Friday, October 02, 2009
Henderson-UVa break-up OK with all parties
Cave Spring big man to choose between Davidson, Vanderbilt
Doug Doughty
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It didn’t take an oral commitment from Akil Mitchell for Cave Spring big man Josh Henderson and Virginia’s basketball staff to part ways.
“It’s kind of like a boy and girl in high school who both want to end a relationship but are waiting for the right moment,” Cave Spring coach Billy Hicks said.
Hicks isn’t sure when it was Wednesday that the Cavaliers notified Henderson that they had taken a commitment from Mitchell, a 6-foot-7 forward from Charlotte, N.C., but Henderson already had alerted Hicks that he would be canceling an official visit to UVa scheduled for next weekend.
Henderson will be at Davidson on an official visit this weekend and Hicks thinks that Henderson, a 6-11, 205-pounder, will make an announcement as soon as next week. His other finalist is Vanderbilt, which he visited in early September.
Davidson coach Bob McKillop and Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings were at a Cave Spring open gym to observe Henderson on Wednesday night.
“Both schools have said he was their No. 1 choice,” Hicks said.
That was one of the issues with Virginia. It was hard to say how badly the Cavaliers wanted Henderson, whom they had invited to Charlottesville on a weeknight in September in order to extend a face-to-face offer.
Hicks’ impression is that UVa thought Henderson would commit on the spot. When he didn’t, they asked him to push back a visit originally scheduled for Sept. 12 until the second weekend in October.
Schools generally like to have the last visit if they can get it. In Virginia’s case, because Henderson didn’t commit on the spot, they might have wanted the extra time to weigh their options.
Hicks definitely thinks that could have been the case.
He said that Bennett called him Thursday to “apologize” for the way the Cavaliers had recruited Henderson.
“He was making sure he hadn’t offended me,” Hicks said. “He was behind the 8-ball, coming in late as he did. They didn’t immediately fall in love with Josh. Then, I sent them tape and they decided, ‘We’ve got to get this guy.’ “
At the time, UVa already had a commitment from 6-8 Will Regan from Buffalo, N.Y. Still, the Cavaliers felt they needed two more big men, which is why they backed off Trae Golden, a once-coveted guard from Powder Springs, Ga.
On the same weekend that Henderson originally was to have taken his official visit, he visited UVa unofficially. James Johnson, a 6-9 post player from outside San Diego, was in town the same weekend and committed before he left campus.
When Henderson didn’t immediately commit, the Cavaliers had time to think. According to Hicks, they eventually came to the conclusion that Regan and Henderson were the same kind of athlete -- skilled but not “ultra” athletic, as Hicks put it.
One of Johnson’s main attributes is his athleticism but, if the Cavaliers were in a position where Henderson was playing the “5” spot and Regan was at the “4,” more athletic teams might be able to take advantage of them.
Thursday’s phone call left Hicks with a better taste in his mouth about the Bennett regime. He said he had not been in regular contact with the UVa staff, which had another contact in Cade Lemcke, Henderson’s AAU coach for the Charlottesville-based East Coast Fusion. Lemcke played at Virginia as a walk-on during the early years of the Pete Gillen era.
Hicks said he didn’t think UVa was the best place for Henderson “but, I told Tony that he was the last person I wanted to alienate. Everybody I’ve talked to about Tony Bennett has led me to believe he’s a class guy.”
MITCHELL WAS THE fifth player to commit to a Virginia staff that had only five scholarships at its disposal. Even so, from all indications, UVa’s decision to offer him was not connected to the Henderson recruitment.
Shonn Brown, the coach at Charlotte (N.C.) Christian School, said that the Cavaliers made an offer to Mitchell after watching him at an open gym Tuesday night and that he committed Wednesday.
The name, Shonn Brown, immediately rang a bell. I had last spoken to Brown in the spring of 2008, when I had written a story on Seth Curry and the fact that no big-time programs had recruited him despite his pedigree as the son of 17-year NBA veteran Dell Curry and the younger brother of Davidson star Stephen Curry.
Seth Curry had signed with Liberty, then coached by Ritchie McKay. McKay subsequently resigned at Liberty last spring to join the new staff at UVa and was instrumental in the Mitchell recruitment.
Mitchell averaged between nine and 10 points per game last season, not impressive numbers, Brown said, until you consider that Charlotte Christian had three Division I signees.
As a Division I signee, Mitchell will follow in the foosteps of the Curry brothers and his 2008-2009 Charlotte Christian teammates Willis Hall (College of Charleston), Tyler Wagener (Wofford) and Carson Sullivan (Pennsylvania).
“While [Mitchell] made some impact, we were pretty good,” said Brown, whose team finished 23-9. “He has done well and I believe he will do unbelievably well this year. He has an unbelievable upside.
“He’s young. He’s 17 years old. If you were to ask me, ‘What does he need to work on, I’d say, ‘strength.’ He needs to gets stronger but he has real good skills. When you have his size and can handle the ball the way he can … he can shoot the ball, he can post people up, he can take bigger people outside. Plus he’s a very bright kid.”
Brown said that schools that were after Mitchell included George Washington, James Madison, Richmond, VCU and Tulane. Auburn and Gonzaga also expressed interest.
Brown also mentioned the possibility of Mitchell redshirting and possibly adding 18 or 20 pounds. UVa had thought about redshirting Henderson but whether that topic was actually broached is an item for another column.
