The crop of talent throughout the state of Virginia within the senior class is mind-boggling. Whether it is schools near the DC area like Paul VI, the many outstanding public school squads in the Richmond and Hampton Roads area, or the prep programs in western Virginia, there seems to be a never-ending amount of high-level recruits.

We spent the past several months diligently evaluating the best of the best and are excited to roll out our very first rankings of the state of Virginia, this coming in the 2016 variety.

CLASS OF 2016 VIRGINIA RANKINGS

ELITE OVERTAKE THE STATE

The best player in high school basketball now calls the state of Virginia home. Harry Giles, a 6-foot-10 forward from North Carolina, recently imported his talents to Oak Hill Academy this past fall and placing him atop of things isn’t all that hard to do. It is those that follow him that make it more difficult as to which order that they might fall.

VJ King, Sacha Killeya-Jones, and Javin DeLaurier are all committed to basketball bluebloods with Mario Kegler finishing off the top-5. All five should be immediate producers at their future homes next fall for one reason or another. It should also be noted that only DeLaurier is a native of the state as King hails from Ohio, Killeya-Jones from North Carolina, and Kegler from Mississippi.

We don’t see another Virginia native until JJ Matthews pops up at number thirteen; the Millwood School big man is one of the more underrated bigs on the east coast and should be an immediate presence at his new home at Towson next fall under the tutelage of Pat Skerry.

LITTLE LEFT ON THE BOARD

There is only seven players left within our top-35 that have not committed to a college program as of yet and that even counts Harry Giles who is banking on a college decision in the coming days.

Many schools have heavily pursued and recruited many of our top Virginia prospects from the early years and because of it, their recruitments have been sped up compared to most others.

What is even more impressive is that fifteen of the commitments were received by power-conference programs. Throw in others such as VCU, Old Dominion, and Richmond, three in-state program that have achieved great success on the hardwood in recent years, and the amount of talent headed to the college platform next year is enough that should help turn many programs around, or continue to aid many of the more winning bunches on the east coast.

FORWARDS RUN THE SHOW

There has been a lot of talk about how important it is to have a great point guard in running ones squad in the backcourt. Well, in our top-35 rankings, the first non-forward recruit to pop up doesn’t show face until the fifteenth spot on the list. That is crazy!

Justice Kithcart leads the pack in the backcourt where he is closely followed by Maliek White, Josh Hall, Quentin Jackson, and Richard Washington. The majority of the rankings show that most of the backcourt depth doesn’t come until the latter portions while the bigs dominate the top.

However, due to the depth of the state of Virginia, guys like Kithcart, Washington, and Scott Spencer will still call homes within the ACC next year and could be leaned upon for their shot making abilities and play-making skills from off the bounce

FITS LIKE A GLOVE

Sure, the talent throughout the borders at programs like Oak Hill Academy, Blue Ridge School, Paul VI, and Mountain Mission clearly fills our board and the coaching that is taking place at all of these programs is better compared to most other high school and prep programs. Because of this, many move onto college programs more than ready to produce from out of the gates.

With most of our ranked seniors now off the board and set on signing during the early period next week, what is even more impressive is the ideal fit that they are moving towards.

Deriante Jenkins is the ideal fit and versatile wing for the new regime led by Will Wade at VCU.

Justice Kithcart exudes grit and toughness each step of the way and should be a guy that buys in immediately in Oakland for Jamie Dixon’s bunch.

Known for its long and jumbo sized scorers off the perimeter during his short stint at Tulsa, Danny Manning picked up a local recruit with Richard Washington, a guy that fits the mold from the get-go.

Richmond relies on a lot of moving parts within its half-court offense where each ballplayer on the floor needs to be able to think effectively but quickly while they compete. Nick Sherod is a guy that should come in and immediately contribute via his jumper, which is the best within the state.

In all, our top-35 might just be names to some at the moment, but most have a shot of having a highly successful and winning career at the next level within the division-1 platform.