Less than two weeks ago, Virginia was still empty-handed in the transfer portal after swinging and missing at its first several transfer targets. The Cavaliers had four open scholarship spots to use and lots of personnel areas in need of reinforcement.
11 days later, Tony Bennett has completely transformed his UVA roster for the 2024-2025 season, securing four scholarship transfers and a walk-on with high potential to earn playing time in Carter Lang. The Cavaliers have gotten younger (only two seniors on next year’s roster), more athletic, and more talented, at least according to the recruiting rankings (see the below tweets from Danny Neckel and The Grounds Report).
Though Virginia’s 23-win season and third-place finish in the ACC this past season was hardly a failure, another one-and-done flame-out in the NCAA Tournament showed that the Cavaliers needed to switch things up this offseason, especially with the ultra-reliable Reece Beekman concluding his UVA career.
There will be plenty of time to debate Virginia’s potential starting lineups for next season, but thanks to the additions from the portal over the last two weeks, the Cavaliers have significantly upgraded their depth and overall confidence at each position on the floor.
Florida State’s Jalen Warley and Kansas State’s Dai Dai Ames are coming in to compete with redshirt freshman Christian Bliss for minutes at Beekman’s vacated point guard position, while Duke’s TJ Power and San Diego State’s Elijah Saunders give UVA a potentially game-changing 1-2 punch at power forward to replace Ryan Dunn.
And don’t sleep on the addition of Carter Lang, a former ESPN four-star recruit and McDonald’s All-America nominee out of St.
Anne’s-Belfield School in Charlottesville, who transferred to UVA after appearing in 24 games and starting seven at center at Vanderbilt as a true freshman. Lang is not your typical walk-on, and he essentially gives Virginia 14 scholarship players for next season.
Then there’s the question of how the incoming first years will fit in, as four-star and top 100 power forward Jacob Cofie and Canadian sharpshooter Ishan Sharma will also be eager to prove themselves.
Here’s Virginia’s current scholarship roster for the 2024-2025 season sorted by position and including details on each player’s eligibility remaining:
PG: Jalen Warley (1 year), Dai Dai Ames (3 years) Christian Bliss (4 years)
SG: Isaac McKneely (2 years), Elijah Gertrude (3 years), Ishan Sharma (4 years)
SF: Andrew Rohde (2 years), Taine Murray (1 year)
PF: TJ Power (3 years), Elijah Saunders (2 years), Jacob Cofie (4 years)
C: Blake Buchanan (3 years), Anthony Robinson (4 years)
Scholarship spots used: 13/13
It should be noted that the above scholarship chart is a very rough projection of how things could look for Virginia from a personnel standpoint next season. UVA now has a ton of options and combinations for its three guard/wing positions and it wouldn’t be surprising to see some of the young guys like Jacob Cofie or Anthony Robinson emerge in the front court.
Aside from Isaac McKneely, who is the only returning full-time starter from last year’s team, it’s almost impossible to predict what the Cavaliers are going to look like when they take the floor in November. For many UVA fans, that will be a refreshing and exciting prospect.
