The 2023 recruiting cycle is still in full swing following the first live period of July, but the Cavaliers have already gotten off to a good start to their class. Blake Buchanan committed to Virginia on July 3rd, choosing the Hoos over Gonzaga. The three-star center picked up a lot of interest through the spring and early summer, including the offer from the Zags, as well as Iowa and others.

UVa was on Buchanan early and perhaps that helped the Wahoos win out. UVa offered in the spring when he only had lower-level D1 offers, and immediately got the Idaho native to come cross country and visit Charlottesville. And despite not getting a commitment from Buchanan then, Tony Bennett and his staff kept pushing, ultimately fighting off Gonzaga, a school less than an hour from Buchanan’s home.

The 6-foot-10 big man will be UVa’s more traditional center in this class while the coaches continue to look at forwards and bigger wings. He has turned a lot of heads on the travel circuit this summer, and it seems clear that UVa’s early read on Buchanan turned out to be the consensus opinion.

It’s always good for UVa to close out a recruit early in a cycle, and the Hoos have hit on most of those players that they’ve landed to kick off a class.

Another key target, 6-foot-8 forward Milan Momcilovic, is close to making his decision as well. The Wisconsin native could announce any day now from a final group of UVa, Iowa State, Michigan State, Minnesota and UCLA. Most of the buzz around Momcilovic of late has focused on Virginia (he visited earlier in the summer) and Iowa State.

ISU ultimately may be the choice here as the Cyclones have done a nice job recruiting in general, and Momcilovic would be another quality add for them following a surprise Sweet 16 trip.

Still, Bennett and UVa have always had success pulling talented players from the coach’s home state, so a call for Virginia wouldn’t be too far fetched. And for what it’s worth, Momcilovic is not the same type of forward as Buchanan, so UVa could certainly take both. The fact that Bennett continued to watch Momcilovic after Buchanan committed tells you all you need to know there.

Virginia hasn’t exactly cast a wide net thus far in 2023 but the early returns show that the staff has made some strong early evaluations.

Over the weekend, two of the most talked-about players on the circuit were forward T.J. Power and guard Freddie Dilione, two players with early UVa offers and official visits.

Power, the 6-foot-8 forward from Massachusetts, scored 41 points in a game over the weekend, making three of seven 3s and scoring plenty in the paint as well. His visit to Charlottesville seemed to go well, keeping the Hoos in the mix here, but the competition continues to grow. Kansas offered over the weekend and others, including Indiana, are in pursuit as well.

If Virginia is to going to get Power, it would probably need to be before he goes out and takes more visits, but his recruitment seems to be pretty wide open at this point.

Like Power, Dilione drew quite a bit of praise for his play over the weekend if not even more. The Greensboro native is a great scorer and it showed, with coaches like Bennett and many others in attendance. There hasn’t been a lot of buzz around Dilione and UVa lately, but the four-star guard did say this about Bennett this spring: “I actually just got offered by them. What I like about Coach Bennett

is that he really sat down and watched my games and told me what I did both good and bad. It really goes a long way in trusting a coach that is honest with you.”

One of the 2023’s fastest-rising guards is Jersey City native Elijah Gertrude, who picked up a UVa offer earlier this summer. Gertrude is currently unranked in the Rivals rankings but that’s very likely to change. And like Power and Dilione, Gertrude had some big games the last few days: The Hudson Catholic guard went for 28 points for City Rocks over the weekend, and like the prospects named above, UVa’s coaches were in attendance for his games too. Gertrude just picked up an offer from Syracuse, and this could be another instance where early interest from Virginia could help the Hoos down the road.

The big task will be getting Gertrude on Grounds at some point later and then making a push.

Finally, Virginia native Jamie Kaiser continues to not only look pretty great on the travel circuit but he’s also continuing to go through the recruiting process after postponing his decision in June.

That may have been good news for UVa, as Kaiser seemed to be Maryland bound, but interest continues to pile up for the Alexandria native. As such, the visit to Charlottesville continues to fade into the rear-view mirror.

Virginia continues to pursue and depending on how the rest of the recruiting board shakes out, the Hoos could stay in the race until the end. But it might be a while and the Cavaliers—well known for staying away from marathon recruitments—will need to continue to go after other options while Kaiser makes his way towards a decision.