How Sacha Killeya-Jones Helped Virginia Win Its First National Title

@nickwheatley23

Believe it or not, Sacha Killeya-Jones played a pivotal role in the Virginia Cavaliers winning their first men’s basketball National Championship in 2019.

According to SB Nation’s Ricky O’Donnell, SKJ’s recruitment helped bring in arguably the most important player in the Cavaliers’ title run: De’Andre Hunter.

Back in 2016, Virginia Head Coach Tony Bennett was busy putting together what ended up being a legendary recruiting class. The Cavs had four scholarships. One went to Kyle Guy. Another went to Ty Jerome. A third went to Jay Huff. And the fourth was set to go to… Sacha Killeya-Jones.

SKJ was Bennett’s highest-ranked recruit at No. 23 overall, according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings. The soon-to-be McDonald’s All-American was from Chapel Hill, North Carolina and attended Virginia Episcopal School.

The Cavaliers had offered SKJ back in September 2014 and he committed on the first day of 2015. Meanwhile, a four-star recruit ranked No. 91 overall by the name of De’Andre Hunter was quietly hoping for an offer.

SKJ would eventually de-commit on June 2, 2015, before receiving a Kentucky offer on June 12 and committing to the Cats in August. This opened up a scholarship for the Cavs, which was offered to Hunter in July 2015, and the rest is history.

Killeya-Jones only ended up playing two years in Lexington before transferring to NC State, only to then leave the Wolfpack program abruptly for unknown reasons. On the other hand, Hunter would help catapult Virginia to its first National Championship, tallying 27 points, nine rebounds, and locking up future top-10 pick Jarrett Culver on defense.

The performance not only helped the Cavs win it all, but it also helped Hunter become the No. 4 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.

John Calipari and Kentucky fans alike hoped SKJ would help influence a national title run, but I’m not sure they envisioned it would happen this way. Nevertheless, it’s a fun story of what could have been.

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