Recruiting has been heating up when it comes to the future of the Virginia men’s basketball program, with the team particularly starting to look ahead toward the Class of 2025.
Tony Bennett and his staff have extended offers to four 2025 prospects — Jacob Wilkins, Nikola Bundalo, London Jemison and Darius Adams — over the past few days.
Wilkins was the first of the quartet to hear from the Wahoos on Tuesday. He is a 6-foot-8, 167-pound small forward from Grayson HS in Loganville, Ga., the son of former NBA All-Star forward Dominique Wilkins — and the brother of former Wahoo forward and current UVA assistant coach Isaiah Wilkins.
He’s rated as the 53rd-best prospect in the class, according to the most recent 247Sports composite rankings. Virginia is the fifth school to offer Wilkins, along with his father’s alma mater, Georgia, Alabama, Indiana and Cincinnati.
He’s described as a three-level scorer who is lean, athletic and can bounce out of the gym. The thought is that once Wilkins grows into his body over his final two years of high school, his game will just keep improving. He had a few standout performances last month at the Top 100 Camp in Orlando to put his name on the map nationally, and UVA should certainly be considered a future contender for his services with his brother on the staff. Wilkins recently explained his skill set for what college coaches can expect.
“I can do it all,” said Wilkins. “Whether it’s defending, scoring, rebounding — anything they’re looking for.”
Bundalo, who hails from Uniontown, Oh., has seen his stock rise over the summer, and has rocketed all the way from not being ranked at all to No. 25 overall in the country in the latest 247 composite. At 6-9, 210 pounds, Bundalo has already received numerous offers — Xavier, Syracuse, Seton Hall, Rutgers, Penn State, Ohio State, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois and Georgetown, just to name a few.
“It was crazy this year with how many schools have been talking with me and all the stuff happening all of a sudden,” said Bundalo. “It can be a lot, but I’m ready for it and I’m happy that I’ll eventually have opportunities to make a choice and play college basketball someday.”
Adams was offered on Thursday. He’s a 6-4, 166-pound combo guard from La Lumiere School in La Porte, Ind. He’s rated as the No. 23 overall prospect in the composite rankings for the ‘25 class. There’s a Cavalier connection here as well, as Adams is AAU teammates on the PSA Cardinals with recent UVA point-guard commitment Christian Bliss and power forward Matthew Hodge, who holds an offer and has a visit to Grounds scheduled for the fall.
“I would say I excel at creating for other people, and scoring the ball,” said Adams. “Right now I’m working on my ball handling every day and I’ve been playing a lot of pick up. I feel like it helps me get other people involved and improve my game.”
Adams has received offers from Syracuse, Virginia Tech, Florida State, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Rutgers and Providence.
Jemison is 6-7, 195-pound forward from West Hartford, Conn., and was the second target to receive an offer on Wednesday. He holds offers from several mid-major schools including Yale, Rhode Island, UMass, Rice and St. Joseph’s. While he might not yet have a star or a rating next to his name by some services, nor any particular big-name suitors, you’ve got to believe the kid can ball if Bennett’s offering a scholarship.
Derek Dixon, another combo guard from the Washington, D.C. area, picked up a UVA offer last week. He checks in at No. 83 in the 247 composite. They all join St. Anne’s-Belfield point guard Chance Mallory (No. 81) and Atlanta-area big man Bryson Tiller (No. 6) as players to receive a Virginia scholarship offer in the 2025 class thus far.
On the horizon
The Cavaliers are still looking to fill a few spots in the 2024 class as well, with the top priority remaining sharpshooting wing Kon Knueppel. As we reported last week, Knueppel (6-5, 205; No. 21 overall in ‘24) set a second official visit to Charlottesville in September, sandwiched between trips to Alabama and Duke.
UVA also still has scholarships on the table for trio of power forwards in Hodge (6-8, 200; No. 128), Jacob Cofie (6-9, 225; No. 87) and David Punch (6-7, 205), along with small forward Rakease Passmore (6-5, 180; No. 45) and point guards Travis Perry and Trent Perry.
With the recent commitment from Class of ‘24 floor general Bliss (6-4, 205; No. 131), it’s less likely that the Hoos will continue to pursue either of the latter two, although Trent Perry (6-4, 175; No. 60) is technically listed as a combo guard, and that type of backcourt tandem worked out pretty well for Bennett and the Cavaliers once before with a couple of names you might remember from the 2016 group — Ty Jerome and Kyle Guy.
With impressive performances at both the NBPA Top 100 Camp and the Peach Jam, Trent Perry’s list of suitors has grown considerably over the summer, as he’s received offers from St. Mary’s, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, Georgia Tech, Louisville, TCU and Illinois since the Hoos offered him back in May. He has already made visits to Vanderbilt, Southern Cal and St. Mary’s, with a trip to Colorado set for September.
Meanwhile, Travis Perry (6-2, 170; No. 73) is likely headed close to home, as the 247 “crystal ball” has him winding up at the University of Kentucky. Passmore has visited both Oregon and Indiana, and has scheduled trips to LSU, Mississippi State and Oklahoma. He’s also picked up recent offers from Miami, Florida State, Virginia Tech and Arkansas, and it seems as if UVA will not be in the mix of his finalists.
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