ESPN Analyst Grades Virginia Basketball's 2024-2025 Season

Even if you are not a follower of Virginia basketball, you know that they had an impossible situation to deal with last season. When former national championship winning head coach Tony Bennett retired a few weeks before the season started and Ron Sanchez became the interim head coach, expectations were low for how the Cavaliers would respond.

The result was not what fans had hoped for but given the tough situation, it turned out slightly better than one might could have hoped. The season started out poorly, but the Cavaliers were able to salvage it by getting a bye into the 2nd round of the ACC Tournament before losing to Georgia Tech in a close game. Sanchez was of course not retained and UVA ended up hiring Ryan Odom to be the program's next head coach.

When grading each ACC team this season, ESPN analyst Myron Medcalf gave Virginia a "B" for their 2024-2025 season:

"Tony Bennett's unexpected retirement in October was a shock to the program that he had led to a national championship in 2019. With only a month until the start of the season, interim head coach Ron Sanchez was thrown into a unique -- and unfair -- situation as he tried to refocus a team full of players who assumed they would be playing for Bennett.

A middle-of-the-pack finish (tied for ninth) was beneath preseason expectations, but considering those expectations predated Bennett's announcement, Sanchez made the most of the mess he was given."

Virginia hoping to have a better season with Odom at the helm in 2025-2026 and some recent additions through the transfer portal could make that a reality.

The two most recent commitments for Virginia are in the frontcourt. Kansas State transfer center Ugonna Onyenso and international prospect Johann Grünloh. Our own Aidan Baller broke down the commitment of Grünloh last week:

"A native of Löningen, Germany, Grünloh is 19 years old and will turn 20 on August 14th. Despite his young age, he already has quite an impressive basketball resume at the professional club level and on the international stage. In 2023, Grünloh played for Germany in the U18 European Championships and helped his country win a bronze medal as the top shot blocker at the tournament, averaging 3.9 blocks per game.

In the 2023-2024 basketball season, while Grünloh was still finishing secondary school, he played for both the professional Rasta Vechta team and the second Rasta Vechta team that plays in the highest youth division of basketball. Grünloh was instrumental in helping Vechta have the sixth-best defense in the BBL and also helped lead the junior team to a championship. He then graduated and played full-time with the professional Rasta Vechta squad for the 2024-2025 season.

This season, Johann Grünloh has played in 33 games, starting in every game, and averaged 8.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks in 23.3 minutes per game. He shot 47.6% from the floor and 35.4% from three-point range. Grünloh had 13 games in double-figures, including a 20-point performance in his most recent game just last week, and posted two double-doubles this season."

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