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Last week, the Virginia Cavaliers picked up their second big-time basketball recruit when forward Kadin Shedrick committed to the Hoos. Earlier this week, ESPN updated their recruiting rankings listing Shedrick as the #70 recruit in the country. UVA’s other big recruit Casey Morsell also got a big jump in the rankings, moving up to #47. When these two suit up in the 2019-2020 season they will be the 13th and 14th ESPN top #100 players to play for Tony Bennett since the 2014 season. Here is the list (which includes transfers):
#27 - Kyle Guy
#33 - Braxton Key
#37 - Mamadi Diakite
#43 - Ty Jerome
#47 - Casey Morsell
#49 - Justin Anderson
#52 - Evan Nolte
#70 - Kadin Shedrick
#72 - De’Andre Hunter
#73 - Jay Huff
#73 - Malcolm Brogdon
#81 - Mike Tobey
#88 - Anthony Gill
#96 - London Perrantes
(Before you ask, Joe Harris, Isaiah Wilkins, Devon Hall, etc. were not ESPN #100 recruits, but obviously went on to have great UVA careers anyway.)
One thing to notice about the list above is that a lot of those players are currently on the team or are projected be on the team in the 2019-2020 season. Barring any transfers, injuries, redshirts, or early entries to the NBA, UVA’s roster in 2019-2020 could be stacked. It would feature five players who were ranked in the top #50 and three more in the top #75. That’s a lot. The 2014 team that put UVA basketball back on the map only had one top #50 recruit. The 2016 team that made the Elite Eight had zero. The 2020 team could have five. Here is a chart comparing the rosters through the years.
UVA Rosters by ESPN Recruiting Rank
| Ranking | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranking | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
| ESPN Top #100 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 8 |
| ESPN Top #75 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 8 |
| ESPN Top #50 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
Take a minute and soak in that table.
I’ll wait.
OK, now, to ground you back to reality, we need to go ahead and address the notion that there’s a possibly—a very real, maybe even likely possibility—that folks like De’Andre Hunter or maybe even Ty Jerome leave early for the NBA Draft. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that there’s potential for a pretty loaded roster.
If this doesn’t get you excited for the next two basketball seasons, I don’t know what will.