No. 13 Clemson at UVA (noon); the lowdown on Virginia’s coaching search

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Coming off arguably their most impressive win of the season, knocking off favored Wake Forest on the road, Virginia returns home Saturday (noon, ESPN2) for Senior Day, hosting 13th-ranked Clemson.

The biggest question on the minds of Wahoo Nation is, if the Cavaliers (14-14, 7-10 ACC) can upset the Tigers (23-5, 15-2), what would that do for interim coach Ron Sanchez in terms of retaining the Virginia head coaching job?

UVA has been conducting a national search for its next head coach, with help from its own committee and a search firm out of Georgia. If Sanchez is behind Door No. 1, who else is being considered?

According to sources, Door No. 2 is Marquette’s Shaka Smart, Door No. 3 is VCU’s Ryan Odom. Is there a Door No. 4 with a mystery candidate?

It is a fact that Virginia is closely looking at Smart and Odom, and that Sanchez has always been considered a candidate to keep the job.

Smart, according to 2023 tax filings, was making somewhere more than $2.95 million annually, ranking him among the highest-paid coaches in the Big East. Smart’s contract, coming off a Big East regular-season title in ‘23 and a school-record 29 wins, was recently extended through the 2029-30 season.

His Golden Eagles are ranked No. 21 in the nation presently with a 21-7 record and third in the Big East with a 12-5 mark, behind Creighton and conference-leading St. John’s. Marquette plays in Al McGuire Arena, which seats less than 5,000 fans.

Odom, 50, has ties to UVA, where he was once a ball boy at University Hall when his father, Dave Odom, was a longtime assistant under Terry Holland.

According to USA Today, Ryan Odom’s salary at VCU is $1.7 million annually and his contract is through March 30, 2029. The Rams are presently on top of the Atlantic 10 with a 14-2 record in league play and 24-5 overall (15-0 at home).

Most believe that some school is going to grab Odom in the near future, so why not Virginia?

Sanchez has rallied his young team to win 4 of its last 6 games (the two losses coming against No. 2 Duke and at improving North Carolina). The Cavaliers, once sitting near the bottom of the ACC, have battled their way into a present tie for 9th in the 18-team league.

Wahoo Nation is divided on supporting another year for Sanchez, who took over the program under terrible circumstances, only two weeks before the season began. Some believe he should get another year, while others would like to see the program go in another direction.

Regardless of who gets the job, the question has been brought up about whether Virginia basketball should join a national trend and hire a general manager. North Carolina  recently hired its first GM for basketball, selecting Jim Tanner, a longtime sports agent who has represented more than 70 NBA players, including several former Tar Heels.

Virginia legend Ralph Sampson said this week that he would love to fill that position for the Cavaliers, noting that with the rules changes concerning the transfer portal, NIL, never-ending recruiting demands on coaches, that he believes he could been a strong asset for the UVA basketball program, while connecting Virginia’s past to the future.

Certainly an upset win over Clemson (Tigers are a 6.5-point favorite according to oddsmakers) today would help Sanchez’ cause. It would give Virginia back-to-back Quad 1 wins and help springboard the Cavaliers to the finish line. UVA hosts Florida State in the home finale next Tuesday before finishing the regular season at Syracuse a week from today.

Beating the Tigers is certainly easier said than done. Clemson, ranked behind only Duke in the ACC standings, is the only team in the league to beat the Blue Devils this season.

The Tigers are coming off an impressive win against Notre Dame, boasting balanced scoring.

“That’s why we’re good,” said Clemson coach Brad Brownell. “We do have a lot of guys who can score.”

In the 83-68 win over the Irish this week, forward Ian Schieffelin led the way with 24 points (9 of 11 shooting), followed by forward Viktor Lakin’s 18 (8 of 17), guard Jake Heidbreder’s 14 (4 of 7, all 3-pointers) and guard Jaeden Zackery’s 11 (5 of 10).

Virginia will be led by junior guard Isaac McKneely, coming off a career-high 27 points in the upset over Wake in Winston-Salem. McKneely is averaging 14.3 points per game, which leads the team. He also leads UVA in 3-pointers with 88 and 3-point percentage (42.3).

The Cavaliers have gotten a major boost from guard Dai Dai Ames of late. The Kansas State transfer has averaged 15.4 points over his last seven games.

Andrew Rohde has been a major surprise this season and showed his competitive spirit in the Wake game, mixing it up in a brush-up with Wake’s Cam Hildreth, twisting Hildreth in knots on a move toward the basket that left the Deacon on the floor, and then trash-talking to Hildreth after a missed 3-pointer.

In UVA’s win over the Deacs, those three Wahoos guards combined for 54 points, 11 assists, 9 rebounds, 6 steals, shot 61 percent from the field and 47 percent from the arc.

According to analytical guru Danny Neckel, since Feb. 2, the Cavaliers are ranked No. 43 in the nation (out of more than 300 Division 1 programs) by Bartorvik with the No. 14 offense in the nation over that span. Neckel also noted UVA has made a bigger jump in the KenPom rankings than any major conference team during that same period.

Virginia has won its last four games against Clemson and 15 of its last 16 meetings with the Tigers.