PHILADELPHIA — Eight years in the past, Ryan Odom turned the primary coach to information a No. 16 seed to upset a No. 1 within the NCAA Match.
On the improper aspect of historical past that evening was a shocked Virginia. Now Odom’s story has come full circle as the previous UMBC coach not solely has gotten the Cavaliers again to the dance in Yr 1, however introduced them inside a couple of factors of an ACC match title besides.
This time round, Odom’s crew is the hunted, not the hunters, because the No. 3 seed Cavaliers open Midwest Area play in opposition to No. 14 Wright State on Friday afternoon.
Virginia (29-5) bounced again from its embarrassment in opposition to UMBC by profitable the nationwide title one yr later. This system has not received an NCAA Match sport since then, dropping first-round upsets to Ohio and Furman in 2021 and 2023 earlier than being drubbed within the 2024 First 4 by Colorado State.
That was all earlier than Tony Bennett’s abrupt retirement previous to the 2024-25 season. In its first yr beneath Odom, who broadened his resume by main Utah State and VCU to the NCAA Match, Virginia engineered a 14-win enchancment from its lone marketing campaign beneath interim coach Ron Sanchez.
“It is great. You need to have that belief between coaches and gamers. My finest groups, we have had that,” Odom advised WDBJ this week.
The Cavaliers play a barely quicker tempo than they did beneath Bennett, whereas nonetheless sustaining top-30 adjusted offensive and defensive rankings in response to KenPom.com. Maybe the largest change from their outdated model is their elevated willingness to shoot 3-pointers: 46.5% of their field-goal makes an attempt are from past the arc as eight gamers have made not less than 20 triples this season.
Malik Thomas had 18 factors and Sam Lewis added 17 when Virginia fell 74-70 to Duke, the No. 1 crew within the nation, within the ACC championship sport Saturday. Thomas and sixth man Jacari White share the crew lead with 61 3-pointers, whereas Thijs De Ridder paces Virginia with 15.5 factors and 6.2 rebounds per sport.
Wright State (23-11) may very well be a difficult first-round opponent as earlier Horizon League champions have been. Oakland took down third-seeded Kentucky two years in the past, then Fifteenth-seeded Robert Morris gave Alabama a problem within the Tide’s 90-81 win final yr.
“We all know we’re enjoying a very good crew,” Odom mentioned. “You get to this time of yr, you are going to play a crew that is received quite a lot of video games and believes in itself.”
Horizon head coaches did not initially imagine in Wright State. They picked the Raiders seventh within the 11-team league’s preseason ballot. Nevertheless, they’ve received seven of their final eight video games as they claimed the regular-season title after which beat Northern Kentucky and Detroit Mercy within the convention match.
“To all our followers,” Raiders coach Clint Sargent mentioned on the crew’s choice social gathering, “we’re younger, and we’re simply loopy sufficient to go win a pair video games in Philly.”
It is not unthinkable. Wright State ranks fifty fifth within the nation in 3-point share (36.1) and 88th in offensive rebounding share (33.2), two qualities that assist groups pull off match upsets.
Seven gamers have led Wright State in scoring not less than as soon as this season. The Raiders’ high scorer is freshman Michael Cooper (13.4 ppg), whereas TJ Burch (12.3 factors, 3.5 assists, 2.5 steals), the Horizon League Defensive Participant of the Yr and match MVP, had 19 within the title sport.
“It simply retains getting higher and higher,” Burch advised the Dayton Day by day Information. “I am excited. This can be a once-in-a-lifetime alternative. We’ll go up there and get a win.”
–Adam Zielonka, Subject Stage Media
