Virginia's Updated Scholarship Picture With Leon Bond III Transferring Out
The first domino of the Virginia men's basketball offseason fell over the weekend as redshirt freshman wing Leon Bond III announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal with three years of eligibility remaining in a social media post on Saturday afternoon. It wasn't a shocking move, given how sparingly Bond played in his first two years in Charlottesville and with no guarantee of substantially increased minutes moving forward. It appears to be mutually beneficial, as Bond will get a chance for a fresh start at another program that might make better use of his talents and Virginia gets to free up a scholarship spot to allocate towards a player who is a better fit for UVA's current personnel and roster needs.
Speaking of scholarships, let's take a look at how Bond's departure via the transfer portal impacts Virginia's scholarship picture moving forward. We start with UVA's scholarship roster from the 2023-2024 season, followed by a summary of the players expected to depart the program this offseason, and then a breakdown of the scholarship players currently expected to be on UVA's 2024-2025 roster, including details on how many years of eligibility each player has starting next season.
2023-2024 Scholarship Roster
0 Blake Buchanan (Fr.)
1 Dante Harris (RS Jr.)
2 Reece Beekman (Sr.)
4 Andrew Rohde (So.)
10 Taine Murray (Jr.)
11 Isaac McKneely (So.)
12 Elijah Gertrude (Fr.)
13 Ryan Dunn (So.)
21 Anthony Robinson (Fr.)
22 Jordan Minor (Gr.)
30 Christian Bliss (Fr.)
34 Jake Groves (Gr.)
35 Leon Bond III (RS Fr.)
Expected departures:
2 Reece Beekman (Sr.) - NBA Draft
22 Jordan Minor (Gr.) - exhausted eligibility
34 Jake Groves (Gr.) - exhausted eligibility
35 Leon Bond III (RS Fr.) - transfer portal
Virginia's current scholarship roster for 2024-2025:
10 Taine Murray (Sr.) - one year remaining
1 Dante Harris (RS Sr.) - two years remaining
4 Andrew Rohde (Jr.) - two years remaining
11 Isaac McKneely (Jr.) - two years remaining
13 Ryan Dunn (Jr.) - two years remaining
0 Blake Buchanan (So.) - three years remaining
12 Elijah Gertrude (So.) - three years remaining
21 Anthony Robinson (RS Fr.) - four years remaining
30 Christian Bliss (RS.) - four years remaining
Ishan Sharma (Fr.) - four years remaining
Jacob Cofie (Fr.) - four years remaining
Scholarship spots used: 11/13
Open scholarship spots: 2
With four expected departures this offseason and two incoming freshmen, that leaves Virginia with two open scholarship spots to allocate either to a transfer or another high school recruit.
With Elijah Gertrude seemingly ready to return for his sophomore season, the only other player Virginia is waiting for a decision on is Ryan Dunn, who has a tough choice to make on whether to declare for the 2024 NBA Draft or return to school for another season.
Read our story on the latest NBA mock drafts and the various factors impacting Dunn's decision here:
Will Ryan Dunn Declare for the NBA Draft? Checking in on the Latest Mock Drafts