Class of 2024 forward Isaiah Abraham has visited UVa a couple of times in the past year and his latest visit came when the junior from Paul VI was in attendance for the win against Duke last month.
So how has his game come along and what did the four-star Rivals150 prospect think of his time on Grounds?
Abraham, a 6-foot-7 wing who is currently No. 67 overall in the class of 2024, is coming off a terrific junior season at Paul VI. He helped lead his team to an undefeated regular season in the WCAC, which is arguably the toughest conference in high school basketball.
“The physicality and aggressiveness of the league really helped me become a player for sure,” Abraham told CavsCorner. “However, I also got a lot smarter as a player. I have never learned so much in a year like the way I have since I have been at Paul VI.
“Every game,” he added, “I learned something new, every time in practice I was learning and the same can be said when we were going over a scout before a game.”
In addition to taking steps forward in his game, Abraham has continued to work through his recruitment. In fact, he said he sees three schools standing out among the pack as of now.
“The recruitment process has been really good,” he explained. “I have just been enjoying learning about all of these schools and the culture around each program, the history of the program and how the players interact with each other. I have been enjoying taking in all of that information and putting it together. I have been talking to Marquette, Virginia, and Tennessee the most.”
After being in attendance at JPJ in February, Abraham came away have really enjoyed seeing the Wahoos play in person.
“I really enjoyed seeing the intensity UVa played with in their win against Duke,” he said. “They made a lot of good winning plays and I really liked all of the little things they did in order to secure that win. It is similar to what we do at Paul VI, we always focus on the little things to help us win.”
When watching the team in person, Abraham could really see how it would be to play in the system.
“I think I would fit in really well at Virginia,” Abraham said. “They use their wings really well and the coaches let them make a lot of plays when they are in the game and I saw that in their game against Duke. I could see myself hitting a lot of shots in the type of offense that Virginia runs. On the defensive end I think I could improve really well as a defender because obviously playing defense is really important there.”
Watching Tony Bennett and the rest of the staff coach in person is something that Abraham also really enjoyed.
“I love the coaching at Virginia,” he recalled. “I love how Coach Bennett coaches and I really like his thought process around everything. He really knows how to bring a team together and has built a tremendous culture with his program.”
Associate head coach Jason Williford started the relationship between Abraham and Virginia but now Abraham has been talking with both Williford and Bennett and has enjoyed hearing from them on a consistent basis.
“Coach Williford and Coach Bennett both talk to me a fair amount,” he said. “They will talk to me after certain games and give me feedback on how I can do better and tell me the stuff I did do really well. They have told me about certain plays and certain things that I do well that I could do at UVa. They have also told me about how I could grow and take my game to the next level if I were to go to UVa.”
Bennett has consistently been a coach that pulls out a lot of quotes and that is something that Abraham learned first hand.
“It is kind of funny but the amount of quotes that Coach Bennett has in his head is pretty cool,” he said. “Whenever he is talking to me, he will pull a quote out of his head. It is kind of crazy that he can do that but they all have a good meaning as they are all inspirational quotes and they have a lot of meaning.”
