CHARLOTTESVILLE — Monday was Matt Henry’s eighth season-opener and 230th game with Ryan Odom, the third time he has watched his boss debut as a college basketball program’s leader.

Utah State in 2021, VCU two years later and, now, Virginia.

One of these destinations is not like the others.

“You do not have to talk to him very long to realize just how different this job is and how special this place is to him and his life,” Henry said. “Outside of his coaching career. Forget about his coaching career. Just his life and his formative years, what being a part of this community meant. There are so many people he runs into in town that he knew in some way, shape or form.”

Those formative years were 1982-89, third grade to 10th, when Odom’s father worked on Terry Holland’s UVA staff during a

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