New UVA Basketball coach Ryan Odom, in a guest spot on WINA’s “Charlottesville Right Now!” on Tuesday, promised fans “a fun style of play” when his team takes the court next fall.
“You know, we’re, it’s going to be different, obviously, you know,” said Odom, understating things dramatically there.
Odom’s most recent team at VCU played at a much faster tempo than the Tony Bennett teams ever played at, averaging 66.1 possessions per game – and his teams, dating back to his first season at UMBC, in 2016-2017, have gone as fast as, gulp, 71.0 possessions per game, 10-12 possessions per game faster than Bennett teams.
Faster isn’t necessarily better, of course – while faster may be more aesthetically pleasing, Bennett’s measured pace won him six ACC regular-season titles, and a national title.
“The pace will be different, you know, for us, but in terms of the efficiency, we want the same. We want to be well-balanced, just like his teams were on offense and defense,” Odom said in the chat with WINA host, and 2000 UVA alum, Jay James.
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To that point, Odom’s 2024-2025 VCU team was ranked, by KenPom, 27th in the nation in defensive efficiency and was 51st nationally in offensive efficiency – solid, and balanced, numbers for an A-10 team.
“We want to be stingy on defense and really pressure, but be mindful of teams getting to the rim. We want to have rim protection. We don’t want to just give up threes. We want to be able to get out on the three-point shot, because it’s changed, it changes our game,” Odom said.
What will surprise you is that, playing at a faster pace, the Rams actually allowed fewer points per game in 2024-2025 than interim coach Ron Sanchez’s Cavaliers – VCU gave up 62.9 points per game, ranking 10th nationally, nearly four fewer than the 66.8 per game that Virginia surrendered this past season.
This, as VCU averaged 76.9 points per game on the offensive end, to Virginia’s 64.8.
As with the Bennett system, the defense in the Odom system feeds the offense, though in the Odom system, it does so differently.
VCU got 16.2 points per game off turnovers in 2024-2025, five more than the 11.1 points per game generated off turnovers by UVA.
The Rams averaged 8.2 steals per game, to Virginia’s 5.5.
And more blocked shots – 5.4 to 3.8.
More steals and blocked shots is where you get the more fast breaks.
The Rams averaged 12.3 fast-break points per game, eight more than the 4.1 break points per game for the ‘Hoos in the 2024-2025 season.
“We want to push the ball in transition. We want to play fast, and certainly, you know, take the opportunities when they’re there from the three-point line and at the rim, and we want to attack,” Odom said.
The Rams shot more threes – 28.6 per game, 22nd most nationally, to the 22.2 per game for Virginia, which ranked 203rd nationally.
And it’s not all bombs-away: VCU averaged 16.8 shot attempts at the rim and 26.2 shot attempts in the paint, to UVA’s 13.8 shots at the rim and 22.5 per game in the paint.
Downhill basketball – attack the paint and the rim, if defenses work to take that away, kick out to open shooters.
And more offensive rebounds, which means more shot attempts – VCU averaged 13.1 offensive boards per game last season, nearly double the 6.8 offensive rebounds per game for Virginia.
This translated into 12.9 second-chance points per game for VCU, to UVA’s 8.4.
“We want to be a team that offensive rebounds,” Odom said. “You know, our team last year at VCU was one of the best in the country in terms of offensive rebounding, and certainly you’re not going to make every shot. And if you’re a heavy three-point shooting team, which we typically are, you have to find extras. You can’t be just one and done from three.”
Bennett Ball emphasizes getting four offensive players to drop back to take away transition opportunities.
Odom Ball focuses on getting more buckets in transition, more threes, more shots at the rim and in the paint, more second chances.
And far fewer low-percentage shots in the midrange: VCU averaged 3.9 midrange jumpers per game last season.
Virginia averaged 8.7 midrange jumpers per game.
The Odom approach on offense is much more analytically sound – you want more shots at the rim, from three and in transition, and as few shots as necessary from the midrange.
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Overall shot attempts per game is another representation of the different styles of play.
VCU averaged 5.1 more field-goal attempts per game than its opponents last season. Virginia averaged 2.3 fewer shot attempts per game, and over the last seven seasons, dating back to the 2019 national champs, the ‘Hoos have averaged just 0.2 more shot attempts per game than their opponents.
So, building on what we know, Odom’s teams get more shots, get more higher-percentage shots, more high-yield shots in terms of threes, don’t waste possessions on midrange jumpers.
An odd find inside the numbers: despite the overall faster tempo, the VCU defense ranked 358th nationally in average time of possession on defense, at 18.8 seconds.
The Virginia D, which is known for making opponents work to get shots, actually had slightly shorter time of possession on D, at 18.6 seconds, ranking 349th nationally.
Where Odom’s teams make up the difference: the 17.2-second average time of possession on offense, which ranked 121st nationally.
Virginia, as long-time observers are well-aware, worked the clock under the Bennett approach, and averaged 20.3 seconds per offensive possession last year, ranking 359th nationally.
Something that we seemed to see way, way too often was late-shot-clock offense, and the numbers bear that out: UVA averaged 8.7 shot attempts per game in the final five seconds of the shot clock; VCU averaged 5.0.
This is why the word “different” doesn’t do the comparison between Bennett and Odom justice.
“I do think it’ll be a fun style for our fans. They’ll enjoy it. It will be up and down. You know, will it be the fastest in the country? I doubt it, but it certainly will be fun,” Odom said.
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Chris Graham
