CHARLOTTE — It’s still possible for Virginia basketball to exist in a vastly changed college athletics landscape, says Cavaliers coach Tony Bennett.
“Everyone has got their ways, but I think the way we’ve done it still has a chance,” Bennett said Wednesday at the annual ACC basketball media day.
Bennett’s teams typically are experienced and focused on defense. That might seem to run counter to the new world of college basketball, with players moving from school to school in the transfer portal and trying to cash in with name, image and likeness deals.
“It’s like a big experiment,” added Bennett, whose team went 25-8 last season, but enters the 2023-24 campaign with an atypically large number of new faces. “Yeah, you’ll lose some guys. But you’ve got to try and keep the core together. Those that do will be better in the long run.”
Although the official ACC preseason poll won’t be released for several days, most predictions have Virginia finishing third behind Duke and Miami.
If so, the Cavaliers will do it with a mix of experienced players and newcomers.
Gone are 2022-23 standouts including Armaan Franklin, Kihei Clark, Jayden Gardner and Kadin Shedrick.
The most familiar face is 6-3 senior guard Reece Beekman, who averaged 9.5 points last season and led the team in assists in 19 of 33 games.
Also back is 6-7 sophomore guard Ryan Dunn, who finished 11th in the ACC in blocked shots last season. Dunn averaged only 2.6 points a game, but is expected to play a much bigger role offensively this season.
Many NBA scouting analysts see Beekman and Dunn as potential first-round picks next June.
The impact of the transfer portal will be obvious in the Virginia lineup this season.
Experienced newcomers: Newcomers expected to play major roles are forwards Jordan Minor (from Merrimack) and Jacob Groves (Oklahoma) and guards Andrew Rohde (St. Thomas) and Dante Harris (Georgetown).
All four could be starters this season.
Harris got a lot of mention at Wednesday’s media sessions. He averaged 11.9 points a game for the Hoyas and is known as a player who enjoys attacking the basket.
“Dante is one of the quickest on-ball defenders that I’ve ever coached,” said Bennett, 54, entering his 18th season as head coach, all but three of those at Virginia. “Dante brings a level of quickness and toughness on the ball that’s certainly helpful for us.”
Add it up, and you get a lineup loaded with talent.
But can they play Virginia basketball — solid defense, few mistakes, working together?
“What we are now is not what we’ll be at the end of the season,” said Bennett, who also said he’s had a few practices that tested his patience.
“You’ve got to be stubborn as a coach. You’ve got to work at it every day.”
Beekman said he has tried to take a leadership role with the new players.
“I think we really started working together in the summer,” he said. “We’ve been working hard to get the system down. It won’t happen instantly. It’s something that will come with time.”
Bennett said regardless of how coaches and fans feel about the new world of college basketball, everyone must accept it.
“You can’t stick your head in the sand and say, ‘This is how it was always done,’ ” he said. “You adjust. You make some changes.
“But you still hold dear and hold true to what matters to you and your program — and you find the guys who will buy into it.”
Another new face: Someone who Bennett referred to as “one of our biggest recruits” will be on the Virginia bench this year. And he won’t exactly be a new face.
Ron Sanchez, an assistant under Bennett for several years, is back in that role after a five-year stint as head coach at UNC Charlotte. Sanchez was let go by the 49ers after last season and took his old role of associate head coach in Charlottesville during the summer.
“I really put on the sales pitch with him,” Bennett said. “He helped build this, from the beginning.”
“I’ll be a lot better assistant coach now that I’ve been a head coach,” Bennett said Sanchez told him.
The Cavaliers open the regular season Nov. 6 at home against Tarleton State.
