Among the many recruits to visit UVa so far this season, DMV native Cooper Bowser has seen his recruitment pick up more and more. That’s given the 6-foot-10 forward a lot to think since arriving at Sunrise Christian Academy in Kansas.

“My year is going great at Sunrise,” Bowser told CavsCorner. “We are playing well as a team and I like how I have been playing. I have gotten faster and stronger and that has helped my development which has helped my recruitment pick up. Overall I am having a lot of fun with my team and hopefully we can win a national championship.”

Bowser was in attendance for the Wahoos victory against Albany on December 28 and came away extremely impressed, especially with the time he spent with Tony Bennett.

“My visit to Virginia was amazing, he recalled. “I was able to go visit with my family and watch them play. I got to meet and talk with the coaching staff and see John Paul Jones Arena.

“All of the facilities are very nice and it was really cool to see the team play in person,” he added. “After the game I got to sit down with Coach Bennett and it was really amazing being able to talk with him.”

Bowser left that conversation with Bennett clear eyed about some things.

“His message to me was don’t worry about the noise and just keep working through everything,” Bowser said. “He told me they have heard a lot of great things about me and he thinks I am very talented and believes my ceiling is very high. Hearing that from one of the best coaches in college basketball history was really special.”

Before speaking with Bennett, Bowser had been talking a lot with Associate Head Coach, Jason Williford, who has built a great relationship with him thus far.

“Coach Williford was the first coach that reached out to me from Virginia and has been the main contact,” he said. “He said they want a forward that can come in and rebound and play above the rim and to also be able to stretch the floor, shoot 3s and really be an important piece in their offense.”

Virginia has not extended an offer to Bowser yet but he thinks if he continues to improve, one could be coming his way.

“I think I just have to show consistency,” he explained. “They like me because I am an athletic forward and I can stretch the floor and play above the rim. They think I can make a lot of plays that fit well at the type of level they play at.”

Bowser has ties to Virginia already so visiting Grounds was nothing new to him but learning about Bennett’s program was something new that he learned during his visit.

“I knew a lot because my uncle went to Virginia and played football there so I already knew a lot about it and have been there before,” he said. “One thing I did learn though were the basketball pillars which Tony Bennett brought to the program, I learned a lot about them.”

Right now Bowser is in no hurry to make a decision and doesn’t plan to wind down his recruitment until May as he is still hearing from a lot of different schools

“I have been able to visit Virginia, Virginia Tech and George Washington recently and have been talking to Maryland, Texas A&M, Richmond and Boise State,” he said. “With the amount of schools I have been talking to, I don’t plan on making a decision until the late signing period in May.”