UVA Basketball coach Ryan Odom learned early the importance of international recruiting.
Odom’s father, Dave Odom, had a couple of decent international players while coaching at Wake Forest: Tim Duncan and Darius Songaila.
Duncan is widely considered one of the top power forwards of all time, a two-time MVP, and a 15-time NBA All-Star.
Songaila had a greater impact in college than in the NBA, where he was primarily recognized as a solid role player.
At Wake Forest, Songaila was a two-time All-ACC player.
Ryan Odom is well-aware of the impact international players have on the college game.
ICYMI
On Monday, Thijs de Ridder, the 6’8’’ forward from Belgium, announced his intention to play for Virginia, joining 7’0” German center Johann Grunloh, who committed to the Cavaliers in late April.
De Ridder remains overseas, awaiting final NCAA clearance and a decision on the number of years of eligibility remaining.
Odom said that right now, the priority for the NCAA was clearing fall sports players, but he was confident that de Ridder would join the program by late summer.
The skinny on de Ridder is that he’s 22, 10.1 points and 5.0 rebounds in 21.9 minutes per game, shooting 53.3 percent from the field and 36.4 percent from three, for Bilbao, a professional club based in Spain.
Some NBA analysts projected him as a second-round draft pick.
So why come to the United States and play college basketball?
The pay is better than what the G-League, the NBA’s developmental level, offers.
Grunloh arrived in town recently, along with another international player, VCU transfer Martin Carrere of France.
Grunloh, 19, has already established an impressive basketball resume at both the professional level and on the international stage.
De Ridder, Grunloh, and Carrere are poised to be impact players, and combined with a slew of accomplished shooters that have arrived in Charlottesville, they should have Virginia capable of being a top ACC team.
Back to de Ridder and Grunloh: both players bring a valuable skill set to the program.
De Ridder has an okay range behind the arc, but not great. At 6’8”, with a 7-foot wingspan, he’s a rim protector with that length.
Grunloh appears to be the more polished player, offensively, for sure.
Of the two, Grunloh may have a higher professional ceiling because of his younger age, height, and better stroke.
However, Grunloh has less professional experience and may require a more extended adjustment period to the college game.
I had the opportunity to ask Odom about the specific value de Ridder brings to the roster.
“Even though I haven’t seen him play in person, we were told of his leadership abilities. With a young team, that’s a significant ability to have. The folks that steered us to him pointed that out first,” said Odom.
From the opportunity the media had on Tuesday to meet the players, a few things were evident.
First, this team resembles an NBA team more than a college team.
A couple of transfers appeared to have just arrived at JPJ after picking up their kids from summer camp.
Second, based on my conversations with most of the players, the scoreboard should be in good working order.
No more 57-48 games.
Odom made that clear early when he said, “I love offense.”
But Odom also made it clear that defense would not be sacrificed.
That’s something I noticed last season as I ventured down to Richmond on several occasions to watch Odom’s former team, VCU, play.
The Rams pushed the ball up and down the floor the entire game, but in the end, their defensive play did not suffer.
Odom said when he first broke into coaching at Lenoir Rhyne, he wasn’t a very good defensive coach.
“I didn’t worry about it. I just wanted to outscore the other team.”
As Ryan has grown as a coach, so has his focus on playing tough defense.
“My recruiting style is to find players that fit, both offensively and defensively. The more times you can put players on the floor that can shoot, the better, but they still have to go to the other end and hold their place on defense,” noted Odom.
It’s midsummer, and right now, the most critical job for Odom is just getting the players together both on and off the court.
“You know, most of these guys have never been in town, so there’s just a point you just want them together, whether it’s meals, paintball, or bowling, anything to get them connected in more than basketball,” said Odom.
Bowling?
Odom might want to let a younger assistant coach handle those bonding opportunities.
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