Reece Beekman Returns, Immediately Boosts Virginia Basketball

One way to immediately improve your team is to add the ACC Defensive Player of the Year to the mix. Reece Beekman provided that boost to the Virginia basketball roster on Wednesday when he withdrew from the NBA Draft to return to school with his final year of eligibility.

Beekman shared his decision with Jonathan Givony at ESPN and Jon Rothstein at CBS Sports.

“I’ve decided to go back to UVA to work towards being a first-round draft pick next year and finish my degree,” Beekman told ESPN in this article.

Beekman entered the NBA Draft in April and tested the waters through the NBA Draft Combine earlier in May. He also worked out with numerous pro teams to gain more evaluations. Along the way, he received positive feedback and made positive impressions at the Combine, all of which resulted in some rising mock draft projections from analysts. ESPN, for example, had pushed him up to No. 43 in its draft rankings, which is safely in the second round.

Ultimately, Beekman decided to return to Virginia for a final season with Tony Bennett. He earned third-team All-ACC honors last season and was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year. The Hoos also claimed a share of the ACC Regular Season Championship and advanced to the ACC Tournament title game.

Beekman also ranked first in the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.4 with 5.3 assists against 1.6 turnovers. That marked the second straight year that he led the ACC in that category. He finished third in assists per game and will be the conference’s leading returnee there with Wake Forest’s Tyree Appleby and UVA’s Kihei Clark completing their college careers.

Overall, Beekman posted averages this past season of 9.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 1.8 steals in 32.6 minutes per game. He shot 40.5% overall and 35.1% from 3-point range, the latter a career best as a Cavalier. He also attempted 2.7 free throws per game and made 79.3% of those attempts, both also career highs at UVA. Both 3-point shooting percentage and free throw shooting percentage have climbed each of his three years.

With his return, Beekman will be in place to a lead a new-look team next season. Virginia seniors Jayden Gardner, Ben Vander Plas, and Clark finished their college eligibility, while Armaan Franklin elected to forgo his final year (pandemic bonus year) and pursue a pro career. Kadin Shedrick, Francisco Caffaro, and Isaac Traudt transferred to Texas, Santa Clara, and Creighton respectively.

On the other hand, Taine Murray, Isaac McKneely, Ryan Dunn, Leon Bond III, and Dante Harris all stayed at UVA. The Cavaliers brought in Jordan Minor, Andrew Rohde, and Jacob Groves from Merrimack, St. Thomas (Minnesota), and Oklahoma as transfers. The incoming freshman class already included Blake Buchanan and Elijah Gertrude, but picked up Anthony Robinson, a South Florida decommit, as well. (Find the full scholarship picture here.)

Of all those players, none have as much experience at Virginia as Beekman. He has appeared in 92 games as a Wahoo with 87 starts and played more than 3,000 career minutes. So he will be the clear leader for Hoos as they pursue another strong season and NCAA Tournament bid.