Virginia Basketball Finalizes Scholarship Roster for 2024-2025 Season

In less than two weeks, Virginia was still empty-handed in the transfer portal after swinging and missing at its first several transfer targets. The Cavaliers had four open scholarship spots to use and lots of personnel areas in need of reinforcement.

11 days later, Tony Bennett has completely transformed his UVA roster for the 2024-2025 season, securing four scholarship transfers and a walk-on with high potential to earn playing time in Carter Lang. The Cavaliers have gotten younger (only two seniors on next year’s roster), more athletic, and more talented, at least according to the recruiting rankings.

UVA’s roster currently has 8 players that were in the top #100 of 24/7’s composite recruiting rankings coming out of high school.

That is the most such players on a Virginia roster in the Tony Bennett era.

Though Virginia’s 23-win season and third-place finish in the ACC this past season was hardly a failure, another one-and-done flame-out in the NCAA Tournament showed that the Cavaliers needed to switch things up this offseason, especially with the ultra-reliable Reece Beekman concluding his UVA career.

There will be plenty of time to debate Virginia’s potential starting lineups for next season, but thanks to the additions from the portal over the last two weeks, the Cavaliers have significantly upgraded their depth and overall confidence at each position on the floor.

Florida State’s Jalen Warley and Kansas State’s Dai Dai Ames are coming in to compete with redshirt freshman Christian Bliss for minutes at Beekman’s vacated point guard position, while Duke’s TJ Power and San Diego State’s Elijah Saunders give UVA a potentially game-changing 1-2 punch at power forward to replace Ryan Dunn.

And don’t sleep on the addition of Carter Lang, a former ESPN four-star recruit and McDonald’s All-America nominee out of St. Anne’s-Belfield School in Charlottesville, who transferred to UVA after appearing in 24 games and starting seven at center at Vanderbilt as a true freshman. Lang is not your typical walk-on, and he essentially gives Virginia 14 scholarship players for next season.

Then there’s the question of how the incoming freshmen will fit in, as four-star and top 100 power forward Jacob Cofie and Canadian sharpshooter Ishan Sharma will also be eager to prove themselves.

Here’s Virginia’s current scholarship roster for the 2024-2025 season sorted by position and including details on each player’s eligibility remaining:

PG: Jalen Warley (1 year), Dai Dai Ames (3 years) Christian Bliss (4 years)

SG: Isaac McKneely (2 years), Elijah Gertrude (3 years), Ishan Sharma (4 years)

SF: Andrew Rohde (2 years), Taine Murray (1 year)

PF: TJ Power (3 years), Elijah Saunders (2 years), Jacob Cofie (4 years)

C: Blake Buchanan (3 years), Anthony Robinson (4 years)

Scholarship spots used: 13/13

It should be noted that the above scholarship chart is a very rough projection of how things could look for Virginia from a personnel standpoint next season. UVA now has a ton of options and combinations for its three guard/wing positions and it wouldn’t be surprising to see some of the young guys like Jacob Cofie or Anthony Robinson emerge in the front court.

Aside from Isaac McKneely, who is the only returning full-time starter from last year’s team, it’s almost impossible to predict what the Cavaliers are going to look like when they take the floor in November. For many UVA fans, that will be a refreshing and exciting prospect.

In other news, Dominic Parker has been named Head Coach of the Men’s Basketball team at RIT. Parker brings a championship resume to Rochester following over 10 years as an assistant coach at the NCAA Division I, II, III, and NJCAA levels, including a run to the NCAA Division III Tournament Quarterfinals last winter at Christopher Newport (Va.).

“Dom stood out in a very deep pool of candidates we had from across the country and I am thrilled he will be taking over as the face of our program,” said Nicholson. “A rising star in the coaching world, he knows what goes into winning at a very high level and is poised to take over his own program with the same goals in mind. He has a passion for winning and leading student-athletes on and off the court and I am eager to see the direction he takes the program.”

Parker most recently served as Assistant Head Coach on John Krikorian’s staff, helping Christopher Newport to a 24-7 record, including its third-consecutive Coast-To-Coast (C2C) Athletic Conference Championship.

In transfer news, Cameron Sheffield, a guard from Rice, has committed to Duke men’s basketball. Sheffield is a 6-foot-6 wing who played three seasons for the Owls, before redshirting last season due to a foot injury. He was a consistent starter in the 2022-23 season as mainly a 3-point threat, shooting 37.3% from behind the arc.