Virginia Basketball made a big splash over the weekend when it landed the commitment of four-star center Favour Ibe. The Cavaliers beat out some of the best programs in the country for Ibe, such as Tennessee, and they filled a big need in the process. Virginia has been linked to a number of big men in the transfer portal as they try to fill the void left by Ugonna Onyenso, who is now out of eligibility.
Did they do enough here?
That is the question the Cavaliers have to answer now that they have added Ibe. There is no doubt they got a good player with upside, but will he be ready to play from day one?
Virginia is going to return Johann Grunloh and he showed some flashes on both ends of the court to be a high upside starting center in the ACC. Ibe is 7’1 250 LBS and projects as a shot blocking rim protecter for this roster, which was (still is?) arguably the biggest hole on this roster for Ryan Odom.
UVA had one of the best defenses in the country in large part due to their center tandem of Grunloh and Onyenso, and if there is a major dropoff now that Onyenso is gone, will that end of the floor suffer for Virginia?
I think that Ibe might be a year away from being a real contributor for Virginia, but that is if they can find an experienced backup center to pair with Grunloh. If not, Ibe might be forced to play early and often and will try to make a similar impact to how Chance Mallory did for the roster last season.
Ibe showed a lot of development this season, and that is why there is so much intrigue with this commitment. Ibe averaged 14.2 ppg, 9.1 rpg, and 2.6 bpg while shooting 62.4% from the field and had been impressing, and programs such as Villanova, Tennessee, Alabama, and Maryland had been trying to get him to come and play for them.
When you look at the transfer portal and who is still left, there are not a lot of impact big men still in the portal and nearly all of the highly rated four and five star level transfer centers are off the board. Virginia had been prioritizing retention (and did a great job) and has only just now gotten their first two transfer portal additions in the past week.
While I think that a more experienced center would have been ideal, I think that Ibe is going to be forced into action next sesaon and it could pay off for Odom. He is very talented and seems to be getting better and better, as this past season showed. It can always a be a gamble to expect major contributions from true freshmen, but Ibe will have a chance to make an impact on a team that very much expects to be right back in the thick of things in the ACC and even take another step nationally as a team.
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