Four-Star Wing Kahlil Whitney Claims Offer From Virginia Basketball

Via Twitter, class of 2019 small forward prospect Kahlil Whitney reports that he has received a scholarship offer from the University of Virginia.

Rated as a 4-star and among the top 75 prospects in his class by ESPN.com (No. 41 overall in 2019), 247Sports (No. 57 overall) and Rivals (No. 72 overall), Whitney began his high school career at Solorio High School in his hometown of Chicago (IL) before transferring to Roselle Catholic in New Jersey, where he has spent each of the past two years. After helping Roselle Catholic to a NJSIAA Non-Public B championship in March, Whitney has excelled on the 2018 Nike EYBL circuit, averaging 22 points (51.6% FG, 43.9% 3PFG) and 6.6 rebounds per game while playing for the Mac Irvin Fire (IL).

In addition to Virginia, Florida, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Kansas, Louisville, Oklahoma, Oregon, Providence, Rutgers, Seton Hall, St. John’s and Syracuse have also offered the standout wing. Whitney hosted St. John’s head coach Chris Mullin and Illinois head coach Brad Underwood on in-home visits last month according to this report on ZagsBlog.com. Also check out this article posted Wednesday (May 16) on FloHoops.com, in which Whitney discusses several schools in-depth with Adam Zagoria. Virginia is not one he discussed, though the Virginia offer is mentioned.

Whitney’s father, Kelly, played college basketball at Seton Hall.

Initial Thoughts

Whitney has what UVA is primarily looking for in class of 2019 recruiting – size, shooting and/or scoring from the wing position. Virginia’s last three class of 2019 offer recipients are all wings in the 6’6”, 6’7” range who have shown the ability to score, similar attributes to 2018 ACC Sixth Man of the Year De’Andre Hunter.

In other articles Whitney has indicated he likes a faster pace of play, which isn’t a plus for UVA, but I plan to speak with him more in-depth at the Hampton EYBL stop the final weekend in May to further discuss this topic and much more. A key for Coach Bennett with this and other wing prospects UVA is pursuing in 2019 is getting them on Grounds so Bennett can fully show how they could be utilized in a Hunter-type fashion.

3 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. This guy won’t become a Hoo, because there are too many hungry vultures circling.
    I’m guessing he goes where his father played, Seton Hall.
    Tony will find another talented SF for 2019.

  2. Find forwards with genuine scoring ability who are committed to defense and to deliberate offense is a tough one, almost a contradiction in terms. Or to look at it another way, why would a scorer want to join a team that has only 50+ points to spread around. It almost has to be an “accident.”

    1. First we don’t average 50 points. Second, are you saying Hunter and Harris were accidents? Last but not least, if a player wants to win and is willing to do what it takes to win, he will consider the Hoos. If he wants a faster paced game in order to have more scoring opportunities he will go elsewhere. If he wants to play fast and win, he will end up with a blue chip program where he may be watching a fast pace from the bench.

Comments are closed.