UVA basketball recruiting update: who’s in, who’s out, who’s on the board

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Looks like Virginia’s plan to add a future point guard will be extended to the recruiting class of 2024.

Tony Bennett’s top target for ‘23 point guards, Elmarko Jackson, eliminated UVA from his final list of five schools on Tuesday and will announce his commitment on Thursday to either Villanova, Kansas, Texas, Notre Dame or Miami. Jackson is an elite prospect and one of the top point guards in the country, whose game exploded over his last basketball season and summer ball.

Meanwhile, the Cavaliers received good news from combo guard Cameron Carr, a late-blooming, 3-star from Link Academy in Branson, Missouri. Virginia offered Carr, the son of a former NBA player, on Sept. 29, and Carr announced he will visit UVA this coming weekend and likely will take in the Cavaliers’ Blue & White scrimmage on Saturday.

Carr will also visit Tennessee on Oct. 21-23. He is also considering Kansas State, Northwestern, Boise State and others.

In the 2025 recruiting class, 6-foot-6 point guard Donovan Richardson is planning on visiting UVA in the near future, while having already set up two unofficial visits to Virginia Tech (this coming weekend) and East Carolina (Oct. 22). He also plans to visit Radford.

Richardson, who plays at Collegiate in Richmond, is also being watched by Old Dominion, Richmond, VMI and Bucknell.

PrepHoops rates Richardson the No. 6 prospect in the state of Virginia in the ‘25 recruiting class.

Christian Gurdak, who plays at Paul VI, is ranked as the state’s No. 1 prospect in that class. Gurdak was in Charlottesville for an unofficial visit recently.

George Washington III, who decommitted from Ohio State after his visit there last month, and who said Virginia was in his top five, is visiting Wake Forest on Oct. 26.

The 4-star senior is also planning a visit to Louisville.

UVA PROGRAM NOTE: Virginia’s men’s basketball team always plays two preseason scrimmage games (one home, one on the road), but likes to keep a low profile on the games.

The Cavaliers will scrimmage Maryland in Charlottesville on Oct. 22 (the public is not invited) and will scrimmage UConn on the road on Oct. 29.

JerryRatcliffe.com is in Charlotte for today’s ACC men’s basketball media day (ACC Tip Off), and will bring readers information to the site later this evening. Bennett will be joined in the interviews by Kihei Clark and Jayden Gardner.