Isaac Traudt enters the transfer portal: How this impacts Virginia’s roster for 2023-2024

Virginia redshirt big Isaac Traudt has entered his name into the transfer portal, which at this writing on Monday afternoon is approaching 1,000 D1 basketball players and counting, per VerbalCommits.com.

Traudt, a 6’10” four-star power forward, did not play as a true freshman this past season. Coach Tony Bennett, before the season, had indicated it was a mutual decision between himself and Traudt for the Grand Island, Neb., native to redshirt this season.

Maybe the decision wasn’t as mutual as Bennett thought it was.

Traudt, the No. 57 recruit in the Class of 2022, according to On3.com, was the 2022 Nebraska Gatorade Player of the Year after averaging 23.1 points and 8.3 rebounds per game his senior season.

There had been speculation linking Traudt to Creighton, which would involve a return home to Nebraska, and Traudt hinted on social media on Monday that returning home is a priority.

“After a lot of thought and consideration, I realized that nothing means more to me than home. So, I am officially entering the transfer portal to pursue an opportunity closer to my loved ones,” Traudt wrote on Twitter.

Traudt is the second member of the Virginia basketball program to enter the transfer portal, joining fifth-year senior big Francisco Caffaro, who had already said before the 2022-2023 season was over that he was not planning to return to Virginia, and is also reportedly looking at his options to continue his basketball career in the professional ranks.

Traudt would have been expected to compete for rotation minutes for Virginia in 2023-2024. The list of available bigs, at the moment, is rather thin, with fourth-year junior Kadin Shedrick, who finished the 2022-2023 season strong after being relegated to the bench for nearly two months, also entering the transfer portal on Monday, and Virginia losing Ben Vander Plas and Jayden Gardner to graduation.

This leaves, for now, just Ryan Dunn, a 6’8” power forward who averaged 12.9 minutes off the bench this past season, and is expected to return, and a Class of 2023 four-star big, Blake Buchanan, a 6’9” power forward from Idaho who chose UVA over Gonzaga.

It seems that Bennett might have been expecting the Traudt transfer news. Virginia has reportedly been reaching out to a number of top bigs on the transfer portal since its season ended with the loss to Furman in the first round of the NCAA Tournament two weeks ago.