The Curtain Will Soon Be Pulled Back: Hype Meets Hardwood for Virginia Basketball

The curtain’s about to rise in Charlottesville, and this one feels different.

We’ve all spent the offseason glued to UVA’s YouTube series, trying to glean whatever clues we can—who’s gelling, who’s vocal, who’s looking confident in drills. Every slow-motion clip and mic’d-up moment has been studied like film before a Duke game. Because with this roster, it’s not just curiosity—it’s genuine excitement.

This is the most talented Virginia basketball team since 2019, and it’s not particularly close.

Ryan Odom and his staff have had one of the toughest coaching challenges in the country: taking an almost entirely new roster—veteran and skilled, but strangers to one another—and turning it into a cohesive, connected team. The transfer portal era has made overhauls like this more common, but it’s still uncharted territory for UVA basketball. For the first time in 15 years, this team won’t look, sound, or play like the Virginia basketball we’ve grown used to. And that’s perfectly okay.

Times change.

It doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten or stopped appreciating the greatest era in program history. We’ll always revere the Bennett years, the discipline, the defense, the dignity. But as Tony Bennett himself said—it was time. Time for a new voice, a new energy, a new chapter. And now, that chapter is about to begin.

This team has talent stacked at every position. Thijs de Ridder, the smooth and versatile Belgian forward, looks like the best player on the roster—strong enough to play through contact, skilled enough to space the floor, and smart enough to make everyone better around him. He’s UVA’s new heartbeat, a modern four with old-school instincts.

Malik Thomas might end up leading the team in scoring. The San Francisco transfer is wired to put the ball in the basket and has the confidence to take over stretches of games. Around him, Dallin Hall brings experience and leadership at the point, Jacari White adds shooting and poise, and Elijah Gertrude returns as the rare holdover who bridges the Bennett and Odom eras.

Up front, the blend of international size and athleticism is a far cry from anything we’ve seen in Charlottesville recently. Johann Grünloh, the mobile 6’10” German big, will likely share time with 7-footer Ugo Onyenso, whose shot-blocking presence gives Odom exactly what he’s looking for—someone to erase mistakes and protect the rim. And then there’s Devin Tillis, the Swiss Army knife forward who brings glue-guy reliability and toughness off the bench.

What makes this group so intriguing isn’t just their résumés—it’s the maturity. This is a veteran-laden roster with extremely high internal expectations. They didn’t come to UVA to rebuild; they came to win. Practices have been described as competitive and intense, with leadership emerging from multiple voices rather than one.

And that might be the biggest difference of all: for the first time in years, we don’t know exactly what Virginia basketball will look like. There’s a sense of mystery to this team—a clean slate, a fresh sound, a new rhythm to the game that still carries the same pride of the Power of Orange and Blue.

Soon, the speculating will end. The rotations will sort themselves out. The stats will replace the what-ifs. And the only thing left to do will be to sit back and watch one of the most anticipated Virginia basketball teams in years write its first chapter together.

The curtain is about to be pulled back.

And this time, it’s not about looking back at what was—it’s about seeing, maybe for the first time in a long time, what could be.