Virginia Basketball is returning most of its numbers for 2018

The Virginia Cavaliers’ 2016-2017 campaign ended earlier than senior leader London Perrantes deserved, but the Hoos are still set up nicely for the future. Other than Perrantes, the rest of this year’s team that went 11-7 in the ACC is expected to return. In fact, nine players who averaged at least ten minutes a game are returning, which is the most in the Tony Bennett era, in part because of just how spread out the minutes were this year. The Hoos also return 80% of the total points scored, 89% of rebounds, and 73% of assists.

Below is a chart comparing this attrition rate to other years.

The last time Virginia returned so many players was in 2014, when they increased their win total by seven games. This past season closely resembles the 2013 season, which followed a star player being drafted to the NBA (Mike Scott instead of Malcolm Brogdon) and consequently a dip in win total. That 2013 season featured three freshmen that played over 400 minutes and scored over 100 points (Justin Anderson, Evan Nolte, Mike Tobey), just like this season with Kyle Guy, Ty Jerome, and Mamadi Diakite.

With another off-season of coaching and experience for these young players, UVA fans should expect a bounce back year in 2018 from their hoops team.