Trent Perry Signs With UCLA, What's Next for Virginia on the Recruiting Front?

Matt Newton | May 9, 2024

Trent Perry handles the ball during the 2024 McDonald's All-America Game at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. / Maria Lysaker-USA TODAY Sports

Close followers of Virginia men's basketball recruiting will remember with some distaste the prolonged, back-and-forth London Johnson recruiting saga back in the spring of 2022. Though Trent Perry's recruitment wasn't as frustrating or drawn-out as the London Johnson experience, it didn't fall short by very much.

The overarching trend of Virginia having a blue-chip recruit slip through its fingers once again reared its ugly head, as McDonald's All-American point guard Trent Perry officially signed with UCLA on Wednesday, a few weeks after Virginia had hosted and seemingly closed the deal with him.

Pen to paper … 𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲’𝐬 𝐚 𝐁𝐑𝐔𝐈𝐍. 🖊️☑️🏀

UCLA has signed McDonald’s All-American Trent Perry (@trent_perry0) to a National Letter of Intent (NLI). Perry will enroll as a freshman for the 2024-25 season.

📲💻: https://t.co/CacUPrlUsF pic.twitter.com/ANXim3Boss

— UCLA Men’s Basketball (@UCLAMBB) May 9, 2024

Perry's signing with the Bruins isn't nearly as much of a gut-punch for the Cavaliers now that they've had such an incredible week recruiting the transfer portal, adding four transfers in a four-day span. But a few weeks ago, Virginia had struck out on all of its top transfer targets and Trent Perry seemed to be UVA's best hope at a big-time offseason recruiting win.

And it seemed the Cavaliers had done just that. After decommitting from USC following a coaching change, the Harvard-Westlake (Los Angeles, CA) standout point guard was contacted by several programs, but his first (and for a while, only) official visit went to Virginia. When Perry didn't schedule any other visits, it seemed UVA had secured the win and it was only a matter of time before he'd announce his commitment. There was even a usually-reliable crystal ball registered on 247Sports in favor of UVA landing Perry's commitment.

But alas, the days passed and turned into weeks and then the rumors began to emerge. Though unconfirmed, it seemed Perry's family wanted him to stay closer to home, and with USC out of the picture, UCLA seemed to be the top challenger to Virginia. Though the Bruins didn't even have an open scholarship to give him, they could offer an NIL deal that could more than offset him not being on scholarship.

That exact scenario played out as indeed, Mick Cronin swooped in and managed to get Perry to stay home and become a Bruin.

It's a bitter and all-too-familiar experience for Virginia, being "left at the altar" by a top-tier recruit. But at the very least, this outcome comes on the heels of the Cavaliers nearly filling out their roster with a tremendous haul of quality transfer additions, none more significant than Duke transfer forward TJ Power. A former five-star recruit, Power was one of those high-profile prospects who spurned Virginia coming out of high school. But after just one season in Durham in which he predictably spent too much time on the bench, Power entered the transfer portal and ultimately reconciled with Tony Bennett and the Cavaliers.

With Virginia adding Duke's Power, Florida State's Jalen Warley, San Diego State's Elijah Saunders, and Vanderbilt's Carter Lang (reportedly as a walk-on), the Cavaliers have one open scholarship spot remaining for the 2024-2025 season. What will they do with it?

The only viable transfer target left on the board for Virginia seems to be Kansas State guard Dai Dai Ames, who took an official visit to UVA earlier this week. A 6'1" freshman who started the last 13 games of the season for the Wildcats and ended the campaign on a high note with a season-high 16 points at Iowa in the NIT, Ames could be a great fit for the Cavaliers as a young guard with a high ceiling that he could very well reach in the three years of eligibility he still has left.

With that said, there have been many examples of Tony Bennett not using all 13 of his scholarship spots and instead rewarding a deserving walk-on with that last scholarship. In this instance, that scholarship could go to Vanderbilt transfer Carter Lang, who was a scholarship player and started seven games for the Commodores as a true freshman. He was a four-star recruit according to ESPN coming out of high school and is a Charlottesville native who played at St. Anne's-Belfield. It wouldn't be surprising at all if Lang ends up on scholarship if Virginia doesn't bring in Ames or any other player for next season.

Here's Virginia's current scholarship roster for the 2024-2025 season sorted by position and including details on each player's eligibility remaining:

PG: Jalen Warley (1 year), Christian Bliss (4 years)
SG: Isaac McKneely (2 years), Elijah Gertrude (3 years), Ishan Sharma (4 years)
SF: Andrew Rohde (2 years), Taine Murray (1 year)
PF: TJ Power (3 years), Elijah Saunders (2 years), Jacob Cofie (4 years)
C: Blake Buchanan (3 years), Anthony Robinson (4 years)

Scholarship spots used: 12/13
Open scholarship spots: 1

For now, it seems Virginia has wrapped up its recruiting efforts for the 2024 cycle (high school and transfer portal) and will now refocus its attention on the class of 2025 for the summer. We'll examine UVA's main priorities and biggest needs at a later date, but the key targets to know at this point are Acaden Lewis, Chance Mallory, Derek Dixon, Nate Ament, and Bryson Tiller.

More Virginia Men's Basketball News and Content

Virginia Basketball Transfer Portal Contact Live Tracker
Updating Virginia's Scholarship Chart and Roster Projection After Transfer Haul
Virginia Basketball Adds Vanderbilt Transfer Forward Carter Lang
San Diego State Transfer Elijah Saunders Commits to Virginia Basketball
Duke Forward TJ Power Transfers to Virginia Basketball
Report: Virginia Hosting Kansas State Guard Transfer Dai Dai Ames
Former Virginia Wing Leon Bond III Transfers to Northern Iowa
Virginia Basketball Lands First Transfer Commitment From FSU Guard Jalen Warley