought on former Ohio State head coach Thad Matta as a right hand man (again, smelling like Juwan Howard’s brilliant move to bring in Phil Martelli as his legend on the bench).
But by that point, Franklin had already attracted a ton of attention. Virginia was joined by high majors like Louisville, Notre Dame, Illinois, and many others (247sports at one point said close to 30 programs had made contact).
It was a relatively quiet recruitment, or at least felt that way with a lot of other headlines being made in those weeks with the coaching carousel spinning, the NCAA Tournament still raging, and some higher profile transfers stealing headlines. But The Athletic still ranked Franklin as one of the top transfers available.
Every other Indiana player contemplating a transfer or move pro ultimately pledged to return to Bloomington, and on top of that Indiana received an inbound transfer pledge from former Pitt PG Xavier Johnson. All the positive feelings coming out of Assembly Hall made one wonder if Franklin would follow suit. But ultimately Armaan decided to follow his own path, and make no mistake Tony Bennett won a very heated battle for the star guard.
Excited about the next chapter in my hoops life. Still, have to say a big thanks to the IU community, fans and my teammates for all their support. Know that I appreciate you all so much! ⚔️??⚔️ @UVAMensHoops pic.twitter.com/NErzsdMDXL
— Armaan Franklin (@unkle44artty) April 8, 2021
What We Said About His Game
Why was Franklin so sought after? Well, let’s start with the stat line.
54 games played with 29 starts over two years; 34 games with 14 starts in B1G Ten play. In this most recent season, he played 30.1 minutes a night, scored 11.4 ppg (2nd highest on the team), shot 42% on 3’s on nearly 4 attempts a game, 42% on 2’s on over 5 attempts a game. 4.1 rebounds a game, 2.1 assists a game, and 1.2 steals a game. His 3P% in league play was the 4th best in the B1G. His steal rate was 14th in the league.
Injuries did affect Franklin down the stretch last year. He injured his ankle in early January, knocking him out of the Maryland game after only 7 minutes and then missing two more contests. He returned to play the next 10 games for Indiana (starting 9 after coming off the bench in his first game back), but reinjured the ankle against Rutgers and missed three more games to end the regular season. He came off the bench for Indiana’s lone postseason game, a first round loss to Rutgers in the B1G Ten tournament.
Franklin topped 20 points three times last season against Power Conference opponents, scoring 20 in a win over Butler, 23 in a loss to Illinois, and 23 in a 2OT win over Northwestern.
He’s 6’4″ with a solid wingspan so good size to play the 2 and maybe even the 3. Good balance in his offensive game, shooting spot up, off curls, off the dribble, and going downhill to the rim. There’s some efficiency issues to work with, both in his finishing inside and with his handle (over two turnovers a game last year), so we’re going to need cleaner performance, but the shooting alone makes him a massive get on the wing after two straight years of subpar shooting out of the guards (counting Murphy as a forward) and the lone bright spot in Woldetensae graduating.
Defensively he’ll be solid (the steal rate is great), though he’ll need to improve his closeouts. Indiana played a version of the Pack Line so it’s not as if he’s been hiding in a zone the last two years. But this will obviously be a focus for Bennett in getting him up to speed, but at the same time the defensive metrics and roster stats for the Hoosiers still showed him as one of their better defenders.
If you want to see him in action, here’s the condensed game against Northwestern where Franklin goes for 23 points, 5 boards, 3 assists, and 4 steals:
What We’re Thinking Now
As noted yesterday in the review of Cavalier freshmen Taine Murray and Igor Milicic, there has been massive roster turnover since Armaan Franklin committed to Virginia on April 8th. Justin McKoy announced his transfer to North Carolina on April 10th, and perhaps more relevant to Franklin, Casey Morsell transferred to NC State on April 9th and Jabri Abdur-Rahim transferred to Georgia on April 12th. Trey Murphy also announced his intention to test the NBA draft waters on April 13th, a prequel to his summer decision to stay in the NBA draft, where he was ultimately picked 17th overall by the New Orleans Pelicans. In short, if there was ever any doubt about the significance of Franklin’s role for the 2021-2022 Cavaliers, that doubt dissipated quickly.
So here we are in mid-October, three weeks away from Virginia’s opener against Navy, with Franklin expected to play a key role for the Cavaliers. The Blue-White Scrimmage all but confirmed the widely held belief that Franklin will start at the three-guard for Virginia on November 9th against Navy — and likely for many more games afterwards.
In many respects, Franklin slides in perfectly to the role for which Tony Bennett and the coaching staff had been grooming Casey Morsell. The two players were each members of the their respective team’s 2019 recruiting class and are similar physically, with Franklin standing at 6’4″, 204 lbs compared to Morsell’s 6’3″, 196 lbs. Each also had been touted at various times as having similar traits, as both had been described as adept shooters with the ability to create off the bounce. But Morsell struggled offensively his first two years in the Virginia system and has since left for the Wolfpack’s quicker tempo. The hope is that Franklin can slide into Morsell’s role and deliver the offensive spark that Morsell could not seem to find in Charlottesville.
With Virginia likely to play more out of its mover-blocker set this season, expect Franklin to do a little bit of everything on the offensive end. As a mover, he will be expected to create space curling around off-ball screens to hopefully get clean looks for his jumper. At the Blue-White Scrimmage, he reportedly missed all four of his three-point attempts, but expect Franklin to keep hunting his shot, particularly in a Virginia backcourt lacking consistent shooters. But while Franklin missed from deep Sunday, a positive development was he still notched 10 points from inside the arc. His ability to drive and either score or dish inside may be an equally important part of a Virginia offense that is expected to emphasize interior scoring this season.
Franklin’s ability to transition into the packline defense is a question that gets raised for any newcomer in Virginia’s system. His 1.2 steals per game for Indiana last season indicate he at least has defensive instincts that can be sharpened under Bennett’s tutelage. We also have not heard any rumblings of defensive concerns, which typically would have come out by now if there was reason for worry. While Franklin may not be an all-conference defender from the jump, expect him to hold his own and grow as the season progresses.
With all that said, there is not necessarily a clean-cut player comparison for Franklin. Going back a few years, Franklin could be used in a similar role as Malcolm Brogdon. Both players have consistent outside jumpers and are comfortable driving towards the basket. By no means take this as an expectation that Franklin will match Brodgon’s success, but Virginia has not had a guard like him that can both hit outside shots and create off the bounce in quite some time.
All told, there is a big role for Franklin to fill, and he seems ready to step in. Somewhere around 30 minutes per game is not too high of an expectation for the Indiana transfer, particularly with an unproven cast of backups behind him (specifically, senior Kody Stattmann, sophomore Carson McCorkle, and freshman Taine Murray). Franklin has three seasons of eligibility remaining (his junior and senior seasons plus a COVID year, if he wants it), and he has plenty of upside in the Virginia program. He seems just as perfect of a fit in Charlottesville now as he did last spring.
Jayden Gardner
What We Said About His Recruitment
Gardner hit the transfer portal on March 29th after three highly successful seasons in Greenville at ECU. He started as a very under the radar 3-star recruit in the 2018 class, ranked 387th by 247sports.com. But coming out of his third year, when he landed on the American Athletic Conference 1st-Team, he knew it was time to look for a bigger stage.
This wasn’t the result of a coaching change, like we saw at Indiana that landed us Franklin. Rather, Gardner likely got tired of finishing at the bottom of the AAC every year. The Pirates went 2-10 in the league this year, and went 5-13 and 3-15 in the two seasons prior. That was a lot for a competitive player who likely wants to see what winning looks like.
Gardner immediately drew interest from a long list of Power Five programs before he cut his list to NC State, LSU, Arkansas, Miami, and Virginia. He conducted multiple rounds of Zoom calls, with UVA reported both as the first program he got face time with and then, before shutting things down, Tony Bennett was also the last coach he talked to.
That Monday afternoon, things went Virginia’s way.
The Marathon Continues ?. Virginia what’s good!! ⚔️??⚔️ @UVAMensHoops pic.twitter.com/1YD2oPPMY1
— Jayden Gardner (@Jayy_Baller_1) April 12, 2021
What We Said About His Game
So what’s the deal with Gardner being such a sought after prospect?
He’s been one of the most consistent front court players since the day he stepped on campus. He’s averaged at least 16 points and 8 rebounds in each of his three seasons. Put short, he’s a dog on both the glass and attacking the rim.
Gardner is listed at 6’7″ and 235 lbs [Virginia now lists him at 6’6″, 246 lbs]. He’s about as pure a throwback Power Forward as you’re going to find. For such a prolific scorer, he’s almost entirely a downhill threat. Of his 1022 career field goal attempts, only 36 have been from behind the 3-point line (he hit 9 of them, for only 25%).
None of ECU’s teams were particularly dangerous offenses, meaning Gardner, as an alpha scorer from Day 1, wasn’t getting a ton of help, drawing plenty of opponents’ attention. His usage rate (the percentage of his team’s possessions he finished) led the team all three years, among the highest in the conference every season. He’s a career 50.5% shooter on his 2’s, which is a solid rate. What pushes his effectiveness higher is his ability to draw fouls, ranking 7th, 11th, and 2nd in the AAC over his three seasons in Fouls Drawn per 40 minutes. He had a FT rate of 59% last year which is a rate unheard of for a UVA player. And once there, he shoots FTs at a healthy career 74% rate.
Gardner played over 36 mpg in league play last year, so he’s a marathon man; his conditioning is excellent. He’s been healthy throughout his career. He’s a dangerous rebounder on both ends of the floor, exceeding a DR% of 20% every season there, and posting AAC Top 12 OR%’s in both his first two years before slumping a little this year but still posting an OR% of 6.5% this year, which is solid.
If you’re looking for a comp, Anthony Gill is the easy one. Very effective going to the rim both on the blocks and as a face-up attacker.
At 6’6″ he’s not going to be much of a 5-man except in very small lineups. Gardner isn’t much of a shot-blocker either, so anyone looking for a Wilkins-type help-side shot blocker may be disappointed.
But getting a power forward who can rebound and score at a high level, and has done so in a great conference (the AAC isn’t P5, but it’s tough, on par with the Big East and A-10 as the 6th or 7th toughest conference every year of Gardner’s tenure per KenPom).
And for some highlights, let’s take a look at his 21-point, 15-rebound, 4-assist explosion against Top 10 / Final Four team Houston last season:
What We’re Thinking Now
Not much has changed regarding expectations for Jayden Gardner since his commitment to Virginia on April 12th. If anything, his anticipated role for the 2021-2022 season has increased. With Justin McKoy having already announced his commitment to North Carolina by the time Gardner made his Virginia intentions known, the only real question was whether Bennett would look to add another player to his thin front-court. With redshirt sophomore Kadin Shedrick and redshirt junior Francisco Caffaro likely to man the five spot, Virginia only added international freshman Igor Milicic to compete with Gardner at the four. With Milicic expected to play more of a developmental role this season (and perhaps next season, as well), Gardner is in for big minutes in 2021-2022.
Gardner played with the expected starters in the first half of the Blue-White Scrimmage Sunday and showed that he is going to be a focal point of the Virginia offense this season. In the scrimmage, he led all scorers with 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting and 4-of-6 from the free throw line. Gardner displayed a nice range of moves as a face-up power forward. In one instance, he spun around a stumbling Shedrick for an easy two-handed dunk. He also showed his physicality with his back to the basket, securing an offensive rebound and backing down an overpowered Milicic for the scrimmage’s first points.
The early comparisons to Anthony Gill seem to be accurate. Both undersized forwards (Gardner at 6’6″, Gill at 6’8″), each plays with an old-school physicality that Virginia has not had in its frontcourt in recent years. Gardner’s offensive style will be a throwback to earlier Bennett teams that thrived in the paint, a sharp contrast to the past two years that featured stretch forwards in Mamadi Diakite, Jay Huff, and Sam Hauser. Don’t expect many (if any) three point attempts from Gardner, as the Virginia offense is likely to flow through him (along with Shedrick) inside. His ability to get to the free throw line will be a welcome addition to a Virginia team that has struggled to do so since Brogdon and Gill graduated in 2016. In short, Gardner is poised to deliver offensively this season.
His defense is likely more of a question, as it was with Anthony Gill. In the Blue-White Scrimmage sequence before his spin and dunk on Shedrick, he blocked his frontcourt-mate’s shot on the defensive end. But expect such defensive sequences to be more of the exception than the rule with Gardner. He only averaged 0.2 blocks per game in 2020-2021 (down from 0.5 blocks in both 2018-2019 and 2019-2020), and he gathered just 0.6 steals per game in 2020-2021 (again down from 1.1 in 2019-2020 and 0.8 in 2018-2019). Gardner will have to learn when to double and how to recover within the packline, and time will tell if Bennett will ask him to hedge on ball screens. But there is no reason he cannot develop into a serviceable defender at Virginia. It should also be noted that Gill’s defense came a long way under Bennett; Gill earned All-ACC Defensive Team accolades in 2014-2015 with steal (0.5 per game) and block (0.9 per game) statistics not far off from Gardner’s recent averages.
Gardner has two seasons of eligibility remaining (his upcoming senior season plus a COVID year, if he takes it), and there is plenty of optimism for his time in Charlottesville. While he could chip-in as a small-ball five, his more likely role this season will likely be at the four with either Shedrick or Caffaro manning the five. In these instances, he will act as a blocker in Virginia’s sides offense and get both face-up and back-down opportunities on the low block.
There is no true backup to Gardner. Bennett could experiment with lineups that include both Shedrick and Caffaro in the post while Gardner takes a breather. Perhaps Stattmann could slide down as the four in smaller lineups, and if Milicic is ready, he could also provide spot minutes for Gardner. But when push comes to shove, Gardner is going to get extended run this season. Bennett might not push Gardner’s 35.1 minutes per game last season, but a total near 30 per game is well within the realm of possibility.
Like fellow transfer Armaan Franklin, Jayden Gardner is in line for a big role this season. Early indications are that Gardner could even be the focal point of the Virginia offense. As lineups and rotations evolve throughout the season, expect Gardner to be a constant for the Cavaliers in 2021-2022.