Virginia Cavalier men’s basketball fans have been eagerly waiting to see Jay Huff take the court. The excitement only grew when UVA released its updated roster for the 2017/2018 season.
A rising redshirt freshman forward with the ability to step out and shoot the 3, Huff is now listed as being 7’1” and weighing 230 pounds. The heralded prospect out of Durham (N.C.) measured in at 6’11”, 215 pounds when he arrived on Grounds last summer.
Huff, De’Andre Hunter, Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome were part of Virginia’s 2016 Class, a group that ranked as one of the best in school history. While Guy and Jerome played as true freshmen, Huff and Hunter redshirted. It appears the latter two put those redshirt years to good use.
Hunter added 10 pounds to his 6’7” frame and now checks in at 222 pounds. The Philadelphia (PA) native is listed as a guard on Virginia’s official site and boasts considerable perimeter skills. However, his size should allow the Cavaliers to use him as a 4 defensively when Coach Bennett goes small.
Keeping with the 2016 Class, Guy has added 10 pounds from a year ago and now weighs 175 pounds. The McDonald’s All-American certainly needed to add strength this offseason. Jerome, who stands 6’5”, checks in at 200 pounds, up eight from last season.
More notables from UVA’s updated roster
– Rising redshirt sophomore Mamadi Diakite figures to play a prominent role this season. The 6’9” post added 14 pounds this offseason to help him do just that. He is now 228 pounds.
– Graduate transfer point guard Nigel Johnson is 6’1”, 182 pounds. Departed point guard London Perrantes was 6’2”, 197 pounds last season.
– True freshman wing Marco Anthony is an inch shorter but weighs 17 pounds more than senior Devon Hall.
– Taft Coghill of the Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star reported in May that true freshman Francesco Badocchi was expected to redshirt this coming season because of knee surgery, among other reasons. Given Badocchi’s listed weight of 185 pounds, I expect nothing has changed with regards to his redshirt status. Don’t expect to see the 6’7” native Italian take the court until the 2018/2019 season.
– Guy and rising redshirt junior center Jack Salt may have one issue with the updated roster. They both shrunk. Guy was listed as being 6’3” last year (he’s 6’2” now) while Salt was listed at 6’11” last season (he’s 6’10” now). For Guy, maybe the decision to remove the man-bun took its toll : ).
– Great to see senior leader Isaiah Wilkins measure in at 227 pounds, up two pounds from his posted playing weight last season. Wilkins, who told TheSabre’s own Kris Wright back in July that he was healthy and “full go” in preparing for the upcoming season, dropped 15 to 20 pounds due to an illness toward the end of his junior campaign. He was inactive for Virginia’s second-round NCAA tournament loss to Florida.
Virginia Reportedly Heading to Atlantis in 2018
Jon Rothstein of the FanRag Sports Network reports that UVA will be part of the field in the 2018 Battle 4 Atlantis, an event held on Paradise Island, Bahamas, in November. In addition to Virginia, Rothstein reports that the field will include Butler, Dayton, Florida, Middle Tennessee, Oklahoma, Stanford and Wisconsin.
The 2017 Battle 4 Atlantis field includes Arizona, NC State, Northern Iowa, Purdue, SMU, Tennessee, Villanova and Western Kentucky.
Recruiting News
-Discussing his recent commitment to the Cavaliers The Cairns post, Australian class of 2018 wing prospect Kody Stattmann said the following about the University of Virginia: “I knew they were one of the best programs in college basketball,” he said. Check Supercheap Auto Catalogue and Spotlight Catalogue.
“The coach (Bennett) made me really excited to go to Virginia.”
Click here for the full article on UVA’s pledge.
-Of those class of 2018 targets we know UVA has offered and is a serious contender for, the following made the new Rivals Top 150: Point guard Andrew Nembhard (No. 26), guard Will Richardson (No. 47), guard Luther Muhammad (No. 71), guard Kaden Archie (No. 85) and guard Jared Butler (No. 123). Nembhard is rated a 5-star per Rivals while the other four are 4-stars.
Chris, do you happen to know the dates for the 2018 “Battle for Atlantis”? That sounds like it would be a great tournament to attend.
This is the year Tony releases the 7’1″ kraken.