Davidson, No. 2-ranked center in portal, visiting UVA

By Jerry Ratcliffe

One of the most highly sought after players in the transfer portal is visiting Virginia basketball over the weekend.

Nick Davidson, who played at Nevada, is ranked the No. 2 center and No. 7 overall player in the portal, according to 247Sports’ national rating service. The 6-foot-10 center, who has one year of eligibility remaining, is in high demand.

He made 67 percent of his field-goal attempts and 37 percent of his 3-point attempts for the Wolfpack, averaging 15.8 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Davidson could clearly make an impact in Ryan Odom’s new UVA program.

In addition, Davidson is a rugged, tough, physical player, and didn’t miss a single game in three years at Nevada.

A native of the Los Angeles area, he is being pursued by 30 schools, including Southern Cal, North Carolina, Kentucky, Arizona, Purdue, Louisville and others.

Virginia is much more financially equipped now to pursue players via NIL packages due to what AD Carla Williams described this past week as “a significant, significant jump” in that program.

In other portal news, former Virginia forward Blake Buchanan was spotted at Wallaby’s, a restaurant in Ames, Iowa, along with his father and members of the Iowa State basketball coaching staff on Saturday.