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Jarin Stevenson Commits to Alabama, What's Next for Virginia?

Updating the UVA basketball recruiting landscape following Jarin Stevenson's commitment to Alabama

Matt Newton

Jarin Stevenson/Tw
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The Jarin Stevenson recruiting saga has come to an end. 

The five-star power forward from Seaforth, North Carolina announced his verbal commitment to Alabama on Wednesday night, choosing the Crimson Tide over finalists North Carolina and Virginia. 

For a long time, it seemed Tony Bennett and the Cavaliers had a legitimate shot at landing what would have been their highest-rated commit ever, as Stevenson took multiple visits to UVA and spoke highly of Bennett and his coaching staff, players, facilities, and overall program. If they could just beat out his home school of UNC, located only 20 minutes from Stevenson's hometown, the Wahoos had a chance to snag one of the top recruits in the country. 

Instead, it was Nate Oats and the Crimson Tide who ultimately won the Stevenson recruiting sweepstakes, likely offering him the opportunity of immediate playing time, as Stevenson also announced that he is reclassifying up to the class of 2023 and will enroll at Alabama this fall. 

The UVA coaching staff has likely known for weeks that they were essentially no longer in the running for Stevenson, pivoting to focus their attention on other top recruiting targets in the class of 2024 and beginning to sift through the available recruits in the class of 2025. 

Sticking with the class of 2024, Virginia has yet to land its first commitment in that class despite having at least three open scholarship spots and and quite a few roster needs to fill. UVA's top target right now is four-star point guard Christian Bliss (Newtown, PA), who started an official visit to Virginia on Wednesday. 

Bliss cut his recruitment to a final four of Virginia, Miami, Villanova, and Xavier. The 6'4" guard took his official visit to Villanova back in April, visited Xavier earlier this week, and now the Cavaliers are taking their turn to host Bliss in the hopes of convincing him to be their point guard of the future. 

Virginia's other top target is 6'6" guard Kon Knueppel (Milwaukee, WI), who is trending towards five-star status after an incredible spring that saw him lead the Nike EYBL in scoring. Knueppel's home school of Wisconsin will be the top contender in his recruitment, but Tony Bennett and company are right in the mix. UVA hosted Knueppel for a visit back in February. 

Other priority targets for the Cavaliers in the 2024 recruiting class are four-star wing Caleb Williams (Washington, D.C.), who has Virginia in his top seven, four-star power forward Isaiah Abraham (Fairfax, VA), four-star center Patrick Ngongba II (Fairfax, VA), and four-star point guard Trent Perry (Studio City, CA). 

Virginia currently has active offers out to 9 players in the recruiting class of 2024:

CG Jaeden Mustaf (Matthews, NC)
SF Caleb Williams (Washington D.C.)
SF Isaiah Abraham (Warrenton, VA)
SG Rakease Passmore (Asheville, NC)
SF Kon Knueppel (Milwaukee, WI)
PG Travis Perry (Eddyville, KY)
C Patrick Ngongba II (Fairfax, VA)
PG Christian Bliss (Newtown, PA)
PG Trent Perry (Studio City, CA)

Stay updated on all the latest Virginia basketball recruiting news, including offers, visits, and commitments here: Latest Virginia Basketball Recruiting News and Updates

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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.

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