Spurlock commits to Cavs

The Virginia men’s basketball team has an absolute steal in Tristan Spurlock, who committed to the program late Wednesday night.
So says college basketball recruiting guru Bob Gibbons of All-Star Sports.
The majority of recruiting services have the 6-foot-6 Spurlock rated just below the first tier of high school prospects. According to Rivals.com, Spurlock is a
4-out-of-5 star player and the 65th-best prospect in the Class of 2009.
However, Gibbons has Spurlock rated as the 22nd- best player in the country.
“I think he’s a potential McDonald’s All-American,” Gibbons said. “I think he’s underrated by most people.”
Virginia beat out Georgetown, N.C. State, Wake Forest and Louisville — among others — for Spurlock’s services. UVa had been recruiting Spurlock the longest.
“I sat down with my parents and talked over everything,” Spurlock said, “and UVa was the school we kept coming back to.
“I’m excited, relieved — I just feel blessed.”
When Spurlock canceled a recent visit to Georgetown, Virginia fans started to get excited. But when Spurlock didn’t commit to UVa right away, they became extremely anxious.
According to Spurlock, he was just weighing some last-minute options.
“Clemson offered and so did a lot of other schools, but I wasn’t trying to make [the fans] nervous,” said Spurlock, laughing.
Spurlock, who plays for Montrose Christian (Md.), joins Jontel “Bub” Evans — a fellow AAU teammate with Boo Williams — in what is shaping up to be a nice 2009 class.
With Will Harris planning on transferring, Virginia figures to have one remaining scholarship for the class — unless Dave Leitao were to award it to walk-on Calvin Baker.
Spurlock said the presence of Evans, whom he is close with, was a big factor in his decision. “It definitely did help,” he said, “having a
running mate — a point guard who can get you the ball a little bit.”
One of Spurlock’s greatest attributes is his defensive ability. At the recent Peach Jam Tournament in Augusta, Ga., Spurlock put the clamps on lightning-quick point guard Tommy Mason-Griffin, who will play at Oak Hill Academy this year.
“He had been tearing everyone up,” Gibbons recalled, “but then they assigned Spurlock to guard him and he held him scoreless.
“He can defend real quick, small players or any perimeter players. He’s the complete package of offensive and defensive skills. He’s a great pickup for coach Leitao and his staff. He could come right in and be an impact player as soon as he arrives.”
Spurlock’s versatility on the offensive end should fit Leitao’s system — whatever that winds up being — to a tee. By all accounts, he can do a little bit of everything.
“I consider myself a shooting guard who can play some small forward and some point guard,” Spurlock said. “I think that kind of hurts me sometimes because some people don’t know what my position is, but I think they’re going to have me as a shooting guard.”
That’s the position of Spurlock’s basketball idols.
“Growing up I always liked Michael Jordan — even though I was pretty young to remember a lot of his things,” Spurlock said. “Kobe [Bryant] is probably my favorite player and offensively I love Tracy McGrady’s jumpshot — the way he pulls up.”
Spurlock says he’s taken pieces of all their styles.
“I can shoot the 3-ball, drive, attack, one-dribble pull-ups,” he said. “My versatility I think is the best part of my game.”