Virginia basketball: Jacarmy, Vander Gals and the art of student fandoms

Ben Vander Plas and the Vander Gals. Jacari White and the Jacarmy. A few times over the past couple of seasons, Virginia men’s basketball has had a student-led fandom emerge as a fun, contagious trend.

But how did these trends emerge? What do they mean to the Cavaliers basketball community? And who could be the next player to receive a themed fandom? Answers vary, but community is the central theme.

The science

Thomas Baxter — formerly a Senior Writer with The Cavalier Daily — shared his experience covering the Jacarmy.

“Watching it throughout the year was a really cool thing,” Baxter told UVA On SI. “I think it’s impossible not to sort of have the same type of analysis a lot of people have on it, which is that in a current year of college sports where a lot of players are seen as mercenaries or short-term rentals, connecting with teams and with players seems really difficult.”

“It helps when the team is very good and winning games, but it’s also tough to develop a sort of closeness to players in a format of athletics that already doesn’t have any form of permanence in that players are only there for however long their eligibility is — and a transfer — so they don’t have as much eligibility to begin with.”

“I think [fan clubs are] a really cool way of taking a new player who might not be on the team for a long time and making cheering for them part of the community and bringing in the community… It started with with a bunch of second-year students putting on the T-shirt, putting on the headband, deciding to sort of to put any form of nervousness to the side and just cheer really loudly and jump up and down whenever Jacari hit a shot or got a steal or made a nice play.”

“As the season progressed, you saw young children, you saw older fans, and all sorts of generations [involved]. Also the team [was] super stoked about it, wearing the T-shirt in my cases. On the Jumbotron, there will be a father and a son both wearing a shirt and that’s really really awesome.”

“It’s a cool way of seeing sports fandom happen in front of you. And it’s it’s a very positive thing I think in the sport when when when people are sure trying to find a way to put the community behind a team and thus behind individual players to sort of make that connection and say screw it, this is who I’m a fan of and this is what I will do. I watch you’re super loud so I’ll make this player a fan favourite by virtue of just saying that they are. It was a really awesome experience. It really helped a bunch of new players become a team.”

Requirements (of sorts)

There are no perfect indicators to accurately predict which player could have the next fandom. However, there are a few traits that Vander Plas and White share. The next player would likely have to have some commonalities, some prerequisites.

A major mutual trait is a unique energy, paired with a fiery passion. These are players who will enthusiastically celebrate a three-point shot, leap for a groin-to-face dunk, and make plays that can fire up the home crowd. Both Vander Plas and White acknowledged their fan clubs at JPJ, online and at external events. Virginia’s social media did the same.

Another important fact is that the Vander Gals and the Jacarmy were both started by students, led by students, and grown by students. The screaming, hyper-enthusiastic UVA students are what make JPJ a difficult place for opponents to play. Had a fan club been started by a young fan or an older alum, the popularity growth could have been much slower.

Who could be next?

Vander Plas and White were not the top star players on their respective teams. For most (if not all) of the season, they were not even starters. They were also both new to Virginia and were one-year graduate transfers. 

With all of these factors in mind, a possible fan club recipient could be Kalu Anya. 

A graduate transfer forward from St. Louis, Anya has been mentioned as a secret weapon for the Cavaliers. Anya redshirted last year with the Billikens, but during the 2024-25 season, he produced some noteworthy statistics. 

Anya led St. Louis with 7.5 rebounds per game (third in Atlantic 10). He also hit 60.5 percent of his shot attempts, the fifth-best percentage in a season across program history. Additionally, Anya led the Billikens in steals plus blocks (72), and finished third in assists (85).

Of course, the big fan club might go to another player. It might not happen at all. But if the Cavaliers are seeded highly like they were in 2022-23 and 2025-26, perhaps the students at JPJ come up with a new rendition of the trend.