CHARLOTTE - Every year brings with it renewed optimism for the ACC restoring it’s place as a basketball power.
In recent years that optimism hasn’t panned out with four straight NCAA Tournaments featuring five or fewer bids for the ACC, culminating in the lowest number of bids in more than a decade for the conference last season with just four. This year, however, that hope and palpable buzz, seems more substantive in Charlotte at the annual ACC Tipoff.
“The ACC is poised for a resurgence,” Virginia basketball coach Ryan Odom said, who grew up amidst the peak years of ACC basketball.
Odom is one of four new head coaches across the ACC, along with NC State’s Will Wade, Miami’s Jai Lucas, and Florida State’s Luke Loucks. New coaches bring an amount of optimism to any program, but the source of hope goes beyond just the fresh faces. Those in Charlotte covering the ACC say investment in basketball has gone up league-wide looking at not only the examples of new coaches at Virginia and NC State, but also Louisville, North Carolina, and even programs like Virginia Tech.
“I think it’s pretty evident that this is going to be a good year for ACC basketball,” Odom said. “The investment has been there, I think, quite frankly, from all of the programs. I think it’s going to be really competitive and exciting.”
The investments showed this offseason with six ACC programs ranking in the top 30 for transfer portal classes according to 247 Sports. Some of those individual names showed up in a big way in Charlotte from UVA’s Malik Thomas and Dallin Hall to NC State’s Darrion Williams to Louisville’s Ryan Conwell and so on.
The conference will also start its new 18-game schedule this season, a decision made almost entirely with the idea of increasing the league’s NCAA Tournament bids. Instead of two more ACC games, programs scheduled non-conference matchups like the Virginia neutral site game in Nashville against Ohio State on Feb. 14.
A combination of new blood in both players and coaches, a more serious level of commitment throughout the conference, and a few scheduling tweaks have those across the ACC optimistic this year will see an uptick in bids. Though it can’t get much lower for the conference than last year’s lone four teams.
“ACC basketball still has the best tradition of any basketball conference that has existed, and we can’t forget that,” Odom said. “You know, it looks a little bit different now. We have a lot more teams. We’re spread out from coast-to-coast, but we are confident in where this league is headed and with the leadership that we have.”
Virginia is high on most analysts’ and ACC reporters’ radars heading into year one under Ryan Odom. Here are five storylines for the Cavaliers from Charlotte.
An International Buzz
Although there were few international players actually in Charlotte, the influx of foreign-born players was top of mind for many. This offseason saw a heavy investment in the international recruiting scene with the ACC alone having 20-plus international players joining programs this year. That number includes Duke’s Dame Sarr, North Carolina’s Luka Bogavac, Louisville’s Sananda Fru, and Virginia Tech’s Neo Avdalas, all who are brand new to the college game.
“You’re getting 22-year-old freshmen, you’re getting guys who have played at the highest levels of international competition,” ESPN analyst Seth Greenberg told The Sabre. “You’re getting guys that played against pros and trained with pros for years.”
For Virginia, Thijs De Ridder and Johann Grünloh are prime examples of this recent surge of international professionals into the college ranks. De Ridder spent the last few years playing for Bilbao Basket of the Liga ACB, the league widely considered to be the second-best in the world behind the NBA, while Grünloh played for SC RASTA Vechta of the Basketball Bundesliga.
“They’re going to both be very, very good,” Greenberg said about De Ridder and Grünloh.
The international prospects are a new part of the game and the pipeline likely will only grow in the next few years thanks to the advent of revenue sharing alongside Name, Image, and Likeness deals creating a friendlier transition from overseas opportunities to the NBA. While UVA guard Malik Thomas has played with several international players over his college career at USC and San Francisco, the experience and advanced skill level of players like De Ridder and Grünloh have opened his eyes to college basketball’s import game.
“Two guys that play at a high level league internationally,” Thomas said. “I’ve never been blessed to play with bigs like that. I play with a guard maybe from international, but not two bigs that have great feel and very physical.”
Ryan Odom feels with agents now heavily involved with both high school and transfer portal recruiting, international recruiting is largely similar. The only difference is not having the ability to thoroughly watch those overseas prospects in person, but Odom says they lean on long-time contacts, such as NBA scouts, to make up for the lack of in-person scouting.
“I’ve been fortunate in that we’ve been, the Odom’s have been doing it for a long, long time,” Odom said. “So we have plenty of contacts to continue to go over there.”
Odom had a delayed first look at Virginia for both De Ridder and Grünloh, who arrived late summer or mid-summer respectively, but both imports have lived up to their billing so far in practice.
“One is 19 years old and 7-feet, extremely talented, can shoot the basketball, block shots,” Odom said about Grünloh. “Thijs is a little bit older, more seasoned, we call him a tank because he’s kind of a bully at times.”
What’s Happening With The General Manager Position?
When Ryan Odom was first introduced in March, he expressly stated his desire to hire a General Manager to help with roster management. Six months later, Virginia has still not hired an official General Manager, but Odom reaffirmed to The Sabre he still wants to fill the position.
“I think eventually it will happen for us, we have not tabled it at all or moved in another direction,” Odom said on Wednesday in an exclusive interview.
Odom said the General Manager position was put on hold, while his coaching staff worked to put together its first roster at Virginia. Associate head coach Griff Aldrich, who holds a law degree from UVA, acted as the GM throughout the offseason in regards to contracts, talks with agents, and communications on revenue sharing.
Odom felt confident with the built-in chemistry his coaching staff came in with after working together for a number of years and he trusted, they could handle the first recruiting period without bringing in another voice.
“The staff has recruited together for awhile and is familiar with the area and the ACC geographic footprint and where it sits now,” Odom said.
The Hoos did quite well for themselves with a top-30 ranked transfer portal class, several impact high school signings like hometown star Chance Mallory, and the aforementioned international recruits in Thijs De Ridder and Johann Grünloh. On paper, Odom believes his staff has put together a roster that both makes sense for his style of play and with puzzle pieces that match up together.
“We believe we have a deep team,” Odom said. “We’re going to try to play as many guys as we can play.”
Long term, though, roster management will only become tougher to plan out. Traditional high school recruiting has become backed up with the increased activity in the transfer portal and coaches being more selective in which high school players are brought in. Odom, who currently has no commits in the 2026 class, says this has created a dilemma for elite high school talents on whether to commit early or wait out the process with no right answer.
“Some would say decide early because the portal makes it more complicated for you,” Odom said. “But I mean, ultimately, what’s the goal? The goal is to find the right fit for you as a young person, a young player coming in. You know, where you can [see] there’s a vision for you, where you can grow, where you can develop, you know, where you can earn a degree that really matters. Virginia certainly is a place that checks all those boxes for young people.”
This offseason Virginia had to almost build its roster back from the ground up after the coaching change. Odom and his coaching staff brought in five players in their last year of eligibility, giving the roster an older look but also a more short-term outlook. The goal, ultimately, is to build with players inside the program for multiple years, such as high school recruits or transfers with multiple years of eligibility remaining, and veteran transfers “sprinkled in” during an age where the average roster age is only growing.
“It’s certainly different nowadays, because of the transfer portal it’s not a young person’s league anymore,” Odom said. “The NCAA Division I, probably a 23 and under league, more than anything now, which makes it more difficult for freshmen, first year players when they first come in. But that doesn’t mean they can’t play. I had two freshmen play for me last year at VCU and were really impactful. I think you just have to adapt, you’re always planning, we’re always trying to put the roster together for the next season.”
UVA Offense Comes From All Directions
Virginia had quite the run on point guards over the last decade-plus from London Perrantes to Ty Jerome to Kihei Clark to Reece Beekman. BYU transfer Dallin Hall, who averaged 4.2 assists per game last season, will be the first lead guard of the Ryan Odom era ... or will he?
“I’d say like basically everyone can be a ball handler and initiator,” Hall said.
To answer my previous question, yes, Hall will be the de facto point guard for the Cavaliers this season, but this Virginia offense will come from all directions. While the focus with Odom’s offense has been a faster pace and shooting, he believes one of the key selling points of his system is how spread out ball-handling and offensive initiation can be.
“We all have a confidence in each other, whoever gets a rebound can initiate offense,” Cavalier guard Malik Thomas said. “We do a great job of switching it up, whether that’s me, whether that’s Dallin, whether that’s Chance [Mallory], Jacari [White], or even Sam [Lewis], even our bigs, our bigs can initiate offense. It’s been great seeing like how fast we play, just getting to the offense very quickly.”
That’s right, even 7-footers Johann Grünloh and Ugonna Onyenso are part of the offensive initiation. Thomas says while bigs like Thijs De Ridder will be a key ball-handler for the Cavaliers in a traditional sense, he teased the team is working on plays to start the offense in the hands of Onyenso and Grünloh.
“They’re really skilled passers and you can play through them, so it’s super fun,” Hall said. “We feel like that makes us tough to guard. Having played college basketball now for three years, I feel like that’s the way it’s trending is you gotta have multiple ball handlers and decision makers out there at a time.”
Hall got his first real taste for playing more off the ball last season at BYU to help accommodate NBA first round pick Egor Demin. Now with a full offseason working both on and off the ball, Hall feels the extra playmakers on the team might up his career average of 7.7 points per game.
“I definitely am embracing and finding a lot of joy in because when you’re off ball, you get a lot of opportunities for easier buckets,” Hall said. “So playing with Malik, playing with some of these guys who can make these decisions, it allows me to free up some more scoring opportunities for me and ways to expand my game that I’m just embracing.”
As for more traditional off-guards like Thomas, the offense was a clear selling point for him. He averaged a career-high 2.1 assists last season at San Francisco as he also shouldered the main scoring role.
“I’m a player that takes what the defense gives me,” Thomas said. “So whether that’s attacking the rim, pulling up for my jumper or, you know, shooting a catch-and-shoot 3, that’s wide open from the offense. Just finding ways to just, you know, affect winning as much as possible.”
Johann Grünloh & Ugonna Onyenso At The Center Of The System
Virginia will play its first exhibition of the season on Thursday, Oct. 16 at Vanderbilt, just about a week after ACC Tipoff. But even as competition draws near, Ryan Odom says the Hoos still are not settled on a starting lineup or rotation yet. One thing that seems pretty settled though is 7-footers Johann Grünloh and Ugonna Onyenso will be heavily involved early and often.
“They both bring something really positive to this team,” Odom said. “We’re going to need Ugo and Johann to perform really well.”
Odom has traditionally involved several bigs in his rotations at his previous stops, especially last season at VCU, trying to keep a shot blocking presence on the floor. Both Grünloh, who averaged 1.4 blocks in the German Bundesliga, and Onyenso, who averaged 2.8 blocks two seasons ago at Kentucky, will provide a strong rim protector to anchor the UVA defense.
Perhaps, just as intriguing is what each could offer offensively.
“They’re key to what we’re trying to build, especially defensively, both of them high-level rim protectors,” Hall said. “The way we want to disrupt teams defensively, that’s a key component. Offensively, the fact that they can both shoot and great roll threats, it just makes us really hard to guard and defense is gonna have a hard time planning for them.”
While Grünloh’s ability to stretch the floor is highly noted at this point, shooting 33.3% from 3 last season in Germany, the rumblings about Onyenso’s shooting is starting to turn into common discourse around John Paul Jones Arena.
“I think a lot of things that people are missing is Ugo can really stretch the floor,” Thomas said. “He’s been proving that he can make a wide open shot in rhythm. I know he doesn’t have a career 3, but he’s for sure going to change that this year.”
The potential ability to space the floor when either 7-footer is in the lineup could give Odom some options offensively this season. While some wondered if Grünloh and Onyenso could share the floor together, Odom says that likely won’t happen, but their shooting ability could allow interior scorers like Thijs De Ridder and Devin Tillis to play more inside and open the court for drivers.
“They can play on the exterior while Thijs or Devin is on the interior,” Odom said. “This is one of the first teams where my fours and fives, while they look different can be interchangeable offensively. We’ll want to try to do that as the as the season progresses.”
Defensive Intensity Picking Up In Practice
All this talk about fast-paced offense over the summer felt out of the norm for Virginia fans, who wondered what’s happening on the other side of the floor where the Cavaliers have built their identity for the last decade-plus. Ryan Odom said with practice underway this fall, UVA is turning its attention to the defensive end of the floor and learning to play “as one” in a new system.
At VCU, Odom encouraged his teams to pressure fullcourt and play aggressively on defense. The Rams ranked 33rd nationally in steals per possession last season. The early plan is for the Cavaliers to play the same way.
“We’re doing it against one another right now, but a lot of times your opponents will tell you if you should continue to do it and so we haven’t seen anybody else yet,” Odom said. “We didn’t know at VCU either last year, and it became our identity and a major strength for us. The offensive rebound was a part of that, too. So I think the guys have done a really good job so far. I’ve been impressed with how quickly they’ve taken to it.”
It will be a stylistic change and many Virginia fans will have to rub their eyes when they first see it this season, but it has also been an adjustment for much of this newly-assembled roster. Throughout his college career, Malik Thomas has never played in a defensive system quite like this, which requires a different level of strength and conditioning.
“A lot of guys are new to this, including myself, but we’re doing a great job of just getting our bodies ready for the type of basketball that we’re about to play,” Thomas said. “We’re going to be playing high level on both ends, picking up full. So in the offseason and the preseason, we’ve been doing a great job of just getting in shape, getting our bodies right. Shout out to our strength coach.”
Odom retained long-time strength and conditioning coach Mike Curtis, one of the few familiar faces still around JPJ, when he was hired. Hall said Curtis put the Cavaliers through the wringer this offseason, which has prepared them well for the rigors of this system.
“First couple days, kicking our butt, early bedtimes, trying to get extra sleep, trying to get extra treatment,” Hall said. “But we’re in great shape now, it’s a fun brand of basketball. I think with practice, playing against each other, you have limited subs, so it takes you to an even higher level of conditioning, which I think is gonna be huge for us this year.”
Odom mentioned part of his responsibility at this point in the offseason is managing workload to avoid injuries. This is another reason Odom’s teams have traditionally played larger rotations with few players averaging more than 30 minutes per game over the course of his career. The standouts on the defensive end so far have included North Dakota State transfer Jacari White and freshman Chance Mallory, who Hall and Thomas both gave high marks for their ability to pressure the ball.
“Chance has been really good, Jacari White has been really good, has gotten a lot of steals in the backcourt by pressing up Dallin, myself, Sam, just those backcourt guys,” Thomas said. “We’ve been doing a really good job of disrupting the offense.”
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