Virginia Cavaliers basketball is nearly a month away!
So, squad, which Wahoo hooper are you most excited to watch this 2024-25 season and why?
Dan
There are a lot of exciting unknowns on this UVA roster, but I’m going to roll with the notable returner: Isaac McKneely. I’m eager to see how IMac operates in the adjusted offensive scheme, and on a team where he will be asked to take the most shots.
While McKneely has always been a sniper, he has steadily progressed in both hunting his shot and on the defensive end. This will be Isaac’s team and everything will sort itself out around him.
Corbin
I’ll go with TJ Power. The transfer forward from Duke was a five-star prospect coming out of high school, making him one of the most talented players of the Tony Bennett era on paper.
It’s also not very often that the ‘Hoos steal someone away from the Blue Devils, so it would be sweet if he went on to have a great stint in Charlottesville. While Power didn’t play much at Duke, his shooting prowess has already been noted in preseason practice.
If he becomes a knockdown shooter for UVA, it’ll do wonders for spacing out the offense and giving McKneely room to work for the first time in a while.
Garrett
I’m pumped to see how Blake Buchanan improves in his second year. We saw glimpses of what he could be a season ago, most notably in his 18-point game against Florida. But he faced plenty of growing pains as a freshman against a talented league of ACC big men.
I’d expect his 3.4 PPG and 3.1 RPG to increase quite a bit, but how consistent can he be offensively? Outside shooting looks to be a strength of this squad, but frontcourt production remains a significant question.
If Buchanan can establish himself as a real force on the block and make defenses respect him, it should free up guys like McKneely and Power to get better looks from the outside and drastically improve the offense from a year ago.
Zach
Garrett stole my answer for the men’s team, so I’ll go with arguably the best basketball player on Grounds: Kymora Johnson.
As a true freshman, she started in every game for the ‘Hoos while averaging 15.3 points per game, 5.4 assists, and 4.7 rebounds. In year two, with more shooters around her and a young roster that is a year older, she’s poised for an All-ACC caliber season.
Johnson is the face of the program alongside Coach Mox. If she makes the sort of sophomore jump that is expected of her, then this could be the year the UVA women’s basketball team gets back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2018 and only the second time since 2010.
