Four-star wing Nate Ament has become a top priority for Tony Bennett and his staff. After being offered in the latter part of the summer, the 6-foot-7 Ament just recently took an unofficial visit to UVa. Currently ranked as the 37th-best player in the current class of 2025, he is coming off a huge summer with Team Loaded NC and is set to start his junior season soon at Highland School.

“It was a really nice visit to Virginia,” Ament told CavsCorner. “My family got to come with me, which was really nice because it is always good to have them with me on these college visits. I have had a really good relationship with Coach (Jason) Williford for a while now so I was excited to visit. I also got to watch practice, which was a lot of fun.”

Before heading over to the football game, Ament got to watch practice and really enjoyed being able to see the team in action.

“The intensity that they played with really stood out,” he recalled. “Everyone that is on or off the court is yelling and talking to each other so it was a very intense practice which I like. It was very fun seeing them go after each other in a practice environment.”

While Williford is the one who spearheaded the UVa effort so far, Bennett has built his own relationship with Ament.

“Coach Bennett and I have been building a nice relationship,” he said. “We both are faithful Christians and we talked a lot about faith. He also talked to me about what makes Virginai so special, which I enjoyed hearing from him.”

Ament has also gotten a chance to learn more about Virginia and its program, including gaining a better sense of how Bennett goes about things.

“I really learned more and more about the school itself outside of the basketball program,” he explained. “But in terms of basketball, I really learned that Coach Bennett is so laid back and has set a standard for his program. As soon as those players get on campus, Coach Bennett sets the tone early and holds them to that standard. He does not do that much yelling as he knows his team knows what they have to do.”

The competition for Ament will be stiff. Adding to the schools that have been recruiting him of late, Duke just recently entered the picture with an offer during a recent trip to Durham.

“It was awesome getting an offer from Duke on my visit,” he said. “It was really hard to keep my composure because of how excited I was. Coach (Jon) Scheyer really likes how I am a positionless player and he likes how I can impact the game on offense and defense.”

Following visits to both Virginia and Duke recently, Ament said that he does not have any other visits planned prior to the start of his high school season.