You might remember, I was on top of the UVA Basketball coach search from the get-go, being the first to tell you, among other things, way back in December, that Ryan Odom was one of the top candidates getting a look from the powers-that-be.
I only know that kind of stuff because people in the know tell me that kind of stuff.
I wish I was just that smart intuitively.
Nope.
Have you noticed that I haven’t had a lot to offer lately on the transfer portal?
It’s because the people in the know don’t know, either, why the flow of guys into the program has come to a halt.
It was so danged important that we have a guy in place ahead of the transfer portal opening on March 24.
Remember?
Our last incoming commit was UC-Irvine power forward Devin Tillis back on April 11, 11 days ago.
ICYMI
- UVA Basketball: Devin Tillis, undersized four from UC-Irvine, commits to ‘Hoos
- UVA Basketball: Odom adds a second veteran point guard, BYU’s Dallin Hall
- UVA Basketball: Odom lands big man from VCU by way of France, Martin Carrere
- UVA Basketball: Odom lands North Dakota State guard Jacari White
- UVA Basketball: Big guard Sam Lewis (Toledo) is Ryan Odom’s first transfer commit
I assume – and I have to assume, because, again, it’s quiet on the portal front – that Odom and his staff are working 24/7 to get more guys lined up.
He still needs more help in the backcourt, and just bodies in the frontcourt, where we currently have two guys, Tillis, an undersized 6’7” power forward, and Martin Carrere, a freshman from VCU listed at 6’8”, 200, who shoots threes and doesn’t rebound.
I’m getting emails from readers asking me what’s going on, is it a lack of money, what’s the deal.
I’m not hearing it’s lack of money.
It’s a lack of something, I just don’t know what.
Is it frustrating that Maryland snatched Buzz Williams up a day or two after the job there came open, and his transfer class is 11th, per 247Sports, that West Virginia, which also had to reshuffle the deck after losing its coach unexpectedly after the season, is 26th, and Odom’s class is right now sitting at 36, one spot ahead of Florida State, which hired a 35-year-old NBA assistant out of the blue?
Absolutely.
Yes, yes, the ranking that matters is the one in October, when the recruiting is said and done with, and they start full practices in earnest.
And I’d throw out there, Tony Bennett didn’t get his first portal commit last spring until after May 1.
But then, we all saw how that turned out.
It’s been a disappointing spring recruiting season thus far, but let’s hope what we’d been sold was a sprint turns out to be a marathon.
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Chris Graham
