Odom lands 2 more transfers; UVA recruiting update

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Virginia landed two more transfers from the portal on Wednesday, gaining commitments from former BYU guard Dallin Hall and former VCU wing Martin Carrere.

Hall announced his commitment Wednesday night. Because it is a recruiting dead period none of the recent UVA commits were able to visit Charlottesville (the period ends tomorrow).

With one year of eligibility remaining, Hall is a 6-foot-4 guard with three years of playing experience for a successful BYU team. He appeared in 100 games for the Cougars and started 61.

A native of Plain City, Utah, where he was a 3-star recruit in 2020, Hall went on a two-year mission before entering BYU and made 21 starts as a true freshman in 2022-23, averaging 7.3 points in 34 games, while shooting 36.7 percent from the 3-point line.

Hall’s best season was in 2023-24 when he was an All-Big 12 honorable mention as a sophomore. He started 30 games and averaged 9.0 points per game and 5.1 assists. He hit a clutch 3-pointer to upset No. 7 Kansas on the road.

As a junior this past season, Hall’s production and playing time dipped with a coaching change from Mark Pope to Kevin Young. Hall started only 10 games and his numbers fell to 6.8 points and 4.2 assists, 2.2 rebounds per game, while making 35.3 percent of his 3-point attempts. His best game last season was a 22-point performance in a double-overtime win at Iowa State.

Carrere, a 6-foot-8, 180-pound, redshirt freshman, announced earlier Wednesday that he committed to UVA.

Carrere, originally from France, has four years of eligibility remaining and is Virginia’s fourth commitment from the portal and the sixth player on Odom’s new Cavaliers roster, which includes two incoming freshmen.

A wing player, Carrere is described as an elite shooter and a high-level passer.

As a member of France’s Under-18 national team in 2024, Carrere averaged 8.6 points per game and shot nearly 39 percent from the 3-point line. While playing for the professional club Limoges, he averaged 6.7 points per game and shot 41.9 percent (13-31) from the arc.

• Meanwhile, former Kansas freshman Rakease Passmore, a 4-star recruit out of Asheville, N.C., is scheduled to visit Virginia on Friday. He has only one other visit scheduled at this time, to Miami on April 15.

Passmore is a 6-5, 185-pound standout who can play the 2 or 3 position and is described as an explosive athlete, a major threat in transition, a harassing defender, and a downhill, straight-line driver who can go through contact and finish.

In his final season at Combine Academy in North Carolina, against solid competition, Passmore averaged 19.2 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. All that earned him a 4-star ranking, and he was rated the nation’s No. 49 overall recruit by 247Sports, No. 34 by ESPN, and No. 42 by Rivals.

He is considered the No. 112 overall prospect in the transfer portal by 247 and rated a 4-star.

At Kansas this past season (his freshman year), Passmore appeared in 23 games and averaged 5.1 minutes per contest.

• A prediction by another recruiting service has former San Francisco guard Malik Thomas coming to Virginia, but no word out of the Thomas camp. A first-team All-West Coast Conference player and a finalist for the Lou Henson National Player of the Year Award, Thomas averaged 19.9 points per game and 3.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, while shooting 39 percent from the arc.

• Elijah Saunders, who played for Virginia last season but entered the transfer portal, is said to be down to five schools, including UVA. Others: Texas Tech, Kansas State, Purdue and Grand Canyon.

• Two other players that had considered Virginia have committed elsewhere: Former Santa Clara senior Tyree Bryan committed to Texas Tech on Wednesday, after considering UVA, Michigan State, Miami, Clemson, West Virginia and Michigan. Also, VCU’s Brandon Jennings, a 6-4 freshman guard, has elected to stay with the Rams.

• Former Virginia star and assistant coach Isaiah Wilkins announced Wednesday that he will not be part of the new Cavaliers’ basketball staff. He is the second assistant this week (Kyle Guy was the first), to announce they will not be part of the staff.

Wilkins wrote “thank you to my professors, new friends and the Charlottesville community for embracing me — I’m lucky to have called this place home.” He also thanked former coaches Tony Bennett and Ron Sanchez for his opportunities to play and coach at UVA.