Cavaliers Now

Still Empty-Handed, Where Does Virginia Go Next in the Transfer Portal?

Matt Newton

Tony Bennett coaches his team during the Virginia men's basketball game against Boston College in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament.
Tony Bennett coaches his team during the Virginia men's basketball game against Boston College in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament. / Virginia Athletics

It's been six weeks since the 2023-2024 Virginia men's basketball season came to its bitter end. The one advantage of losing earlier than the other teams who made deeper runs in the NCAA Tournament was supposed to be a head start on assessing offseason roster needs and beginning to recruit the transfer portal. And yet, in the month and a half since the end of the season, the Cavaliers have waved goodbye to six scholarship players (two to the transfer portal, two to the NBA Draft, and two to graduation), leaving them with four open scholarships for next season, but are the only ACC program to have so far landed zero incoming transfer commitments this offseason.

Virginia's fanbase has grown restless over the last several weeks, but the frustration reached a fever pitch over the last week as two of UVA's transfer portal targets cancelled their visits to Virginia (Toby Okani and Xavier Amos) and two transfers who did visit the Cavaliers opted to commit to other schools (Joshua Jefferson to Iowa State and Aidan Mahaney to UConn).

The Amos situation is particularly agitating from the perspective of UVA fans, as it seemed on paper to be a perfect fit between the Cavaliers and the Northern Illinois forward from a basketball perspective, but the prevailing (and as yet undispelled) rumor is that academic issues prevented what would have been a happy marriage.

Explanations for these swings and misses aside, the outcome is that Tony Bennett and company remain empty-handed in the transfer portal in an offseason in which it was critical that the Cavaliers land at least a couple of transfers to address some glaring roster needs, with an emphasis on the power forward position vacated by Ryan Dunn.

Virginia has four open scholarship spots for the 2024-2025 season and still intends to use them, so what's next? Here's five possible transfers still available for the Cavaliers to target in the portal:

Elijah Saunders, San Diego State

The window for undergraduate players to enter the transfer portal without having to sit out a year upon transferring ends on May 1st. The Cavaliers have their eyes on one of the late entrants into the transfer portal, as San Diego State sophomore Elijah Saunders entered the portal on Monday and reportedly heard from Virginia by the end of the day, according to On'3 Jamie Shaw.

A 6'8", 225-pound forward from Phoenix, Saunders appeared in 37 games and made 21 starts this past season for the Aztecs, averaging 6.2 points and 3.6 rebounds per game in a little over 20 minutes per contest. Saunders was a 32.2% three-point shooter on 3.3 attempts per game last season and shot 96.0% from the free throw line, though he doesn't get there very often. His best game came in a win over Washington as he tallied 16 points and went 3/3 from beyond the arc. He also had eight points and a couple of threes in San Diego State's win over Yale in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Update: according to The Portal Report, Saunders has scheduled visits to Washington and Virginia for this upcoming weekend.

Jordan Ivy-Curry, UTSA

Deviating from Virginia's front court needs for a moment, we're including 6'2" guard Jordan Ivy-Curry in this list as the Cavaliers were one of the initial schools to contact the UTSA senior when he hit the portal more than a month ago. Ivy-Curry ultimately committed to Virginia Tech, but then decommitted just 27 days later.

Unfortunately, this type of back-and-forth is far from a rare occurrence for Ivy-Curry, who originally committed to Appalachian State before flipping to UTSA out of high school, then transferred to Pacific after two seasons at UTSA, then transferred back to UTSA after only one year at Pacific. It seems he can't stay in one place for too long, but since he only has one year of eligibility remaining, he'll be staying at his next school for just one season anyway.

Commitment issues aside, there's a lot to like about Ivy-Curry as a player, as he averaged 17.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 3.2 assists and shot 38.7% from beyond the arc on nearly six attempts per game last season, all career-highs. It's not very likely that Bennett and his staff will contact Ivy-Curry again, but he would provide a nice scoring boost to a roster in need of some offensive reinforcements.

Supreme Cook, Georgetown

Virginia's search for a power forward in the transfer portal could lead to the nation's capital and nearby Georgetown, where 6'9", 200-pound senior forward Supreme Cook is in the transfer portal looking for a new home for his final year of eligibility. Originally from East Orange, New Jersey, Cook began his career at Fairfield, where he played three seasons, the last of which saw him average 13.1 points and 8.6 rebounds per game while shooting 54.4% from the floor. Cook then transferred to Georgetown as one of Ed Cooley's first batch of recruits and averaged 10.5 points per game in 2023-2024, but on much better efficiency, shooting a career-high 57.5% from the floor. Now, Cook is back in the transfer portal and could be worth taking a look at for the Cavaliers as a possible replacement for Ryan Dunn.

Tyreek Smith, SMU

Another possible option in the front court, Tyreek Smith is in the transfer portal for the third time and looking for a fourth college as one of the oldest players in college basketball. He began his career with a medical redshirt at Texas Tech in 2019-2020, the year after the Red Raiders fell to Virginia in the national title game, and has since played in 128 games. Smith transferred to Oklahoma State after the 2020-2021 season when Chris Beard bolted for the Texas job and he played for the Cowboys for the next two seasons, but mostly as a rotational player off the bench. He transferred to SMU for the 2023-2024 season and in 33 games (13 starts), Smith averaged 8.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.7 blocks, and 1.0 steals in 19.2 minutes per game, all career-highs. Although he has bounced around quite a bit, Smith could be a nice fit for Virginia as an experienced, 6'7", 220-pound forward who excels on the defensive end (2.7 stocks last season) and who is a career 60.0% shooter from the floor.

Anthony Dell'Orso, Campbell

Positionally, Anthony Dell'Orso isn't necessarily the player Virginia needs the most to fill its current roster needs as a 6'6" guard in the same mold as Andrew Rohde and Taine Murray. But as a scorer and playmaker, the Cavaliers absolutely need him. Last season at Campbell, Dell'Orso started 31 of 32 games and averaged 19.5 points per game, shot 38.0% from three-point range and 80.9% from the free throw line, and posted 6.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 1.6 steals per game. He was named to the All-CAA Second Team in Campbell's first season in the CAA and was the Big South Freshman of the Year in 2022-2023.

Hooz Got Next is reporting that Dell'Orso is taking a visit to Virginia soon and regardless of the Cavaliers' personnel situation, he would be a significant addition to their roster for next season.

Honorable Mention: TJ Power, Duke

TJ Power is a name followers of Virginia basketball recruiting have been talking about for years now. UVA was once the frontrunner to land his commitment out of high school, but as his recruiting stock elevated to the point where he became a five-star prospect and a top 25 recruit in the country, the Blue Bloods inevitably came calling and the 6'9" sharpshooting forward from Massachusetts ultimately committed to Duke, with Virginia finishing as the unfortunate runner-up in his recruitment.

But in predictable fashion, Power's time in Durham was short-lived, as he entered the transfer portal after his freshman season. He averaged just seven minutes and 2.1 points per game and with another crop of talented freshmen coming in to Duke next year, Power's prospects for increased playing time next season weren't very good.

Somewhat surprisingly, it has not been reported that Virginia has contacted Power in the nearly two weeks since he entered the transfer portal. But with the Cavaliers whiffing on their other forward transfer targets, Bennett has to be considering reaching out to a player who very nearly came to UVA the first time around (and visited multiple times) and who is exactly the type of player Virginia needs for its roster, right? But the reason we've got him down here as an honorable mention is that it might be too late already, as Power returned to his home state of Massachusetts on a visit to Boston College and recruiting experts are now predicting his commitment to Earl Grant's Eagles.

More Virginia Men's Basketball News and Content

Virginia Basketball Transfer Portal Contact Live Tracker
Virginia's Updated Scholarship Picture With Dante Harris Transferring Out
Virginia to Host Four-Star Point Guard Trent Perry for Official Visit
Virginia Guard Reece Beekman Declares for 2024 NBA Draft
Could Trent Perry be the Solution to Virginia's Point Guard Problem?

Published |Modified
Matt Newton

MATT NEWTON

Managing Editor and Publisher, CavaliersNow Email: mattnewton@virginia.eduTwitter: @mattynewtssWebsite | LinkedIn | Instagram Matt Newton is the managing editor and publisher at CavaliersNow. He has been covering UVA athletics since 2019 and has been the managing editor at CavaliersNow since launching the site in August 2021. Matt covers all things UVA sports, including Virginia basketball and football news and recruiting, former Wahoos in the pros, and coverage of all 23 of the NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. A native of Downingtown, Pennsylvania, Matt grew up a huge Philadelphia sports fan, but has also been a UVA sports fanatic his entire life thanks to his parents, who are alums of the University of Virginia. Matt followed in his parents' footsteps and attended UVA from 2017-2021, graduating with a degree in Media Studies and a minor in Economics in May of 2021.