Virginia PG Warley leaves team, will enter portal

By Jerry Ratcliffe

On Monday afternoon, Virginia interim basketball coach Ron Sanchez said that the Cavaliers’ point-guard position would be “by committee.” Tuesday morning, that committee shrank.

Sanchez announced via a press release that 6-foot-7 point guard Jalen Warley will transfer out of the program without having played a game. Warley, who has one year of eligibility remaining, transferred to Virginia from Florida State during the offseason.

Other than confirming Warley’s exit, Sanchez had no further comment. Virginia opens the season on Nov. 6 vs. visiting Campbell.

With Warley now out of the picture, it appears that Iowa State transfer Dai Dai Ames, a sophomore, will be UVA’s starter at the point and backed up by redshirt freshman Christian Bliss.

When the point-guard question came up at Virginia’s media day on Monday, here’s what Sanchez had to say:

“I think it’s going to be by committee. All those guys are going to have to contribute. I do think that they all bring a different style to the position. Warley is more of a long defender, taller. Dai Dai has more dynamic, kind of boogie to his game, so we have to allow him to be him.

“We want those guys to play to their strengths. We don’t want to recreate their basketball personae. They have to be comfortable playing the positions within their own talents.”

Because Warley was clearly in Sanchez’ plans as of Monday afternoon, it is assumed that Warley’s decision was made in less than 24 hours after the point-guard-by-committee statement was uttered. Did that not sit well with the former Seminole, who we’re told plans to declare an immediate redshirt?

While Warley would have provided three years of starting/playing experience from Florida State, and at 6-7, 205, would have been an asset from the size standpoint — there’s not a ton of accomplished 6-7 point guards out there — there still remained a question as to how effective he might have been at running the point on this Virginia team.

At FSU, Warley wasn’t a true threat with his perimeter shooting, where he attempted a mere two 3-pointers all of last season and made only 23.8 percent of his jump shots. He also averaged 2.8 assists per game and was graded as a below-average defender. Most of his effectiveness for the Seminoles came closer to the basket, where he made 47 percent of his shots either at the rim or on runners.

The departure clearly leaves Ames in control of the position. At 6-1, and as Sanchez said, with some boogie to his game, the former Cyclone is a playmaker who can get the ball to his teammates.

Ames has been described as a quick and aggressive point guard who thinks scoring first and can score in bunches, is a dynamic distributor and a tough on-ball defender.

When Tony Bennett suddenly announced his retirement from coaching less than two weeks ago, that automatically triggered the opening of the transfer portal for a 30-day window, only for UVA players.