PHILADELPHIA — Eight years ago, Ryan Odom became the first coach to guide a No. 16 seed to upset a No. 1 in the NCAA Tournament.
On the wrong side of history that night was a stunned Virginia. Now Odom’s story has come full circle as the former UMBC coach not only has gotten the Cavaliers back to the dance in Year 1, but brought them within a few points of an ACC tournament title to boot.
This time around, Odom’s team is the hunted, not the hunters, as the No. 3 seed Cavaliers open Midwest Region play against No. 14 Wright State on Friday afternoon.
Virginia (29-5) bounced back from its embarrassment against UMBC by winning the national title one year later. The program has not won an NCAA Tournament game since then, dropping first-round upsets to Ohio and Furman in 2021 and 2023 before being drubbed in the 2024 First Four by Colorado State.
That was all before Tony Bennett’s abrupt retirement prior to the 2024-25 season. In its first year under Odom, who broadened his resume by leading Utah State and VCU to the NCAA Tournament, Virginia engineered a 14-win improvement from its lone campaign under interim coach Ron Sanchez.
“It’s tremendous. You have to have that trust between coaches and players. My best teams, we’ve had that,” Odom told WDBJ this week.
The Cavaliers play a slightly faster pace than they did under Bennett, while still maintaining top-30 adjusted offensive and defensive ratings according to KenPom.com. Perhaps the biggest change from their old style is their increased willingness to shoot 3-pointers: 46.5% of their field-goal attempts are from beyond the arc as eight players have made at least 20 triples this season.
Malik Thomas had 18 points and Sam Lewis added 17 when Virginia fell 74-70 to Duke, the No. 1 team in the country, in the ACC championship game Saturday. Thomas and sixth man Jacari White share the team lead with 61 3-pointers, while Thijs De Ridder paces Virginia with 15.5 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.
Wright State (23-11) could be a tricky first-round opponent as previous Horizon League champions have been. Oakland took down third-seeded Kentucky two years ago, then 15th-seeded Robert Morris gave Alabama a challenge in the Tide’s 90-81 win last year.
“We know we’re playing a really good team,” Odom said. “You get to this time of year, you’re going to play a team that’s won a lot of games and believes in itself.”
Horizon head coaches didn’t initially believe in Wright State. They picked the Raiders seventh in the 11-team league’s preseason poll. However, they’ve won seven of their last eight games as they claimed the regular-season title and then beat Northern Kentucky and Detroit Mercy in the conference tournament.
“To all our fans,” Raiders coach Clint Sargent said at the team’s selection party, “we’re young, and we’re just crazy enough to go win a couple games in Philly.”
It’s not unthinkable. Wright State ranks 55th in the country in 3-point percentage (36.1) and 88th in offensive rebounding percentage (33.2), two qualities that help teams pull off tournament upsets.
Seven players have led Wright State in scoring at least once this season. The Raiders’ top scorer is freshman Michael Cooper (13.4 ppg), while TJ Burch (12.3 points, 3.5 assists, 2.5 steals), the Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year and tournament MVP, had 19 in the title game.
“It just keeps getting better and better,” Burch told the Dayton Daily News. “I’m excited. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We’re going to go up there and get a win.”
–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media
