Few have forgotten the history made in March 2018 when 16-seed UMBC upset Virginia. Ryan Odom coached the Retrievers to that historic moment and then watched as the Cavaliers marched to the national title soon after. Seven years after the upset, Odom comes to Charlottesville as the program’s next head coach, taking over a program that really struggled under an interim coach last season after Tony Bennett’s surprise retirement.
What isn’t surprising in this current atmosphere of college basketball is that very little of that 15-win squad will be back next season for Odom. Rising talent like Blake Buchanan, Isaac McKneely, and Andrew Rohde have taken their talents elsewhere via the transfer portal, leaving nearly every minute and point gone from last year’s production. Odom and his staff clearly had their work cut out for them building a competitive squad from nothing.
Combining a few freshmen with a decent transfer class has Virginia sitting in decent shape after all. Seven-footer Ugonna Onyenso slides in from Kansas State while UC Irvine forward Devin Tillis should have the starting job at the 4. There are more splashes of experience on this new team, notably getting Jacari White from North Dakota State, Dallin Hall out of BYU, and Sam Lewis from Toledo. The Cavaliers will lean heavily on these new faces but there’s another name of greater importance.
Malik Thomas is a 6-4 guard from Fontana, California and a former Top 100 recruit some four seasons ago. He filled little more than a backup role across two years while at USC before really finding his groove at San Francisco. He developed into one of the nation’s best shooters, with incredible free throw shooting numbers and production in the WCC. This past season saw Thomas average 19.9 points and 3.9 rebounds while making 39% of his 3-pointers, earning First Team All-WCC honors as that conference’s top scorer.
Thomas showed up all season long for the Dons, with some notable efforts against Gonzaga and Memphis alongside a pair of 35-point performances against Loyola-Chicago. We’ll see if he’s ready to slide into a major playmaking role for an ACC team, but he’s exactly the kind of sharpshooting and productive talent that Odom needs this season. He’s a very productive offensive player who also finished 4th in the WCC in steals and could become an even more complete athlete.
The news is good for Virginia with a new era begun though clearly many question marks exist with this rotation and the future. For now, expect Thomas running the point and blossoming on the national stage, something he didn’t shy away from when given the chance with the Dons. He’s not the raw talent that barely saw time at USC, though his ability to adjust to ACC defenses will go a long way towards Virginia’s potential in 2026.