The Virginia Cavaliers have recently taken advantage of the NCAA live recruiting period. Over the past two days, the Cavaliers have offered consensus 2025 prospects JJ Mandaquit and Jack McCaffery.
Mandaquit, a top-50 rated recruit and top-10 point guard, picked up the offer from Virginia on July 15, according to Matthew Newton of Sports Illustrated. Mandaquit had a solid weekend at the Addidas 3 Stripes Select Palmetto Championships in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
“Grateful to receive an offer from the University of Virginia,” Mandaquit wrote on social media. “Thank you to Coach Tony Bennett for this opportunity.”
Virginia Basketball Offers 2 2025 4-Star Prospects, Including Son of Iowa Hawkeyes Coach Who Doesn’t Want To Play For His Father
Meanwhile, McCaffery received his offer from UVa. on Wednesday.
“After great talks with Coach Bennett and Coach [Ron] Sanchez, I am happy to say that I have received an offer from the University of Virginia!!” McCaffery said in a social media post.
Virginia is coming off a 23-11 season in 2023-24 and losing in a First Four game of the NCAA Tournament. It was the Cavaliers’ third straight 20-win campaign and the 14th consecutive year they have posted a winning record. However, the Wahoos have not won an NCAA Tournament contest since winning the national title in 2019.
Virginia will be a relatively young team with just three seniors this year. Bennett and his staff have 19 offers out to members of the class of 2025. Seven are to point or combo guards, seven to wings, and five to bigs.
Who Is JJ Mandaquit?
Mandaquit is a 17-year-old, 6-1 point guard from Hilo (HI). After spending his younger days in Hilo, he and his family moved to Oahu in 2018. They then moved to Utah in 2022, and he now plays at Utah Prep.
Mandaquit played for Compton Magic this spring and summer, though he was sidelined until May. He was also part of the USA U17 FIBA World Cup gold medal team, averaging 6.6 points, 6.1 assists, and 2.1 steals with a shooting slash line of 44.4/21.1/66.7% in 18 minutes over six games. He scored in double figures twice and doled out 11 assists against Italy in the Finals.
All the primary scouting services rate Mandaquit as a four-star recruit. He is rated between No. 47 and 89 prospect in the class. On3 has him rated the highest at No. 47, and Rivals lists him at No. 89.
Here is On3’s scouting on Mandaquit:
“JJ Madaquit is a high IQ point guard. He is very cerebral, and he reads the game at an advanced level. The ball is on a strong, and he manipulates angles very well, creating both space and opportunity. While he is an average athlete, he gives good effort on the defensive end. Mandaquit has an array of paint finishes, with floaters and runners. Size may be a question; he plays with a great pace and attacks with great balance.”
Mandaquit’s Recruiting
With UVa’s offer, Mandaquit holds 15 offers, with three from the ACC. Louisville and Stanford are the other ACC schools to offer him. Hawai’i, Washington State, Stanford, LSU, Creighton, San Diego State, Tennesee, Florida Atlantic, Washington, BYU, USC, and Arizona State are the other programs to offer. However, the Washington State offer came when now-Stanford head coach Kyle Smith was in Pullman, and he said that he has not heard from the Cougars’ new coaching staff.
Mandaquit made two official visits to Hawai’i and Washington State, both last fall, and an unofficial visit to Stanford this past winter.
“I’ve taken official visits to Washington State, with the old coaching staff, and Hawai’i, so far,” Mandaquit told Jaime Shaw of On3 a couple of weeks ago. “Coach (Kyle) Smith is now recruiting me at Stanford, and I have not heard from the new Washington State staff yet.”
Manadaquit previously said he is working on official visits to Creighton, LSU, Louisville, Stanford, and BYU. However, he added that it is a work in progress and plans to narrow his list before the end of summer and set visits for the fall.
“I’m not sure when I’m going to sign, so right now, there is no plan to be honest. We’ll see how things go, a lot can happen, you know. I want to take my time and not make a rushed decision.
“For me, in this recruiting process, the coaching staff is huge. As a point guard, I have to be like a coach on the floor. So having that relationship with the head coach is especially big for me. Player development also. I’m always looking to get better and trying to reach the next level.
“I want to play up-tempo and I’m comfortable playing in a lot ball screens. More importantly though, I want to be surrounded by a lot of shooters with a lot of space and play with great bigs to throw lobs to and set screens.”
Who Is Jack McCaffery?
McCaffery is a 6-8 power forward rated as the top basketball player in Iowa. He attends West Senior High School in Iowa City (IA). He is also the son of Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Fran McCaffery. However, unlike his brothers Patrick and Connor, McCaffery doesn’t want to play for his father.
“Oh, no, no, no,” McCaffery told Jeff Johnson of The Iowa City Gazette when asked if he planned on playing at Iowa. “It was really hard for my brothers, and it was really hard for my mom (Margaret),” Jack said. “The fans, they were especially tough on Connor because a lot of people don’t understand how he affects a basketball game. So that was part of it. He’s a coach on the floor and the all-time wins leader. I don’t know …I saw that, and I didn’t like that. I just wanted to try something different.”
McCaffery is the consensus four-star recruit and top 110 player. ESPN has him rated highest by ESPN at No. 73, while Rivals is the only service that he listed as a three-star prospect and No. 132 overall.
McCaffery holds eight scholarship offers. Butler, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Bryant, Utah, UTSA, and VCU are the other programs that have made overtures to him.
