The Virginia basketball program had a tough day Tuesday when it comes to player retention.
First, the Cavaliers lost guard Jalen Warley to the transfer portal. Then, later in the day four-star, top-50 ranked recruit Chance Mallory de-committed from the program. Both of the players’ decisions come after Tony Bennett recently announced he would be retiring just weeks before the 2024-25 season.
Major ACC News: Virginia’s Tony Bennett is Retiring
Mallory is a 5-foot-9 guard ranked as the No. 52 overall player in the class of 2025 according to 247 Sports’ Composite rankings. He is a Charlottesville, Virginia native who committed to the Cavaliers just weeks before Bennett announced his retirement. Virginia does not have any other players committed in the senior class of 2025. Mallory was also considering Tennessee, Miami, Virginia Tech, and Clemson in his recruitment when he initially chose the Cavaliers.
“I have known Coach Bennett for a long time and the relationship that we have built along the years was a big factor in my decision,” Mallory told JerryRatcliffe.com in an interview. “Being able to play for him is a dream come true.”
See Ratcliffe’s article here.
In June 2024, Bennett signed a contract extension that secured his position through April 2030. However, he then retired just 20 days before the season opener. Read more on that previous extension here.
Bennett had been the head coach at Virginia since the 2009-10 season. He led the Cavaliers to ten NCAA Tournaments in his tenure, and won the 2019 NCAA Championship. Bennett led his 2019 team to the national title one year after becoming the first NCAA tournament No. 1 seed to fall to a No. 16-seed (UMBC). This past season, Bennett’s Cavaliers finished 23-11 and made the First Four of the NCAA Tournament. They lost in that first game to Colorado State by a lopsided score of 67-42.
The Cavaliers were recently picked as the No. 5 team in the ACC Preseason Poll.
Who cares? This isn’t a Pitt story. We didn’t recruit him…
Virginia made scoring look impossible last couple years. I wouldn’t want any transfer from there. He recruited an entire team that couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. No wonder why he quit. Bennetts program was falling apart he was just trying to save face.
he has zero interest in Pitt. We never recruited him.
Trezor Suite
Tony Bennett was a good singer. I understand his disappointment.
Trezor Suite