A lot has happened since we last visited the Virginia men’s basketball team offseason activity a little over a week ago. Action in the transfer portal has picked up as the nation’s best transfers begin to narrow their lists and others enter ahead of the May 11 deadline. The following are a series of updates pertaining to UVA’s involvement in the portal.
Virginia Players Departing
First, the makeup of the current Hoos roster has changed a bit since this first piece was released. Reece Beekman and Armaan Franklin both declared for the 2023 NBA Draft, though Beekman notably maintained his college eligibility, leaving the door open for a possible return to Virginia. Both were major contributors for last year’s team, with Beekman winning ACC Defensive Player of the Year and Franklin leading the team in scoring (12.4 points per game). Beekman will have until May 31 to make his final decision.
Unfortunately, the departures do not stop there for the Wahoos. As noted in the last piece, Francisco Caffaro entered his name into the transfer portal, and since then, two more players joined him in the form of Isaac Traudt and Kadin Shedrick. Traudt has decided to take his talents to Creighton while Shedrick is reportedly down to five schools: Duke, Texas, Missouri, Kansas State, and Xavier. With both Shedrick and Caffaro exiting the team, UVA is left with no experienced centers on the roster.
In fact, if things stay as they are, the Hoos will be down seven of their top contributors from the 2022-2023 season: Kihei Clark, Reece Beekman, Armaan Franklin, Jayden Gardner, Ben Vander Plas, Kadin Shedrick and Francisco Caffaro. That leaves Virginia with two to-be sophomores, Isaac McKneely and Ryan Dunn, as the only players on the roster who played significant minutes last season.
Incoming Transfers
Though losing so much of last year’s production is not an ideal scenario, it does give Virginia coach Tony Bennett and his coaching staff a lot of minutes to offer up to potential transfers. UVA now has the flexibility to add some major pieces from the portal and will likely need to do so if it hopes to stay competitive next season. Here are some updates on where the Hoos stand.
On April 5, Robert Jennings posted a picture to his Twitter account suggesting he is down to just two schools: Texas Tech and Virginia. Reports indicate that conversations between Jennings and Cavalier staff have been going well, and Jennings is scheduled for an official visit during the weekend of April 14-16.
Merrimack forward Jordan Minor, who averaged 17.4 points and 9.4 rebounds this past season, recently visited UVA on April 6 and 7. After this visit, College Basketball Report indicated that Jordan Minor is prioritizing Virginia as one of his top four schools, along with Florida Gulf Coast, Iowa, and Seton Hall.
The Hoos have also contacted some new players, including guard Chance McMillian from Grand Canyon, forward Will Shaver from UNC, guard Jayden Epps from Illinois, and forward Mustapha Amzil from Dayton among others.
McMillian put up 10.9 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game on 44% 3-point shooting for Grand Canyon, a tournament team, last season. He would bring much needed shooting to a UVA team that ranked 130th in 3-point percentage last season.
Shaver only played in three games for the Tar Heels last year, but at 6’10” 260 pounds, he has plenty of potential suitors. He averaged 16 points and 10 rebounds in high school on 62% shooting. He could certainly fill the Hoos need for a big body in the middle.
Epps averaged 9.5 points for the Illini last season as a true freshman, placing him amongst the top freshman in the Big 10 conference. Epps, who is from Norfolk, reportedly committed to Georgetown.
Amzil is flying a bit under the radar as a transfer candidate. The 6’10” junior from Finland didn’t have overly impressive numbers a season ago (9.3 points and 4.8 rebounds on 44.2% shooting) but he could be a nice depth piece up front should UVA be able to snag him.
Four other players Virginia had contacted previously have committed elsewhere since our first update. Payton Sparks, center from Ball State, will be joining the Indiana Hoosiers. John Tonje, guard from Colorado State, will be joining the Missouri Tigers. Ta’Lon Cooper, guard from Minnesota, will be joining the South Carolina Gamecocks, and Josh Oduro, forward from George Mason, will be joining the Providence Friars.
Stay tuned to the portal as rosters continue to take shape at Virginia and beyond.
Tony has lost a number of players over the last couple of years. You would think UVa. would be a very desirable school for both education and basketball. Especially since they won a national championship, and have a number of former players that are in the NBA. Players say great things about Tony and the program, yet they struggle to get top recruits to attend Virginia, and to keep players after they have been in the program. So, there seems to be issues? There is so much competition to sign incoming freshmen, and /or sign players out of the transfer protocol. Just look at the teams that recently made it to the final 4. How does a name school like VA lose in the first round two straight years ands FAU not only makes the final 4, but was .06 seconds from the final??
“There is so much competition to sign incoming freshmen, and /or sign players out of the transfer protocol.” I think you have answered your own question. It is clear that both types of recruits value basketball over academics. So, we don’t get a real advantage there. For an outsider, I think it’s hard for a recruit to get comfortable with our offense while other teams get up and down the court. So, there is lots of competition AND we have no advantage from Virginia’s academic reputation while having to overcome the methodical offense. I love our team, and would rather cheer for the kind of team we have and for Tony’s character. Given the above, our record in the regular season as at the top of the league. The playoffs (March Madness) are a crapshoot. So few data points (games) that you can’t reach conclusions. And we did win a National Championship with talent and some good breaks.
I don’t disagree with anything you’ve noted. And that reflects the sad state of college basketball today. Perhaps I should put “college” in quotes. Tony will have to pull some rabbits out of the hat to keep us competitive with the caliber of teams we’ve become accustomed to handling. And so soon after our fielding a national championship squad. Head-spinning.
College sports, in the name of money, are being ruined very quickly.
With NIL money and relaxed transfer rules the concepts of team and school loyalty have largely been lost.
Players are free agents seeking best “deal” they can get.