Spurlock, Evans say they’re committed to UVa

The hits just keep on coming for Tony Bennett — and we’re not talking about chart-toppers such as “Rags to Riches” or “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”

Just a couple of days after finalizing an impressive new staff, the new Virginia coach — not the crooner — kept his first recruiting class intact when Tristan Spurlock and Jontel “Bub” Evans both re-committed to the program.

The news had to have come as a major sigh of relief to UVa fans. Ditto for Bennett.

Since former Virginia coach Dave Leitao’s departure, there had been some speculation that Spurlock and Evans, who had been recruited by Leitao, would reconsider their college choices and ask to be released from their letters of intent.

That was the avenue that forward David Chadwick, a former recruit at Washington State, took after Bennett left for UVa.

One of Spurlock and Evans’ major questions about Bennett pertained to his style of play. The incoming freshmen were both looking forward to playing in an up-tempo attack under Leitao. In his three years at Washington State, Bennett was known for just the opposite.

But Bennett met with Spurlock and Evans (AAU teammates on Boo Williams’ team) shortly after he arrived in Charlottesville and, apparently, did a pretty nice sales job.

Spurlock, a versatile 6-foot-7 player who played at Word of Life (Springfield), should form a nice one-two punch on the perimeter with returning ACC rookie of the year Sylven Landesberg. Rated as a 4-star (out of five) recruit by Rivals.com and as the 82nd-best prospect in the country, Spurlock picked Virginia over Georgetown.

Evans, a 5-foot-11 point guard who played at Bethel High (Hampton), will give the Cavs a badly needed ball-handler. Known for his defense and gritty play — he was highly recruited in football — Evans could be an excellent complement to rising sophomore Sammy Zeglinski. The 3-star recruit chose Virginia over N.C. State and Marquette.

Dunks

Bennett officially announced the hiring of his staff. The most recent addition is Brad Soucie, who will serve as his director of basketball operations. Soucie has worked with Ritchie McKay throughout the majority of his career, most recently at Liberty.

“One of the priorities for me was to fill my staff as soon as possible, but also make sure we got the right individuals,” said Bennett in a press release. “I feel good about the people we’ve assembled for this staff. Ritchie McKay is our associate head coach and has lots of head coaching experience at the Division I level. Ron Sanchez and Jason Williford are young go-getters who are hands on guys in developing players and really have a passion for recruiting. In Brad Soucie, we have someone in the basketball operations position with significant collegiate basketball experience … I feel good about the individuals on this staff, and think the young men in our program will enjoy working with them. I believe we can really hit the ground running.”