Virginia Targets Two Recent Decommits in 2023 Recruiting Class

While the UVA coaching staff tries to stay on top of the hundreds of players who have entered the college basketball transfer portal this month, the Cavaliers have also returned their focus to the high school recruiting class of 2023, where the offseason coaching carousel has resulted in some newly decommitted prospects reopening their recruitment. 

Georgia Tech parted ways with head coach Josh Pastner on March 10th and a few days later, the Yellow Jackets' lone signee in the class of 2023, Blue Cain, requested a release from his National Letter of Intent (NLI). A four-star shooting guard from IMG Academy, Cain's stock has risen significantly in his senior season, which saw him average 14.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 2.1 steals for one of the top high school basketball programs in the country. 247Sports currently rates the 6'4" Cain as the No. 96 overall prospect in the class of 2023 as well as the No. 16 shooting guard in the country and the No. 8 player in the state of Florida. 

According to ESPN's Paul Biancardi, Virginia is one of several major conference programs that have expressed an interest in Blue Cain, joining Kansas, Auburn, Nebraska, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. 

Another decommit the Cavaliers reportedly have their eyes on is four-star center Drew Fielder, who requested a release from his NLI from Providence after Ed Cooley left to take the head coaching job at Georgetown. A 6'9", 215-pound center, Fielder is originally from Boise, Idaho, but attends Southern California Academy. 247Sports rates Fielder as the No. 114 overall recruit in the class of 2023, the No. 16 center in the country, and the No. 17 prospect in the state of California. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Georgetown is one of the programs that have contacted Fielder this week and the Hoyas will certainly have a good chance to land Fielder's commitment if Ed Cooley can lean on the prior relationship that got Fielder to sign with Providence to begin with. Other programs that have contacted Fielder include Miami, St. John's, Michigan, Vanderbilt, Nebraska, and Virginia, according to 247Sports' Travis Branham. 

Fielder wouldn't be the first Idaho big man to commit to UVA in this recruiting class, as the state's No. 1-ranked recruit, Blake Buchanan, committed to the Cavaliers last summer. 

Virginia could be looking to secure a late addition to its 2023 signing class, which currently features a pair of four-star recruits in Blake Buchanan and Elijah Gertrude. 

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