Cavalier Corner is the publication just for UVa sports fans!
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12 CAVALIER CORNER BY JEFF WHITE F or University of Virginia fans, Nov. 6 was a date they'd circled on their calendars. It marked the start of a new men's basketball season at John Paul Jones Arena, and a near-capacity crowd saw UVA trounce Tarleton State 80-50 there on opening night. This is head coach Tony Bennett's 15th season with the Cavaliers, and his latest team appears capable of adding to the pro- gram's legacy of success. Yes, the Cavaliers lost five of the top seven scorers from a team that in 2022-23 earned a share of the ACC regular-season title and a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. But Ben- nett replenished the roster in the offseason, adding seven scholarship players: first-years Blake Buchanan, Elijah Gertrude, Anthony Robinson and Christian Bliss, and transfers Andrew Rohde (St. Thomas), Jake Groves (Oklahoma) and Jordan Minor (Merrimack). Two other players — swingman Leon Bond III and point guard Dante Harris — don't technically qualify as newcomers, but each made his UVA debut Nov. 6. Bond redshirted last season after enrolling at UVA in June 2022. Harris transferred to Virginia from Georgetown after the fall semester in 2022-23 and practiced with the team for the rest of the season. All of which made this group's challenge "a little different than years past when we've had so much experience and continuity," Bennett said during the ACC's media day in late October. "You just keep plugging and know what you are now is not going to be what you are at the end of the year, and I think there's a lot of room for growth." In addition to Bond and Harris, back from last season are fourth-years Reece Beekman and Tristan How, third-year Taine Murray, and second-years Isaac McKneely and Ryan Dunn. Beekman and McKneely form one of the ACC's most dynamic backcourts. McKneely is an elite perimeter shooter, and Beekman led the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.36) last season, and he was second in steals (57) and third in assists (168). That Beekman, the ACC Defensive Player of the Year in 2022-23, would return for his fourth-year season was far from a sure thing last spring. Not until May 31 — the final day to do so — did he withdraw from the pool of players eligible for last year's NBA Draft. His UVA teammates and coaches rejoiced ROOM FOR ROOM FOR GROWTH GROWTH The Cavaliers Have Brought In A Talented Group Of Newcomers That Will Keep Them Competitive In 2023-24