It’s not really news when a highly-recruited first year basketball player gets a number, but these are probably more significant to all of you than DeAndre Hunter’s new friend from a summer American Lit class. It’s always fun to geek out over the arrival of new players to the roster, but it’s even more fun when it’s the highest-ranked class in recent history and a group of guys with the opportunity to build on the work of the decorated class that just left.
Kyle Guy is wearing number 5. Five brings Curtis Staples to mind before anyone else, which is good because Guy is an elite scorer with deep range and Staples’s 413 career threes are 402 more than the last three guys (Darion Atkins, Teven Jones and Assane Sene) to wear the number made in their combined ten seasons here. Another couple of notable Virginia 5s are Cornel Parker, who spent a long time as my favorite Virginia basketball player ever and would likely still be carved on my Cavalier Mount Rushmore if I had to make one, and Derrick Byars, who transferred out under Pete Gillen but ended up getting a couple cups of coffee in the NBA. Guy’s high school number (24) is (probably — I remember Maleek Frazier being pushed off #4 by Marial Shayok, so Jeff Jones could probably be convinced to surrender #24) available, but he picked 5 to keep the peace and honor his five siblings.
Jay Huff is bringing 30 from high school, a number last worn at Virginia by Thomas Rogers up to 2014 and by Adrian Joseph before that. I’ve got fond memories of playing “Happy Joseph/Sad Joseph” with my friend Katie (if AJ nailed his first shot, we’d see more looks and an increasing degree of difficulty throughout the game, if he missed, he’d slowly disappear like that Homer .gif) and of Rogers nailing at three against ‘Cuse, so this seems both like a good number and one that Huff could make his own without a lot of substantial baggage.
Ty Jerome is number 11, either because he spent the months immediately following his hip surgery with the on-court mobility of Lars Mikalauskas, or because he wore it in high school. 11 spent the last four years on the capable shoulders of Evan Nolte.
DeAndre Hunter will wear #12, last seen on Joe Harris. Before Joe, 12 was seen on U-Ball Leitao-era favorite and living example of unfulfilled potential Jamil Tucker.
In case you missed it last season, Mamadi Diakite will take the floor in #25 (late of Akil Mitchell) and Austin Nichols will wear #1 (Justin Anderson and Jontel Evans). Haughty company, but I feel like those two will live up to it.
