When Casey Morsell signed with Virginia in the 2019 recruiting class, he was a pretty significant addition for the Cavaliers. The guard from St. John’s College High in Washington, D.C., was rated by Rivals.com as a four-star recruit, the No. 11 shooting guard in the country and the No. 49 overall prospect in his class nationally.

Brad Franklin, publisher of the Rivals site CavsCorner.com, noted that fans were hoping that Morsell could follow in the footsteps of a recent Virginia star who is now a standout in the NBA.

“I think a lot of folks saw Morsell as being the next Malcom Brogdon-like physical defender, a guy who could fit in on both ends,” Franklin noted. “He was expected to be able to defend multiple spots and come off screens while handling the ball at times.

“When he announced his commitment and throughout the rest of that cycle, it was pretty commonplace to see national recruiting stories mention the perceived fit between recruit and school. He came from winning programs, both at the high school and AAU levels, and most around the program thought he would be an early contributor and immediate impact guy, especially on D.”

Franklin noted that Morsell instantly looked the part physically at 6-foot-3, 196 pounds when he arrived at Virginia, and he had a quick success. In a neutral site game against Arizona State, Morsell scored 19 points in 38 minutes in a Cavaliers win. However, he only finished in double figures two more times after that.

The struggles offensively were puzzling to Franklin.