Virginia
UVA Basketball: What’s Next for Virginia Following Chance Mallory’s Commitment
Virginia made its first splash in the recruiting class of 2025 by successfully keeping Charlottesville native point guard Chance Mallory at home. Mallory, a four-star point guard who plays for St. Anne’s-Belfield School right down the street from John Paul Jones Arena, announced his commitment to UVA on Friday, choosing the Cavaliers over Villanova, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Clemson, and Miami.
Mallory originally had official visits scheduled to each of his six finalist schools, but canceled the final four visits after taking his official to UVA last weekend. As it turns out, the prospect of playing for his hometown team was too appealing and he didn’t need to take any more time coming to that decision.
“I’m just excited to have the opportunity to stay home and to be able to play the game I love in front of the city I love,” Mallory said in his commitment post.
The fact that Mallory is a Virginia native makes him a rare breed as far as UVA men’s basketball recruits go. Tony Bennett and company have not had much success recruiting the top-ranked recruits in the Commonwealth and most of Bennett’s recruits at Virginia have come from outside of the state.
Mallory, who is one of top two or three overall recruits from Virginia in the class of 2025, will be UVA’s first Virginia native scholarship commit out of high school since BJ Stith in 2014, as pointed out by Hooz Got Next. Of course, this excludes walk-ons and transfers, but the last time the Cavaliers had a Virginia native on their roster who they recruited out of high school was Devon Hall in 2018.
With Mallory in the fold and their future secure at the point guard position, what’s next for the Cavaliers on the recruiting trail as they continue to shape their roster for the years to come?
Let’s start by taking a look at Virginia’s updated projected depth chart for the next three seasons:
|
2024-2025 |
2025-2026 |
2026-2027 |
|---|---|---|
|
Taine Murray (Sr.) |
Isaac McKneely (Sr.) |
Blake Buchanan (Sr.) |
|
Jalen Warley (Sr.) |
Andrew Rohde (Sr.) |
Elijah Gertrude (RS-Jr.) |
|
Isaac McKneely (Jr.) |
Elijah Saunders (Sr.) |
Dai Dai Ames (Sr.) |
|
Andrew Rohde (Jr.) |
Blake Buchanan (Jr.) |
TJ Power (Sr.) |
|
Elijah Saunders (Jr.) |
Elijah Gertrude (RS-So.) |
Christian Bliss (RS-Jr.) |
|
Blake Buchanan (So.) |
Dai Dai Ames (Jr.) |
Anthony Robinson (RS-Jr.) |
|
Elijah Gertrude (So.) |
TJ Power (Jr.) |
Jacob Cofie (Jr.) |
|
Dai Dai Ames (So.) |
Christian Bliss (RS-So.) |
Ishan Sharma (Jr.) |
|
TJ Power (So.) |
Anthony Robinson (RS-So.) |
Chance Mallory (So.) |
|
Christian Bliss (RS-Fr.) |
Jacob Cofie (So.) |
– |
|
Anthony Robinson (RS-Fr.) |
Ishan Sharma (So.) |
– |
|
Jacob Cofie (Fr.) |
Chance Mallory (Fr.) |
– |
|
Ishan Sharma (Fr.) |
– |
– |
With Mallory’s commitment, Virginia has filled 12 of its 13 scholarship spots for the 2025-2026 season. With that final open scholarship, the Cavaliers will likely look to fill that spot with a forward from the 2025 class to join Mallory.
Of the remaining targets on the board, the most probable candidate and the one most likely to announce his decision the earliest is four-star small forward Cam Ward (Washington, D.C.). Ward visited Virginia earlier this month and has also visited Notre Dame, Marquette, Vanderbilt, and Kansas State and is expected to take visits to Maryland and Michigan State.
Another name to know is Tre Singleton, a four-star power forward from Jeffersonville, Indiana. According to a report from Houston Wilson, Singleton is set to visit Virginia this weekend. He has a final eight of UVA, Clemson, Northwestern, Butler, Xavier, Louisville, Notre Dame, and Purdue.
Finally, the Cavaliers remain in the hunt for five-star small forward Nate Ament, a Virginia native who is ranked among the top 10 overall prospects in the class of 2025 according to each of the major recruiting services, including a No. 4 spot in the most recent ESPN Top 100. Ament has visited UVA unofficially and is still expected to come back for an official visit at some point, but it seems he intends to let his recruitment play out through his senior year. Virginia hasn’t had much success recruiting players of Ament’s caliber, and with more than 30 major conference programs in the mix, including Duke, UConn, North Carolina, Kansas, and Kentucky, the Cavaliers shouldn’t hold their breath on this one.
We’ll keep track of all of the UVA basketball recruiting developments on Virginia Cavaliers On SI.
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CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — West Virginia has plenty of state symbols, be it the black bear as the state animal, the cardinal as the state bird or the rhododendron as the state flower, but did you know that the Mountain State also has its own official gun?
The Hall Flintlock Model 1819 was first manufactured in Harpers Ferry by John H. Hall in 1811 and was adopted by the United States Army in 1819, making it the first breech-loading rifle ever adopted by a country’s military.
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Model 1819 Hall Breechloading Rifle presented by Congress to Gustavous A. Bird for his participation in the Battle of Plattsburgh 9/11/1814 by John C. Bird via the Smithsonian Institution -
Model 1819 Hall Breechloading Rifle presented by Congress to Gustavous A. Bird for his participation in the Battle of Plattsburgh 9/11/1814 by John C. Bird via the Smithsonian Institution
All of this information is listed in Senate Concurrent Resolution 7, which was introduced and passed during the 2013 West Virginia Legislative session, and officially recognizes the Model 1819 as the official firearm of the State of West Virginia.
On top of being created in West Virginia, the resolution also points out that the rifle saw use during the Civil War, an event that directly led to West Virginia’s statehood.
While having an officially recognized state firearm may seem far-fetched, West Virginia is not the only state that has one. As a matter of fact, a fifth of the states in the country have officially designated a state firearm, including West Virginia’s neighbors in Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In this world of college football, with the transfer portal and recruiting battles, bad blood is present more than ever before between head coaches.
That’s not the case between the Virginia Tech head coach and Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, however. In fact, Franklin revealed at ACC Kickoff on Thursday that the two are actually close friends, dating back to their time at the Nike trip that various coaches take over the summer.
“Dabo’s my guy,” Franklin said on Thursday. “We go way back. We’ve been on the Nike trip for a long time. His wife and my wife are friends.”
The long-time Penn State head coach is making the move to the ACC after being fired from the Nittany Lions in October. 12 seasons of being with the program had Franklin hold a 44-21 record against top 10 opponents, an impressive record for a new conference foe of Swinney’s.
But when that trip comes around, there’s a camaraderie between Swinney and Franklin and both of their wives. In fact, the two hang out with each other instead of the other coaches at times. It simply comes to an “edgy” time in college athletics that raises tempers.
“I’m going to be honest, I wouldn’t say we’re necessarily like the type of people that love a lot of other coaches and a lot of other programs,” Franklin said. “It’s hard when you just compete year-round.”
On Swinney’s end, there are a few who could immediately come to mind among Clemson fans. Perhaps the most recent would be Ole Miss coach Pete Golding, who played the most significant role in the tampering of former linebacker Luke Ferrelli.
It’s a select list of coaches who make the good side of the Tigers’ head coach, and Franklin is certainly on that list. On the other hand, Hokies’ head coach has Swinney on his own shortlist.
“Obviously, tremendous respect for what he has built at Clemson and what he’s done at Clemson, and what he’s done for the ACC,” he said.
The two will see that close relationship face off at Memorial Stadium this upcoming season. Clemson will host the Hokies on Oct. 24 in what could be a potential title-eliminator for the ACC Championship.
Of course, the last game that we’ve seen the Tigers play in was against Franklin’s former team in Penn State at the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl. That game ended in a 22-10 contest that saw a foundation of Franklin players end Clemson’s season in disappointment.
Swinney will see many of those players once again in October, including starting quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer, in that contest. The anticipated Hokie starter recorded 260 yards and two passing touchdowns on the Tigers in the Bronx that day.
Although friends become foes, another ACC coach has given Swinney his flowers for what he’s been able to do for the conference. In the upcoming moments, Franklin will look to prepare his team to prove itself on one of the biggest stages in the ACC, while Swinney looks to put his team back at the top of a conference he’s dominated for over 15 years.
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MARTINSVILLE, Va. (WSET) — Extreme drought conditions in parts of Virginia have prompted an emergency drought warning for a wide swath of the region, including Bedford, Campbell, Charlotte, Franklin, Halifax, Henry, Mecklenburg, Patrick, Pittsylvania and Roanoke counties, along with the cities of Danville, Roanoke, Salem and Martinsville.
The governor has warned that if conditions worsen, she will activate mandatory nonessential water-use restrictions.
In Martinsville, city leaders have issued a voluntary water conservation notice and are urging residents and businesses to cut back where they can. The request comes as local businesses that rely heavily on water say the drought is already affecting day-to-day operations.
SEE ALSO: Botetourt County residents adjust daily routines as voluntary water restriction continues
John Hughes, owner of John’s Car Wash, said the dry conditions have hit his business hard in recent weeks. “For the last 3 weeks, it’s been hitting pretty hard. We done three yesterday and haven’t done anything today with the drought and hot weather. Yeah, I’m really concerned about it,” Hughes said.
Restaurants are also feeling the strain. David Kitzmiller, an owner of Be Wiched, said water is essential for routine tasks such as washing dishes and preparing some menu items.
“We use a lot of water for washing dishes and some of our recipes if they limit us in anyway defiently can’t produce and its a scary aspect,” Kitzmiller said.
Kitzmiller added that cutting back is not always realistic for businesses that must meet sanitation needs. “Not really feasible for a business that depends solely relies on water to wash their dishes, so that can’t definitely be an impact there,” he said.
City leaders emphasized that the conservation request is voluntary for now, but they are encouraging everyone to do their part by taking shorter showers, turning off the faucet when it is not in use, washing only full loads of laundry, and limiting outdoor watering whenever possible.
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