Offseason Storylines: A lot to look forward to for the Wahoos

Virginia is more than a week into the offseason, with the loss to Furman in the NCAA Tournament drifting further into the rear view.

With a long but important spring and summer ahead before practice resumes in the fall, we’re taking a look at some key storylines for the Hoos as they look to reload for the 2023-24 season.

In the era of unrestricted transfers and NIL, this will always be the chief storyline for any major-conference program. And for UVa, the offseason attrition or lack thereof will determine what the outlook for next season will be.

With exit interviews complete, here’s what we know as of this writing:

Kihei Clark, Jayden Gardner and Ben Vander Plas are out of eligibility and their time in Charlottesville is done.

Francisco Caffaro and Chase Coleman won’t be back, either. Caffaro is opting to enter the portal and either find a new home for his final year, or he could opt to go pro and play overseas.

For the rest of the roster, we wait.

There are several players that feel like locks to be back and a few more that have decisions to make (hence why they continue to have their names in bold: They remain a part of the program until they say they’re not)

Armaan Franklin has played four years between Indiana and Virginia, and could opt to move on. But he has the extra year of eligibility, and we’ll see if he decides he wants to use it.

Reece Beekman has been on the NBA Draft radar throughout the season but he’s likely a second-round pick at this point if he’s selected. Does he decide to test the waters and see what the NBA says? Or is he simply back for 2023-24?

Then, there are the other potential transfers.

Taine Murray was used sparingly this season, as he was the year prior. As of now though, he’s part of the plans for next season. Kadin Shedrick saw his playing time drop off significantly to the point of total evaporation toward the latter part of the season, but he did play more when Vander Plas got hurt. It felt like he was portal bound a month ago or so, but he likely goes into 2023-24 as a starter at Virginia if he returns.

And there has been plenty of smoke out there about Isaac Traudt potentially entering the portal, looking to play closer to home. His departure would be a disappointing development for UVa, with such high hopes for the freshman big man in the years to come. For now, Traudt isn’t in the portal, but all UVa fans can do is wait and see what happens.

Lastly, there's at least some chance for staff moves, too, as Jason Williford continues to reportedly be in the mix to be the next head coach at George Mason and may be in the running for other jobs depending on what comes open.

Obviously, the “who stays, who goes” piece will have a major impact here. But UVa will certainly add through the portal heading into next season, regardless. And so far, it seems like the interests are all over the place. The Wahoos have reportedly expressed interest in big men like Merrimack’s Jordan Minor, Albany’s Jonathan Beagle and others. They’ve also kicked the tires on a few wing players and ball handlers, and portal season is just getting started.

At this point, it seems like Virginia is doing its due diligence on anyone it think can help. It’s interesting, for example, that the staff has looked at some ball-handling guards with Georgetown transfer Dante Harris set to start his UVa career next season. Redundancy isn’t a bad thing, of course. But it does feel like UVa’s biggest needs are in the frontcourt with Caffaro, Vander Plas and Gardner gone, with the potential for one or two more to follow.

For the first time since UVa’s loss to UMBC, Clark will not be on the floor for the Cavaliers when they open up the 2023-24 season in November. His storied career is over, and with him and Caffaro departing, there are no more roster connections back to that 2019 national title team.

Now, team leadership will be passed on to a new generation. If Beekman returns for his fourth season, it will be his team. But even if that happens, it does feel like UVa is turning over the team to its younger players who should take on larger roles on next year’s iteration of the Hoos. Isaac McKneely and Ryan Dunn showed flashes in their freshman seasons and next year they could take a leap forward and become critical components on the team. Those two, coupled with the rest of their freshman class and a pair of promising incoming first-years, will determine the course of the program over the next several years.

In a best-case scenario, UVa has a 2018-like season, when Kyle Guy, Ty Jerome and De’Andre Hunter became the core of the team, despite playing alongside veterans Devon Hall and Isaiah Wilkins. Winning 30+ games may be too lofty an expectation for next year’s group but it’s certainly time to turn over the roster a bit and transition into a new phase of UVa basketball.

UVa got off to a great start to the 2022-23 season, and those early-season wins helped the Hoos earn a 4-seed in the NCAA Tournament. They were tested right out of the gate, playing Baylor and Illinois on a neutral floor and then playing at Michigan in the first month of the season. UVa also played host to Houston in December.

This past season showed the benefits of playing a challenging non-conference slate, especially if a team is able to win a good number of those games. It can also be challenging, however, with the ACC playing 20 conference games which eats up a few non-conference slots that teams used to have.

The 2023-24 non-conference slate is still a work in progress, but we do know a few things.

First, UVa will take on Florida in a neutral site game in Charlotte in what should be its second game of the season on Friday, November 10th. The Gators are a consistent winner and this will likely be a Quad-1 opportunity for UVa; Florida went 16-17 in Todd Golden’s first season, and went to the NIT.

UVa will also take part in a couple of pre-scheduled events. On the week of Thanksgiving, UVa will be in the Fort Myers Tip-Off in Florida, playing a pair of games. The potential opponents are West Virginia, Wisconsin and SMU; so while this isn’t as star studded a lineup as UVa saw in Vegas last year, there will likely be some opportunities for quality games and wins in this tournament.

This will also be the first season with the ACC/SEC Challenge, with the SEC replacing the B1G as it moves away from ESPN. The SEC was a quality conference that put eight teams in the NCAA Tournament this year. Virginia is one of the ACC’s top draws at this point, so the Cavaliers will likely get a pretty good game in this event, too. They were on the road in the ACC/B1G Challenge this year so perhaps they’ll get their SEC opponent at JPJ, but surely the rotation will need a shakeup with a new conference jumping in.

More non-conference matchups will trickle in over the next few weeks and months as schedules take shape. We’ll see if UVa tries to schedule another challenging home-and-home, like the one they had with Houston over the past two seasons.

As for ACC play, UVa is set to play Louisville, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, NC State and Wake Forest home-and-home next season. The Cavaliers will host Miami, UNC, Pitt and Syracuse at JPJ, and will play road games at Duke, BC, Clemson and Florida State. At a first glance, this doesn’t look too bad, playing Duke and UNC just once each, hosting Final-Four bound Miami as well as another NCAA Tournament team in Pitt. Getting Louisville, Georgia Tech and Notre Dame twice doesn’t sound too bad at this point, either.