CHARLOTTESVILLE – Virginia has its first transfer portal pickup of the offseason, adding Florida State guard Jalen Warley on Saturday.
Warley, a 6-foot-7 former McDonald’s All-American, averaged 7.5 points, 2.8 assists and 2.6 rebounds per game last season for the Seminoles, and can play both point guard and shooting guard.
Warley, who grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs, visited UVa on Thursday as coach Tony Bennett continues his work to remake a roster that loses point guard Reece Beekman and forward Ryan Dunn to the NBA draft, forwards Jordan Minor and Jake Groves to exhausted eligibility and wing Leon Bond III and guard Dante Harris to the portal.
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Inside the redshirt years of Virginia’s Christian Bliss and Anthony Robinson
Warley was a starter for FSU the past two seasons and gives Bennett his first in-conference transfer. UVa has seen guard Casey Morsell (North Carolina State) and forward Justin McKoy (North Carolina) transfer to other ACC schools, but, until now, the players the Cavaliers had brought in had all been from outside the league.
With two incoming freshmen and the addition of Warley, Bennett and his staff still have three scholarships open for the 2024-25 season. They’re hoping another McDonald’s All-American prospect, point guard Trent Perry, accepts one of those.
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Perry, who decommitted from Southern California after coach Andy Enfield left for SMU, visited Virginia in April.
Virginia has two players – point guard Christian Bliss and forward Anthony Robinson – who redshirted last season. But the Cavaliers, who finished third in the ACC, then lost in the First Four to Colorado State, are still in the market for another guard and post player.
In addition to handling the ball, Warley could address another need for UVa – offensive punch. He scored in double figures nine times this past season, including putting up a career-high 23 points for FSU in a road loss at Louisville.
Warley also had six points, seven rebounds and two assists in a home loss to Virginia on Feb. 10.
The Seminoles’ leading scorer in that game and for the season, VCU transfer Jamir Watkins, is also in the portal.
It took a little longer than anticipated and turned out a little differently than many expected, but Virginia has wrapped up its transfer portal recruiting and filled out its scholarship roster for the 2024-2025 men’s basketball season. After a quiet first six weeks of the offseason, Tony Bennett went on a recruiting spree in the transfer portal and snagged four transfers (five if you count walk-on Carter Lang) in the span of 11 days. Combined with a pair of promising incoming freshmen UVA signed last fall, these seven additions have completely transformed Virginia’s outlook for next season.
It’s still very difficult to project how the Cavaliers will look next season with so many new faces and it’s an even greater challenge to predict if UVA will be better than last season (and by how much) entering the post-Reece Beekman era. But at the very least, the Hoos will certainly look different with six players heading out the door and seven new ones coming in. We’re going to try to quantify how Virginia’s roster changed with some relevant statistics and recruiting data in an attempt to clarify UVA’s outlook for next season.
To start, let’s recap Virginia’s personnel moves from this offseason:
Virginia Men’s Basketball 2024 Offseason Timeline March 19th: Virginia’s season ends, concluding the careers of Jordan Minor and Jake Groves, who both exhausted their collegiate eligibility. April 6th: Redshirt freshman wing Leon Bond III enters the transfer portal April 16th: Sophomore forward Ryan Dunn declares for 2024 NBA Draft April 17th: Senior guard Reece Beekman declares for 2024 NBA Draft April 19th: Redshirt junior guard Dante Harris enters the transfer portal May 4th: Florida State guard Jalen Warley transfers to Virginia May 6th: Duke forward TJ Power transfers to Virginia May 6th: San Diego State forward Elijah Saunders transfers to Virginia May 7th: Vanderbilt forward Carter Lang transfers to Virginia (walk-on) May 15th: Kansas State guard Dai Dai Ames transfers to Virginia
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Here’s a look at how Virginia’s roster changed from the 2023-2024 season to the 2024-2025 season in terms of departures, additions, and returners:
Departures Exhausted Eligibility: Jordan Minor, Jake Groves Transfer Portal: Leon Bond III (Northern Iowa), Dante Harris (undecided) Declared for Draft: Ryan Dunn, Reece Beekman
Additions Incoming Transfers: Jalen Warley (G, FSU), TJ Power (F, Duke), Elijah Saunders (F, SDSU), Dai Dai Ames (G, KSU), Carter Lang (F, Vandy) **walk-on Incoming Freshmen: F Jacob Cofie (Seattle, Washington), G Ishan Sharma (Milton, Ontario)
Returners Guards: Taine Murray, Isaac McKneely, Andrew Rohde, Elijah Gertrude, Christian Bliss Forwards: Blake Buchanan, Anthony Robinson
Next, here’s a breakdown of what Virginia lost and gained in terms of scoring and minutes played:
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Departures Scoring: Reece Beekman (14.3 ppg) + Ryan Dunn (8.1) + Jake Groves (7.4) + Jordan Minor (4.3) + Leon Bond (4.1) + Dante Harris (2.5) + Tristan How (0.7) = 41.4/62.9 = 65.8% of scoring Minutes: Beekman (1114 minutes) + Dunn (935) + Groves (690) + Minor (471) + Bond (296) + Harris (329) + How (17) = 3,852/6,875 = 56.0% of minutes
Additions Jalen Warley: 7.5 ppg, 33 games, 32 starts, 24.1 mpg at Florida State TJ Power: 2.1 ppg, 26 games, 0 starts, 7.0 mpg at Duke Elijah Saunders: 6.2 ppg, 37 games, 21 starts, 20.2 mpg at San Diego State Dai Dai Ames: 5.2 ppg, 31 games, 16 starts, 20.6 mpg at Kansas State Carter Lang: 1.8 ppg, 24 games, 7 starts, 11.6 mpg at Vanderbilt
Virginia lost 65.8% of its scoring and 56.0% of its minutes from last season. Isaac McKneely returns as the team’s leading scorer at 12.3 ppg and he and Andrew Rohde are the only regular starters returning next year. With their offseason moves, the Cavaliers have essentially traded experience for youth and potential talent. Taine Murray and Jalen Warley will be Virginia’s only seniors in their final years of eligibility and there are only five total upperclassmen on the roster. Of UVA’s seven new players, six have at least two years of eligibility remaining, including four who have three years of eligibility remaining.
Here’s Virginia’s current scholarship roster for the 2024-2025 season sorted by position and including details on each player’s eligibility remaining:
PG: Jalen Warley (1 year), Dai Dai Ames (3 years) Christian Bliss (4 years) SG: Isaac McKneely (2 years), Elijah Gertrude (3 years), Ishan Sharma (4 years) SF: Andrew Rohde (2 years), Taine Murray (1 year) PF: TJ Power (3 years), Elijah Saunders (2 years), Jacob Cofie (4 years) C: Blake Buchanan (3 years), Anthony Robinson (4 years)
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While the transfer additions don’t make up for what UVA lost in terms of scoring on paper, the Cavaliers’ hope is that they’ve picked up TJ Power, Elijah Saunders, and Dai Dai Ames right before experiencing leap points in their respective careers, while Carter Lang could develop into a contributor over the course of his career and is also a great story as he returns to his hometown of Charlottesville. Jalen Warley, meanwhile, provides much-needed backcourt experience as well as versatility on both ends of the floor as a 6’7″ guard and playmaker.
Power and Saunders address Virginia’s most significant position of need at power forward, while Warley and Ames give UVA two more options to compete with redshirt freshman Christian Bliss for minutes at point guard. Some questions remain about how these relatively unproven players will come together to address UVA’s roster needs, but there’s no question that these additions have significantly improved Virginia’s prospects for the future with so many players coming in with multiple years of eligibility remaining.
From a talent standpoint, it’s almost a waste of time to estimate the impact of transfers or high school recruits before seeing how they fit in Virginia’s system. And high school recruiting rankings should always be taken with a grain of salt, but they more often than not provide fairly accurate and helpful measurements of individual talent. With that said, here’s a look at each player’s high school prospect rankings, per the 247Sports Composite:
High School Recruiting Numbers (247Sports Composite)
Losses: Reece Beekman: four-star, No. 70 overall Ryan Dunn: four-star, No. 130 overall Leon Bond III: four-star, No. 68 overall Dante Harris: three-star, No. 389 overall Jake Groves: N/A Jordan Minor: N/A
From its 2023-2024 roster, Virginia lost three former four-star prospects and two former top 100 players. The Cavaliers gained four players who were either four or five-star high school prospects and four former top 100 recruits. Virginia will have eight players who were four or five-star high school prospects and eight former top 100 recruits on its roster in the 2024-2025 season. Going strictly off of recruiting rankings (again, grain of salt), this will be the most talented roster Tony Bennett has had in his time at Virginia.
Virginia Basketball Finalizes Scholarship Roster for 2024-2025 Season
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Ryan Dunn & Reece Beekman NBA Draft Combine Measurements & Results
Virginia Basketball Lands Commitment From Kansas State Transfer Dai Dai Ames Virginia Basketball Adds Vanderbilt Transfer Forward Carter Lang San Diego State Transfer Elijah Saunders Commits to Virginia Basketball Duke Forward TJ Power Transfers to Virginia Basketball Virginia Basketball Lands First Transfer Commitment From FSU Guard Jalen Warley
SACO – Virginia May Gagne, 95, of Saco passed away May 21, 2024 with her loving family by her side. She was born in Saco, the daughter of Clifford and Mina Morton Parker.
She attended Saco schools and graduated from Thornton Academy in 1947. Virginia had various jobs throughout her lifetime, Pepperell Mills, waitress at Tom’s in Kittery, cake decorator at Hannaford’s in Hampton, NH, supervisor at Booth Fisheries in Portsmouth. NH. Virginia was an avid knitter, crocheter, and quilter. She enjoyed making mittens, scarves, socks, and hats. She also crocheted infant gift sets for Barbara Bush Hospital.
Virginia was predeceased by her parents; her husband Leo Gagne; her brothers Clifford Parker, Donald Parker, Roger Parker, Kenneth Parker; and grandson Kelsey.
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Survivors include son Dennis Verrill of Center Barnstead, NH and daughter Christine Fergusson of Corinth, Vt.; her brother Richard Parker and his wife Mary; grandchildren Dyanne Cunningham of Dover, NH, Dawn Hernandez of Eliot, Kristi Watt of San Marcos, Calif., James Kiernan of North Carolina, Michael Kiernan of Hampton, NH, granddaughter Pilar, grandson Adam both of Vermont; and also many great grandchildren, great-great grandchildren; many nieces, nephews, extended family members and friends.
Visiting hours are to be held Saturday May 25, 2024 from 3 to 5 p.m. at Dennett, Craig & Pate Funeral Home 365 Main St, Saco.
A funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday May 26, 2024 at the funeral home.
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RICHMOND, Va. — A raft of hypothermia hospitalizations and other questionable conditions at a Virginia prison uncovered in a recent report deserve further scrutiny, leading Democratic state lawmakers said this week.
Lawmakers pledged to press Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration for answers and called for a newly created prisons watchdog to look into the findings of an Associated Press report, which found at least 13 hospitalizations for hypothermia over three years at the Marion Correctional Treatment Center.
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