CINCINNATI — Cody McCoy remembers the moment he was sold on DaVeon Thomas. McCoy, an assistant basketball coach for Kilgore Community College in Texas, came across highlights of Thomas during the COVID-19 pandemic when college recruiting at all levels was reduced to coaches scouring the internet and evaluating players online. Thomas, a 6-foot-2 point guard from South Carolina, had almost zero interest from college programs at the time, but McCoy was intrigued by the limited game tape he found on YouTube.

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McCoy also noticed that Thomas’ school, Ridge View, had played against Arizona Compass in The Bash, an annual high school tournament held each December in Columbia, S.C. Arizona Compass — where 2023 Cincinnati Bearcats signee Rayvon Griffith currently plays — is one of the top prep-school basketball teams in the country and often loaded with four- and five-star college prospects, so McCoy reached out to Ridge View head coach Yerrick Stoneman for film of the game.

AZ Compass thumped Ridge View 69-48, and Thomas had a terrible game offensively, shooting just 1-for-9 from the field and finishing with three points and four turnovers. But McCoy didn’t care because he was more focused on how Thomas locked up TyTy Washington Jr. on the defensive end. A five-star, top-15 prospect in the 2021 class, Washington played one season at Kentucky before getting selected in the first round of the 2022 NBA Draft. But on that night, he shot just 5-for-12 from the field and had to work for all 14 of his points.

“I fell in love with DaVeon as soon as I watched that film. He made TyTy’s life miserable,” McCoy said. “I could watch DaVeon’s other games and see he’s really good offensively, but if his defense could make a top prospect that miserable, I knew he would be really, really good.”

It’s a big reason Cincinnati head coach Wes Miller was drawn to Thomas as well. The Bearcats landed a commitment Thursday from the junior college point guard, who chose UC over future Big 12 rival West Virginia. He’s set to join Griffith and fellow point guard Jizzle James in Cincinnati’s 2023 recruiting class when Thomas will have two years of eligibility remaining at the Division I level.

110% Committed #Bearcats 🐾

— DaVeon Thomas (@DayDayThomas24) February 2, 2023

Thomas was one of the many players in the 2021 class who had fallen through the cracks of the pandemic’s remote recruitment. He started his high school career at Lee Central High School in Bishopville, S.C., but transferred to Ridge View for his senior season in 2020 when Lee Central canceled athletics due to COVID-19. Thomas also played on a loaded grassroots team during summer 2020 that featured Julian Phillips (2022 five-star now at Tennessee) and G.G. Jackson (2022 five-star now at South Carolina), with Jackson also a teammate at Ridge View. Coaches couldn’t go on the road to scout that summer, and Thomas slipped under the radar. He had a Division II scholarship offer from Queens College, but that was it … until McCoy reached out.

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“Nobody was recruiting me coming out of high school,” Thomas said. “I committed to Queens, but my grades weren’t good enough to go there, so once I got in contact with Cody, I took the juco route. Kilgore was the best move for me.”

Thomas was a true diamond in the rough when he showed up at Kilgore in 2021.

“He was a little chunky,” McCoy joked. “I remind him of that all the time. He’s lost 20 pounds in his two years here.”

But Thomas also had high-end pace with the ball in his hands and the ability to penetrate defenses and score, then sit down and guard at an elite level on the other end. McCoy had him in the gym every day, working constantly on his jump shot and the ability to change speeds, learning how to use his pace to his advantage against better competition. Kilgore, coached by Brian Hoberecht, has been one of the best juco teams in the country in recent years and has a good reputation as a stepping-stone program for players hoping to make the Division I leap.

Point guard Dantwan Grimes signed with Baylor this offseason after two years at Kilgore, and McCoy saw similar potential in Thomas.

“One knock coming out of high school was that he couldn’t shoot. With how fast he is and his ability to get into the paint, if he can start shooting 3-pointers at a 40 percent clip, people will have to come out and guard him and then they won’t be able to stop him. He’s worked really hard on that,” McCoy said. “He can sit down and guard, he’s competitive, and he’s gonna do it with a smile. He loves playing the game. He’s going to be able to hawk the ball. That’s his calling card.”

Thomas averaged 11.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists last season, shooting 39.3 percent from beyond the arc, helping lead Kilgore to the quarterfinals of the NJCAA tournament. It earned him some looks from Division I coaches, including Cincinnati assistant Chad Dollar.

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“Coach Dollar, that’s my guy,” said Thomas, who was offered by the Bearcats in June 2022. “We have a special relationship.”

Then Thomas’ recruitment really took off during the summer after the JA 48 event, a juco All-Star game in Las Vegas.

“He was by far the best player there,” McCoy said. “He put on a show. At the end of the weekend, everyone knew who he was.”

Thomas earned additional offers from West Virginia, Kansas State, Texas A&M, Arizona State and Memphis, among others, and he picked up where he left off for Kilgore this fall, currently averaging 19.6 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists on 36.4 percent from 3-point range and 86 percent from the line through 19 games. He recently was rated the fourth-best junior college prospect by JUCORecruiting.com.

“He’s a true point guard, probably more of a scoring point guard than a pass-first point guard, but he’s getting better at making guys around him better,” McCoy said of Thomas’ development. “He shoots it well from the outside, can shoot it with some range, and he just keeps getting better at that too. By this time next year, he can be a different player because of how hard he works.”

Thomas ultimately narrowed his recruiting finalists to Cincinnati and West Virginia and visited both programs in December, including the Bearcats’ blowout win over Miami (Ohio) on Dec. 14.

“I enjoyed it,” Thomas said of the visit. “The coaching staff and players showed love, treated me like family and made me feel like I was home. It was good.”

Thomas’ self-described “dog mentality” and dedication on the defensive end no doubt endeared him to Miller and the UC coaching staff and likely will do the same to fans looking to recapture a sense of Bearcats toughness. Pairing Thomas’ ability to break down defenses as a ballhandler with a similarly skilled incoming player, James, the two should infuse the Cincinnati roster with elements it will need next season, particularly with David DeJulius set to move on.

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“He’s a winner. He’s going to come in and work his tail off every single day,” McCoy said. “He’s the type of very-competitive guard you have to have to win at a high level, and there aren’t many who work as hard as he does.”

(Photo: Grace Sorrells / @shotwithgrace)