What Losing Jamil Tucker Means
Thursday, November 12 2009 by Ben
News that Jamil Tucker was taking an indefinite leave of absence broke yesterday.
Really, it's not for me or you or anyone to speculate why he's leaving, so you won't find that here. We at Dear Old UVa hope for the best for Jamil. Sure, we hope that he can come back to the team safe and complete, but more importantly we hope that whatever is troubling him is dealt with in a positive light.
On the court, I'd venture to say that Tucker's absence impacts the team heavily. You just don't find guys with his height (listed at 6'9") who can shoot like that easily. I hate quoting myself (ok, not really), but I think what I said about Tucker in his Wahoo in review post rings true:
In college basketball, there's a paltry few guys that can stroke it (40% on three) and, make no mistake about it, Tucker can fill it up.
Where I've criticized Tucker in the past is for two things: (1) his inconsistency on offense and (2) his footwork on defense.
As far as (1) is concerned, a consistent set of minutes would more than likely fix that. For (2), the hope is that a run through Tony Bennett's defensive boot camp would alleviate the missteps Tucker was making in the post. You cannot underestimate the value of good footwork and certainly Tucker needed a lot of work.
With Bennett dealing with (1) and (2), I thought that Tucker could be a supremely valuable weapon off the bench. Virginia desperately lacks in 3-pt shooting and Tucker would be great to help spread the floor on offense.
He was a sneaky-good defensive rebounder, which almost no one ever mentions. He grabbed almost 16% of available defensive caroms.
Plus, from the litany of quotes from Tucker, it appeared that he was buying into Bennett's system and would be an excellent senior leader for the Wahoos.
Let's all hope that Jamil can return to the court soon, but also hope that, if he can't, he and his family are in a good place moving forward.
Best of luck, Jamil, you will be welcomed back with open arms from this community if you choose to come back and play for Virginia or, even if you don't.
(Thanks to kenpom.com for stats)
2 comment(s) and 2 trackback(s)
I seem to recall stories that mentioned that JT came back substantially lighter, another thing that might have helped with his footwork/defensive quickness.
Plus, anyone who quotes Ken Pomeroy's numbers is good in my book.
I am amazed by the people who seem to think losing Tucker is no big deal, or even a positive. Aside from being another big body on a team that is short on big bodies, he is the best shooter we've got and probably a good fit as a pick and pop.
He will be missed. Best of luck to him in whatever it is that is keeping him off the court.
This is the Dear Old UVa overall team preview. We have reviewed the non-conference schedule ( part I and part II ) and the ACC schedule ( part I and part II, coming early next week). Despite my previous attempts to review the minutia of the schedule,
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