Everything From Ryan Odom at UVA Basketball's Media Day

New Virginia hoops head coach Ryan Odom was introduced this week as the basketball season kicks off with the 2025 ACC Tip-Off. The media is given the opportunity to get familiarized with the programs in the ACC, especially with the transfer portal greatly transforming the college basketball landscape each and every year. Odom is joined by a large class of transfers coming to Charlottesville to help the Hoo's return to their championship pedigree.

Here is everything from Odom as he prepares to lead UVA on the hardwood this season.

1. Opening Statement...

"I was really excited to go down to Charlotte with Dallin [Hall] and Malik [Thomas] and just experience ACC basketball. The tip-off, everybody's excited about the season, each school, each coach. I know the fan bases are excited as well and looking forward to a fun season. Our team's working hard right now in preparation. It's moving really fast. It's amazing that we have exhibition games right around the corner the next two weeks and the guys are enthused about the opportunity to play against somebody else."

2. Approach to exhibition games...

"I mean, I'm not quite sure yet because this is the first time, you know, we've done it. You know, what I would say is the first game, you know, you're going to be a little bit less prepared because it's earlier, right, than you would in the second one, and that's typical from year to year of how it is because you just don't only have so much time to get stuff in. The Vanderbilt scrimmage or exhibition will be a little bit different format than the Villanova format will be, because really it's up to the two coaches how they want to do it. I think we're probably going to do quarters over there at Vanderbilt. Haven't talked to Coach yet, Coach Willard at Villanova yet about ours here. But I think for me, I want to see the guys against another team. And so for us to be able to play as many guys as we can, get them out on the court, get them some experience. Especially with an entirely new roster. I think it's really important, you know, certainly for both teams, you know, to have that opportunity to do that."

3. Four-star recruit Chance Mallory's start at UVA...

"Yeah, I mean, I think it's been tremendous. I would encourage you to ask him that. But, you know, I think Dallin [Hall] done a great job, you know, of communicating with him and those two have hit it off. Malik certainly, even some of the older guys up front as well, Devin and Tess. But Chance, you know, Chance is a guy who, he's played a lot of basketball in his life and he's always played against older guys and You know, it's never really been phased. While he is the first year now. He doesn't play like the first year, you know most days in practice and that's not to say that he hasn't had any ups and downs. We all do in preparation for the season. Chance is a fun guy to coach. He's a fun guy to be around. He's a sponge out there. He's competitive. He's a really smart basketball player. I know he does, like his teammates a lot and appreciates, you know, their willingness to be there for him."

4. Defining this year's team...

"I think, you know, unselfish, you know, certainly is one of the words that I would use with this team. They've done a great job. They're a little bit further ahead offensively, I think. Will that translate in these first two scrimmages? I don't know. But just, you know, in my own experience, looking back at teams that we've had, a little bit more versatility up front, guys that can score in and around the basket, but also have size but can go away as well, which is good. So, defensively, they've done a good job so far of developing our full court, getting them better daily. We're seeing growth in the half court defense as well. Still areas that need to improve. The rebounding has to improve against one another. We're offensive rebounding really well but we're not defensive rebounding at least against ourselves the way that we need to. So there's a lot of room for growth and that's normal this time of year. But, I do like the mood of the team. They come every day to work. They're energetic. They seem very committed to doing their best this season."

5. Physicality of big men in practice...

"It's an area we've tried to them on since day one. One of our constants is, you know, physical without fouling. And, you know, last year at VCU we were, we preached it every day, but we fouled a lot. It was one area where we needed to improve and never quite got exactly where we wanted to be overall. It was one of our shortcomings, but this particular team has size and different positions and girth as well. I think Thijs [De Ridder] told me yesterday, he is 248 right now. It's a big body. When you have bodies like that, you know, crashing together, you know, it's a physical standoff. And Thijs certainly is willing to use his body. I think that's one of his strengths. Johann [Grunloh]'s working his way into it. You know, he's only 19 at this point. And so while he has seen some bigger bodies, you know, in Germany. I think it'll be a different level you know here for him so he's working his way you know through that but I do like where we are right now you know with that but ultimately you know our opponents are gonna tell us if we'll be ready or not. We've got two coming at us in the next two weeks that will give us a lot of information about what we need to do."

6. Impact of having a lot of veterans on the team...

"I think the character is the number one thing. I think we've established and put together a roster of guys that are just really good dudes. You know, they enjoy one another. They're committed to coming in and learning every single day. You're ahead of the game when you have that. We've got some experience, you know, you have a guy like Dallin Hall who played in the Sweet 16 last year, and Devin Thomas, you know, they won 30 games. We have that experience, you know, throughout our roster that, can pay dividends for us. But ultimately, they have to play well together. That's what we're working on, you know, each and every day.

7. Identifying international talent that will translate...

"A lot of times these younger players overseas they're playing against better talent night in and night out you know than you know, American kids. AAU is a different story because you're kind of bringing the best around the country together. High school's a little bit different when you're playing or your hometown team, and that's natural. I think just their system lends itself for them to be a little bit more advanced, you know, offensively, but, we've been fortunate over the years to have some really good international players, you know, on each team that I've been fortunate enough to coach. This group that we brought in this year, I'm really proud of them. I'm excited about, you know, what's to come for them this season. I think while they're all a little bit different, their skill level matches our style of play."

8. Comparing Ugonna Onyenso & Johann Grunloh...

"I would say both of them have done a really nice job so far of protecting the rim for us. When our guards are going downhill and attacking and they're back at the rim, they're really tough to score over. And so that's something that we're going to need, you know, this year. Johan initially, we knew, was a three -point shooter, a guy that could knock it down from behind the arc. Ugo [Onyenso], we had no idea at that point that he could. He's never attempted a three in a games, he's never attempted a three in a practice so far in his career until he arrived at UVA. So it's one of those pleasant surprises, you know, for us. I've said it before, it's not going to be high volume, it's more about shooting wide open ones and giving him the confidence to do that. And so if he shows that he can produce in games, then we'll let him continue to do that. But I think they both can pass. I've been really impressed when they have the ball in their hands, out on the perimeter, and we're moving and cutting. They've shown an ability to find guys and get baskets for guys, but they have the both have the ability to get behind the defense and pick and roll and catch high passes. They both had two yesterday in practice so that is always good to see because you can't just back up off of them. I think the versatility that they're gonna bring, you know to the team is something that our coaching staff hasn't had in recent years in terms of having a five-man that could step out and and shoot like these two guys can. We're excited to utilize their gifts."

9. Bringing his son with him to Virginia...

"It's a beautiful gift, you know, for me personally and for Lucia to have had both of our sons, you know, be around during college because obviously usually they're going away to college and you're dropping them off at school and, you know, you don't see them for several months. It's just the natural order of events. For us to be able to have this time still together is really important for me personally. Owen has no expectations of playing. He understands what his role is on the team. He's a good player. Don't get me wrong. He could certainly be elsewhere playing, but understands what Virginia is. He just wants to be a part of the team and really help the team in practice. I think the person that it's hardest on is Lucia because she's used to being there with him all the time because I'm coaching others. She's at all of his games and she's with him, you him on a daily basis and now all of a sudden he's not calling us much. He's busy doing his own thing in college and so that can be difficult, but obviously he's close by. He'll sneak in every now and then to wash his clothes or whatever he needs to do. We're really pleased that he's here."

10. Staying in touch with players from UMBC...

"When FDU was playing Purdue, the group chat started going back and forth, and there were some funny lines in there, but that team's special. You know, we'll always be special to me, the kids that were on that team. Some of them are married now, some are getting ready to have kids. We'll always have that time together. But I've definitely received texts, you know, since I've been here. One of the players has been here, you know, a couple of times: Brandon Horvath. He played for us over the course of the year, but not in the NCAA tournament and he's a great kid. He played for us at Utah State as well. So he and his now wife got married this summer and so some of our staff that coached him went up to the wedding and so we were able to see quite a few of his teammates that were on that team."

11. Depth of the rotation...

"We want to play as many as we can. When you're pressuring up the court, it takes a certain level of fitness to do that. It's really tough to play 30 plus minutes and playing that. So you definitely want 8, 9, 10 in there. I think we have 10 guys right now that are pretty good players. We have more than that. But in terms of 10 that I could put in a game, probably that's where we're going to start. So we'll see."

12. Tough conference road schedule ahead...

"All the games are gonna be tough. I mean when you're inside your own conference it's really competitive. We know that the ACC is going to be a lot better this year than it was last year. We've got to do our job in preparation, you know for that and how do you compete for a championship? You do really well at home You win games on the road as well. Last year at VCU we were able to kind of do both and put us in a really, really good position, but it's hard to win on the road. Other fan bases can get involved. Certainly you worry more about the players and the coaching staff than you do the fans, but it's going to be a challenging beginning to the conference play and we understand that. You try to do your best to put the team in situations where they're going to be challenged in practice so that they're ready when when the games do come."

13. Chemistry building in practice...

"I think they're more comfortable with one another.The way you notice that is when challenging situations arise. The team gets scored on two players are involved in some sort of mistake, they own up to it and they're not afraid you know to communicate with one another about it. When you don't know someone naturally those those types of situations you can just kind of let them go and I'm noticing now these guys are taking ownership of their own behaviors, but then they're also not afraid to communicate with others when their behaviors aren't where they need to be. That's the mark of a team that's beginning to become more connected. And so we certainly want to continue along that path of growth to becoming the most connected team that we can be."

14. Preparing to lead a new team in a new conference...

"There are more teams in this league, you're only playing two teams twice. So at a normal conference at UMBC we were playing everybody twice, and then Utah State played pretty much everybody twice, but one team. At VCU, it is a lot different. I think it was maybe four teams twice, so this will be a lot different. It's one game prep. Sometimes obviously you're gonna be on the road against that opponent. You want to do your best in the matchups where you're playing a team twice. Again, trying to steal as many on the road as you can. You're not going to have the luxury of 'oh, we played them this first time, we know exactly what they are, you know, for the second time.' The scouting is going to have to be tight. The retention by the players is going to have to be tight in terms of the preparation for those particular games. Plus, teams change over the course of the season so what you see in early January from a team that you don't play until even March will be a lot different. And so likewise if you play somebody in early January and then you don't see them again until the ACC tournament. Well, it's a long stretch. You can't make assumptions on what they were doing then. You have to really rely on how they're playing at that given time. And so there's going to be a lot of information exchange between the coaching staff and the players. How well they process it and then put it into game action without thinking too much is going to be really, really important for us. I'm excited about the conference. I'm excited about the health of the conference and how competitive it's going to be. I'm looking forward to getting going."

15. Allowing players to develop their own roles...

"We have a much better feel for where the guys are right now compared to where they were over the summer. I think they're settling in. They're not certainly in the exact roles that we need them to be in on this day, but they're getting there. They're showing signs of growth each and every day in the practices of learning how are we gonna play to our strengths. What are the strengths of this particular player? What situations do we wanna try to put him in so that he can have the most success, which will help obviously our team. I think we're on the right path there. I think the guys understand who can do what, and when you're in that situation, it only helps your confidence grow. And so I think we're doing our best right now without having played anybody else. What might be a strength in our gym when we start to play somebody else? Maybe it's not a strength. Your opponents eventually tell you kind of where you need to go with things."

16. Focus before heading into scrimmages...

"The focus is on getting better every day and trying to do our best to improve all aspects of our team. It's the mental edge. We want guys really confident, but not overconfident. We certainly are working on all aspects. We are really getting these guys ready for different situations that they're going to see early in the season, because you have to be ready on game one. These next two exhibitions are going to be really helpful for us in preparation for the season. Offensively, we're really trying to define, the way that we're going to play. I think we're in a good spot there right now. It'll be interesting to see, because right now, you know, we don't have a ton of subs in practice. So they'll get a little bit winded from time to time, which is normal and so it'll be interesting to see kind of how that shows up when we play against someone else and they're only having to play a three and a half minute stretch. The key is they can't save it. They have to go really, really hard and know that somebody's coming to get them pretty quickly. We need that person to do it when they come in. I'm looking forward to seeing those guys out there competing."

17. Devin Tillis' fit on the roster...

"He's definitely a good handler. There's no question about it. I'm really comfortable with him in pick and roll, him making decisions with the ball on the block posting up. He's a really good passer from the interior. And he's a really good finisher. He's a good shooter as well. He's going to be a really important player for us...just absolutely adds to our depth. His experience, his toughness, his smarts are going are going to be really important for us. So he's a big player for Virginia. There's no question about it."

18. Success on shots from beyond the arc...

"We seek the three -point shot, you know, the open ones. We're not just, you know, trying to fire threes to fire three. I think the guys are doing a really good job. Yesterday we just didn't make shots. Like, we were getting them, we couldn't make them. You're going to have some of those days that's where your defense really has to be tight. And your offensive rebounding. When you're not shooting the ball like you're capable of shooting it as a group, well, that's where the offensive rebounding comes into play. Last year's team at VCU was excellent in that regard. We're trying to focus on making sure that this year's team at UVA is. The guys have done a really nice job so far in the pre-season with that."

19. Approach to usage with new roster...

"The majority of my teams share in that. You know, we're not usually dominated by one guy. All of these guys understand that, and we'll show them that. What their usage rates are, what they were over the summer, where they are now. Some of them needed to go down a little bit, some of them needed to go up a little bit, but typically it's pretty well balanced across the board just because we share the ball and move it."