With July around the bend, the offseason is in full swing not only on college campuses around the county but on websites like this one.

As such, one of the best things to do during the summer is to look ahead and for the two revenue sports, we’re going to do just that.

We start today with a look at what Tony Bennett and the hoops program have ahead in the coming weeks and months in advance of what will be an especially intriguing season.

Here are four offseason questions facing the Wahoos this summer:

1. How will the return of Ron Sanchez impact the program short term and long term?

Bennett won’t need to show his “new” assistant coach around John Paul Jones Arena. Instead he tabbed Sanchez, who spent the last five seasons as the head coach at Charlotte, to return to the program he helped build. After initially coming to Charlottesville with Bennett from Washington State and serving on the until leaving in 2018, Sanchez took over a Charlotte program in desperate need of an overall and helped it slowly rebuild. The 49ers are off to the AAC but Sanchez instead is heading back home to the ACC.

Obviously, there is a lot of familiarity here, both for the UVa program and Sanchez. Bennett has a knack for getting serving head coaches on his staff, having landed Ritchie McKay from Liberty when he was hired at UVa in 2009. Getting Sanchez back feels like a coup for Bennett personally, as he’s a coach that has a particular system that he runs and Sanchez knows well, and he’s a coach who works with those he trusts to carry out his vision for the program.

For Sanchez, perhaps another opportunity will arise after a few more years at Virginia, or perhaps he’s happy to just be back in a familiar place.

For the program, the return should make an impact on the recruiting trail, where Sanchez did a nice job in his first tenure on Grounds. He’ll be replacing Kyle Getter, of course, who before leaving for Notre Dame did a nice job developing a reputation as one of the staff’s top recruiters. Sanchez should be able to hit the ground running, and perhaps he can have a relatively quick impact on the program’s recruiting plan for 2024 and beyond.

How quickly that impact is seen and felt, both on and off the court, will be fascinating to track.

2. How long will we wait for the first 2024 commitment?

Speaking of recruiting, UVa got some disappointing 2024 recruiting news last week when four-star forward Jarin Stevenson opted for Alabama over the Hoos and UNC, and also reclassified to the 2023 class. It wasn’t a shocking miss for Virginia given the late momentum towards the Tide, but it does mean that the search continues for the first commitment in the 2024 cycle.

UVa is after a number of talented players this summer, including four-star point guard Christian Bliss who just took an official visit.

Bliss has UVa in his top four, along with Villanova, Miami and Xavier, and he seems pretty locked in on those four schools. UVa seems to be in a solid position for the Pennsylvania native, and he’s going through his visits in the coming weeks. Could he become the first Cavalier verbal of the class?

If not Bliss, another player that the Hoos will have to fight hard for is five-star guard Kon Knueppel. There’s the Wisconsin connection between Knueppel, a Milwaukee native, and various aspects of the UVa program which have been fruitful in the past. Still, this will be another recruitment where the blue bloods are starting to get more involved, as well as the home state schools like Wisconsin and Marquette.

Overall, 2024 is a critical season for Bennett and Co. and how things get started is a key question to track.

3. Can this UVa team significantly exceed expectations?

In 2017-18, UVa was coming off a season where it finished sixth in the ACC and lost badly in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Heading into that 2018 season, the Cavaliers were picked to finish sixth in the league again without a single All-ACC vote in the preseason poll. They went on to win 31 games, the ACC regular-season and tournament titles, and earn the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

So there’s a precedent for the Wahoos to significantly exceed preseason expectations under Bennett. They’ve done it in a few other seasons, too, and while the 2023-24 team won’t be picked to win the league, is it possible that they could once again overshoot the prognostications?

The recipe for that to happen feels very similar to how it happened in 2017-18. That team thrived because young players took a big step forward and became All-ACC caliber. There are several young guys on this team that could make a leap, but in addition to that, they’ll also need to hit on their transfer additions, something that wasn’t really a big part of that 17-18 roster.

Reece Beekman’s return significantly increases the likelihood that UVa has a better-than-expected season. If he can stay healthy, Beekman is the type of end-to-end impact player that can significantly help UVa’s defense while also providing enough scoring to make the Hoos a viable ACC contender. If he can do that, a young player or two breaks out in a big way, and UVa gets significant contributions from their four transfers in, then perhaps UVa can surprise some folks.

4. Which one of UVa’s roster additions will have the best season?

Looking specifically at the four transfers, all of them have a chance to make a significant impact on this year’s team.

Jordan Minor has perhaps the easiest path to a big role, given the number of departures in the frontcourt. UVa will need him to provide a boost on both ends, with post scoring to go along with rim protection for the former NEC Defensive Player of the Year.

Andrew Rohde is the best bet for a long-term impact, but he should be able to make some noise right away, too. He was the Summit League Freshman of the Year, leading St. Thomas in scoring. UVa has a crowded backcourt, but his ability to create his own shot and provide volume scoring should allow him to have a big role on this year’s team.

Jake Groves could be more of a role player off the bench but perhaps can earn significant playing time. He is an experienced player who started his career at Eastern Washington before landing at OU, and can provide a boost both as a rebounder and as a scorer. Groves can play as a stretch big, and UVa is hoping that he can provide some 3-point shooting from a forward spot.

And let’s not forget about Dante Harris, who has been on the roster since January. The former Georgetown Hoya should have a key role this season, stepping in to replace, in a sense, the void left by Kihei Clark. Harris is a ball handler who can get in the lane and get his shot, as he did at Georgetown when he won Big East Tournament MVP, leading the Hoyas to the 2021 NCAA Tournament. Having practiced with the program during ACC play and into the postseason, perhaps Harris can use that experience in Bennett’s schemes to get on the floor more quickly and more often.