Elijah Gertrude Commits To Virginia Basketball

By: Kris Wright |

 

The Virginia basketball program landed a major recruiting commitment on Wednesday when Elijah Gertrude made his pledge to the Hoos. Gertrude is rated as a four-star recruit out of Hudson Catholic in New Jersey. He chose UVA with offers from Kansas, Rutgers, Seton Hall, and others on the table.

Gertrude, who also plays for Albany City Rocks AAU, visited Virginia in late July and released a top 5 early in August. He announced his commitment decision on Twitter and more.

The 6’3″, 180-pound shooting guard joins center Blake Buchanan in the 2023 recruiting class. 247Sports ranks Gertrude as the No. 36 prospect in the country and Buchanan at No. 67. That gives the Cavaliers two or more top 100 prospects in back-to-back classes. The 2022 quartet of Leon Bond, Ryan Dunn, Isaac McKneely, and Isaac Traudt already arrived on Grounds and played with the team on a trip to Italy last month. Bond (63), McKneely (61), and Traudt (60) all rate in the 247 Top 100 while Dunn was ranked at No. 126.

Once the duo signs, it will mark the fourth time in five years that the Hoos picked up multiple top 100 recruits in a single class. While two of those players left the program via transfer, it should put to bed any concerns with recruiting following the 2019 National Championship. From the 2019 to 2023 classes, Virginia has received commitments from 10 top 100 players in the 247 ratings.

The latest, of course, is Gertude. He adds another fast-rising prospect to the backcourt for UVA. He averaged 12.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.1 steals on the way to Nike’s Peach Jam with On3.com noting that he has “an aggressive and confident game.” That followed his junior season at Hudson Catholic where he averaged 14.3 points while scoring in double figures in 17 of 23 games.

This highlight video from HoopDiamonds calls him “New Jersey’s Best Kept Secret.”

1 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. A natural request = A Report on the recent Italian trip and how the freshman looked and who will see playing time -estimate- next year. Not a word out on this yet.

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