I love the idea that Rak just didn’t “want it” until he was a senior. And yes, I’m sure a coach is going to say “well we should’ve used him more as a junior, our bad.” Very plausible all around imo.
Old debate, but nevertheless, JB did state quite explicitly during Rak's Senior year, I think in one of his radio shows (because I used to link it as part of the argument - but don't care to find it now), that Rak could have contributed significantly as a Junior.
However, I think the point extended into the fact that we had better options so getting him the ball was not the priority, and it would just be taking shots away from X player...and we had better options.
I recall it mainly because the argument was especially humorous to me as all the posters who were quoting JB on Rak for years, saying he was lazy, (silly narrative by his Junior year btw), and suddenly morphed into, "Ehhhhh, JB says stuff" for a week or two, at least on that point.
Which was my big takeaway.
Certain narratives stick...Buddy could miss every 3 for 3 months and you'll still get the "best shooter ever - he shot 40% in ACC play last year" argument. He won't obviously, at least I hope he never goes so cold, but that'll never go away even if he doesn't ever hit that number again. Once a shooter, always a shooter, once lazy, always lazy.