Transitioning Eras – Cuts Musings

Navigating change is a tricky thing as a fan; especially when it’s transitioning from a time that was so objectively great. Even at a time when improvement was clearly needed. Tony Bennett retired just before the start of last season because he no longer felt like he was the person for the job in the current landscape of college basketball. The lack of regulation and rules around NIL and roster control made assembling and retaining a roster both difficult and much more transactional than his preferences and comfort-level allowed. It’s no longer amateur basketball; you’re dealing with agents, engaging in bidding wars, and discussing playing time before a player even practices. It’s not how CTB was wired.

The thing is, he was still getting solid results when he was here; – NCAA Tournament appearances while being competitive in the ACC – through sheer coaching chops and grit; but you could see things slowly eroding. The ability to retain and develop talent wasn’t what it once was due to freedom of movement; and the draw of players to a program reluctant to embrace NIL or a more modern style of play. The signs were there if you were looking (or reading) for a while… an increasing disconnect between where things had been and were and where they were headed. It was never more obvious than after CTB retired and Ron Sanchez was left with the unenviable situation of trying to make CTB’s build and vision work while, himself, not being CTB.

The drop off was stark, as we all know and have discussed and, while there was some modest debate throughout the season, the quick and resounding decision was to move on and to move forward with new leadership and a new vision for the program.

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It’s been about a month and a half since Ryan Odom was hired as the Men’s Basketball Coach at UVa and I think it’s fair to say that, regardless of what happens from here, he understood the assignment, as they say. I was thinking about this while I was watching tape getting for my Tracking A Transfer pieces. Assuming both Malik Thomas and Thijs De Ridder sign (but even if only one does, to be honest), this roster is loaded in a way it hasn’t been since the championship years (and while this iteration is unlikely to rise to those levels, we’re much closer than we’ve been recently). Coach Odom still has to coach it effectively. How many years did Duke “win” the ACC in the preseason with their talent only to have CTB run circles around them over the years? And while we haven’t seen that here yet… and, while the team still has to prove it can gel and play together well… the talent assembled is undeniable. That’s really all you can ask for at this point, this early on.

It’s interesting because there was real consternation early on as Odom brought so many VCU players to visit grounds. The fear was that we would basically settle for bringing too many of those guys with us to Charlottesville while being unable to retain the talent from last year’s team as we watched almost everyone hit the portal. It turns out, aside from getting Chance Mallory and Silas Barksdale to re-commit to the program (Mallory had prior to CTB’s departure and Barksdale had to Odom at VCU), along with Elijah Gertrude staying (and shout out to him as the only returning player) and Martin Cerrare who redshirted last season at VCU (not expected to contribute immediately) – he mostly stayed away from returning players from last year’s roster or bringing commonly assumed names over from VCU. Odom’s sights and ambitions were set much higher.

What’s notable in how we acquired that talent, though, is how clear it is that Odom knows how to play the current game that is NCAA roster assembly, and that he’s comfortable doing so. Assuming those two unsigned additions work out, it’s expected that our roster will be in the mid-teens of millions of dollars in NIL and revenue sharing (way up from the reported $7 million headed into the offseason -which is true across the board in the NCAA – compensation skyrocketed). Odom didn’t just lean into the heavy pockets we have backing the program, he weaponized them with a clear and savvy strategy. During the dead period for recruiting visits, he made a series of take-it-or-leave-it offers to players we were distinctly not on the radar for nationally. To be clear, these were over-pays, but they were intentional over-pays to build momentum and to establish the frame work around which other players could see the vision. The intent was to give the player something they weren’t likely to get on the open market but with a time frame in which they had to decide, timed during a time where no one could take visits anyway, with the goal of making headway on the roster and having their needs round into focus.

It was very effective.

First, we came out of nowhere to land Sam Lewis from Toledo. Jacari White from North Dakota State had released a list of final schools and we weren’t on it prior to his commitment to us. Duke Miles from Oklahoma followed only to de-commit shortly thereafter because we’d already recruited over him with Dallin Hall from a BYU team Odom saw up close and personal in the NCAA Tournament. This was shortly followed by the shocking rumor that we (and we still appear to be now that he has) were the favorite to land Malik Thomas if he cleared his waiver with the NCAA – because we’d also made him a jaw-dropping offer. This, after perennial powerhouse Gonzaga had been heavily linked to him.

All of a sudden, we were the program swooping in and dropping bags. None of these players had made a single visit to Charlottesville. We didn’t woo them with a trip on grounds in the Spring and the prospects of a degree from Mr. Jefferson’s University; it was a business decision made to secure an agreement with favorable financial terms to players willing to get on board quickly so that we could pivot to address the many other needs of the team. In fact, the running joke became that when we actually went through the standard recruitment of bringing prospects in for visits, we weren’t winning those!

Then there was some hand-wringing about our ability to field a competitive frontcourt. We lost out on a few players we brought in for visits to other ACC competition, and only had the under-sized Devin Tillis on the roster likely to get minutes at the PF…. But clearly Coach Odom had many irons in the fire – turning his sights to professional European players; using our buying power to lean into the trend of NCAA schools attracting talent overseas through sheer contract power. Johann Grünloh was a standout in Germany’s top league, and was on many 2nd round draft boards for the NBA draft. Thijs De Ridder is not yet signed, but that’s trending very positively, has thrived in the top Spanish league (likely the second-best league in the world behind the NBA) and at the international level, and is 22 years old (not to mention grabbing Ugonna Onyenso in the meantime)!

I’m not here to muse on what NIL is doing to the sport nor what constitutes who should qualify age-wise or in terms of their professional past. What I will say is that these are both creative and incredibly competitive ways to attract talent that are available due to our resources, and that we’re now willing to pursue. It’s a combination of top 100 freshmen, all-conference mid-major players, talented major starters, and international professionals (on NBA draft boards). Tons of shooting, athleticism and playmaking. And, as I mentioned earlier, if we do get ink to paper on both Thomas and De Ridder, you’re talking about an incredibly deep and talented team on paper that is a much stronger attempt at a rebuild than many of us were expecting using an approach that feels downright foreign; contrary, even, to what that program has been for the past 15 years.

From where I sit, as a fan myself but also as one who, through this platform, has been fortunate enough to get more exposure to many around/within the program, and to discuss with many of you… it’s been exciting, but also jarring. Embracing the new, while also mourning the past. Feeling more confident in the current direction, but also a little sad about what we’re moving on from….

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There are going to be some fans who just never get on board with where college basketball is going and that’s the end of it. But even for most who are engaged and excited about/liking what they’re seeing from Coach Odom so far, I imagine there’s the wish that the page wasn’t turned quite so cleanly nor conclusively on the CTB era. That was an absolutely elite 5-year run couched within the best 15 overall years in the program’s history. CTB was and is beloved as a person in addition to as a coach, as are his players. But it was a disconnect with what characterized the then, and was successful at the highest level, with what needs to be done now not just in roster construction philosophy (Associate Head Coach Griff Aldrich, former Head Coach of Longwood and former lawyer, for example, is documented to enjoy the challenges of roster construction within the confines of budget allocation), but also within the system and style of play itself.

It’s a tough situation to be in as a new coach trying to improve and move forward from something that really hadn’t had a chance to sour – one down year following some painful NCAA Tournament exits – and carries so much fondness in the heart of fans. Ryan Odom brings with him his own staff that, just like CTB was with his folks, he’s loyal to and who have served him well to get him here. And so, it makes sense that many of the staples over the years – Ron Sanchez, Jason Williford, etc., those so clearly identifiable with the CTB era and versed in his way of approaching things, needed to move on. These were and are Assistant Head Coach and Assistant Coach-level guys who, weren’t Odom’s guys and very-well might have made it difficult for a fan base to transition from a legend.

But I thought and hoped, as many did, that at least one or two of the newer, younger coaches would have been a great bridge between the eras. Most specifically, Kyle Guy was so instrumental to the championship run – the highlight of many of our collective sports fandom – and so personified the success and perseverance of those teams while so recently coming from the NBA and Europe himself and not actually spending any games under CTB as the coach. He was familiar but seemingly very malleable as a young coach. An invaluable practice player but who was far too green to have become set in any specific habits or tendencies. He a downright icon who had scheduled TBT to come to Charlottesville and link/draw teammates of yore to town over the Summer. What better way to connect and build relationships between the past and the present? What better way to bring along any remaining reluctant fans at having the architect of the UMBC upset running the show than having Kyle Guy on staff? If Odom is re-connecting the program to the Terry Holland years, Guy could have been that through-line to complete the continuity across our rich (and proud) history. It made so much sense, if nothing else, from an optics and a fan care perspective.

In a recent interview, Coach Odom answered this question saying, “As you know, this stuff is complicated,” and then talked about what a great job his staff has done for him over the years and followed that up by saying that Kyle and Isaiah (Wilkins) found Assistant Coaching jobs elsewhere which were great opportunities for them; better than the positions that they had available on their roster.

All of that is true.

The misleading part is the implication there just weren’t enough of these positions on the roster; so they pursued a better opportunity. The narrative being that we really wanted to keep them, but they had their eyes elsewhere and proactively decided to move on.

I have it on very good authority that it would have been easy to keep Kyle Guy. He wanted to stay with the program, expressed as much, and would have done so if he had gotten any indication that’s what the staff wanted. He wasn’t looking for a title change, nor did he leave because he felt any kind of way about how the previous season ended. He did so because, while he was told he could stay on, that’s a very different message than “We want you here.” The subtext was, “If you insist on staying.” It’s like when we used to tell a player it was their option/decision to redshirt while making it clear that there was no path to playing time and that we thought it was better for that player’s future for them to sit a year… but in coaching form.

So, why do I call this out? For one, because even though I haven’t heard or seen anyone blame Guy for leaving for greener pastures given how everything went down, I think it’s important to have an understanding of the driving factors. This concretely wasn’t a case of the young coaches proactively looking to move on ahead of the Odom tenure, being CTB loyalists who didn’t see a reason to stay with him no longer being directly involved with the program, not feeling direct ties to the university itself. Quite the opposite. There was a strong desire to remain a part of the program if that desire had been reciprocated.

Which leads me to believe (along with other things like how almost completely the roster/staff were turned over) that it was a delicate but intentional decision from Odom to turn the page with a few, lesser profile, exceptions. Now, of course that’s his decision to make and he’s also never going to say that in an interview (nor should he). I also can’t claim to know the motivation behind it. I suspect it’s some combination of his actual coaching preferences along with the large shadow CTB casts over the program and wanting to forge his own identity and culture. I will say that, just like with his roster construction choices, I do like that Odom seems to have a very clear vision for how he wants to mold his program and is effective at making that happen. But I do think it’s a missed opportunity for what would have been a very low-risk way to positively bridge that gap between eras.

Ryan Odom has already put his stamp on the program in so many ways and the early returns on his roster conceptualization and construction, along with his navigation of the current landscape are all very promising. As a fan, I’m excited to have him and for what he’s already doing with the program and am optimistic about what’s to come. I appreciate his connection to the town as well as his thoughts on what that means to be re-connected with the community while also being unapologetically focused on rebuilding the program. There’s still a long road ahead full of adjustment, change, and re-construction.

I just hope that there’s a path forward in the not-too-distant future that includes building up and re-establishing that connection with the recent past (if he’s graduating, there’s room for a #5 up in the rafters, right??). Given time, I hope that the players from the CTB era will feel every bit as connected to, but also welcomed enthusiastically by the program. Maybe that there will be a path for more prominent ones like Guy, or maybe some not even into coaching yet, to return. At the end of the day, the fanbase will embrace the Odom era if it’s successful on the court… and there’s a lot of positivity brewing about the prospects there. He will distinguish himself by his accomplishments. There’s room for everyone under the umbrella, and I think there’s the potential for Coach Odom to fully unlock the enthusiasm for this program if he can walk that line of embracing all of its history without compromising his vision.

Alright – just some thoughts there as we navigate change – I hope Kyle and Zay crush it at Nevada and Cal, respectively (just not against us, Cal!) – and that Coach Odom is able to showcase his talents on the stage of JPJ!

My next piece will begin Tracking A Transfer and I’ll be starting with Toledo transfer, SF Sam Lewis. Until then!