Live tracker: the men’s basketball offseason

Editor’s Note: This article was first published March 19 and will be updated throughout the men’s basketball offseason.

Virginia men’s basketball has, in the span of six months, seen a legend retire and his successor get fired. Now that saga has entered a new phase, full of coaching changes and transfer portal turnover and recruiting battles. The offseason is here.

And it is a mammoth one. Almost two decades have passed since uncertainty hovered around the program like this. But after a 15-17 season that included an 8-12 ACC mark, Virginia is searching for a new head coach, and that will only amplify the transfer portal’s usual vagaries.

This tracker will follow the offseason’s biggest updates.

March 27: Christian Bliss

The 6-foot-4 guard will enter the transfer portal, On3 reported March 27. Bliss, now a rising sophomore, redshirted his first year and never played this season, dealing with a foot injury.

Bliss’s status was something of a mystery throughout the season. Interim Coach Ron Sanchez said in January that his sitting out was a ‘player decision’ and that the coaches would not force him to play if he did not feel he could.

A highly-anticipated arrival in Charlottesville two years ago, Bliss leaves the Cavaliers without having played a single minute, or even dressed for a game. He becomes the ninth Virginia player to hit the portal. Only two returning scholarship players, Elijah Gertrude and Elijah Saunders, have kept their names out of the portal. — Emory Huffman and Michael Liebermann

March 27: Ishan Sharma

The rising sophomore is entering the portal, 247 Sports reported March 27. The Canadian sharpshooter is the eighth Cavalier to hit the transfer portal.

Sharma, a 6-foot-5 guard, averaged 3.4 points per game in 2024-25, and made 33.3 percent of his three-point attempts.

For now, rising senior forward Elijah Saunders — and rising sophomore guard Elijah Gertrude, who redshirted due to injury — are the only returning scholarship players from the 2024-25 roster. — Xander Tilock

March 25: Jacob Cofie

The rising sophomore is entering the portal, On3 reported March 25. This means that at the moment, Virginia currently has zero big men who saw game action in 2024-25.

In his freshman campaign, Cofie averaged 7.2 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. He scored 16 points against Villanova in his collegiate debut against Campbell Nov. 6, the most by a new Cavalier since Jayden Gardner’s debut in 2021.

As reported by On3, Cofie will consider a possible return to Virginia. But, for now, he is the seventh Cavalier in the transfer portal out of the 10 total players who logged more than 10 minutes of game action for Virginia this year. — Xander Tilock

March 24: Anthony Robinson

The rising sophomore is entering the transfer portal, 247Sports reported March 24. Robinson leaves rising sophomore Jacob Cofie as the only non-portalling Virginia big man that recorded minutes in 2024-25.

Robinson, a 6-foot-10 forward, averaged 3.6 points and 2.4 rebounds per game. He played his way into consistent minutes in the latter half of the season, providing a powerful interior presence as the Cavaliers struggled to score in the paint.

Robinson is the youngest Virginia player to depart thus far. He becomes the sixth Cavalier to hit the portal and the fourth on the same day. — Emory Huffman

March 24: TJ Power

The former five-star recruit is entering the transfer portal, On3 reported March 24. Power is the fifth Virginia player to do so.

The 6-foot-9 forward transferred from Duke prior to this past season but only made five starts in Charlottesville. Power played in a limited role early in the year before his struggles eventually relegated him to sporadic minutes off the bench. He averaged 1.3 points per game.

Power, a rising junior, will potentially join his third team in three seasons. — Emory Huffman

March 24: Andrew Rohde

The ACC’s leader in assist-to-turnover ratio is entering the transfer portal, ESPN’s Jeff Borzello reported March 24. He became Virginia’s fourth player to do so, as his announcement closely followed that of backcourt mate Isaac McKneely.

Rohde, a 6-foot-6 rising junior guard, averaged 9.3 points and 4.3 assists this season, shouldering the team’s primary ball-handling duties with aplomb. He led the ACC in assist-to-turnover ratio during conference play, including a three-game stretch in which he had 25 assists and zero turnovers.

He struggled earlier in the season but quickly morphed into a ball-handling wizard and apt scorer. Three guards averaged 25 or more minutes for Virginia this season, and all three are now in the portal. — Michael Liebermann

March 24: Isaac McKneely

Virginia’s leading scorer in 2024-25 will enter the transfer portal, On3 reported March 24. McKneely becomes the third Cavalier to enter the portal this offseason.

The 6-foot-4 rising senior guard averaged 14.4 points per game and shot 42.1 percent from beyond the three-point line as a junior. McKneely was Virginia’s most reliable shooter and has served as an integral piece of the offense for multiple seasons.

The On3 report specified that McKneely “will maintain the possibility of returning to Charlottesville.” But if he does go, with the accompanying portal entry of rising junior guard Dai Dai Ames, Virginia could lose the vast majority of its guard production. — Emory Huffman

March 23: Associate Head Coach Griff Aldrich

Coach Ryan Odom has made the first addition to his coaching staff. Longwood’s Griff Aldrich will step down from his head coaching position at Longwood to become Virginia’s associate head coach, CBS Sports’s Matt Norlander reported March 23.

Aldrich, a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, is connected to Odom in several regards. Aldrich and Odom played together at Division III Hampden-Sydney College. After a hiatus from college coaching, Aldrich joined Odom’s UMBC staff in 2016 as director of basketball operations.

As the head coach at Longwood, Aldrich guided the Lancers to their first two Division I NCAA Tournament appearances in program history, winning the Big South Tournament in 2021-22 and 2023-24. He also earned Big South Coach of the Year honors in 2021-22. This season, his team posted an 18-14 record and a 7-9 record in conference play, finishing sixth in the Big South. — Emory Huffman

March 22: Chance Mallory

The four-star point guard is coming home. Class of 2025 recruit Chance Mallory announced his commitment to Virginia at his high school Saturday.

Mallory, from Charlottesville, initially committed to Virginia Sept. 20 but reopened his commitment Oct. 29 following Tony Bennett’s retirement. He considered Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Maryland and Virginia Tech as other finalists before ultimately deciding to recommit to Virginia.

Mallory is a 5-foot-9 point guard from St. Anne’s-Belfield School and ranked No. 54 in his class. He is considered one of the top scorers in the 2025 high school class. Mallory is the first offseason addition for Odom and his Cavaliers. — Xander Tilock

March 22: Coach Ryan Odom

Virginia hired Ryan Odom as its next men’s basketball coach, Athletic Director Carla Williams announced in a press release Saturday morning. The bulletin came roughly 16 hours after CBS Sports reported Friday evening that Odom had signed a deal.

Odom and No. 11 seed VCU exited the NCAA Tournament in the first round Thursday with an 80-71 loss to No. 6 seed BYU.

Odom’s introductory press conference will be held Monday on the court at John Paul Jones Arena at 3 p.m. and is open to the public. The conference will also be live streamed at VirginiaSports.com. — Michael Liebermann and Xander Tilock

March 19: Dai Dai Ames

The rising junior guard is entering the transfer portal, On3 reported March 19. He became the program’s second player in two days to make his plans clear.

Ames’s production dipped and rose early in the season. On the year, he averaged 8.7 points and delivered 1.9 assists per game in 25.7 minutes. But something clicked in his final 10 games of the regular season, in which he never failed to reach double-figures scoring.

As a shot creator, Ames often flashed his creativity, and his three-point shot snapped into place during that torrid stretch. He transferred to Virginia last offseason after his freshman season at Kansas State. — Michael Liebermann

March 18: Blake Buchanan

The rising junior forward is entering the transfer portal, The Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman reported. He became the first member of the roster to do so.

This season, Buchanan, who is listed at 6-foot-11, averaged 5.4 points and 5.3 rebounds in 22 minutes per game. He manufactured a mid-season surge, including 16 points and nine rebounds at Miami and a double-double two games later at Pittsburgh. But despite newfound offensive aggression, he never achieved consistency.

Virginia’s other big man, Anthony Robinson, remains out of the portal for now. — Michael Liebermann

Live tracker: the men’s basketball offseason

Following the comings and goings of a monumental offseason