By Jerry Ratcliffe
Unbeaten Virginia is prepping for this weekend’s two-game set against Northwestern (Friday, 5 p.m.) and Butler (Sunday, 2 p.m.) at The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.
The resort has converted its Colonial Hall ballroom into a basketball floor for its annual event.
Which begs the question, has Ryan Odom ever coached in a ballroom?
“Yeah, I’m trying to remember, I’m pretty positive about playing in a ballroom before, I just don’t remember where,” said Ryan, who has coached at Lenoir-Rhyne, UMBC, Utah State, VCU and served as an assistant in other programs. “A lot of these tournaments have them in ballrooms, the Bahamas and some others as well. I’ve definitely played in smaller venues.”
Odom said the Cavaliers would practice in Charlottesville on Wednesday and Thursday, then travel to the resort on Thursday for a shootaround in the ballroom to give his players a feel for the atmosphere.
“Obviously you’re going to have lower ceilings and some things like that, but it will be a unique experience for every team that’s there,” the coach said. “We can’t get caught up in the lighting or this or that or the other. We just have to try to do our best to get the job done.”
Northwestern is 4-0 coming into Friday’s event, with wins over Mercyhurst, Boston U., and Cleveland State. The Wildcats’, coached by Chris Collins, most recent win was over cross-town rival DePaul, 81-79, last Friday.
Senior star Nick Martinelli made two free throws in the final three seconds to ice the win.
Butler, which plays South Carolina in Friday’s 2 p.m. opening game, is 3-1 coming into the event. The Bulldogs have beaten Southern Indiana, IU Indy and Chicago State, with the lone loss coming against SMU, 87-85.
Collins said this about Northwestern’s narrow escape against DePaul: “We had a lot of game pressure tonight. DePaul brought the fight to us. We were down, there were a lot of lead changes and it went back and forth the last 10 minutes. We needed that because we’re going to be in a lot of close games this year. You need to find ways to get stops when the game’s on the line.”
Martinelli led all scorers with 24 points and was 8 of 11 from the field.
More on the Wildcats later Thursday on this site.
Meanwhile, Odom gave updates on the Devin Tillis injury and on freshman Silas Barksdale.
“[Tillis] is doing really well,” Odom said. “I think it’s day to day now. He’s beginning to enter the mix in practice, not live yet, but he’s beginning to get out there with the guys and shooting drills and some movement things.”
Tillis, a 6-foot-7, 240-pound forward, will continue to work with strength and conditioning coach Mike Curtis and head trainer Ethan Saliba in his rehabbing from a minor knee surgery. Odom said there wasn’t a target date for Tillis’ return to action.
“It’s a long season, so we’re not going to rush this thing,” the coach said. “If we were going to rush it, we probably would have never had the surgery. We’re going to make sure that is 100 percent ready to roll when it’s time for him to get back out there on the court.”
Tillis, a transfer from UC-Irvine, is an All-Big West second teamer who averaged 13.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game last season for the Anteaters, while making 53.5 percent of his field goals and 39.5 percent of his 3-point attempts (49-124).
There have been rumors about Virginia possibly redshirting Barksdale, a 6-9, 223-pound forward from Newport News (averaged 22 points and 15 rebounds per game as a high school senior). Barksdale had committed to VCU, but followed Odom and his staff to UVA.
“Silas is a dynamite person and is going to be a big-time player,” Odom said. “We haven’t made the decision yet. Obviously that’s the reason we haven’t put him in a game because we wanted to maintain the option to redshirt him.”
The coach said because of the injury, the staff decided to wait before making a decision, and talked the scenario over with both Barksdale and his family.
“I think Silas understands how precious and how important each season is as it relates to his overall growth and what’s out there potentially for him here at Virginia,” Odom said. “He loves being here. He loves the place. He’s confident in his own abilities.”
Because Virginia has a lot of depth with a lot of older, more experienced players on its roster, it would be reasonable for the youngest player on the team to sit out this season (assuming Tillis fully recovers) to secure a better future.
“We’re excited about his future and we just want to protect his future and make sure that he has the best chance to be the player that we all know he can be,” Odom said.
