The University of Virginia men’s basketball program currently has one available scholarship in its 2020 Class, which consists of 4-star point guard Reece Beekman and 3-star shooting guard Carson McCorkle. By the end of Wednesday, July 10, the scholarship may be spoken for, as one of Tony Bennett’s top remaining rising senior targets is prepared to make his college decision.
Consensus 4-star wing Jabri Abdur-Rahim revealed his intentions via Twitter.
announcing my college decision tmrw, stay tuned🙏🏽
— Jabri (@jabri404) July 9, 2019
Coach Bennett extended a scholarship offer to the Blair Academy (Blairstown, N.J.) star this past May and the 6’7”, 205-pound prospect reciprocated the interest with an official visit on Grounds the weekend of June 28-30. Abdur-Rahim told Adam Zagoria in this article that the Virginia coaches “made it clear I was a priority” on the official visit. He said something similar at the 2019 NBPA Top 100 Camp at John Paul Jones Arena in mid-June.
“They’ve been on me really, really hard, especially these last couple months,” Abdur-Rahim said of the UVA coaches in this this Sabre EDGE report. “I really like how they played in the championship game. They’ve definitely been one of the more consistent schools to reach out to me on a more consistent basis. They’ve just been telling me I can come in and be an elite defender, and that’s what he sees me, kind of filling in a De’Andre Hunter type role, so I really like what he’s saying.”
Asked at the time if he speaks often with Virginia’s head coach, Abdur-Rahim said: “I talk with Coach Bennett pretty often. There’s a live event at my school [June 22 and 23]. He said he’s going to come down and see me. We talk a lot about my game and about a bunch of other stuff, too. We talk pretty often.”
Coach Bennett stayed true to his word and watched Abdur-Rahim during the live event at Blair Academy. He then convinced the top student-athlete – New Jersey’s 2018-19 Gatorade Player of the Year in boys basketball – to take an official visit, which is the only official Abdur-Rahim has taken in his recruitment. Jabri had scheduled an official visit to Michigan for late May, but he cancelled the trip when John Beilein left the Wolverines for the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers. New Michigan coach Juwan Howard has since re-offered the talented wing.
In addition to Virginia and Michigan, Arizona, California, Kansas, Louisville, Michigan, UCLA and Villanova are among the other schools that have offered Jabri. Abdur-Rahim’s father, Shareef, who is the President of the NBA G League, starred at California before moving on to a successful NBA career. However, Cal does not appear to be a serious contender.
The younger Abdur-Rahim helped Blair Academy to a 22-4 record and the Prep A state championship in 2018-19. He averaged 15.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals in the 26-game campaign (highlights are at the bottom of this article, courtesy of Jersey Sports Zone). In 13 games on the 2019 Nike EYBL circuit, Abdur-Rahim averaged 25.2 points while making 39.8% of his field goals (261 attempts), 75.8% of his free throws (120 attempts) and 30.8% of his 3s (91 attempts). He also chipped in 8 rebounds and 1.8 assists per contest.
Abdur-Rahim led the Top 100 Camp in scoring with 17.3 points per game in six games. He made 14 3s (second-best at the camp) and was 50% from beyond the arc.
Of the six predictions currently on 247Sports’ Crystal Ball feature, five are in favor of the Hoos. All five have come this month, while the other – a pick for Michigan – came mid-June. Meanwhile, all five Future Cast predictions on Rivals on Rivals are in favor of UVA.
