Twelve days after Tony Bennett’s abrupt retirement, the portal has come calling for Virginia basketball. Jalen Warley entered the transfer portal Tuesday just eight days ahead of Virginia’s season-opener against Campbell. Warley will redshirt the 2024-25 campaign to save a year of eligibility, according to a report by Joe Tipton. He will have one more year of eligibility remaining for the 2025-26 campaign.
The 6-foot-7 wing spent the last three seasons at Florida State before transferring to Virginia in early May. Warley was expected to compete for a starting job after racking up extensive experience in the ACC for the Seminoles. Warley averaged 7.5 points, 2.8 assists and 2.6 rebounds last season, but he is regarded as an excellent multi-positional defender.
That’s partially why Virginia prioritized him in the 2024 portal cycle. Warley formed a quarter of Virginia’s prized transfer portal haul that also included ex-Duke forward TJ Power, former Kansas State guard Dai Dai Ames and San Diego State product Elijah Saunders.
Everyone has 18 more days to make a stay-or-go decision.
None of this is possible without Bennett. His decision to retire unlocked a 30-day window for UVa players to enter the transfer portal. It’s up to interim coach Ron Sanchez to keep ’em in the fold.
Virginia was picked to finish fifth in CBS Sports’ ACC basketball preview, but that was before Bennett’s exit and before Warley’s decision to dip.
“It was definitely unfortunate, losing a coach like him,” sophomore center Blake Buchanan told reporters on Monday. “He’s one of the greatest coaches, I think, of all time, especially what he built here. But I think as a team we’ve done a great job. We’ve really come together. I thought last week we had a great week of practice. Our energy has been high. I think we kind of just say we’ve got to do it as a team. We’ve got to do it for each other. That’s all we’ve got. We’re still going to do it the Virginia way. Coach Sanchez is great. He’s been under Tony Bennett for a long time.”
Virginia basketball’s updated projected starting lineup
- G Dai Dai Ames
- G Isaac McKneely
- F TJ Power
- F Elijah Saunders
- C Blake Buchanan
Top reserves
