UVA Basketball: Odom is better at NIL/portal era roster building than Bennett was, could be

I’ve gotten several versions of the same email from UVA Basketball fans wary of the track record of the new coach, Ryan Odom.

He’s not going to be able to run three or four senior starters out there like he’s done at the mid-majors to win.

Being implied here is that Odom pulls a Pat Kelsey every year, loading up on fifth- and sixth-year seniors on their third or fourth school for a one-year run at winning, rinse, repeat.

This is based on a cursory look at Odom’s 2024-2025 VCU roster – a very cursory look, given that Odom used nine guys for double-digit minutes, and five of them were seniors, just two of whom were one-year rentals, starting point guard Phillip Russell and starting four Jack Clark.

The other three seniors – Joe Bamisile, Zeb Jackson and Max Shulga – were with Odom at VCU for each of his two years there.

Jackson was inherited from the Mike Rhoades 2022-2023 VCU rotation.

Shulga was with Odom for two years at Utah State, and followed him back east.

Odom’s 2023-2024 VCU rotation had two one-year rentals – starting four Kuany Kuany and reserve guard Jason Nelson.

His 2022-2023 rotation at Utah State had one one-year rental – starting four Taylor Funk.

If we’re going to be picky, Tony Bennett’s last two teams got significant minutes from one-year rentals Ben Vander Plas (2022-2023), and Jake Groves, Dante Harris and Jordan Minor (2023-2024).

The overreliance on one-year guys in Bennett’s last full season as the head coach is a big part of the issues that we saw in 2024-2025.

Bennett lost Groves, Harris and Minor, and then Reece Beekman and Ryan Dunn left with eligibility remaining for the NBA.

Leon Bond transferred out (and averaged 9.6 points per game at Northern Iowa in 2024-2025).

The stunning miss on roster management – three one-year rentals, two guys to the NBA, one guy who left because he wasn’t treated right minutes-wise – left Bennett with just four guys who got double-digit minutes heading into the portal season last spring, two starters, in Isaac McKneely and Andrew Rohde, and two reserves, in Blake Buchanan and Taine Murray.

Rip on Ryan Odom all you want, but he was able to bring back two starting off-guards, Bamisile and Shulga, his starting center, Christian Fermin, and reserves Alphonso Billups and Michael Belle from his 2023-2024 rotation.

Want to know why Odom was in the NCAA Tournament this year, and Bennett stepped down before the season, and watched his long-time right-hand man, Ron Sanchez, go 15-17?

Now you know.

Odom’s success at VCU isn’t Pat Kelsey at Louisville bringing in eight one-year rentals and having to start over again this portal season.

We may and probably will see a roster overhaul this spring, just because Odom is inheriting a roster that got Bennett to retire and the interim coach fired, and there are maybe three or four guys from the 2024-2025 Virginia rotation that you’d prioritize.

The track record suggests that Odom isn’t a Pat Kelsey who will need to reload every spring.

My read of Odom’s track record suggests to me that he’s better at roster construction in the NIL/portal than Tony Bennett, who, let’s be honest here, that 15-17 record from this past season should go on his career win-loss record.