The
WAR ROOM is back and this edition is full of football and hoops recruiting scoop! On the gridiron, the Wahoos will be back in Scott Stadium again this weekend and coming off a big visit opportunity last Saturday will have several committed prospects in town checking things out. We'll get into that as well as touch on a few of the recruitments to keep an eye on as things move forward. On the hardwood, the Cavaliers have now wrapped up their 2016 class and we'll give you some background on that as well as look ahead to the 2017 and 2018 classes. What are the priorities, at least as of now? And what are the likely odds with some of UVa's top targets?
As always, what's said in the War Room, stays in the War Room. Let's go!
Big visit weekend was a success
Last Saturday, Virginia almost got a big win over No. 9 Notre Dame but even though the Cavaliers weren't successful in the upset bid, the game itself has to be looked at as a recruiting win for the Hoos. Though
Laderrien Wilson, a three-star RB from Kissimmee (FL) Osceola who was taking his official visit, hasn't committed yet, it was still a great opportunity to show him and the other prospects in attendance just what the Hoos are capable of.
We said last Friday in this space that, aside from kicker
Holland Corbett, the other two 2016 prospects to watch were offensive tackles
Eddy Fish and
Patrick Lawler. We're not sure at this point if Virginia will be a realistic option for either guy but we get the feeling that if the Cavaliers decide to push, things could get interesting. Given the space, though, they might not end up being a priority.
With Corbett in the fold, the class now sits at 23. We've been told by sources that it could end up being a 25-28 member class. We tend to think the number will be on the lower end of that, meaning that there are realistically two or three more spots left.
In the 2017 class, Virginia really helped itself in our view, especially with guys like four-star Rivals250 DEs
TyJuan Garbutt and
Yetur Matos. The Cavaliers were already sort of out front for some of the other 2017s, like Highland Springs offensive tackle
Mekhi Becton and running back
AJ Dillon but Garbutt and Matos are guys that a LOT of schools want and UVa's performance (along with the atmosphere) was solid. It might not have led to anything huge like a commitment but it certainly did help the Cavaliers in terms of being a legitimate option for them. Considering how well
Mike London had already positioned the Hoos, especially with Garbutt, that's a big deal.
Let's call the spade a spade: Right now, all of the work with 2017 kids is heavy lifting. They and those around them are aware of the realities of the situation, especially those being heavily recruited by other schools. So, how Virginia finishes the season will obviously dictate just how realistic the Cavaliers are with these guys and what their chances actually look like. For now, things are holding steady if not advancing and that's obviously the best the news could be.
Visitors expected this weekend
Last week's visitor list for the Notre Dame game was one of the best the Hoos have had in a long, long time. Not surprisingly, the list of visitors expected this Saturday isn't up to that level.
Word is the Cavaliers are expecting to host several committed guys who couldn't make it last weekend, including
Sonny Abramson,
Cole Blackman,
Matt Terrell, and
Andrew Trainer. The Cavaliers had been expecting Centreville defensive end
Christian Brooks but it sounds like he won't be able to make it this weekend. While UVa will likely have several other recruits at the game, it doesn't sound like any at this point are offer-level types but mostly guys who came to their camps this summer.
Hunter finishes off 2016 in style
As we transition to the hardwood,
Tony Bennett and his staff put the finishing touches on their 2016 recruiting class last Saturday night when four-star Rivals150 wing target
DeAndre Hunter committed to the Cavaliers.
Obviously, this was a big moment not only for Hunter but also too for the Hoos, as he was a big piece of the puzzle. We're not entirely sure how far we've gone in the past but we'll say it now that it's a done deal: Hunter was the guy we first suspected and then were told that Bennett wanted all along. That's not a dig at any other wing target, but if you'll recall that back in the summer the big board in the post was locked down but wing recruiting was a bit up in the air, with targets moving onto the radar and off it quickly. Once he saw Hunter, this is the kid Bennett was looking to find: A long, athletic wing who could shoot whose personality fit Virginia's program perfectly. They always wanted a kid who defend as well as bring it offensively and that's what they got in Hunter.
Obviously, until he was in the fold UVa kept recruiting but there was little doubt in our view that he was the guy Bennett wanted the most just because of the type of skillset he was looking to add in 2016.
And (you guys are going to love hearing this after the fact) Hunter was always much closer to committing to UVa than he ever let anyone know. As a matter of fact, in talking to him about his commitment it sounds like he had all but made up his mind after his unofficial visit that Virginia was where he thought he would end up. Something held him back in those few weeks and we got the sense, though Hunter didn't say it directly, that he wasn't quite sure what to make of UVa recruiting other wings. Here, though, Bennett's personal touch, particularly the conversation with him and his mother a couple of weeks ago (when the official visit wasn't yet locked down), went a long way toward laying the ground work for his eventual commitment. Comfort ended up being a huge piece of the puzzle for Hunter and that's where Virginia really excelled.
Moving forward
So now that 2016 is wrapped up, it's time to look ahead to 2017. And before you can talk names, you have to talk needs. The reality is that with Hunter being the guy UVa pulled for that spot, the "needs" in 2017 are wide open. Simply put: The Cavaliers can go anywhere they want because 2016 really covers all of the bases from a need standpoint.
You might think that'll make recruiting easier. After all, if you're not looking for something specific, shouldn't whatever you're looking for be easier to find? That's all well and good in theory but the reality, at least in recruiting, is that more options often means less clarity. We think Virginia will narrow down the field at some point simply because of having so much lead time on the class but as of now, just about every option you can think of is on the table (maybe with the exception of a true big since UVa seems well stocked at the moment).
Obviously, the top target on the board in 2017 is the No. 3 player in the nation, five-star forward
Michael Porter. Virginia remains in the absolute thick of things here, though we still aren't in a position yet to recommend genuine expectations or anything close. For now, the push the Hoos have made is strong and Porter is absolutely interested. That's going to have to suffice for a while.
The player we think is most likely for Virginia in 2017 hasn't changed and that's because we still the Cavaliers as the favorite to land four-star Oak Hill point guard
Matt Coleman. As we've said elsewhere, Carolina is a threat but the Hoos have done a lot of relationship building with Coleman. Considering the connections to the program that he has around him, we see them as a solid favorite right now. Also of note: That the two players we mentioned so far play very different positions sort of speaks to the difficulty of having just one scholarship to use in a given class.
While we get the sense UVa has cooled on other PG targets, one guy to keep an eye on is four-star
Tremont Waters. He's a standout 5-foot-9 guard from South Kent (CT) where former Wahoo Assane Sene is now an assistant coach. UConn is probably the team to beat (especially since the Huskies have offered) but the Hoos are taking a long look, including a visit from Bennett yesterday following a speaking engagement.
If the Cavaliers don't go with a point guard in 2017 then it would make sense for them to try and lock one up in 2018, which is why Bennett's planned visit early next week to see recently-offered PG
Darius Garland is worth noting. The four-star prospect from Tennessee is building a pretty impressive list and it's good for UVa to stay in hot pursuit. Also in that class, Virginia was set to see three-star forward
Shae Mitchell this week as well. The 2018 class is wide open, well except for future five-star (yeah, we said it)
Keldon Johnson. That's a prospect UVa is going after no matter what.
The most likely scenario as of now probably has Coleman being UVa's lone 2017 recruit and the Cavaliers looking for shooters and scorers (including the post) in 2018. But given the complexities of college basketball, there certainly could be more spots to fill and if that happens, the early work the Wahoos have done in 2016 will pay dividends this upcoming spring in terms of being able to skip over the identification step and more right into making a push for this guy or that. Either way, we don't think what happens in 2017 will change too much for UVa in terms of 2018 simply because of the number of spots the Wahoos will have to work with. And nothing is going to stop the Cavaliers from recruiting Johnson.
Simply put, UVa's got a very good feel for what's out there in 2017 and that's in large part because of their early work in 2016. This is a cycle that we expect will continue as the Cavaliers move forward in recruiting, which is why having guys in 2018 identified so early is already giving them a leg up on their competition.
That is it for this week, and as always, what's said here, stays here!
