Isaac McKneely is “excited” to play for Ron Sanchez

Tony Bennett's retirement has created an endless plethora of storylines to follow as the 2024-2025 Virginia men's basketball season continues. Is this really an audition for long-time assistant and current interim head coach Ron Sanchez to secure the full-time head coaching job at UVA? How successful does this season have to be for that to happen? Will the players, most of whom came to Virginia to play for Tony Bennett, accept Sanchez's coaching style? Aside from Jalen Warley, who entered the transfer portal earlier this week, the rest of the roster is expected to remain intact for this season, but who will be thinking about leaving the program next spring depending on how this season goes? How different will UVA basketball look with Sanchez at the helm?

On Monday we finally had the opportunity to speak with the players to get their reactions to Tony Bennett's resignation, their thoughts on the move to Ron Sanchez as head coach and their general outlook on the upcoming season. One of the team's leaders, Isaac McKneely, didn't shy away from expressing his disappointment that he will no longer be playing for Tony Bennett, but also said that he and the rest of the team were “excited” to play for him play Ron Sanchez.

We asked McKneely a few questions about Bennett, Sanchez and the upcoming season at media day on Monday. Here were his answers:

About Tony Bennett remaining connected to the program even in retirement:

“He said he would only be there as much as the coaches allow him, which I think should be head coach all the time because he won't be yelling at us anymore, but I'm happy to have him around, like that such a good resource, such a good person. I am very grateful for that.

On his initial reaction to Tony Bennett's resignation:

“Certainly mixed feelings. Shock, just emotional in general. Because, you know, I wanted to play for him, for Coach Bennett. We all wanted to play for him. But he will still be there, so we are happy about it. If he says he wants the best for us, then we trust his decision-making and will look at things positively and do everything you can do.

On Virginia basketball still being Virginia basketball under Ron Sanchez:

“Nothing has changed as far as what we do offensively and defensively. The culture hasn't changed. Coach Sanchez has been a head coach before, so he has had that experience. We trust him and I know we all really do. “I’m excited to play for him. In some ways he is similar to Coach Bennett, but in some ways he is different. I think this is special and we're definitely all excited to play for Coach Sanchez.

On his role in organizing player meetings following Tony Bennett's resignation:

“It was me and Taine (Murray) kind of had the idea to do it. You know, we are two of the 'leaders' on this team, two of the most experienced guys. So we thought it would be beneficial. “We just got together and did something to each other, something that you can say outside of basketball, just man to man. And I think it was really special to have these meetings that brought us even closer together during this difficult time.”

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