Just how important is high school recruiting for Virginia basketball?

Even as the college football season rapidly approaches, basketball coaches remain busy on the recruiting trail. Top prospects are now allowed to take official visits to campuses as they prepare to make their college choices.

Ryan Odom's Virginia Cavaliers will be in the running for at least four of the top 60 prospects in 247Sports' Class of 2027 — small forwards Moussa Komissoko (No. 14) and Gene Roebuck (No. 51), power forward Dawson Battie (No. 23) and point guard J'Lon Lyons (No. 44).

Roebuck, a California native, has scheduled a visit to Grounds on Aug. 29, the same day Virginia opens its football season against NC State. That's two days after Lyons' scheduled official visit.

Adding even one of those blue-chip prospects would be a coup for Odom as he tries to build on a 30-6 first season in Charlottesville. But it's worth asking — just how important is high school recruiting in the new era of college basketball?

In an extensive article last week, The Athletic anonymously quoted several college head coaches and assistants who indicated that it's not as vital as it was just a few seasons ago. And the Class of 2027 will feel the pain especially hard.

“Unless it’s a high school kid that’s a top-25 kid, top-10 kid for you, how are they going to be able to come in and help?” one ACC head coach told The Athletic. “I don’t know how many coaches at the Power 5 level will recruit high school kids anymore.”

That may be an overstatement. But college basketball, once the domain of one-and-done high school stars, has gotten considerably older in this decade.

After COVID canceled the 2020 NCAA Tournament, all student-athletes received an extra season of eligibility. The NCAA's new "Five in Five" rule means fewer players will exhaust their eligibility after the coming season, which will lead to fewer immediate roster opportunities for graduating high school seniors.

“There’s going to be, like, 95 percent of college basketball players that have eligibility following this season,” one Big Ten head coach told The Athletic. “This is the first time that we can bring them all back.”

That's true for Virginia, where incoming transfers Jurian Dixon, Christian Harmon and Jan Vide will have two years of eligibility instead of the one they had under the old rules. Returnees Johann Grunloh, Sam Lewis and Elijah Gertrude also could be back next season, thanks to five in five.

Thijs De Ridder will exhaust his eligibility this winter, but Chance Mallory is looking at a chance to stay for four more seasons, a la Kihei Clark. And backups like Silas Barksdale and Martin Carrere have patiently waited their turns to contribute.

Plus, Odom has shown a talent for hitting the NCAA transfer portal hard each offseason, looking for productive players at smaller schools who fit his style. He's also gone international to bring in De Ridder from Belgium and Grunloh and Nolan Adekunle from Germany.

An increasing percentage of players who stay in college don't necessarily stay at the same college they originally signed with. Even with five years of eligibility, players who don't see many minutes as freshmen are tempted to test the transfer waters immediately, looking for increased playing time (and NIL money) elsewhere. It's remarkable that Gertrude is beginning his fourth season in Charlottesville (under three different head coaches) without making a single career start.

The best programs will always recruit top high school talent, and it's important for Odom and his staff to stay attractive to blue-chippers. But even if the Cavaliers don't win the initial recruiting battles, they still may be in the running a year or two later for one of their targets that got away.

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