While the Tony Bennett era may be over, and with it the use of his patented Packline defense, the bar has not been lowered for the Virginia Cavaliers. Instead, a standard has been set for all future iterations
of the program, first and foremost for that of new coach Ryan Odom and the first group of Cavaliers he has put together.
Odom’s first Virginia team features 12 new players. Only three players return from a year ago, none of whom played extensive minutes for the Cavaliers last season, and only one of whom likely will this season, guard Elijah Gertrude, who missed last season with a torn ACL. As a result, the Cavaliers are in the midst of a race towards the Nov. 3 season opener as they try to gel together as a team.
“We wanted to find guys that understood the place and wanted Virginia for all that Virginia could offer, but also wanted high-level basketball and competitive basketball and wanted to compete for a national championship and ACC championships,” Odom said at ACC Tipoff on Wednesday.
It’s been a sprint since the day Odom was hired in late March, when you consider the need to both put together a staff and rebuild almost the entire roster. The former was far simpler than the latter, as nearly the entire staff Odom had at VCU followed him to Charlottesville. Associate head coach Griff Aldrich, who led Longwood’s program for the past seven seasons, is the only coaching addition, although he worked for Odom at UMBC for two seasons from 2016 to 2018.
“I’m really proud of the staff we’ve put together,” Odom said. “I’ve been very fortunate in my career as a head coach to have continuity, guys that have been with me for a while and understand the types of players and people that we’re trying to bring into our program and our system. So I lean on them heavily.”
Building the roster required more extensive work from Odom with no returning contributors. He brought in an assortment of players from all over the country with varying levels of experience and notably kept Charlottesville native Chance Mallory home after the consensus four-star recruit reopened his commitment. Along with Gertrude’s return from injury, there is real excitement about the potential of this team if the pieces wind up fitting together well.
“We believe that we have good size and skill for the positions that we have put together,” Odom said. “We have guys upfront that can defend the rim. We have forwards that can score in and around the basket and from behind the arc, big guys that can shoot from behind the arc. We have size you can see here at the guard position, and strength, and we have experience in shooting.”
The Cavaliers will look much different than they did a year ago, not just from a personnel standpoint, but also the style of play is going to be drastically different. For one, Virginia isn’t likely to rank in the bottom four nationally in possessions per game as it did last season. Fans can also expect an uptick in three-point attempts, considering UVA ranked outside the top-200 in three-point attempts per game last season while Odom’s VCU team was in the top 25.
Transfers Malik Thomas (from San Francisco) and Dallin Hall (from BYU) will help lead the transformation. The two veteran guards joined Odom at ACC Tipoff earlier this week and provided some insight into where things stand for the new-look ‘Hoos ahead of the upcoming season.
“I think the way we play,” Thomas said, “our style of play is winning basketball, because we share, we get up and down.”
Thomas, in particular, has the chance to be a go-to guy on the offensive end. He led the West Coast Conference in scoring last season with 19.9 points per game and notched a career-high 36 points in his final game for the Dons. At 6-foot-5 and 215 pounds, he promises to be an imposing force in the backcourt even as he adjusts to a new team and new conference.
“I think growing up as a kid, everyone wants to win at the highest level. UVA has done that with winning a national championship,” Thomas said. “We saw it with football a little bit about just how excited the people are about the University of Virginia, whether that’s football or basketball. We’re just all excited to play for our community.”
Hall, meanwhile, will be expected to play more of a role as a distributor in the backcourt. He averaged over five assists per game while starting in 30 of 34 games two seasons ago. In less playing time last year, mostly off the bench, he saw that mark finish at 4.2 assists per game. He, too, is ready to help return this Virginia program to national prominence.
“I think we just have a tremendous amount of respect for UVA as a program, and we’re bought into getting it back to that championship level,” Hall said. “We come to work every day. We have a great attitude. We have a lot of fun, and then we just seek to learn and improve. The whole while the community has just supported us, and we can already feel the excitement building.”
At a minimum, the backcourt duo of Thomas and Hall will provide some leadership and experience to a program trying to connect a slew of new pieces. If things go well, they will help reestablish Virginia as one of the premier teams in the ACC. The expectations set by the successes of the Bennett era clearly are not lost on the new Cavaliers. They have less than a month left before they start the season and try to meet them.
