The Virginia basketball teams are officially back at the John Paul Jones Arena. Both the men's basketball team and the women's basketball team held their first workouts for the upcoming season, coinciding with the start of the University’s Session II for summer courses
Ryan Odom cranked out a successful first season in Charlottesville with what was essentially a complete roster reboot. The Cavaliers rolled to a 30-6 record and won their first NCAA Tournament game since 2019. With that season in the rearview, Virginia turned its attention to sustaining that success.
Odom started that process with roster retention. The Hoos brought back all 10 players with eligibility from that team, including Thijs De Ridder, Sam Lewis, Johann Grünloh, and Chance Mallory that played big roles a year ago. Even with a roster with as many holdovers as Virginia, there are new faces too. The Hoos hit the transfer portal to add Christian Harmon, Jurian Dixon, Kalu Anya, and Jan Vide and they brought in high school recruit Favour Ibe as well. So that's still five new players in the fold.
There have been staff changes as well. UVA and Mike Curtis also announced his departure on Friday. The former player and alum spent 17 seasons as the head strength and conditioning coach at Virginia, overlapping the majority of his career with Tony Bennett. He helped the Hoos make the run to the 2019 National Championship. Curtis as taken a job as the new head of player health and performance for the Memphis Grizzlies, where he previously held a position from 2002-08 prior to returning to UVA. Prior to this news, associate head coach Griff Aldrich had accepted the head coaching job at Pepperdine as well.
In other words, even with a strong core of returners at the center of the 2026-2027 plans, Odom told Jeff White at VirginiaSports.com in this article that you still have to start fresh and build from the beginning each year.
"There's a responsibility for each team that we have over the years to really dive into Virginia and what it means to play basketball at Virginia and go to this great university, but then also be a part of this year's team," Odom said in that article. "This year, this team has big goals and dreams, and they have to work hard to try to achieve those."
Here are some of UVA-related social media posts as the summer workouts begin.
<script async="" src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>Summer school 💪📈#GoHoos pic.twitter.com/lNc3vp8Zqo
— Virginia Men's Basketball (@UVAMensHoops) June 19, 2026
The UVA women's basketball team has a mix of old and new faces too. Returning players include Kymora Johnson, Olivia McGhee, Breona Hurd, and Tabitha Amanze (who is recovering from a knee injury and expected to miss the season) as well as Adeang Ring. Newcomers include Janaé Walker, Eris Lester, Mary-Anna Asare, Lyla Coogen, Erica Gribble, Caterina Piatti, Emilie Brzonova, and Sintija Aukštikalnytė. The latter list is a mix of high school recruits, transfers, and international additions.
Coming off a run to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16, Virginia also has a new head coach. Aaron Roussell took over this spring as a coaching veteran. He spent the past 22 seasons at Chicago (Division III), Bucknell, and Richmond on the way to a career record of 460-194. With the Spiders most recently, he finished 148-72 record and made three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances to end his tenure. He has 11 combined 20-win seasons.
Much like Odom, however, Roussell told White in this article that "it's always a process" and it takes time to build for a team.
Here are some of UVA-related social media posts as the summer workouts begin.
<script async="" src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>New episode of 𝙃𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙃𝙪𝙧𝙙?👂🎙️ No words allowed. Just vibes. 😂#GoHoos pic.twitter.com/1KHNn8OfIS
— Virginia Women's Basketball (@UVAWomensHoops) June 19, 2026
The start of these workouts mark the first step for this season for the Hoos. Can both teams make it back to the NCAA Tournament? Stay tuned.
Fan(s) Of The Week
Go Hoos!
Student Fan(s) Of The Week
When the Wahoos are your ride or die team ...
Feature Photo Of The Week
Sam Lewis is one of the returning starters for Virginia after it won 30 games last season.
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