During what was a busy month for UVa, May 6th was a big day for Tony Bennett and his program as they received commitments from Duke transfer TJ Power and San Diego State transfer Elijah Saunders. While Power was a player the staff knew well during his high school recruitment, Saunders initially heard from Virginia when he entered the transfer portal and committed shortly after taking his official visit to Charlottesville.

“Virginia had everything I was looking for in a school,” Saunders told CavsCorner last week. “Coming from San Diego State, I wanted to go to a school that is still going to be competitive and value winning and Virginia obviously has that. The facilities and the coaching staff are all amazing and I really just felt the family atmosphere there.”

Saunders went into the trip with some things in mind in terms of what would be important in his decision making. He found even more reasons to like the Wahoos while he was in town.

“The faith and the pillars of Coach Bennett’s are things that the program really lives on,” he explained. “Even talking with them on the phone, it was different talking to them in person, you can really tell they just preach all of their pillars and take those lessons on to the court.”

The goal going into his time in orange and blue is to use his versatility at the forward position to help the team in any way he can.

“They really see me as a versatile 4 man that can shoot the ball, guard the ball and put the ball on the floor,” Saunders said. “In the past Virginia has had players successful like myself and I just felt like their reputation with guys like myself with good size that can shoot it are guys that UVa can get into the NBA.”

Two of those current NBA players that the Virginia staff compared him to definitely grabbed his attention.

“Anthony Gill and DeAndre Hunter are the main two guys that they have compared me to,” he said. “They showed me a lot of film on them. Those two guys were both similar to me in size and weight, they can guard multiple positions, and can stretch the floor.”

Saunders did a lot of winning at SDSU and he expects to help Virginia get back to the stage where the Aztecs have been in the past couple of years.

“UVa should expect a winning player in me,” Saunders said. “I am going to impact winning. At San Diego State I went to the Final Four and even though I did not get to play a lot that year I was still beneficial to them. This year I helped them make the Sweet 16 and I am just trying to do everything I can to help Virginia get back to that stage. Making a deep run in the NCAA Tournament is one of my main goals at Virginia.”