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A Basketball Recruiting Snapshot: What We've Seen So Far and What We Hope to See

July is a time that non-MLB fans may deem "The Sports Hole." For the average college sports fan in particular, there isn’t much excitement this time of year outside of the over-hyped CFB media days. Mid July, however, is a college basketball junkie’s haven, for this is when the three most active and eventful recruiting periods of the year take place for high level high school basketball talent. Now that one of the three July evaluation periods is over, we’ll look at a snapshot of what the Hoos have done so far and where they may be heading next on the recruiting trail.


Recent History and Getting Back to the Bennett Way


The Hoos 2018 recruiting class is now signed, sealed and delivered. After watching in agony as the long, drawn out recruitments of five stars such as Keldon Johnson (Kentucky) and Jahvon Quinerly (Arizona to Villanova) slowly turned sour, Tony Bennett and the UVA staff can now focus on the development of their 2018 class of Francisco Caffaro, Kihei Clark, and Kody Stattman. While Caffaro has already proven doubters (myself included) wrong at the recent FIBA Americas event (he earned first team all tournament), Kihei and Stattman are still question marks heading forward, though Bennett rarely has a true miss on a signee, sorry Reuter.

Hopefully, Bennett has learned from chasing fool’s gold in the 2017 and 2018 classes, and will not devote himself to five stars swimming in the pools of blue bloods. Put simply, these aren’t the type of kids that typically want to come to Virginia, and they have never panned out before. I hope that instead, Tony will revert back to his class of 2016 recipe for success: find underrated gems and go for them hard. It’s no easy task to beat the recruiting agencies and college scouts at their job, but year in and year out, that’s exactly what Bennett and staff have done. A few examples of this are UVA studs Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome, both of whom committed before November of their junior seasons. Most recently is class of 2019 consensus top 100 player Casey Morsell, who committed this April and has steadily been on the rise since he first came on our radar. We can only hope that Tony reverts back to this method and continues to pursue underrated talent that fits the Virginia mold.


Recapping the First Live Period


Unfortunately for coaches, the Nike EYBL season has subsided, leaving a host of UVA prospects scattered across the country at events spreading far and wide. Prime locations that we should see our staff range from New York to Los Angeles, Dallas, Orlando and several other smaller events between, per Hooz Got Next on Twitter and FaceBook. You can bet Tony and his assistants won’t stay put for long, as they will aim to evaluate as many targets as possible in the second of the three live periods this summer.

This past weekend was all about evaluating 2020 talent and checking up on Morsell, who just finished his championship season with Team Takeover at Nike’s famed Peach Jam. This Monday, while many Hoo fans impatiently refreshed their twitter feeds in hopes of news breaking offers, they were left unsatisfied until late in the evening, when the Wahoos extended a trio of offers in the 2020 class: 6’11" GA forward Walker Kessler, 6’3" TN guard Keon Johnson, and 6’3" NY guard Symir Torrence. This was not quite the offer explosion that we were hoping for, but we all know by now that Tony Bennett is quite particular in his scouting. Those of us hoping for a new face to potentially fill the last remaining spot in 2019 were left empty handed, as no new offers were extended in the class. This weekend, however, will hopefully provide some clarity for both classes moving forward.


Hopes and Expectations for the Second Live Period


With another week of scouting 2020 talent under their belts, I suspect our staff will be ready to offer a band of unknowns, as well as some familiar faces following the two upcoming weekends. My hope is that we will extend a new 2019 offer or two to fill our final spot in the class. Tony and staff will surely be checking in on those we have already offered, but don’t be surprised if our final commit in 2019 is a name we’ve yet to hear. Recruiting standstills don’t always mean we aren’t going to land those we’ve already offered, but as previously mentioned, we don’t typically win drawn out recruiting battles. If we see a new name offered in 2019, expect a heavy pursuit followed by either a quick commitment or a rapid loss in interest from the staff. Our staff won’t waste time this late in the recruiting cycle, and if the recruit doesn’t show serious interest in visiting, communication will likely be cut short.


Unanswered Questions


Our staff has limited time and resources. As new relationships are formed, old ones must fizzle out to prioritize those more interested in becoming a Hoo. Which relationships will die out? We don’t know, but Tony almost certainly will not waste time if his recruits get shiny new offers they can’t refuse.

The question driving message boards and Hoos hoops Twitter mad: Why on Earth have we not offered Henry Coleman? Coleman, a talented 6’6" Richmond native in the class of 2020, has undeniable skill and is picking up offers rapidly. His mother is a UVA grad and he has expressed extreme interest that we haven’t seen from an unoffered recruit in a long time. Bennett has been evaluating Coleman for what seems like ages, and in the meantime, he has raked in offers from a horde of power 5 schools, including Kansas, Maryland, Georgetown, Vanderbilt and more. We can only hope that Tony pulls the trigger on this one before it’s too late.

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