Virginia’s 2022 hoops recruiting class came into near-final focus this weekend as Tony Bennett got a verbal pledge from top forward Isaac Traudt out of Nebraska. It’s a major recruiting win for the Hoos, filling a key need and replenishing the pipeline with a consensus 4 star at a serious position of need. Let’s get into the implications of today’s news.

The Recruitment

Traudt has been on the radar of both Tony Bennett and UVA basketball recruiting gurus for a relative while now, first publicly drawing Hoo attention last year during the extended dead period.

While the dead period would stretch until June of this year, Tony worked this recruitment as hard as he could given the restrictions.

Traudt’s recruitment picked up nationally. While he had been on local radars in the Midwest after his sophomore year, the big dogs started calling his junior year. Louisville offered last October. Virginia announced its formal offer in January along with Kansas. Later in the spring Michigan State and UNC would come in with offers.

Virginia put its first 2022 commitment, 4 star guard Isaac McKneely, on the case. McKneely committed in January and immediately launched the #IsaacSquared movement.

The fates would put the two Isaacs on the same team at the NBPA Top 100 camp (in Orlando this year, not JPJ). They would also visit UVA together once the dead period was lifted in June.

WHO WANNA SEE THIS?!?! ??? #isaacsquared pic.twitter.com/iXjB4LaKmg

— Isaac McKneely (@IsaacMcKneely) June 13, 2021

Traudt took a full slate of visits in June, also swinging through Chapel Hill and East Lansing on official visits in addition to courtesy stops with the hometown Nebraska and Creighton.

National recruiting experts consistently considered UVA the frontrunner, but Traudt had talked about waiting through the fall, and Gonzaga made a strong late push.

But the month would see the suspense come to a quick end with Traudt cancelling tentative plans to visit Gonzaga and September and commit to UVA this week.

Committed. pic.twitter.com/QXkPOSYVBR

— Isaac Traudt (@ittraudt) August 28, 2021

The Player

Isaac Traudt measures in at 6’9″ to 6’10” with a competent handle and solid 3-point range. He started high school as a 6’2″ guard but went through a giant growth spurt the next couple years, maintaining a lot of his guard skillset through the process.

It’s a similar story to the one we just saw for Trey Murphy, though Trey’s growth spurt obviously came a bit later. Still, it’s an enviable story, as every program in America loves the idea of big guys who not only can shoot but handle.

Offensively he can play all over the floor, both inside and out in a way we just saw us do with Mamadi and Jay in recent seasons, though Traudt comes with a much better handle. He’s an ideal big man to plug into our 5-out offense with his dribbling and passing skills able to be fully weaponized.

Defensively he’s more of a big, though he’ll have some switchability onto smaller combo forwards as required. I still see us deploying him as a 4/5 defensively in the modern game, allowing UVA to go “small” while still providing good size in the post for defensive rebounding. I don’t expect him to be a plus shot-blocker, as he’s not known specifically either for his length, his ups, or his timing. But he’ll still be a solid presence in the middle.

A good comp may be Notre Dame big man Nate Laszewski, though Traudt is a little more perimeter oriented, maybe not as strong defensively in the post. All the same, I do expect a lot of Traudt’s usage at UVA to be as a face up 5 in “small” lineups.

Let’s check out his highlights from the NBPA Top 100 Camp in June to see what exactly he brings:

Roster Impacts

Let’s slot Traudt into the 2022-23 schedule, where I’m tagging him as a Power Forward as a compromise between his perimeter skillset and his post-ready size. Yes, I know, position-less basketball makes these designations a bit semantics.

Projected 2022-23 Roster:

Projected 2023-24 Roster:

The key takeaway with respect to further 2022 recruiting is that we’re in some ways full, if we play with assumptions regarding Clark, Stattmann, and Gardner returning for their bonus seasons next year. We likely won’t see all three stay, though rumors are that Clark is leaning toward it.

Of course, attrition is more common than ever, so of the projected possible 13 for the 2022-23 season, maybe 10 or 11 will be here still come next summer, so Bennett will likely continue to recruit maybe one more spot. Frankly it can be a “best available” type of recruitment. There are strong arguments each that a final 2023 target could and should be a lead guard (succession planning for after Kihei departs and to give Reece a capable backup), a fluid Hunter-like outside-in wing (arguably there isn’t one on the roster quite like that), or a rim protector (we haven’t taken a good shot-swatter prospect since Shedrick in the ’19 class). It’ll be interesting to see what direction Bennett takes.

After that, it’s all about the ’23 class, where we know we’re targeting point guards heavily under the assumption Kihei will play a 5th year.

At that point it’s more “best available” recruiting at this stage, Tony laying the groundwork to get ’23 prospects onto Grounds over the course of the season for games and get a jump start on his rivals.

And that’s one of the huge wins in UVA’s currently 2022 recruiting situation; with three top prospects in place and the class as full as it maybe needs to be, Bennett can go into Labor Day already able to turn most of his attention, and his staff’s attention, on the rising junior class while his rivals are still heavily focused on their current pledge class.

Summary

Isaac Traudt isn’t the highest rated recruit that Tony Bennett has gotten at UVA, that’s probably either Mamadi or Kyle depending on the ranking service. But what makes Traudt’s commitment perhaps the most impressive is the programs that UVA beat out to get this pledge.

Kansas. Michigan State. UNC. Gonzaga. All had given him committable offers with firm, genuine interest. Even Duke was trying to lay some groundwork. But maybe for the first time, Bennett got the pledge against a near complete Blue Blood slate of competition. It’s further evidence of Bennett’s increasing stature in the college game.

Traudt’s going to be a great addition to the UVA program, and I can’t wait to see him continue to impress while wearing a Virginia jersey. When added to fellow 2022 4-star commits guard McKneely and wing Leon Bond, UVA has a class as strong as most any in the country right now, certainly in the ACC.

Now how about a little more video?

No secret as to why Isaac Traudt, 2022 F running with @NebraskaSupreme, is a top priority for multiple premier programs
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Heady, versatile, polished scorer with touch extending beyond the arc at 6-9 & 215LB ?
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Traudt says UNC, MSU, Zags, Creighton, UVA & NEB are pushing hard pic.twitter.com/9vfdFuGMZh

— Max Feldman (@MaxFeldman6) May 14, 2021