What's Going on With Christian Bliss? Ron Sanchez Finally Gives an Answer

Matt Newton | Jan 6, 2025

Virginia Athletic

It was June of 2023 when Christian Bliss first set foot on Grounds to join the Virginia men's basketball program. More than 19 months later, he has yet to play a single second on the court for UVA and now it seems to be a likely possibility that his debut as a Cavalier will never come.

After redshirting the 2023-2024 season, a common practice for UVA first years in the Tony Bennett era, Bliss came into this season with expectations of being a key player for the Cavaliers, especially given the lack of ballhandlers on the roster following the transfer of Jalen Warley. Instead, Bliss began this season on the sideline yet again with a foot injury, which was seemingly different than the foot injury that caused him to be in a boot for most of his redshirt year, though details on both injuries were and continue to be sparse.

In his press conference after the season opener in early November, Virginia interim head coach Ron Sanchez said, "Bliss is just nursing a foot... hopefully we'll get him back soon enough." A month later, Bliss posted on social media a couple of pictures of himself in the UVA uniform with the caption "God's timing is great", seemingly indicating that a return to the court was imminent.

As it turns out, the apparent implication of that social media post and Sanchez's words of "soon enough" were not quite the case.

Sanchez was asked again about Bliss' status after Virginia's loss to Louisville on Saturday and Sanchez said he had no update. But then Sanchez finally broke his silence on the subject during the first ACC coaches Zoom press conference on Monday. Here's what he said:

"Right now, he [Christian Bliss] has the opportunity to step on the floor and practice. He's just not feeling good enough to get on the floor and that's a player decision. We as coaches are not going to force him to get out there. If he says that "my foot is bothering me and I don't feel like I can perform at the level that I want to", we'll continue to nurse him. Our doctors have done a fantastic job with him. Right now, it's a decision that he has to feel good enough and comfortable enough and confident with his foot in order for him to get on the floor."

Sanchez was then asked if UVA's medical staff had cleared Bliss to play and here's what he said:

"I will have to talk to our trainers about that. I think that right now, we've done everything we could. This is more of a player feeling. If he doesn't feel healthy then he's not."

In other words, yes, Christian Bliss has been cleared to play and it is his personal decision not to be playing with the team right now. Now, we can only speculate about whether Bliss is experiencing some significant pain or discomfort with his foot right now and that's why he isn't playing. But it could also be the case that Bliss, who was recruited by Tony Bennett, is angling to utilize a medical redshirt for this season so that he can enter the transfer portal at the end of the season with four years of eligibility remaining. Again, that's only speculation, but if it's really the case that Bliss has been cleared to play, but is simply deciding not to, then that would be the most likely and logical explanation for this sequence of events.

You can watch Ron Sanchez's full comments from the ACC men's basketball coaches weekly Zoom press conference in the video below:

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