Odom’s biggest challenge in year No. 1 at UVA, a program coming off a 15-17 season, is blending a mix of 12 new players. Sherburne has little doubt Odom can conquer it. Sherburne was a sophomore in 2016-17, Odom’s first season at UMBC, when the Retrievers won 14 more games than the year before. And in year No. 2, they were NCAA Tournament darlings.
“All I know about him is he can take a team that’s either good or bad and make them better,” said Sherburne, who noted Odom also guided both Utah State and VCU to the Big Dance. “And I have no reason to believe that won’t be the case at Virginia.”
Brandon Horvath, another player on that 2018 UMBC team, has tangible proof of being a converted Wahoo. During a summer visit to see Odom and other familiar faces on the UVA staff, Horvath walked away with a box of orange-and-blue apparel.
“Odom is a huge gear guy,” Horvath said. “He’s all about the gear. So, he gave me, I don’t know, 10 to 20 shirts. I got some for my wife, everybody. I got Virginia gear with me in my closet right now in Lithuania.”
Horvath, who’s playing professionally in Europe, isn’t just supporting a former coach. He’s supporting a friend. Horvath’s wedding in June served as a mini-UMBC reunion, with Odom in attendance and Bryce Crawford, an Odom aide since the UMBC days and now a UVA assistant coach, serving as the officiant.
“It’s much more than basketball with Odom,” Horvath said. “It’s almost like family. He’s been with me since I was 18 years old, and I’ve become so close with him and his staff. He’s helped mold me into the person I am today. I can’t thank him enough.”
Odom, by all accounts, is the same person today as he was seven years ago when he emerged on the national scene, thanks to that result in Charlotte. The hair’s grayer, but the head’s never grown.
“I think, very easily, that stuff can get to you, ego-wise,” Crawford said. “But he’s such a normal, regular person that he doesn’t think too much of himself. That’s why he’s so good.”
At least publicly, Odom has rarely mentioned the UVA win – or loss, depending on perspective – since being employed by the University. (He’s long admired the resolve of Bennett and the 2018-19 team.) Even in private settings, Owen said, it’s only referenced in good fun.
A recent team visit to the Odom family’s basement – including trainer Ethan Saliba and strength and conditioning coach Mike Curtis, a pair of holdovers from Bennett’s staff – involved an encounter with a framed magazine cover commemorating UMBC’s 2018 achievement.
“You guys have probably never seen this picture,” Owen recalled his father telling Saliba and Curtis. “And they were like, ‘Oh, get it away!’ and started laughing. It was pretty funny.”
Just another anecdote in the ongoing UVA-UMBC story.
“The next chapter,” Horvath said, “is going to be about Odom taking Virginia to the promised land. It’s going to be really cool.”
