ACC: Virginia Lands Elite Shooter Kyle Guy

Last season the Virginia Cavaliers shocked college basketball pundits by overtaking powerhouses such as Duke and Syracuse to win both the ACC regular season and tournament titles. Tony Bennett’s teams have been known for their stout defense, and tendency to build a program around players that will stay in school all four years.

That has created the misconception among casual fans that Bennett is an excellent coach, but a mediocre recruiter. Just because his players do not fit the “one and done” mold of modern college basketball does not mean these are not highly rated prospects.

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Recruiting in the ACC can be a challenge for schools like Virginia. Name brand programs like Duke, North Carolina, Syracuse, and now Louisville have a natural advantage because of their hall of fame coaches and storied past. Tony Bennett has essentially had to rebuild Virginia from the ground up.

Virginia cannot rely on past success as easily as some of these other programs. Recruits coming up today are too young to have seen Ralph Sampson play, and until last season Virginia had only two ACC championships in the last 30 years let alone any meaningful NCAA tournament success.

Compare that to those other programs winning national championships and sending several players to the NBA in the more recent past.

That has not stopped Bennett from pulling in high caliber recruits.During his tenure Bennett has frequently pulled in four star recruits. He has landed guys like Malcolm Brogdon, Mike Tobey, K.T. Harrell, Justin Anderson, Evan Nolte, London Perrantes, Devon Hall, and B.J. Stith who were all highly regarded recruits.

Several of these players are now contributing to Virginia’s current run of success.

For 2015 big man Jarred Reuter, who is also a four star recruit, has committed to the Cavaliers. The perception from casual fans that Virginia can’t lure high level talent is just not true.

Monday Bennett shocked the experts once again by landing Kyle Guy, an elite shooting guard from Indiana.

ESPN has him rated as the 39th best player in the class of 2016, while Rivals has him rated as the 60th best player. Regardless, he is a highly skilled player that Virginia is happy to have on board.

Most expected the sharpshooter to stay in the Midwest at a Big Ten school, or stay in the state of Indiana to attend Butler. After his visit to Charlottesville, Guy decided that Virginia was the place for him. He also spurned offers from California, Ole Miss, Xavier, and fellow ACC school NC State to join the Cavaliers.

This is one of the highest rated recruits Bennett has ever landed, and keeps Virginia on the path to sustaining their status as a title contending program.

His commitment was viewed as surprising by analysts, but recent history shows this has become the norm for Virginia. Bennett has consistently found talented recruits, that fit their system, to help this building process.

Guy is a very exciting player for Virginia fans. He is a 6 feet 2 inch combo guard who burst onto the scene this summer during showcase tournaments. He is a lights out shooter, and also was aggressive at getting to the basket this summer.

Guy also showed off playmaking ability and a high basketball IQ that Bennett requires from his best players. His best skill is still his shooting, so worst case scenario he should turn into a deadeye shooter the Cavs can use to stretch the floor in their deliberate half-court offense.

Guy joins guard Ty Jerome in a 2016 class that is shaping up nicely for Virginia.

Consistently landing top players is the first step to building a dominant program. The next step is developing these players together, and teaching them how to win. The players that choose Virginia know one thing. That the last step is the one Bennett is best at.

Last season’s conference championships are the result of both Bennett’s tireless recruiting and fantastic coaching ability. Get used to seeing Virginia near the top of the conference standings. They are not going anywhere.