BREAKING: Isaac Traudt enters the transfer portal, is leaving Virginia

Mar 27, 2023 - 5:09 PM

In disappointing news, Virginia Cavaliers freshman Isaac Traudt has announced he is entering the transfer portal after spending a season redshirting in Charlottesville. The highest rated commit of UVA’s stacked 2022 class, Traudt’s debut as a Wahoo was highly anticipated this fall before he decided to redshirt his first year at Virginia. Notably, Traudt did make the call to redshirt his first year (according to Tony Bennett) after the season opener back in November.

Rumors circulating around Traudt for weeks now have indicated that his reasons for transferring boil down to being homesick and his posts on social media announcing the news include him saying that he is trying to “pursue an opportunity closer to my loved ones.” Considering he’s from Nebraska, his girlfriend goes to Creighton, and Creighton and Nebraska recruited him out of high school, Nebraska and Creighton appear to be the early favorites for his services.

There’s not much fluff to add to this one. For Virginia’s long term roster construction and potential in the coming seasons, Traudt leaving is significant. Even just next year, this leaves the Wahoo front-court with even fewer pieces than it already had and puts more pressure on young guys such as Ryan Dunn and Leon Bon.

As for Traudt, everything points to this being a personal decision beyond basketball. From a Virginia perspective, it stings to see such a high potential player spend a year on the bench before leaving for non-basketball related reasons. At times, the UVA staff probably hasn’t given its young players as many chances early in their careers as other programs, and that’s resulted in some deciding to look elsewhere. In this situation, Traudt made the decision to redshirt himself and, the season before he was due to play heavy minutes, he also decided to forego that opportunity.

While UVA already needed to add at least one front-court player in the transfer portal, that number is now at least two with Kadin Shedrick’s decision still looming. Tony Bennett and his staff will have to be incredibly active in the portal to build a roster for next season.