Isaac Traudt has found a new home.
Saturday morning, the 6-foot-10, 215-pound senior out of Grand Island High announced his commitment to Virginia.
“I feel like it is the best fit for me on and off the court,” Traudt said of his commitment. “Spiritually as well I think it is just a great fit.”
Although he never announced a top five publicly, Traudt chose the Cavaliers over finalists Creighton, Gonzaga, Michigan State, Nebraska and North Carolina.
Traudt took an official visit to Virginia June 11-13. That visit went a long way toward securing his commitment for the Cavaliers.
“That definitely played a big part in the decision. We were just blown away by everything,” Traudt said. ‘We were on campus with Isaac McKneely (a top prospect out of West Virginia who is committed to Virginia) and that played a part. A big part of college is who you are going to be on campus with every day and he will be a great friend of mine.”
June was a busy month for Traudt.
He unofficially visited Creighton on June 1, officially visited Nebraska (June 4-6), Michigan State (June 17-19) and North Carolina (June 27-29). One last unofficial visit to Creighton happened on Tuesday.
Traudt said he likes Virginia coach Tony Bennett’s track record of getting wings to the next level.
“The player development there and winning tradition, culture and the championship they won two years ago were big for me. I just couldn’t pass it up.”
A consensus national Top-100 commit, Traudt is the No. 54 overall prospect in the 2022 class according to the 247Sports composite, a ranking that combines 247Sports, Rivals and ESPN national rankings. He is ranked as the No. 60 overall prospect by Rivals and No. 73 by ESPN.
If Traudt breaks into the top-50 composite, he would be in rare air for Nebraskans. He would join Hunter Sallis (No. 20) as the only other Top 50 player from Nebraska in the online recruiting era (since 2000) and would make it three straight years Nebraska has produced a top-100 recruit.
Previous top-100 recruits from the state include: Sallis, Millard North’s Max Murrell (No. 87 in 2020), Omaha North’s Justin Patton (No. 71 in 2015), Omaha Central’s Akoy Agau (No. 94 in 2013) and South Sioux City’s Mike Gesell (No. 92 in 2012).