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When given an opportunity to attend the NBA Top 100 Camp earlier this summer in Charlottesville, Victor Davila elected instead to play for the Puerto Rican National Team.

Good thing for Virginia Tech that he did.

Davila, a 6-foot-9, 245-pounder from Starmount High School in Boonville, N.C., committed to the Hokies earlier this week. He has been ranked as high as No. 86 among the nation’s top senior prospects by PrepStars, which did not list him with the Hokies in its most recent publication.

“He spent the summer [in Puerto Rico] so he didn’t get a lot of publicity or evaluations,” said longtime recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons, who estimates that he has seen Davila play on 5-6 occasions.

“What impresses me, [is] he has a big body, but he moves well. You would think he would be a plodder but he isn’t, particularly when he gets the ball in the post. He’s got just an excellent array of post moves, [including] a very effective jump hook with either hand.

“He’s a true post player but he can shoot facing the basket. He catches everything. He’s not a great elevator in terms of leaping but he uses his body. When they get him in a conditioning program at Virginia Tech, he can easily add 10 more pounds of muscle.”

Gibbons admits that he didn’t know Tech was in such good shape with Davila, who essentially picked the Hokies over Clemson.

“The host family he lives with has strong ties to Wake Forest,” Gibbons said. “I think it just kind of fell into place for Virginia Tech because [Wake] got Ty Walker and the Tony Brooks kid and Al-Farouq Aminu.

“They got three frontcourt players and that was Skip Prosser’s legacy. They had no more scholarships. On top of Virginia Tech not being too far from Boonville, which is between Winston-Salem and Mount Airy, and an ACC school, I think Seth did a good job recruiting him.”

Getting Davila or a post player of his caliber was crucial after the loss of Gus Gilchrist, a fall 2007 Tech signee who asked for a release after the shootings of April 16. Gilchrist eventually got the release and has re-opened the recruiting process.

     “Davila’s got a much bigger body [and] a lot more skill,” Gibbons said. “I saw [Gilchrist] play against Oak Hill and he’s not at all like Davila. He’s [Gilchrist] more athletic but not as strong or as skilled.”

Gibbons also feels there will be fewer issues with Davila than with Gilchrist. There have been questions about whether schools tampered with Gilchrist after his November signing, but Gibbons wonders if academics might have come into play, given Gilchrist’s stops at multiple high schools.

VIRGINIA FANS WILL be happy to hear that Gibbons thinks the Cavaliers will get a commitment from 6-11 John Brandenburg from St. Louis, but Gibbons gave no indication that he has any inside information.

Brandenburg was expected to announce his choice of Virginia or Stanford in the week following his Sept. 7-9 visit to Charlottesville, but two weeks have elapsed and there’s still no word.

Virginia has guard Elliott Williams and forward Lance Goulbourne on campus this weekend, and there are reports that earlier visitor Sylven Landesberg will announce Thursday which of three finalists – UVa, Georgia Tech and St. John’s – will get his signature.

The Cavaliers didn’t sign anybody in the spring, when they probably faced an uphill battle for Patrick Patterson, and they had another disappointment earlier this summer with the announcement that 6-8 Ed Davis from Richmond’s Benedictine High School had chosen North Carolina.

“That really shocked me,” Gibbons said. “I really thought he was going [to Virginia] but I think his dad, Terry, who hadn’t been that big a factor, got involved and changed it."

Williams is a national Top 25 player whose first visit was to Duke, a program that Virginia rarely bests in recruiting. Gibbons has Brandenburg and Landesberg in the 60-70 range.

“I think they’ll get Brandenburg,” Gibbons said. “Landesberg, that’s tough to read. He came in and stayed virtually a week. I think Virginia’s got a good shot. Brandenburg and Landesberg are good, solid, four-year guys and that’s what Dave [Leitao] needs.”