Dr. E.C. Fulcher, Jr.

The Wahoo’s finished their 2023- 2024 season with 23 wins and a third-place finish in the ACC. Unfortunately, they got humiliated in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

In the process, they lost Reese Beekman and Ryan Dunn, both to the NBA draft. They also lost Leon Bond III and Dante Harris to the Transfer Portal, and Jordan Minor and Jacob Groves to graduation.  So, Bennett had to turn to the Transfer Portal to fill these gaps. However, the first six weeks did not produce one signing. Then, things began to fall into place when Coach Bennett signed four quality players in the next four days, thus filling the 13 Scholarship spots for the 2024-2025 season

Let us now meet those five Transfer Portal players who made the commitment to play Bennett basketball this coming season:

Jalen Warley –Scholarship, Previous School: Florida State, Position: Point Guard, Size: 6’7″, 205 pounds, Eligibility: one more year remaining     

TJ Power – Scholarship, Previous School: Duke, Position: Power Forward, Size: 6’9″, 216 pounds, Eligibility: one more year remaining

Elijah Saunders – Scholarship, Previous School: San Diego State, Position: Forward Size: 6’8″, 225 pounds, Eligibility: two more years remaining

Dai Dai Ames – Scholarship, Previous School: Kansas State, Position: Guard, Size: 6.1”, 185 pounds, Eligibility: three years remaining

Carter Lang –   Walk-on, Previous School: Vanderbilt, Position: Forward,6’9, 235 pounds, Eligibility: freshman, three years remaining   

One of the benefits from these signings is that they all come with playing experience. Now they only have to learn Bennett’s philosophy of the game which we know is defense.

Recruits

In addition to the above players, Bennett also recruited two promising players out of High School. The first is Jacob Cofie (Scholarship), a 6.7” forward from Eastside Catholic High School, in Bellevue, WA and is a four-star top 100 recruit. The other being Ishan Sharma (Scholarship), a 6.4” sharpshooting guard from Fort Erie International Academy, in Milton, Ontario, Canada.

Remaining players for the 2024 – 2025 season.

Shooting Guard Isaac McKneely (Scholarship), one of the go-to guys in the past two seasons when the game was on the line. McKneely is also one of the premier 3-point shooters in the country.

Shooting Guard Elijah Gertrude (Scholarship) is a returning sophomore who seen limited playing time this past season, mainly as a role player. His experience should help him vie for a starting spot on the roster. 

Shooting Forward Andrew Rohde (Scholarship) is a returning junior who has shown he can score in double figures on any given game.

Shooting Forward Taine Murray (Scholarship) is a senior who is also capable of scoring in bunches when called upon.

Center Blake Buchanan (Scholarship). A returning sophomore who gained valuable playing experience this past season. He has the ability to become an impact player for the Hoos but he may be challenged by walk-on player Carter Long who is a former ESPN four-star recruit & McDonald’s All-America nominee. He is also a Charlottesville native.

Center Anthony Robinson (Scholarship) is a 6.10” promising freshman who redshirted this past season to beef-up and learn the Bennett system.

Point Guard Christian Bliss (Scholarship) is also a redshirted freshman who will contend for playing time with Jalen Worley and Dai Dai Ames.

The Coach

Tony Bennett enters his 16th season as Head Basketball Coach of the University of Virginia, and he has compiled an outstanding record of 364 – 136. But that’s not all of his accomplishments:

     ACC Regular-Season Titles: 11 (2010, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023)

     ACC Tournament Championships: 3 (2014, 2016, 2018)

NCAA Tournament Appearances: 15 (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024)

    National Coach of the Year Awards: 2 (2007, 2015)

Notable Milestones:

– Became the winningest coach in UVA men’s basketball history, surpassing Terry Holland (326-173) in 2023

   – Recorded his 250th win as a head coach against No. 14 Notre Dame in 2020.

    -Led the Cavaliers to their first No. 1 ranking in the AP poll since 1982 in 2018.

    -Guided UVA to a 31-3 record and the NCAA tournament championship in 2019.

    -Has a winning record against each of the team’s ACC rivals.

    -Has been ranked the top defensive coach in college basketball by ESPN Insider and a CBS

    Sports poll of head coaches.

Needless to say, his resume is very impressive, and his numbers will only increase should he remain coaching.

As a long-time fan of the Hoos, I look forward to the upcoming season and to see all the new faces. I got the feeling that UVA basketball is going to be fun to watch again.

Go HOOS!!!

-Jerry Corsaletti