Tony Bennett looks to Wisconsin to offer 4-star small forward

Posted on Tuesday, Jul. 13, 2021, 8:23 am

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By Jerry Ratcliffe

Tony Bennett went back to his roots with his latest offer to a basketball recruit.

Bennett has offered 6-foot-5 small forward Leon Bond, a rising senior from Wauwatosa, Wisc. The Virginia coach was scouting Bond over the weekend in an AAU Best of the South competition in Atlanta.

“I am blessed and honored to have received an offer from The University of Virginia,” Bond commented on his Twitter account.

The Wisconsin prepper is rated a 4-star by 247Sports and a 3-star by Rivals.

“(Class of ‘22) Leon Bond gets grown man rebounds,” said Isaac Dennis, director of operations for MovementHoopsbb, a recruiting service out of Milwaukee, where present UVA guard Reece Beekman grew up. “High point defensive rebound in traffic – putback dunk on the other end. Plays well above 6-5 with his length and athleticism.”

Bennett wasn’t the only one watching Bond in Atlanta. Marquette, which has made Bond a major target under new coach Shaka Smart, was also scouting the event. Cincinnati, Virginia Tech and Milwaukee all have offered Bond, who took an official visit to UVA in June without an offer.

Bond averaged 11.8 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game last season for Wauwatosa East, which went 23-2 and captured the WIAA Division 1 state championship.