When he was introduced as the new head coach of the Virginia basketball team April 1 last year, Tony Bennett was charged with two tall tasks. First, turn around a program that had finished 11th and 10th in the ACC during the previous two seasons with Dave Leitao. Second, ensure that incoming recruits Tristan Spurlock and Jontel Evans would keep to their commitments for the upcoming season.
Bennett immediately visited Spurlock, a top-100 recruit, the next day at his home in Northern Virginia. Then, after paying an official visit to the University, Spurlock announced he was on board.\nNearly a year later, the roles were reversed. This time, it was Spurlock and his family who paid a visit to Bennett - in the coach's office - to discuss the freshman's future with the program. Spurlock stressed that the two parties cooperated, working toward a mutual decision.
Bennett "told me how he felt and how he viewed my future with the program," Spurlock said. "I told him how I felt about that future, and we came to the agreement that it wouldn't be best for me to stay."
Nevertheless, there is no lingering animosity between the two, Spurlock said, calling Bennett "one of the greatest guys he's ever met."
Instead of personal feelings, the decision was attributed to the two parties' different opinions of what position Spurlock should play on the basketball court. Whereas the 6-foot-8 freshman said he feels best-suited to play wing - the position he played throughout high school - Bennett envisioned the tall, lengthy player as a forward.
"Midway through [the season] he switched me up, and that wasn't anything we had talked about before, and that's what he saw me as," Spurlock said.
Several incoming recruits and returning players were planning to play wing, however, so there simply was not enough room at the position to make returning to it a feasible option for Spurlock.\nAnd in total, Spurlock saw limited action, playing only 13 of the team's 29 games. He was never discouraged by that sparse playing time, though, and was always hopeful that his minutes would increase, he said.
"My Mom and Dad did a great job of never letting me get down, and every game they called to make sure I was mentally focused and prepared to play," Spurlock said. "And then my teammates did that, too."
As he maintained a positive outlook, Spurlock practiced to improve his defense, which he said was lacking at the beginning of the season. Bennett even acknowledged this as an area in which Spurlock had improved as the season progressed, Spurlock said. Evans, Spurlock's roommate and best friend, agreed that his counterpart is more of a perimeter player, but he echoed the sentiment that Spurlock had contributed greatly throughout the year, adding that he did not know why his friend had not seen more playing time.
"I thought he would come into the rotation after Sylven [Landesberg's] departure, but it just didn't happen," Evans said.
In fact, the departing sophomore guard had been - along with senior guard Calvin Baker - an important mentor for Spurlock, so it may not be a coincidence that the freshman's decision to leave Virginia coincides with the departure of the program's best player. But perhaps the player most affected by the situation is Evans. He and Spurlock played together in the Boo Williams AAU program, and Evans said he constantly used to send Spurlock text messages encouraging him to commit to Virginia while they still were in high school. The two might have came to Virginia together, but their futures now clearly are set on different paths.
"Everybody thinks we're a package deal - we're not a package deal," Spurlock said. "Jontel's gonna do what's best for he and his family just like I'm gonna do what's best for me and my family. I still love him, he still loves me, so it's OK."
Spurlock has not yet been contacted by any other programs, he said, but he hopes to transfer to a school where he can contribute immediately. And though he did not leave much of a statistical mark on the Virginia basketball program, Spurlock's emotional ties with his teammates are indelible.
"Everybody is sad, especially me," Evans said. "We came here with dreams and aspirations of doing big things here. It hurts a little bit to know that my best friend, my brother, is leaving me. So I just gotta stay strong, continue to do well for him. I wish him the best of luck and I'm gonna miss him a lot"
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