Isaac McKneely is on Grounds with the other members of Tony Bennett’s second most-heralded Virginia hoops recruiting class.
Their goal: another banner.
“One of our goals is to win a national championship before we leave,” said McKneely, a 6’4” sharpshooter from Poca, W.Va., who is a two-time West Virginia state player of the year, and reminds me, game-wise, of a young Malcolm Brogdon.
That’s a big comparison, but McKneely is used to big comparisons. The 2022 recruiting class – which includes wings Leon Bond and Ryan Dunn and big man Isaac Traudt – ranks 12th nationally, per 247Sports, drawing comparisons to the 2016 class that hung the program’s first national championship banner, in 2016.
“Yeah, we’ve been compared to that 2016 class. I don’t know if that’s going to happen. That’s a lot to live up to, for sure. Hopefully, we can get there. I don’t know. But, yeah, definitely national championship is our biggest goal that we have, for sure,” McKneely said.
Tight bond
The newcomers have formed a tight bond since making their individual commitments to the Virginia program over the past year and a half.
The group formed a group chat to keep tabs on each other throughout the school year, and in the process, became “really close,” McKneely said.
The two Isaacs are roomies, which should make things interesting for their first-year neighbors, not to mention Bennett.
“Yeah, we roomed together at the NBA Top 100 camp, so we’ve been through it before,” McKneely said. “That’s the main reason I picked him, and obviously, he’s just been one of my friends for a while. We’ve been talking ever since I committed UVA, and when they recruited him, I started recruiting him. So, we’ve known each other for a couple years now.
“Coach Bennett is trying to figure out some nicknames for us so he doesn’t get us mixed up,” McKneely said. “Right now, It’s Junior and Senior. I’m Senior, because I’m older than him. And he calls the trout Junior. So we’ll see if that sticks.
“He’s not the Junior to me. He’s about five inches taller than me. Probably six or seven. But I don’t know. We’ll see if the name stays.”
Learning from, competition with, the vets
The newbies will compete for playing time, but the minutes will have to be earned. Virginia brings back six players who started and logged significant minutes in 2021-2022, and Bennett added one of the most sought after transfers from the portal in Ohio veteran big man Ben Vander Plas.
The young guys are “not going to back down” from competing with the returning veterans, McKneely said.
“We’re there to challenge them in practice, and we’re all working for minutes in the rotation. So that’s a big part of it. I just can’t wait to battle with them and practice and learn a lot. It’s going to be a lot of fun,” McKneely said.
The transition from high school and AAU ball to the college level can be difficult at the outset.
“I’m just eager because I’ve heard from a lot of people that play college basketball that the pace of the game is different, and just how strong they are is a lot different,” McKneely said. “I just want to see how I match up against the people that have been, you know, playing college basketball for three or four years, just to see how I match up with them and see compete in practice. I’m anxious to see how that works out.”
McKneely thinks his perimeter shooting will get him on the court as a first-year. Virginia shot just 32.3 percent from three-point range a year ago, with Kihei Clark’s 34.6 percent the best among the rotation guys.
McKneely shot 43 percent from three as a senior at Poca in 2021-2022.
“Whether I start, I have no idea. I’m not too worried about it,” McKneely said. “I’m just going to work as hard as I can and practice to earn minutes and do what I have to do to help the team, and if that’s come off the bench or do whatever, I’m willing to do whatever, as long as we’re winning. That’s all I care about.
“I’m all about winning, and that’s one of the reasons I chose UVA,” McKneely said. “Obviously last season, they probably didn’t live up to the expectations, but they still had a great year. I mean, it’s not like they were terrible. They still had a winning record and yeah, middle of the pack ACC, and the ACC was pretty good last year. So, just to build on that, and like I said, they’re returning the most minutes and bringing along our freshman class. I just, I just can’t wait to join that group, and I think we’re going to be really tight on and off the court and just have a special team.”
The return of Kihei Clark
Some observers from UVA Twitter – you know, the people with CB handles who know more about basketball than Bennett – wondered aloud if the return of Clark, a four-year starter with a national championship on his resume, would hold back the development of McKneely.
McKneely doesn’t think so.
“There’s absolutely no problem with him coming back, I’ll tell you that much,” McKneely said. “Because he’s, just like you said, a national champion. He’s played for years. And I’m just going to try and learn as much as I can from him and other guys. You know, as an incoming freshman, you don’t know what to expect. It’s going to be a big turnaround from high school basketball, for sure. So, I’m just going to be under his wing along with the other guys and learn as much as I can. I just can’t wait to play with them. And yeah, I saw a picture that said Virginia returns the most percentage of minutes in Power 5, so I think that’s huge. I mean, bringing that experience back, along with the class that we’re bringing in, I think we should have a special team next year.
“He’s played for four years. He’s a veteran college basketball player. He’s had a lot of success, obviously, winning the national championship,” McKneely said. “So, I’m just trying to pick as much as I can, especially on the defensive end. I mean, he’s such a great defender, I’m going to try and learn as much as I can from him on that, because that’s one of the things I’m going to need to do, is play good defense. I’m going to play it at the college level, especially at Virginia. So, yeah, Kihei, I feel really helps me out a lot along with other incoming freshmen because, you know, he’s been a really good player, and I just can’t wait to learn from him.”
Quick hits
On how high school prepared him for UVA: “One of the reasons I chose UVA is because Coach Osborne runs the Pack Line, he runs sides, we do a lot of stuff that you see he does. So that should make it a little bit easier to transition. Obviously, like you said, college is a lot different from high school, but it should make the transition just a little bit easier for me. And hopefully, it gives me a chance to step on the court as a freshman and make an impact.”
On getting stronger: “I think it’s definitely helped in attacking the rim. I used to, when I was smaller, like, my freshman, sophomore year, I used to get bumped off when I was driving down the lane, I used to get mugged off my line. So yeah, I think that’s just helped a lot, using my upper body a little bit more, banging down low. When they put smaller guards on me, Coach Osborne utilized that and put me in the post a little bit. So, I think it’s definitely helped in that aspect of my game, and on the defensive end as well, you know, cutting people off of their drives and stuff like that, and boxing out, rebounding.”
On being unselfish: “I’ve always been an unselfish player. I’ve never been the guy to force it. And I had good teammates, thankfully, that could, whenever I was getting double-teamed or junk defenses on me, I could count on them to make a bucket or make a pass or whatever. So that that was a big reason I didn’t shoot a whole lot of shots. And like I said, I’m just not the guy to force it. And I think that’s a big reason why I chose UVA, because there’s a discipline, and they play like I play.”
On playing in ACC venues: “I can only imagine what it’s like playing in Durham, in Carolina and stuff like that. It’s just, it’s just a special thing that I have here, a special opportunity I have to play in arenas like that, especially in Durham, the Carrier Dome, Carolina and stuff like that. It’s just a lot of history. And hopefully, we can have some good games on there. Obviously. Reece’s shot at Duke, I can only imagine that feeling.”
On being able to suit up in JPJ: “JPJ is special for sure. I think I’ve been to, like, four or five games. The loudest one I’ve ever been to probably was right before COVID happened. They played Louisville, and Kihei hit a big shot, like, I forget how much time was left, but it was pretty much a dagger, and that place just erupted. That was before I committed. I think in that moment, I was like, Man, I would love to play in this place.”
On the UVA family: “The day I committed, Ty Jerome reached out to me, Justin Anderson reached out to me, Kyle Guy, people like that, that played for UVA in the past. That just made me realize how UVA is just one big family, and even after you graduate, you’re still in the family like Ty Jerome, I think he’s on Grounds right now working out. That’s just cool, how they come back, and stuff like that. And if I get to compete against guys like that whenever they come back, that’s just it’s just really cool. UVA is just a really special place. I’m beginning to see that as I go through this process.”
Story by Chris Graham
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Chris Graham
