The uncomfortable couple of weeks with no activity in the talent-acquisition part of the silly season ended Monday with the news that UVA Basketball coach Ryan Odom has landed a top Euro prospect, 6’11”, 235-pound German center Johann Grünloh.
From a look at his numbers, Grünloh fits the profile of what Odom likes from his bigs.
Playing for Rasta Vecta in the German BBL in 2024-2025, he averaged 8.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.6 blocked shots in 23.0 minutes per game, and the kid can shoot it – 47.2 percent from the floor, 35.7 percent from three.
I don’t assume you’re all that familiar with how Euro basketball works vis-à-vis our college basketball world, so, a quick explainer: amateurs like Grünloh can play on pro teams without that impacting their NCAA eligibility, so, while his numbers might not look impressive at first glance, he wasn’t averaging 8.3 points and 5.7 rebounds a game against high-school kids, but against grown-ass men.
Among the grown-ass men in the German BBL: UVA Basketball alum Jayden Gardner, who averaged 10.9 points and 7.4 rebounds per game with Rasta Vecta last season.
You don’t get much more grown-ass than Jayden Gardner, a healthy 6’6”, 245-pound, physical four.
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Where Grünloh fits in
As the starter at center. Full stop.
You have Grünloh, at 6’11”, 235, at center, Devin Tillis, at 6’7”, 225, who averaged 13.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game at UC-Irvine last season, at the four spot.
Tillis can shoot it, too – he is 38.6 percent from three for his career.
The depth in the frontcourt is VCU transfer Martin Carrere, a 6’8”, 200-pound stretch four from France who shot 41.9 percent from three in seven games with the French national U-18 team that competed in the FIBA Eurobasket Tournament in the summer of 2024, 6’9”, 235-pound former Vanderbilt transfer Carter Lang, and Silas Barksdale, a 6’8”, 225-pound three-star recruit from Newport News.
The backcourt is three transfers – three-year BYU rotation guy Dallin Hall, a big (6’4”, 200) point guard, along with 6’6” Toledo big guard Sam Lewis (16.2 ppg, 47.0% FG, 44.4% 3FG in 2024-2025) and 6’3” North Dakota State sharpshooter Jacari White (17.1 ppg, 45.2% FG, 39.8% 3FG in 2024-2025) – along with four-star 2023 recruit Elijah Gertrude and four-star 2025 recruit Chance Mallory.
Looking ahead to next year
That’s 10 guys.
I’d like to see more in the frontcourt, in particular, with how many ever of the five available scholarships Odom wants to use.
Carrere, Lang and Barksdale all feel like projects to me.
Odom could probably use two more bigs who can plug and play for 2025-2026.
The backcourt, assuming Gertrude is anywhere near ready physically coming back from his scooter accident from a year ago this week, might be set, in terms of what Odom would need in terms of rotation.
Another guy there wouldn’t hurt.
ICYMI
- UVA Basketball: Devin Tillis, undersized four from UC-Irvine, commits to ‘Hoos
- UVA Basketball: Odom lands big man from VCU by way of France, Martin Carrere
- UVA Basketball: Odom adds a veteran point guard, BYU’s Dallin Hall
- UVA Basketball: Odom lands North Dakota State guard Jacari White
- UVA Basketball: Big guard Sam Lewis (Toledo) is Ryan Odom’s first transfer commit
- UVA Basketball: Chance Mallory talks about decision to commit to ‘Hoos
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Chris Graham
