NCAA Basketball: 25 best recruiting classes since 2000
By Brian Rauf
9) 2016 Virginia Cavaliers
The most recent national champions, the 2016 class head coach Tony Bennett brought to Charlottesville turned out to be the most important in school history.
Kyle Guy, Ty Jerome, De’Andre Hunter and Jay Huff made up this four-man class and the first three were Virginia‘s three best and most important players over the past two years.
Guy led the Cavaliers in scoring all three years in Charlottesville. Jerome led them in assists as a sophomore and junior. Hunter emerged as one of the nation’s best defenders after redshirting as a freshman.
All three players were All-ACC performers. Hunter was named an All-American in 2019 and Guy was an All-American in 2018 and 2019.
Though they also racked up plenty of team accomplishments, winning two ACC regular-season titles and one ACC Tournament to go along with their national title, but their legacy will always be linked to UMBC.
They became the first No. 1 seed to ever lose to a No. 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament (Hunter missed that game due to injury. Looking back, that solidified just how much he meant to his team.) and then overcame that heartache to win the championship the next season.
Huff still has two years of eligibility left after redshirting and spending 2017-18 and 2018-19 as a role player. He is expected to start and play a major role for the Cavaliers in 2019-20.