Ryan Odom walked into ACC Media Tipoff with a team built to win now, and he’s not wasting that opportunity on a soft nonconference slate.
Virginia’s schedule is loaded with stress tests before league play even begins: neutral-site games against Arkansas in Washington and UConn in New York, a home date with Kentucky, a trip to Maryland, and a pair of Battle 4 Atlantis matchups against Marquette and Xavier in Nassau, Bahamas. The idea is clear. This group should be good, experienced and ready for the NCAA tournament, so Odom wants it hardened by the kind of games that feel a lot like March.
That’s especially true for the Arkansas and UConn games, both of which will be played in NBA arenas, and for the Bahamas trip, where Virginia will get a day off just like it would between NCAA tournament games.
"I it could benefit us long-term, but I think the biggest thing was we wanted to challenge ourselves in the nonconference to get us ready for what we know is going to be a really tough ACC this year," Odom said. "I think all players want to play in big games, and all coaches want to coach in big games, and we've certainly provided these guys with that opportunity this year."
Kentucky came to Virginia through the annual ACC/SEC Challenge, while the rest of those marquee matchups were the result of Odom’s own scheduling choices. And with an expanded NCAA tournament field of 76, a few early losses to high-end opponents likely won’t carry the same sting they once did.
"You can schedule whoever you want, but you might not be ready for it," Odom said. "This is a proud program. Virginia deserves to play in big games."
The buzz around Virginia is already building. Official polls are coming soon, but the Cavaliers are expected to sit near the top of the ACC and could open the season ranked somewhere in the top 10 or 15 nationally.
That kind of expectation fits Odom’s track record. Outside of an 8-11 interim stint at Charlotte in 2014-15, he’s had just one losing season in 12 years across five schools, going 16-17 at UMBC in 2019-20. He followed that with a 30-6 debut at Virginia, and the bar is back up again.
Odom said high standards have followed him for a long time, even back at Division II Lenoir-Rhyne in 2015-16. That team pushed Clemson to overtime in an exhibition before finishing 21-10.
"Our Lenoir-Rhyne team expected to do well," he said. "Those expectations are what you want when you're confident in your team."
One of the biggest additions around the program this offseason wasn’t a transfer. It was Adrian Autry, hired as Odom’s top assistant after Griff Aldridge left for the head coaching job at Pepperdine.
Autry spent the last three seasons as Syracuse’s head coach after a professional career in Europe, and he already had ties to Odom from their time together as assistants at Virginia Tech under Seth Greenberg from 2008-10.
"It's huge," Odom said. "Adrian and I have been friends for a long time.
I've been in battles with himtogether on the same team ... and I know the character that he has. I know the expertise that he has.He played the game at the highest level, both collegiately and professionally, and has so much to give these guys.
His wealth of experience as a head coach and a high-level assistant coach is going to be really beneficial for Virginia. There's no doubt about it."
"Personally, I'm excited that he's with us. He's a friend of mine.
Our wives are friends. Our kids are friends.
It was a no-brainer for me to bring him in."
Chance Mallory keeps turning size into a storyline he’s long since stopped worrying about. Listed at 5-foot-10, the point guard still gives up length almost every night, but he counters it with speed, skill and a competitive edge that make him one of the ACC’s most dangerous guards.
Mallory said growing up around athletic sisters Lexi and Josie helped him get comfortable with competition early. When asked whether he could remember a time he’d looked an opponent in the eye, he just laughed it off.
"You get used to it," he said. "It just becomes part of your everyday life, and you don't even think about it anymore," Mallory said.
"I've always been the shortest, so I had to adapt, and it made me more tough. Being picked on on the court because of your height--you get tired of it.
You don't want to get used to that, but it just made me who I am."
There’s also a second-year jump expected from Virginia’s European imports. Thijs De Ridder and Johann Grunloh both say the game and the campus now feel far more familiar than they did a year ago, and they’re hoping that comfort shows up in their play.
"Last year I was in a complete area of knowing nothing about ACC basketball," said De Ridder, who still earned first-team all-conference honors. " Of course I watch it before, but notreally playing it.
But now I'm prepared. Now I know what team are going to face, what the environment is going to be like, what JPJ is going to be like in ACC play."
For Grunloh, the biggest adjustment had nothing to do with the floor.
"Playing professionally [in Germany], we'd go to practice, and back to your room, and that's it. The rest of the day's free," Grunloh said.
"Here, we have classes, and practice, it's different. Playing-wise, it'sa lot slower there.
You've got point guards who are 30 years old. They play a long time, and they ease it down a little bit."
Virginia’s media day also carried a somber note with the death of Heidi Burge Horton at age 54. She was a key piece of Virginia’s Final Four women’s teams from 1990-92, starring alongside her twin sister Heather Burge and All-American Dawn Staley under Debbie Ryan.
At 6-foot-5, the Burge twins formed the backbone of those teams, and Heidi left a lasting mark on the program. She finished 24th in school history with 1,191 points, sixth with 863 rebounds and seventh with 108 blocked shots, and she also played briefly in the WNBA with the Los Angeles Sparks and Washington Mystics.
"We are deeply saddened by the passing of Heidi Burge Horton. Heidi was a cherished member of the Virginia Women’s Basketball family, her legacy will forever be a part of Virginia Athletics. Our sincere condolences to her family and loved ones. pic.twitter.com/j49F20cabU"
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