It has been far too long since I’ve written about Virginia basketball — and honestly, so much has changed that I barely know where to start. Last time I really checked in, Tony Bennett was still patrolling the sideline and the Pack Line was gospel. Since then we’ve had a stunning retirement, a bumpy interim season, a bold new hire, and one of the best debut seasons in program history. So let’s catch up.

The End of an Era

In October 2024 — just weeks before the season tipped off — Tony Bennett shocked the college basketball world and retired. After 15 seasons, a 2019 national championship, and turning Virginia into a defensive juggernaut, he decided over fall break that he was done. It was abrupt, it was emotional, and it left UVA scrambling on the eve of a new season.

The Interim Year

Associate head coach Ron Sanchez — a Bennett lieutenant for 11 years — stepped in as interim coach for 2024-25. It was a hard year. The Cavaliers finished 15-17, missed the NCAA tournament, and it felt, at times, like the program was stuck between chapters. In hindsight, that’s exactly what it was.

Enter Ryan Odom

After the season, UVA turned the page for real and hired Ryan Odom away from VCU. If that name rings a bell for painful reasons, you’re not imagining things: Odom was the head coach at UMBC in 2018 when the Retrievers became the first 16-seed ever to beat a 1-seed — and the team they sent home was, yes, Virginia. Now he’s the one wearing orange and blue. (There’s a whole post in that irony, and I promise I’ll write it.) Odom also brought a faster, more modern style — a real departure from Bennett’s grind-it-out identity.

A Dream Debut

And then he went out and delivered one of the best first seasons any Virginia coach has ever had. The 2025-26 Hoos finished 30-6, went 15-3 in the ACC (second place), and rode all the way to the ACC Tournament championship game before falling to top-ranked Duke, 70-74. They earned a 3-seed in the NCAA tournament, handled Wright State in the first round, and then ran into a red-hot Tennessee team and lost by six.

A tournament exit always stings — but step back for a second. Those 30 wins are the most ever by a first-year Virginia head coach, a mark that had stood since Jeff Jones in 1990-91. For a program that looked adrift eighteen months earlier, that is remarkable.

Reload, Not Rebuild

The best part? This wasn’t a one-year fluke stitched together from borrowed pieces. Odom is reloading, not rebuilding. First-team All-ACC forward Thijs de Ridder is back, along with starters Sam Lewis and Johann Grünloh and rising guard Chance Mallory. UVA did lose some key contributors — Dallin Hall, Malik Thomas, Jacari White, Devin Tillis, and center Ugonna Onyenso — but the portal brought in Jurian Dixon (UC Irvine) and Christian Harmon (Arkansas State), and Odom reeled in his first big recruit: 7-foot-1 four-star center Favour Ibe. Unlike last offseason’s rebuild, this one is about supplementing a core that already knows how to win.

What’s Next

So where does that leave us heading into 2026-27? For the first time in a while, the mood around Virginia basketball is pure optimism. The Hoos have a coach fresh off a 30-win season, a returning All-ACC star, and real momentum on the recruiting trail. Final Four talk isn’t crazy.

I’ve got a bunch of things I want to dig into — the UMBC-to-Charlottesville irony, how Odom moved on from the Pack Line, that ACC title run — and I’ll get to them. But this one was just the catch-up. It’s good to be back writing about the Hoos.

Go Hoos.