It’s not even October yet, and we’ve already been given a glimpse of the new-look UVA Basketball team.
Sorta, kinda.
Chance Mallory didn’t play, the starters sat much of the second half – but at least our hoop was in the sun for the final 20 minutes.
The game was outdoors, in a tennis stadium in Charleston, S.C.
Vanderbilt got the sun court in the first half.
It had to feel 10 degrees cooler on the shady side.
Final score: Vandy 82, ‘Hoos 73.
We’re six weeks from games counting, and I can already sense some in the fan base wanting to push a panic button.
It’s six months to March Madness, so, pace yourself.
Plenty of time for kvetching when it matters.
“Vanderbilt’s going to be an excellent squad. I think we’re going to be pretty good, too,” Virginia coach Ryan Odom said after the game, which he coached wearing sunglasses – the UVA bench was on the sunny side of the court.
“I’m just looking forward to having our guys learn from this, what we can get from it, and moving on to practice,” Odom said.
We’re long past the days of fall practice starting with Midnight Madness. College basketball is a business now; the players – they go to class, but they’re not student-athletes anymore – are attached to the program for all but four or five weeks out of the year.
Sunday’s game was the first of three on the exhibition schedule for Virginia, which was 30-6 in Odom’s first season, and looks to be able to make another run for a spot at the top of the ACC in the 2026-2027 season.
The box score for Sunday, frustratingly, didn’t give us minutes played, but we know that 14 (!) guys in orange and blue got on the floor at some point.
The guys that I got excited about, after having tuned in via ESPN+:
Next up: a home game with Richmond on Friday, Oct. 9.
Chris Graham is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, TikTok, BlueSky, or subscribe to his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected]. Support AFP by signing up for our newsletter and/or powering our work with a one-time or monthly contribution.
An AFP reader got an alert through the county emergency notification system on Friday night about an escapee from a work release at the animal shelter in Verona, and … nobody seems to want to update the public on whatever is going on there.
The one thing I didn’t want to see ahead of Saturday’s Virginia-Delaware game was Des Kitchings coming in with a game plan that had him running the ball 55 times.
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