It took a little longer than anticipated and turned out a little differently than many expected, but Virginia has wrapped up its transfer portal recruiting and filled out its scholarship roster for the 2024-2025 men’s basketball season. After a quiet first six weeks of the offseason, Tony Bennett went on a recruiting spree in the transfer portal and snagged four transfers (five if you count walk-on Carter Lang) in the span of 11 days. Combined with a pair of promising incoming freshmen UVA signed last fall, these seven additions have completely transformed Virginia’s outlook for next season.
It’s still very difficult to project how the Cavaliers will look next season with so many new faces and it’s an even greater challenge to predict if UVA will be better than last season (and by how much) entering the post-Reece Beekman era. But at the very least, the Hoos will certainly look different with six players heading out the door and seven new ones coming in. We’re going to try to quantify how Virginia’s roster changed with some relevant statistics and recruiting data in an attempt to clarify UVA’s outlook for next season.
To start, let’s recap Virginia’s personnel moves from this offseason:
Virginia Men’s Basketball 2024 Offseason Timeline
March 19th: Virginia’s season ends, concluding the careers of Jordan Minor and Jake Groves, who both exhausted their collegiate eligibility.
April 6th: Redshirt freshman wing Leon Bond III enters the transfer portal
April 16th: Sophomore forward Ryan Dunn declares for 2024 NBA Draft
April 17th: Senior guard Reece Beekman declares for 2024 NBA Draft
April 19th: Redshirt junior guard Dante Harris enters the transfer portal
May 4th: Florida State guard Jalen Warley transfers to Virginia
May 6th: Duke forward TJ Power transfers to Virginia
May 6th: San Diego State forward Elijah Saunders transfers to Virginia
May 7th: Vanderbilt forward Carter Lang transfers to Virginia (walk-on)
May 15th: Kansas State guard Dai Dai Ames transfers to Virginia
Here’s a look at how Virginia’s roster changed from the 2023-2024 season to the 2024-2025 season in terms of departures, additions, and returners:
Departures
Exhausted Eligibility: Jordan Minor, Jake Groves
Transfer Portal: Leon Bond III (Northern Iowa), Dante Harris (undecided)
Declared for Draft: Ryan Dunn, Reece Beekman
Additions
Incoming Transfers: Jalen Warley (G, FSU), TJ Power (F, Duke), Elijah Saunders (F, SDSU), Dai Dai Ames (G, KSU), Carter Lang (F, Vandy) **walk-on
Incoming Freshmen: F Jacob Cofie (Seattle, Washington), G Ishan Sharma (Milton, Ontario)
Returners
Guards: Taine Murray, Isaac McKneely, Andrew Rohde, Elijah Gertrude, Christian Bliss
Forwards: Blake Buchanan, Anthony Robinson
Next, here’s a breakdown of what Virginia lost and gained in terms of scoring and minutes played:
Departures
Scoring: Reece Beekman (14.3 ppg) + Ryan Dunn (8.1) + Jake Groves (7.4) + Jordan Minor (4.3) + Leon Bond (4.1) + Dante Harris (2.5) + Tristan How (0.7) = 41.4/62.9 = 65.8% of scoring
Minutes: Beekman (1114 minutes) + Dunn (935) + Groves (690) + Minor (471) + Bond (296) + Harris (329) + How (17) = 3,852/6,875 = 56.0% of minutes
Additions
Jalen Warley: 7.5 ppg, 33 games, 32 starts, 24.1 mpg at Florida State
TJ Power: 2.1 ppg, 26 games, 0 starts, 7.0 mpg at Duke
Elijah Saunders: 6.2 ppg, 37 games, 21 starts, 20.2 mpg at San Diego State
Dai Dai Ames: 5.2 ppg, 31 games, 16 starts, 20.6 mpg at Kansas State
Carter Lang: 1.8 ppg, 24 games, 7 starts, 11.6 mpg at Vanderbilt
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