UVA Basketball | Ryan Odom sees ‘a lot of room for growth’ for his team

First-year UVA Basketball coach Ryan Odom isn’t quite sure what to expect from his team’s upcoming preseason scrimmages, the first of which is two weeks away, Oct. 24, at home against Villanova.

“What I would say is, the first game, you know, you’re going to be a little bit less prepared, because it’s earlier, right, than you would in the second one, and that’s typical from year to year of how it is, you know, because you just only have so much time to get stuff in,” Odom told reporters at a press availability on Friday.

UVA Basketball is as much a total overhaul as you can have from one year to the next – in terms of the coaching staff, almost an entire new roster, and certainly a brand-new approach that will take some time for fans to get accustomed to.

After 15 years of Tony Bennett’s “Embrace the (Snail’s) Pace” approach, Odom is ushering in a new style that looks for fast-break and secondary-break opportunities, has four and sometimes five guys crashing the offensive boards, and bases its defensive approach around attacking via the full-court press.

That’ll be something very new for us in the stands, though the guys that he brought in from across the country and across the pond were bought in before they got here.

Odom’s transfer class includes veterans like former BYU starting point guard Dallin Hall, established mid-major big-time scorers Malik Thomas, Sam Lewis and Jacari White, and international bigs Johann Grunloh and Thijs de Ridder.

Odom, his staff and his new roster spent the summer getting to know each other, on and off the court, and at this very early stage in the long slog of a six-month season, the coach likes what he’s been seeing.

“They’re a little bit further ahead offensively, I think. Will that translate in these first two scrimmages? I don’t know, but just, you know, in my own experience, looking back at teams, that we’ve had a little bit more versatility up front, guys that can score in and around the basket, but also have size, but can go away as well, you know, which is good,” Odom said.

The key guys up front will be the Euros – Grunloh, a 19-year-old German seven-footer who averaged 8.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.6 blocked shots in 23.0 minutes per game, and shot 47.2 percent from the floor and 35.7 percent from three, in the German BBL last year; and de Ridder, a 22-year-old Belgian import who played the last two seasons in Spain’s Liga ACB, averaging 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 this past season.

“Thijs told me yesterday he’s 248, you know, right now. That’s a big body for a 6’8” guy,” Odom said. “When you have bodies like that, you know, crashing together, you know, it’s a physical standoff, and Thijs certainly is willing to use his body. I think that’s one of his strengths. Johan is working his way into it. You know, he’s only 19 at this point, and so while he has seen some bigger bodies, you know, in his previous stop, you know, in Germany, I think it’ll be a different level, you know, here for him.”

An intriguing prospect is 6’6” Cal-Irvine transfer Devin Tillis, who is listed in box scores as a power forward, but was used at times on offense last season as a secondary ball-handler and in pick-and-rolls.

“He’s definitely a good ball-handler, you know, there’s no question about it,” Odom said. “I mean, I’m really comfortable with him in the pick-and-roll making decisions with the ball, screening him on the block, posting up. He’s a really good passer from the interior, and he’s a really good finisher. He’s a good shooter as well. He’s going to be a really important player for us.”

A lot about the upcoming season is, in the here and now, a work in progress. Odom feels his roster is on track to developing its full-court defense, is “seeing growth in the half-court defense.”

“The rebounding, you know, has to improve. Against one another, we’re offensive rebounding really well, but we’re not defensive rebounding, at least against ourselves, the way that we need to,” Odom said, which, OK, coach, if your guys are offensive rebounding like fiends, that would mean, by definition, the defensive rebounding would be struggling, so, anyway.

“There’s a lot of room for growth, and that’s normal this time of year,” Odom said. “But you know, I do like, you know, that the team, they come every day to work. They’re energetic, you know? They seem very committed to doing their best, you know, this season.”