It has turned into a mix of good and bad news for the Virginia Cavaliers men’s basketball team. While UVA secured high school recruit Silas Barksdale in the late afternoon, the team is also losing rising senior power forward, who is entering the transfer portal after just one year in Charlottesville.
Saunders joined Virginia after spending two seasons at San Diego State. His first year with the Cavaliers was somewhat inconsistent, but he ended up as the team’s second-leading scorer (10.4 points per game) and rebounder (5.0 rebounds per game). He also contributed as a floor spacer, shooting 34.7% from beyond the arc in the power forward role.
Saunders is the ninth player to enter the transfer portal, joining Dai Dai Ames (Cal commit), Blake Buchanan (Iowa State), Isaac McKneely, Andrew Rohde, Jacob Cofie, Ishan Sharma, Anthony Robinson, and TJ Power.
As it stands, Elijah Gertrude is the only returning scholarship player, having missed last season due to injury. Preferred walk-on Carter Lang, who transferred from Vanderbilt, is also on the roster. With Gertrude, Lang, Barksdale, and Chance Mallory, UVA currently has just four players who are D-1 caliber, collectively having played a total of 420 minutes of college basketball.
Regarding Saunders, it’s understood that he wanted to stay at UVA, but this decision appears to stem from Ryan Odom and his staff opting for a fresh start in rebuilding the roster. While there’s still a possibility Saunders could return, the fact that he’s entering the portal over a week and a half after Odom was hired makes that less likely.
This strategy, however, is a risky one for Odom’s new staff, especially since the team currently lacks any proven players on the roster. The commitment of Nick Davidson to Clemson earlier today was a tough loss in the transfer recruitment battle. Nevertheless, Odom’s approach of building the program according to his vision reflects his confidence in his ability to do so. Moving forward, he will likely seek to bring in a few players from his previous team at VCU and then focus on the transfer portal once the dead period is over.
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