McCutcheon star Lillie Graves commits to Virginia Tech over Indiana schools

Lillie Graves sent one of Indiana girls basketball’s biggest recruiting signals Wednesday, choosing Virginia Tech and taking one of the state’s most versatile young stars off the board. The McCutcheon senior is a four-star recruit with a national profile that has already reached the top 50, and her decision sends a clear message about how far Greater Lafayette talent has risen.

Graves brings the kind of production Power Four programs chase early. In 82 career games at McCutcheon, the 6-foot-1 guard-forward averaged 19.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 3.6 steals, numbers that match the film of a player who can score at multiple levels, handle the ball and disrupt passing lanes. Her 2025-26 season was even more revealing: she averaged 17.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 3.3 steals while helping McCutcheon win a second straight regional championship, then followed with a 20-point, 12-rebound, five-steal, five-assist performance against Northridge in semistate play.

That kind of all-court production is why Virginia Tech made Graves a priority. 247Sports lists her as a hard commit to the Hokies with a 91 rating, a national ranking of No. 49 and a composite rank of No. 47, while ESPN’s SportsCenter NEXT 100 placed her at No. 55. Her recruiting timeline also shows offers from Wake Forest, Florida State, Rutgers and UCF on Feb. 18, 2026, proof that her stock spread well beyond Indiana. Graves is Virginia Tech’s first Class of 2027 commitment, an early building block for a program now led by Megan Duffy, who took over on April 3, 2024 after guiding Marquette to the NCAA Tournament that same year.

For Indiana, Graves’ choice fits a broader pattern that has been building outside the state’s usual heavyweights. McCutcheon has become a steady postseason force, reaching IHSAA Class 4A semi-state in each of the last two seasons and the regional as a freshman, and Graves was the centerpiece of that run. She was also named to the 2026 Indiana girls Junior All-Stars core group, with the team set to face the Kentucky Junior All-Stars on Sunday, May 31, at Charlestown High School, and McCutcheon’s athletic site said she earned IBCA All-State honors.

Her commitment leaves one of the state’s premier two-way players headed to Blacksburg, but it also reinforces what the last two McCutcheon seasons already showed: Greater Lafayette can produce prospects with national recruiting value, and the ACC is paying attention.