UVa lands their second commit of the still-young Ryan Odom era, flipping 3-star forward Silas Barksdale from VCU. Barksdale picked the Rams initially over offers from Butler, Miami and other power-conference programs. He's UVa's second commitment in the 2025 class, joining fellow in-state prospect Chance Mallory.

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Coastal Carolina with a brilliant move to offer free concessions. Falcons cut prices by 50% and drove higher revenue due to fans coming earlier and spending on merchandise and other items. Hope UVa is paying attention. I still think they should give away upper bowl tickets which would drive a lot of concession and merchandise revenue in addition to improving crowds and game day experience.

As expected, UVa announced the arrivals of assistant coaches Matt Henry, Bryce Crawford and Darius Theus from Ryan Odom's VCU staff. Henry and Crawford were with Odom at UMBC and Utah State, while Theus, a VCU alum, joined his staff there. They join former Longwood head coach Griff Aldrich on Odom's initial staff---there could be further additions as well to be announced later.


CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – University of Virginia Dean and Markel Families Men’s Head Basketball Coach Ryan Odom announced Wednesday (April 2) the additions of assistant coaches Matt Henry, Bryce Crawford and Darius Theus to his staff.

The trio of assistants helped VCU to a 52-21 record from 2023-25 and an appearance in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. VCU finished 28-7, won the Atlantic-10 Tournament and shared the A-10 regular-season championship in 2024-25. VCU’s Max Shulga earned A-10 Player of the Year honors and Jack Clark was the A-10 Tournament MVP. In 2023-24, the Rams advanced to the NIT quarterfinals and finished with a 24-14 record.

Henry and Crawford served as assistant coaches under Odom at Utah State from 2021-23, while Theus was an assistant coach at Siena in 2022-23.



Matt Henry

Henry’s efforts at Utah State helped steer the program to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2023, as well as an NIT berth in 2022. Utah State's 2022-23 squad won 26 games and reached the Mountain West title game before falling to eventual NCAA runner-up San Diego State.

“Matt is a high-character coach who brings invaluable experience to our staff,” Odom said. “He is a relentless worker with a strong basketball mind.”

Henry followed Odom to Utah State after spending three years on his staff at UMBC. Henry helped the Retrievers to their historic win over top-ranked Virginia in the 2018 NCAA Tournament and America East regular-season conference championship in 2020-21.

Prior to his three years at UMBC, Henry was an assistant coach at St. Peter’s for five seasons, helping the Peacocks capture the 2017 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) title, the program’s first-ever national postseason tournament championship.

The Alexandria, Virginia, native graduated from Trinity in 2001 with a degree in urban studies and political science.



Bryce Crawford

Crawford spent two seasons with Odom in Logan, where he worked closely with the Aggies' guards. In addition to Utah State's 2023 NCAA and 2022 NIT appearances, Crawford's efforts helped the Aggies' guard-friendly offense rise to No. 16 nationally in offensive efficiency in 2022-23.

“Bryce is an outstanding coach with infectious energy,” Odom said. “He possesses a versatile skill set of teaching, recruiting and mentoring for our players.”

Prior to his time at Utah State, Crawford spent five seasons at UMBC under Odom. With the Retrievers, Crawford helped the squad to the America East Conference regular-season title in 2020-21 along with three-straight 20-plus win seasons. Crawford helped UMBC record its historic NCAA Tournament victory as the first No. 16 seed to defeat a No. 1 seed with the win over Virginia.

Crawford was also a member of Odom’s staff at Lenoir-Rhyne, serving as an assistant and helping the Bears to the NCAA Division II Regional Finals for the first time in school history.

Crawford graduated from Ohio State in 2011 with a degree in communication analysis and spent four years as a student manager for the Buckeyes’ men’s basketball program.



Darius Theus

Theus served as an assistant coach during the 2022-23 season on Carmen Maciariello's staff at Siena, where he helped the Saints to a 17-15 mark.

“Darius is a gifted coach with Final Four experience as a player,” Odom said. “He is elite at developing players and helping them grow their skills and character.”

Prior to his stint at Siena, he worked as VCU's director of player development from 2018-22, where he helped the Rams secure a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances. He was also integral in the development of future NBA draft picks Bones Hyland (2021) and Vince Williams (2022).

Theus spent the 2017-18 season as director of player development at Texas, where he helped the Longhorns to an NCAA Tournament berth. He also worked as VCU’s director of student-athlete development during the 2016-17 season, when the Rams won 26 games and reached the NCAA Tournament.

As a player, Theus appeared in three NCAA Tournaments with VCU, including the Rams' historic Final Four run in 2011. The Norfolk, Virginia, native finished his career ranked third in school history in steals (237) and sixth in assists (462), and fourth in single-season steals (85) as a senior in 2012-13.

Looks like commit imminent. Any guesses?

Interesting hire. The recruiting in the area remains difficult to navigate, it seems.

On Episode 605 of the CavsCorner Podcast ("How The Game Is Now"), we focus on UVa's portal targets, the way we'd like to see things come together, some NCAA Tournament thoughts, and more.


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A few notes from spring practice on the health front:

-OT Monroe Mills seems to have a significant knee injury and the unofficial prognosis is that he could certainly miss the entire 2025 season. Obviously a big blow, but UVa does have more depth on the OL than they have and could still try to make an addition via the portal.

-OL Tyshawn Wyatt is also dealing with a knee issue but the hope is that it isn’t as serious. Could be out for a while though.

-Spoke to DE Cazeem Moore last week. He had a hamstring issue but told me he’s working through it and should be back soon. He missed the first scrimmage just over a week ago.

Teel had 3 hits, including a home run, and 2 walks good for 4 rbi. Becker was 4 for 6. They combined for 7 of the Hoos' 9 hits. The team was aided by 11 walks and 2 hit batters. Nunnally walked 4 times and scored 3 runs. Virginia used 7 pitchers, and 6 of them pitched well.

Jon Rothstein first to officially report but it squares with what we've already heard----Odom is bringing assistants Matt Henry, Bryce Crawford an Darius Theus with him from VCU, as well as Director of Operations Kelsey Knoche. Crawford, Henry and Knoche followed Odom through his last few stops, and Theus joined up at VCU (he was previously there in a different role, and was on the 2011 Final Four team). We'll have full bios and more info on the full staff when UVa announces it; Odom did leave room to keep 1 or 2 guys from the exising UVa staff if he goes that route.

Just saw some one had posted this from a couple of years ago. Taine could hit 3 pt shots, but at UVA he seemed scared to shoot freely like when he played on the New Zealand team. We watched when he and Igor missed a shot it was to the end of the bench. Yet other players at UVA could brick the house up with 0-9, 1-9, 2-11 shooting and were allowed to stay on the floor.

Yep when you are benched when you miss, you simply lose confidence and don't want to screw up. UVA, Bennett missed the opportunity of good shooter that could manufacture his own shot, but decided to stand him in the corner as a Blocker.

Wish the guy well going forward. Unlike the greedy kids here, he stayed and finished out his commitment and degree at UVA. Shows character and integrity.

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A tenth inning two out triple by Teel scored Nunnally from first to give Virginia a 9-8 win. In all three games at least eight players got a hit to give the Hoos come from behind wins in all three games. This was the type of play that Virginia fans are used to seeing.

Finally some good news.

On Episode 604 of the CavsCorner Podcast ("The Floor Is Now Yours"), we talk about the conclusion of UVa's coaching search, Ryan Odom's introduction, and how we feel as this new era dawns.


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What a dumpster fire right now. Yikes

UVA has reached out to stretch big Cooper Schwieger from Valpo. He has a lot of suitors, and he's got a great skillset. He would be a great get!

I’m on the wood at JPJ for Ryan Odom’s presser. I won’t type everything that is said and we’ll post video later but if anything interesting is said, I’ll drop it here.

Godbout is a lousy 3rd baseman that just had a grounder hit to him and he couldn't handle and went down like he was hit by a 30/30 on the ground then Becker had the ball right at him over at SS and he dances around, does this stupid Ballerina move and didn't get the runner out. Unbelievable that Godbout mishandled or misjudged and got knocked down like a five year old being hit by a ball.

We now have walked home players and are down 2-0 and Pitcher is struggling.

In fairness this UMP is a Wanker with his strike zone. This thing is so small it's like the pitcher is trying to throw the ball in a 5 gallon bucket circumference at this point. It seemed like numerous pitches were inside the box and mid range but he's calling it ball. It will be interesting to see how big of a zone he gives Duke pitchers.

This is hard to watch after years of UVA baseball and now we can't seem to even win against a Mediocre Duke team.

Matt Norlander has reported first, but we've been hearing for a few days that Longwood head coach Griff Aldrich, who led the Lancers to two NCAA Tournaments, is coming to join his friend Ryan Odom as an associate head coach. There had been some rumblings that he'd be in an off-court role (as GM, potentially), but Aldrich is officially part of the coaching staff. Aldrich and Odom were teammates together at Hampden Sydney College, and Aldrich was on Odom's staff at UMBC. Here's his Longwood bio: