Virginia Basketball 2023-2024 Roster Preview: Jordan Minor

The NEC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year will look to add an NCAA Tournament appearance to his accomplished resume.

Basketball season is upon us. As we march closer to another exciting Virginia men's basketball season, CavaliersNow is previewing UVA's roster player by player in preparation for the 2023-2024 season, which begins on Monday, November 6th against Tarleton State at John Paul Jones Arena.

Today, we analyze graduate forward Jordan Minor. 

Click on the following links to read our player previews for the rest of the UVA men's basketball roster: Isaac McKneely | Taine Murray | Anthony Robinson | Leon Bond III | Dante Harris | Elijah Gertrude | Blake Buchanan | Jake Groves | Andrew Rohde | Ryan Dunn | Reece Beekman

When Jordan Minor first arrived at Merrimack four years ago, the Warriors had just begun to transition to the Division I level. As such, Minor spent his entire career at Merrimack unable to participate in the NCAA Tournament due to the NCAA's highly restrictive reclassifying process. Minor helped the Warriors win the Northeast Conference regular season title as a freshman in 2019-2020 despite his team being picked dead last in the preseason poll. Three years later, Minor led Merrimack to another regular season title and the program's first ever NEC Tournament Championship, scoring 19 points in the title game against Fairleigh Dickinson last March. That was the final year of the reclassifying process, so Merrimack still didn't get to go to the NCAA Tournament despite winning both the conference's regular season and tournament titles. Instead, the NEC bid went to Fairleigh Dickinson, who went on to become the second 16 seed to beat a 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, taking down Purdue in the first round. 

After accomplishing a great deal in his four years at Merrimack - three All-NEC Team selections and the NEC Co-Player of the Year and NEC Defensive Player of the Year last season - Minor had one year of eligibility remaining and transferred to Virginia, where he'll look to experience the NCAA Tournament for the first time. But Minor won't be just along for the ride - he has an absolutely critical role to play for the Cavaliers, who were left with a nearly empty cupboard in the front court (especially at center) following the departures of Kadin Shedrick, Francisco Caffaro, Isaac Traudt, and Ben Vander Plas last season. 

At 6'8", Minor isn't as tall as the prototypical major conference center. But at 242 pounds, he certainly has the size to match up physically with any opposing center. He'll likely be Virginia's starting center this season, but Tony Bennett has hinted heavily at using multiple lineup variations depending on game matchups, so we'll just have to wait and see how consistently Minor rolls out with the starting five. 

Taking a look at some of his tape from last season (see the video below), Minor brings a lot to the table for the Cavaliers. His big and strong body allows him to be an ideal screener for both pick and roll action and the off-ball screens he'll set a lot in Virginia's "Sides" offense. Minor is comfortable catching the ball out of the pick and roll and knows what to do with it when he gets the ball with some momentum moving towards the basket. He knows how to use his physicality to get deep positioning in the paint and he has good hands to secure entry passes on the low block. 

Minor's post-up game is pretty well-refined. He can spin either way on the low block and score over either shoulder with hook shots or fadeaway jumpers. He's not afraid of any contact and has pretty good touch to finish off the glass. Minor's mobility also stands out - he runs the floor well and can stay under control when he is passed the ball in fast-break situations, a rare trait for big men. The highlight video shows Minor spotting up at the elbow as well. He won't take any jumpers from out there, but he is comfortable putting the ball on the deck for short dribble drives.

Tony Bennett has specifically mentioned Minor's rebounding skills. He averaged a near double-double last season and he can be relied on for more than a couple offensive rebounds every game. Some of it is his physicality and his fundamentals with boxing out, but Minor clearly has that Dennis Rodman "I want it more" attitude towards rebounding that allows him to play a lot bigger than 6'8". Minor scored a lot of points at Merrimack on second-chance putbacks - that'll be a big asset for Virginia this season. 

On the defensive end, there's clearly a strong foundation as Minor comes in having just won the NEC's Defensive Player of the Year award last season. With that said, Merrimack played almost exclusively a 2-3 zone defense for the entirety of Minor's career there. Being the anchor of a 2-3 zone, which requires much less movement from a center and is more just sitting in the paint and protecting the rim, is a lot different than playing the center in the Pack Line Defense, which requires a lot more motion. 

Minor will be charged with going out to hedge ball screens beyond the arc and then recovering back to the paint. The tenets of the Pack Line also include a great deal of help defense and sliding quickly across the floor to double-team in the post. Minor moves very well, so there's little doubt that he can step up to the task, but adjusting his defensive instincts to adapt to the principles of the Pack Line Defense might take some time. But if he can get up to speed, Virginia's defense has the potential to be the best it's been in a long time - any lineups featuring Minor, Ryan Dunn, Reece Beekman, and Dante Harris will be nightmares for opposing offenses. 

Minor averaged 17.4 points (on 51.5% shooting), 9.4 rebounds, 2.6 blocks, and 1.4 steals per game last season. But he did all of that against mid-major competition - how will his game translate to the ACC? We posed the same question in our preview for Andrew Rohde from St. Thomas. But one big difference for Minor is his experience. At some point, basketball experience is basketball experience and Minor has a lot of it, having played in 107 games, including 76 starts. 

"Good basketball knows no limits or division," Tony Bennett said for probably the thousandth time at his press conference this week. Bennett also addressed that idea of Minor handling the step-up in competition and he thinks Minor's physicality will translate particularly well. 

"Though he won't be able to probably go over the top and bully people in a lot of the teams in our league, he was a relentless offensive rebounder, he played really hard, and he was physical," Bennett said of Minor. "And he's just mature, when you look at him - the way he acts, the way he conducts himself - but physically. And we thought, losing the guys we lost, we thought we needed to add some physicality."

For a team that lost a lot of physicality and experience in the front court from last year, Jordan Minor will bring a lot of both to the floor for Virginia this season. 

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