Can Ryan Odom Have the Same Success Rate in the Portal as He Did Last Season?

The college basketball transfer portal will open in just a matter of time, leaving Virginia Cavaliers head coach Ryan Odom with very little time to continue assessing his roster needs. He has five prominent players who are now out of eligibility and will not be returning to UVA, including Jacari White, Ugonna Onyenso, Malik Thomas, Dallin Hall and Devin Tillis. With this in mind, the Hoos have some work to do in the portal.

Last year, Odom made significant improvements to his roster during the offseason, and some of his acquisitions became UVA's most reliable players this year. Of note, Onyenso, White, Thomas, Hall, and Tillis were all transfers—this goes to show the importance of portal success.

But just because his efforts paid off last year does not mean they will this time around. Hopes are held high, but the pressure is certainly on for the Cavaliers.

Can Odom Land More Impact Players?

Virginia Cavaliers Ryan Odom yelling during a game — Virginia Cavaliers head coach Ryan Odom | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Having such a strong history of portal success automatically sets the bar incredibly high for Odom, but he has a knack for picking out his program's biggest weaknesses and addressing those areas of concern.

Onyenso, in particular, will leave a noticeable opening on the court—both figuratively and literally. Onyenso is a 7'0" center with an impressive ability to block critical shots. He wrapped up his season averaging 2.9 blocks per game, ultimately leading the ACC in this statistical category. In all of college basketball, he comes in second for blocks, trailing Kyle Evan of UCI.

To properly fill in his gap, Odom will need a player with height and a similar level of elite rim protection. To add to his, Onyenso was a bench player and a major factor in what made UVA's bench so successful this year.

Odom has work to do, but he has a strong track record of building programs. This time, he will not be building his roster from the ground up—highly skilled players like Thijs De Ridder, Johann Grünloh and Chance Mallory are all eligible to return. Of course, there's always the chance that they could find a new home elsewhere through the portal, but assuming they remain in Virginia, Odom is already working with talent. Now, he just needs to supplement this talent with outside players.

Last year, he had to build the foundation of UVA. This time, the foundation is already there, but he needs to add a bit more support.