Sanchez clarifies Bliss’ condition … sort of
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Virginia’s fans were wondering what was going on with redshirt freshman point guard Christian Bliss, and after Monday’s ACC Coaches teleconference, we have a clearer picture … sort of.
Bliss was a strong recruit out of New York via a prep school in Pennsylvania, a point guard who committed to the Cavaliers and Tony Bennett after the high schooler spent some time with former UVA guard Ty Jerome in the summer of 2023. He quickly decided to bypass his senior year of eligibility in high school, enrolled at Virginia, noting he could redshirt and still practice with the Cavaliers while learning the system.
Fast forward to 2024 when the point guard position was up for grabs, particularly after Florida State transfer Jalen Warley decided to leave UVA’s program after Bennett walked away from coaching. Warley ended up transferring to Gonzaga.
Kansas State transfer Dai Dai Ames became the favorite to land the starting job, ahead of junior Andrew Rohde, coming off a not-so-impressive sophomore campaign and over Bliss, who had no college experience. Rohde, whose game has improved dramatically over last year, has taken over the job since ACC play began nearly a week ago, with Ames’ court time diminishing.
Fans began to question, what’s the deal with Bliss? Media was told by Virginia coach Ron Sanchez that Bliss was day-to-day with a foot injury.
Day-to-day has been going on for weeks.
Finally, on Monday, Sanchez added a little more clarity to the situation, but still left a cloud of confusion on Bliss’ intentions.
“Right now, he has the opportunity to step on the floor and practice. He’s just not feeling good enough to get on the floor and that’s a player decision,” Sanchez said. “We as coaches are not going to force him to get out there. If he says that ‘my foot is bothering me and I don’t feel like I can perform at the level I want to,’ we’ll continue to nurse him. Our doctors have done a fantastic job with him. Right now, it’s a decision that he has to feel good enough and comfortable enough and confident with his foot in order for him to get on the floor.”
Only a player truly knows how his body feels, so is it a case that Bliss is concerned that if he isn’t right, he could have a setback in his recovery? Or does he have the intention to prolong his recovery so that he could gain a medical redshirt and still have four years of eligibility remaining to play here or elsewhere?
No one knows that but Bliss and his family.
Sanchez was quizzed on whether or not the Virginia doctors had given Bliss the greenlight and cleared to play.
“I will have to talk to our trainers about that,” Sanchez said. “I think that right now, we’ve done everything we could. This is more of a player feeling. If he doesn’t feel healthy, then he’s not.”