Virginia already knows what it has in Thijs De Ridder and Chance Mallory. De Ridder is the Cavaliers’ top scorer, and Mallory is the only true point guard on the roster. Lose either one for a long stretch, and Ryan Odom’s team would feel it immediately.
But if you’re ranking the most important pieces in Charlottesville, Johann Grunloh belongs near the top of the list.
The 7-foot German started all 36 games as a freshman last season, though he logged the fewest minutes of Virginia’s five regulars at 21.1 per game. That was partly by design, with Ugonna Onyenso splitting time with him at center in a productive platoon.
Grunloh’s season also got complicated late. Foul trouble popped up at times, his upper-body strength wasn’t where it needed to be, and an undisclosed broken right wrist cut into his minutes during the final month.
That opened the door for Onyenso, who surged into arguably Virginia’s best player in March. Onyenso finished with 105 blocks, the most by a Virginia player not named Ralph Sampson in a single season, and he also developed into a reliable scorer.
Onyenso is gone now, selected in the second round of the NBA draft and currently on the Detroit Pistons’ summer league team. That leaves Grunloh with a very different setup behind him: untested 7-1 freshman Favour Ibe. The result should be a much bigger workload for Grunloh as a sophomore, even if Odom occasionally turns to De Ridder or transfer Kalu Anya at the 5 in smaller lineups.
The encouraging part for Virginia is that Grunloh appears to have spent the offseason getting ready for exactly that. Odom said at last week’s summer media availability that Grunloh has added about 15 pounds since the end of last season and now weighs nearly 250. His wrist, Odom added, is fully healed.
"He looks different," Odom told reporters, "which is what you want to see for a younger player."
There was a time when Grunloh was viewed as the more intriguing pro prospect of Virginia’s newcomers, even ahead of De Ridder. His size, mobility and shooting touch fit the modern NBA mold, and some around the program wondered whether he might enter the draft after one college season.
The wrist injury changed that path and made another year of development look like the right move. It also kept alive Virginia’s rim protection, because Grunloh still blocked 80 shots last season while averaging 7.1 points and 5.2 rebounds.
Those numbers should climb with more minutes this winter, and Odom expects to use him in ways fans didn’t see much in 2025-26.
“I'm excited for him and what's next,” Odom told reporters. “I think you'll see him dribble the ball more. We're allowing him to kind of rebound it and go and bust out and start the break a little bit to make us a little bit faster.”
Virginia has enough depth on the wings to mix and match there, and Odom can even spell De Ridder if Anyu and former redshirts Martin Carrere and Silas Barksdale keep developing.
Still, the middle matters. And for Virginia, Grunloh is the guy who can anchor it.
In Other News...
Virginia Is Battling For The Kind Of Wing It Desperately Needs
Virginias search for a wing who can fit the way Ryan Odom wants to build has turned toward Moussa Kamissoko, a highly regarded small forward in the 2027 class. The Cavaliers have already put an official offer on the table and made it clear they are serious about the 6-foot-8 prospect, who brings the kind of size and positional value that can be hard to find and even harder to land.
The challenge is obvious from here. Kamissoko is drawing attention from a long list of major programs, and Virginia has been in the mix since January, which means this one has had time to develop into a real recruiting battle rather than a quick pitch. With the process still expected to stretch out over the next several months, the Cavaliers will have to keep making their case if they want to stay in front for a player who could help solve a long-term need on the wing. [Read more 🡒]
Tony Elliotts 2027 Class Puts Virginias Recruiting Identity Under The Microscope
Virginias 2027 football recruiting class is still in the early stages, but the early shape of it says plenty about Tony Elliotts approach. The group sits 67th nationally on 247Sports and near the bottom of the ACC, with 15 commitments made up mostly of three-star prospects. It also fits the broader pattern of Elliotts staff, which has tried to build through player development and supplement the roster with transfers while continuing to work the in-state high school pipeline.
The part that will keep drawing attention is how much room there still is for this class to change the conversation. Virginia has not yet landed any of the states top 15 2027 prospects, and the current ranking leaves little margin for error if the Cavaliers want to climb into a more competitive neighborhood by Signing Day. For a program trying to define its recruiting identity, this class is becoming a useful snapshot of where the staff is comfortable shopping and how far it still has to go. [Read more 🡒]