{"id":133494,"date":"2025-04-10T12:32:33","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T16:32:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=133494"},"modified":"2025-04-10T12:32:33","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T16:32:33","slug":"virginia-transfer-portal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/04\/10\/virginia-transfer-portal\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginia Adds Key Pieces in 2025 Transfer Portal But Still Needs More"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following Tony Bennett’s retirement,<\/a> Virginia hired Ryan Odom<\/a> in March. As expected, following a rough year in the ACC, almost all of Virginia’s roster left for the transfer portal, including one of the top transfers<\/a> in the country, Isaac McKneely<\/a>. After successfully building a roster at VCU, Odom had little time before he needed to attack the transfer portal. However, Odom has successfully made several key moves that will help this team next season while he sets up a more permanent core. So, what has Virginia done so far in the 2025 transfer portal window, and how many more players will they need to pick up to compete next season?<\/p>\n

Virginia Adds Key Pieces in 2025 Transfer Portal But Still Needs More<\/h2>\n

Key Additions<\/h3>\n

There are two categories Virginia has targeted<\/a> in the 2025 transfer portal. The first consists of smaller role players on NCAA Tournament teams. While they don’t provide the star power, they provide winning around the margins and experience in a bigger conference. Dallin Hall<\/a> from BYU averaged 6.8 points and 4.2 assists for the Cougars in his junior season. Oklahoma guard Duke Miles<\/a> provided more for the Sooners, averaging 9.4 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 2.0 assists on 43% from three. At High Point in 2023-24, Miles averaged 17.5 points per game. Miles can bring a lot of scoring as a star on the team, so these are key additions for the Cavaliers.<\/p>\n

The other category includes superstars from mid-majors. Jacari White<\/a> from North Dakota State averaged 17.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists, making 88 threes at a 39.8% clip. Sam Lewis<\/a>, a sophomore guard from Toledo, averaged 16.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game while shooting 44.4% from three. Ryan Odom clearly wanted to grab three-point shooting. These four players provide dynamic additions to the club, which has historically struggled to score. Virginia’s 2025 transfer class is off to a good start. They have also picked up two four-star guards from high school<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Virginia’s Needs<\/h3>\n

While one of the high school recruits is a center, Odom’s team lacks any size to compete in the ACC. The ACC is certainly not as strong as in other seasons<\/a>, however, a power conference team will not survive without a player over 6-foot-8. Unfortunately for Ryan Odom, their success has been indicative of the class overall. Most of the best players are guards. The best centers are gone, leaving power forwards or second-tier centers. At this point, the Cavaliers need to be content with anything before they are left with nothing. Darrion Williams<\/a> from Texas Tech can provide a frontcourt star, but Virginia likely won’t grab a player of that caliber now.<\/p>\n

A common theme so far in this transfer portal has been inter-conference transfers. Florida State has two intriguing transfers who may suit Virginia well in the 2025 transfer portal: Jamir Watkins<\/a> and Malique Ewin<\/a>. Watkins is only a small forward at 6-foot-7, but he would be the second-tallest player on the team. Like the rest of the transfer class, Watkins provides elite scoring at 18.4 points per game and 5.7 rebounds. However, there’s also the possibility he stays in the NBA draft forgoing his final year of eligibility. Ewin provides the size Odom needs. Ewin is 6-foot-10 and averaged 14.2 points and 7.6 rebounds per game as a sophomore. He may be the best center left in the class.<\/p>\n

The Last Word<\/h3>\n

Virginia needs positive momentum. The Cavaliers once dominated the ACC and college basketball with their elite defense and three-point shooting. However, last season ruined that momentum. Odom started his class well, but they need to flesh out this roster to finalize a competing squad for next season. Virginia always wants to make the NCAA Tournament, so that will be the goal. Odom can do it, but they must address the frontcourt significantly in the coming weeks to survive in the ACC. Overall, Odom is off to a great start at Virginia.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo credit: \u00a9 Scott Wachter-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following Tony Bennett’s retirement, Virginia hired Ryan Odom in March. As expected, following a rough year in the ACC, almost all of Virginia’s roster left for the transfer portal, including one of the top transfers in the country, Isaac McKneely. After successfully building a roster at VCU, Odom had little time before he needed to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5370,"featured_media":133524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,773],"tags":[3120,50027,876],"class_list":["post-133494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-college-basketball","tag-acc-basketball","tag-ncaa-transfer-portal","tag-virginia-cavaliers"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5370"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133494"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":133525,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133494\/revisions\/133525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}