Stattmann happy to wait for shot at pros
TURNING professional is itching in the back of Cairns sharpshooter Kody Stattmann’s mind but the University of Virginia talent says he is committed to his final two college campaigns.
The 19-year-old former Cairns Marlins and junior Australian representative had his sophomore NCAA season cancelled in early March as the coronavirus shut down all college sports in the US.
The swingman has been in limbo since, soon rushing home to FNQ to be with his family as coronavirus ripped through America and has been training at home since.
Despite having no set date when his third season at Virginia may start, the 2.01m shooter, who has trained and played pre-season games with the Taipans in previous years, says he is not yet considering entering the professional ranks.
After an encouraging second season at the college level, there is no doubt NBL teams and other overseas pro clubs would be interested in signing the Cairns junior if he was to step up to the next stage of his career.
“I am committed to finishing college right now but I definitely want to go pro as soon as possible, kind of,” Stattmann said.
“I am still going back to UVA for two years and that is my best option to get the best pro contract I can, seeing as UVA is a big school and highly scouted by pro coaches.
“That is the best option for me over the next two years, college is the way to go for now.”
In early March, NCAA President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors cancelled the Division I men’s and women’s 2020 basketball tournaments, as well as all remaining winter and spring NCAA championships, leaving Stattmann’s season incomplete.
In his freshman campaign, his Virginia Cavaliers went all the way through March Madness to lift the NCAA title.
Despite being ranked 16th in the nation and having many of his championship teammates from last season head to the pros, Stattmann felt his school could have gone all the way again, if given the chance.
“It was a different group to the one we won it with but I think we could have done something special again,” Stattmann said.
“We started off slow in our regular season, losing five or so games, but we beat big schools like Duke and Kentucky to end up finishing second.
“The group felt like we had a lot of confidence and that we were going to win it.
“I thought we had a good shot to do it all again, we had something special coming and it is just disappointing we did not get the chance to show it.”
Under respected head coach Tony Bennett, Stattmann had his minutes rise in the 2019-20 campaign and is hopeful a more up-tempo style played by the Cavaliers in his final two seasons at the level will help his game flourish.
The sweet-shooting guard is yet to decide what major of his degree he will settle on at college and said he was still talking to people about what he will select.