Hunter found the right fit at UVa

More often than not, things can get tough for quiet, reserved prospects whose recruitments blow up out of nowhere. And that could have been at play for four-star Rivals150 wing DeAndre Hunter during the latter part of the summer.

Regardless of the fact that he played his cards close to the vest, the rangy playmaker from just outside Philadelphia ended up where he wanted to be: He's a Wahoo.

"When I took my unofficial to UVa, I really liked it a lot," Hunter told CavsCorner about picking Virginia last weekend. "So when I got the chance to visit again, I kind of went in with the thought that if I liked it again, then I could definitely commit. And that's how it played out. I couldn't be more excited about it."

Hunter, a 6-foot-7, 195-pound small forward from Wynnewood (PA) Friends Central, wasn't set for a visit back to Charlottesville at first. Having visited once his AAU season wrapped up, he was eyeing officials to Oklahoma State, Miami, and Notre Dame. Ultimately, though, he didn't need any of those trips once he got to return to Charlottesville and see more of the program Tony Bennett has built at UVa.

The No. 67 overall prospect in the class of 2016, Hunter was joined on his visit by the other three UVa commits in this class: Four-star Rivals150 guards Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome as well as 6-foot-11 three-star shooter Jay Huff.

"I think just spending time with the guys that I'll be coming in with in 2016 as well as seeing the players that are there now, how they love UVa and basically how they interact with the community," he explained. "That was a big part of it for me, how the players interact and much the community supports the basketball program. Just seeing that, seeing the atmosphere and things, it was really nice and it was exactly what I was looking for."

Hunter chose the Cavaliers over offers that really piled up following his breakout summer. He claimed offers from Arkansas, UConn, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami, NC State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, and Villanova, among others.

Again, for a teenager who likes to keep to himself, part of the process after picking UVa was calling other coaches and letting them know he wasn't going to be coming to their schools.

"That's a tough thing to do," he recalled. "It's definitely tough letting coaches know that you're not going to their school because they took time to recruit me and offer me a scholarship. So I was really blessed to be in that position, obviously.

"But committing to Virginia," Hunter added, "it was kind of easy because it was a gut feeling thing because I already kind of knew I was going there, but letting the other coaches know, that was kind of hard."

One thing that Hunter said did impact his decision, at least somewhat, was the fact that Virginia had just one scholarship left in 2016.

"Yeah, it did," he said. "I had one more visit set up for this month and I had two set up for next month so I didn't want to wait and miss my opportunity to commit when I already basically knew this was where I wanted to be."

The official visit that the four future Cavaliers took last weekend was one that Hunter said he thoroughly enjoyed, both in terms of what he saw and what he and his teammates got a chance to experience.

"Friday, we got there and had lunch," he said. "I watched the guys lift and work out and then we went back to the hotel for a bit. Then we went for dinner and I got to hang out with the guys after that and worked out that night. I just really enjoyed the vibe both among the commits and with the current players. They are all really great guys."

Having connected with London Perrantes, Marial Shayok, and Anthony Gill, Hunter said he liked that he didn't really have "one" host as much as he got to spend time with various players throughout the weekend.

"I thought they were really down to Earth and they made me feel like a member of the family already," he said. "They really made me feel like I was already a member of the team. I was just really comfortable with those guys and I felt like they were guys I could see myself hanging out and playing with for the next few years."

Hunter came on his visit with his brother, mainly because his mother and sister were very clear on where things stood.

"He really liked it what he saw," Hunter said with a laugh. "He said he had no problem with me committing. And my mom and sister basically knew already how I felt about Virginia. So when I called them and told them, they were really excited for me."

One of the big reasons for that commitment? Comfort. And it all started with Bennett and extended to his players and especially his committed recruits.

"Just hanging out with them and getting to know them, they were really cool," Hunter said. "I was really comfortable around them. That was my first time really spending time with them. I played against them a couple of times but getting to know them all, they were real cool. It was like I knew them for a while and that was another big contributing factor to me committing there."

A conversation with Bennett on Saturday night during a get together for the recruits, their families, and the players and coaches played a big part in helping Hunter's decision along.

"He came to talk to me and he asked me how the visit was going and how I was feeling about things, if I felt like I might want to commit and join the family and at that moment, I wasn't sure I was ready to say so," Hunter explained. "So I went upstairs and talked to my brother about it and I kind of said, 'Yeah, this is where I want to be.' So once I told my brother that, I pulled coach to the side and told him too. And he was really excited.

"He asked me if he could announce it," Hunter added, "and I told him he could so he announced it to everybody. It was really nice. We took that picture [from Twitter] immediately after."

Considering how quickly he came on the scene, it's still hard for Hunter to believe this all happened for him.

"It's a really great feeling and it's all still really crazy," he said. "I'm just so blessed to be in this position. It wasn't that long ago that I didn't think I'd have all of these great options or end up at a place like Virginia. I went from not being as highly ranked and not having the offers to being in this position. Getting all of those offers and playing the best I could, I'm just really thankful to be in this position and headed to UVa."

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