If you’re a college sports fan or more specifically a college sports recruiting fan, then the pursuit of new talent can become a thrilling pastime. Virginia fans are no different in that regard.
There’s the tension of will a recruit pick your school or not as a decision day looms. There’s evaluating the competition and worrying about any late-entry team swooping in. There are crystal balls, star ratings, Twitter likes, and Instagram crumbs. Who follows who? Who Retweeted what? What do the gurus say? What do the insiders know?
Scholarship pictures, roster management, and now – dun, dun, dunnnnn – the portal. Oh my. Round and round it goes.
With that, however, there often comes an emotional investment. So when a recruit that at one-time seemed like a potential Hoo selects another school or drops UVA out of the recruiting race, there can be a strong reaction. That’s putting it mildly.
Thus was the case with the recent London Johnson saga. A 6’4”, 165-pound point guard out of Norcross High School in Georgia, Johnson had captured the hopes of a lot of Cavalier fans. Whether it was gurus, insiders, tea leaves, or just blind optimism, Virginia fans thought Johnson was leaning toward the Hoos. He recently led his team to the Georgia Class AAAAAAA State Championship with 27 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 steals in the title game.
The recruitment timeline in fan eyes went from narrowing his choices including UVA to considering early enrollment for this coming year, to likely not enrolling early, to setting an announcement date on the first day of April. Only that announcement got delayed and he said in a published quote that the change only happened for a funny reason. Then came news Thursday night that the Wahoos were no longer in the running for Johnson, though nothing came through an official report or from Johnson himself.
When fans go from the brink of an expected (hoped for?) announcement to alone at the altar … well, there’s going to be some emotions with that. Like Max encountering the wild things type of emotions – gnashing of teeth, terrible roars, rolling eyes, and all of that.
This time, it’s even included a little existential crisis sort of deal as UVA fans try to sort out what the changing landscape in college sports means. Some of it is tied directly to Johnson theories, but not all of it. There’s the Name, Image, and Likeness angle, the portal, grade incentives, and all sorts of other things.
When you’re emotionally invested in something like many Wahoo fans are with Virginia basketball and recruiting, these emotions are going to come out and these reactions are going to happen. It’s happened before. DeSagana Diop, Marvin Austin and WTOP, LaVell Blanchard, Ronald Curry, Sacha Killeya-Jones, Trevor Keels … just a few names that have been on the message board merry-go-round at one time or another.
Time will tell if the reaction is a sign of something more. In the meantime, if you’re looking for good news, try the women’s basketball program that has picked up two commitments in the past week or just the weekly fan picks below. Wahoowa!
Fan(s) Of The Week
A No. 3 jersey is always a good choice for Virginia fan.
Student Fan(s) Of The Week
Smiling at Scott Stadium.
Feature Photo Of The Week
Emma Navarro, who won the NCAA Singles Championship as a freshman last season, has climbed to the top of the collegiate ITA singles rankings once again. She’s 16-1 for the UVA women’s tennis team so far this season.
