Biggest Roster Questions Facing Virginia Basketball This Offseason

Six questions the Cavaliers must answer about their roster this offseason

Virginia has arrived at the unpredictable and turbulent period of time known as the college basketball offseason. With the advent of the transfer portal combined with the special COVID-19 rules of unrestricted transfer and additional seasons of eligibility, significant roster turnover from year to year has become almost unavoidable even for programs like UVA, which have been built on long-term development, consistency, and patience. As the Cavaliers embark on another offseason, here's six key roster questions Virginia must answer this offseason: 

1. Who is staying and who is going? 

Unlike the 2021-2022 edition of the UVA roster, which had zero players run out of eligibility at end of the season, Virginia is assuredly losing at least three players this offseason, each of whom were starters this year. Kihei Clark, Jayden Gardner, and Ben Vander Plas have each exhausted their five years of eligibility, leaving three open spots in the starting lineup. Another key rotational piece, redshirt senior Francisco Caffaro, who played in 20 games this season and started each of the three games in the ACC Tournament, has one year of eligibility remaining, but seemed to indicate in a press conference late in the season that he would not be returning next season. If that's the case, then next season will be UVA's first without a member of the 2019 National Championship team on the roster. 

Early in the season, it seemed that Virginia might also lose Reece Beekman to the NBA as the junior guard started the season on a tear, playing aggressively on the offensive end, shooting the three-ball extremely well, and bringing his usual lockdown defense to lead the Cavaliers to an 8-0 start and the No. 2 ranking in the country. Beekman's draft stock rose in turn, as some draft boards had Beekman as high as a first round pick. Then came the hamstring injury that took several weeks for Beekman to recover from. His defense was as good as ever by the end of the season, as Beekman was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, but he never quite recaptured that early-season aggressiveness on the offensive end that made him a borderline first round pick. With his name no longer showing up on many draft boards, it makes the most sense for Beekman to return for his senior season, but he has yet to announce that decision officially. 

Armaan Franklin is a senior, but has one year of eligibility remaining. He was honored on senior day and has a decision to make on whether he'll utilize that fifth season of eligibility or not. Franklin was Virginia's leading scorer at 12.4 points per game and shot 37.3% from three-point range. UVA would certainly love to have Franklin back next year, but there are a lot of factors to be considered when making a decision like that, and we won't know for sure if Virginia's leading scorer will be back next season until Franklin announces that decision. 

2. Will any Cavaliers enter the transfer portal?

For the last two years, Virginia has been waiting for Kadin Shedrick to have his breakout season. He redshirted his first year and dealt with injury troubles the following year, but Shedrick hasn't quite been able to get into a rhythm the last two seasons despite beginning each of those two seasons as UVA's unquestioned starting center. Shedrick started 14 of the first 15 games this season, but then yielded his starting spot to Ben Vander Plas as Virginia switched to more small-ball lineups. As the season wore on, even Francisco Caffaro was getting more minutes than Shedrick off the bench. As followers of the program began to wonder why Shedrick was playing so little, many started to predict that Shedrick would be a likely candidate to enter the transfer portal at the end of the season. Those predictions escalated after Shedrick didn't play even a second in either of Virginia's final two regular season games. But then, an opportunity presented itself as Ben Vander Plas was lost to a season-ending injury in practice just before the ACC Tournament, setting the stage for Kadin Shedrick's resurgence. Shedrick provided a huge lift for the Cavaliers off the bench in their three ACC Tournament games and then stepped it up a notch in the NCAA Tournament loss to Furman, recording his first double-double in over a year and dropping 15 points, 13 rebounds, and four blocks. There's still a chance that Shedrick could enter the transfer portal given the up-and-down frustrating nature of this season, but that's a less likely outcome than it was two weeks ago after Shedrick's recent strong play. 

Another transfer possibility is sophomore guard Taine Murray, who played in less total games (13 < 19) and less minutes per game (7.2 < 7.7) this season than he did in his true freshman campaign. Like Shedrick, the 6'5" New Zealand native played a little more down the stretch, as Murray scored five points in the ACC semifinals against Clemson and played 11 minutes in the NCAA Tournament game after Armaan Franklin got in some early foul trouble. With UVA's expected roster construction, it's difficult to imagine Murray's minutes increasing substantially next season, so it's possible Murray could bolt for the transfer portal. But on the other hand, academics played a huge role in Murray's original commitment to Virginia and it seems getting a degree from UVA is a priority for him, making it more likely that he'd stick around even if there's no guarantee of extended playing time. 

3. Will Virginia be active in the transfer portal again?

Tony Bennett and the UVA coaching staff have made a habit of picking up significant impact transfers even before the emergence of the transfer portal with players like Anthony Gill, Nigel Johnson, and Braxton Key and more recently with Sam Hauser, Trey Murphy III, Jayden Gardner, Armaan Franklin, and Ben Vander Plas. Virginia made an early splash in the transfer portal with the addition of Georgetown transfer Dante Harris back in January. A 6'0" guard from Washington, D.C., Harris spent two seasons at Georgetown and was the Most Outstanding Player of the 2021 Big East Tournament. The timing of his transfer to Virginia was good for multiple reasons. With three years of eligibility remaining, Harris provides an answer for UVA at the point guard position for after Reece Beekman leaves. Additionally, joining the program in January allowed Harris to get adjusted to the team and its operations in the midst of ACC play, giving him a big head start as compared to typical transfers who join their new teams over the summer.

So the big question is whether Virginia will make a move to bring in another transfer this offseason. UVA has reportedly made contact with several players in the transfer portal over the last week: Albany forward Jonathan Beagle, Merrimack forward Jordan Minor, Austin Peay center Elijah Hutchins-Everett, Texas Tech forward Robert Jennings, Wofford guard Jackson Paveletzke, and American forward Johnny O'Neil. Those reports indicate that the Cavaliers are placing an emphasis on finding a forward or center for the front court, which makes sense given that UVA is losing (or expected to lose) three bigs with starting experience in Jayden Gardner, Ben Vander Plas, and Francisco Caffaro. That leaves Kadin Shedrick (if he doesn't transfer), redshirt freshman Isaac Traudt, and incoming freshman Blake Buchanan as the only bigs on the roster, although Ryan Dunn showed the ability to play in the front court this season as well. It will become more clear which players the Cavaliers are really targeting when these transfer portal players begin to take official visits. 

4. Can Isaac Traudt and Leon Bond III contribute as much as Isaac McKneely and Ryan Dunn did this season?

As Virginia struggled through the 2021-2022 season, UVA fans coped by looking ahead to the highly-touted group of four-star recruits inbound to Virginia for the following season. Isaac McKneely, Isaac Traudt, Leon Bond III, and Ryan Dunn were hyped even more than the 2016 recruiting class was. We've only seen half of the class with Traudt and Bond redshirting this season, but Isaac McKneely and Ryan Dunn showed that the hype was not at all overblown, as they met and surpassed expectations in year one. McKneely is a lights-out shooter with a quick release and was able to take and make shots at big-time moments. He is an aggressive rebounder as a guard and his defense got much better as the season went on. Dunn has the tools to be an elite defender and is already a fantastic rebounder. He has already developed a good chemistry with Reece Beekman, finishing backdoor cuts and lobs with powerful dunks. His offense is in need of more refinement in terms of creating his own shot, but there's some serious potential in his jump shot. 

There are two big questions for the 2022 recruiting class that could end up defining the 2023-2024 Virginia men's basketball season: how much of a sophomore leap can Isaac McKneely and Ryan Dunn take next year? And, after redshirting this season, are Isaac Traudt and Leon Bond III ready to show that their patience has paid off? 

5. How ready to play will Blake Buchanan and Elijah Gertrude be when they arrive on Grounds?

With how much Isaac McKneely and Ryan Dunn were able to contribute in their true freshmen season, the Cavaliers might selfishly wonder if the same will be true for UVA's incoming freshmen Blake Buchanan and Elijah Gertrude. Big men rarely play significant minutes at UVA in their freshmen season, but as a 6'10", 215-pound forward with considerable strength and ball skills, Buchanan could make an impact early in his career depending on what Virginia's front court depth looks like going into the fall. Elijah Gertrude has college-ready athleticism, ball-handling, and shot-making abilities. But unfortunately, he tore his ACL in November, causing him to miss his entire senior season of high school basketball. Doctors have projected that Gertrude will be ready to return to the court by the time he arrives at UVA in June, but it'll still be tough for him to get up to speed when he hasn't played competitive basketball in a very long time. Knee injuries can be especially difficult to recover from, but if Gertrude can get back in shape this summer, he could also make an impact in year 1. 

6. What will UVA's starting five be next season?

Assuming that our predictions of who stays and who leaves are accurate and assuming that Virginia doesn't pick up a massive starting-caliber player out of the transfer portal, UVA's projected starting five next season should look like this:

PG Reece Beekman
SG Isaac McKneely
SF Armaan Franklin
PF Ryan Dunn
C Kadin Shedrick

Of course, that all could change depending on how things shake out for Virginia this offseason. 

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