It’s been a long journey for D’asia Gregg. One year, she was at Georgia Tech. The next, Gulf Coast State, only to find her way to Virginia Tech the following season.
She isn’t in the limelight like some of her teammates. She doesn’t even start — that’s only happened once in her 104 games at the Division I level. But in many respects, she’s the unsung hero for the No. 1 seed Hokies.
Gregg, or as the Hokies refer to her, "D-Mo," arrived at Virginia Tech during the pandemic. After spending 2018-19 in the ACC with the Yellow Jackets where she played just 144 minutes in 22 games, she moved to the JUCO level. She helped her Commanders to a top-10 ranking and a NJCAA National Championship berth, scoring 15.3 points and 6.1 rebounds per game while shooting 47%.
That season, Hokies head coach Kenny Brooks was down in Florida watching a different player, but he couldn’t take his eye off Gregg. As his program had some frontcourt attrition — four players left the program for various reasons — Brooks cranked up his pursuit.
A Florence, S.C. native, Gregg headed to Blacksburg, a college town less than 300 miles from home. She had a rough start to her Tech experience, testing positive for COVID on her first day on campus.
However, after being nothing more than a depth piece as a junior, she’s blossomed into so much more.
Gregg’s basketball knowledge is unique. She’s constantly engrossed in the game, eager to learn more. And her dedication to her craft showed up immediately, even if she didn’t play more than 16 minutes per game in her first go-round with the Hokies.
Brooks recalled one of Tech’s three meetings with North Carolina in 2020-21. In-game communication was unusual due to the pandemic; some of the players sat in a row behind the bench. And in an arena with limited fans, one voice stood out — Gregg’s.
“I just kept hearing her behind me bark out the scout, where everybody should go, what they should be doing,” Brooks said of Gregg in February. “I’m like, ‘Man, she knows exactly what they’re supposed to do.’ And we put her in and she was OK, she did OK.”
Brooks took note, and Gregg slowly saw the court more. After not playing in seven consecutive games in December and January, she was on the floor for at least 13 minutes in the team’s final 13 games.
“We watched the first shot she ever took as a Virginia Tech Hokie and that thing came nowhere close to going in. I mean, it just ricocheted off the backboard,” Brooks said. “And she had a rough time really getting going, to the point where we didn’t know what her contributions to the program were going to be. And she just kept fighting, sticking it out. … She’s gotten better every game, every year since then.”
Fast forward two seasons. Gregg is an integral piece to arguably the best Hokies squad in program history. At 29-4, they’re one of two No. 1 seeds remaining in the NCAA tournament — 34-0 South Carolina is the other. They won an ACC Championship on March 5, knocking off Louisville, and they’ve won their last 13 outings.
It’s a spot that Virginia Tech wouldn’t be in without Gregg. Her contributions don’t go unnoticed by anyone around the program, even if All-Americans Elizabeth Kitley and Georgia Amoore get most of the attention on the national landscape.
But her transformation has been eye-opening. She went from barely contributing to being the first player off the bench, though even that isn’t a truthful characterization of her role. Last season, she barely averaged three points and four rebounds per game. Her best performance was when she had 10 and eight in the ACC Tournament vs. UNC when Kitley and Cayla King were injured.
In her three previous seasons at the D-I level, she was 19-of-74 (25.7%) from behind the arc. This year, she’s 21-of-56 (37.5%), and she’s drilled some clutch ones. Just ask the Tar Heels, Blue Devils, Hurricanes or Wolfpack. Now, she’s scoring 4.9 points per game while averaging 6.2 rebounds and shooting 45.3%.
“She’s like our sixth starter,” Brooks said back in February after Tech’s 84-70 drubbing of Florida State. “… She’s out there and does some things that some of our starters can’t do. The only reason she doesn’t start is because we can’t start six people.”
How’d she become the player she currently is? Being a basketball junkie has its perks. She’s constantly absorbing the game. While Brooks often refers to Amoore as his “mini-me,” Gregg is also an extension of him on the hardwood.
She’s a knowledgeable player on both ends who just wants to win. As she described it after Tech’s 68-65 victory over UNC on Jan. 1: “It’s a team sport and I just have to think about the team and what’s best of the team. So, if it’s like me coming off the bench, then I’m OK with it. If it’s me not starting, if it’s me not playing, I’m OK with that.”
Over the course of the year, she made some game-winning plays. With the score tied at 65 in Cassell Coliseum against the Tar Heels in January, she blocked Anya Poole’s game-winning shot attempt, which set up Amoore’s go-ahead free throws. Before that, she hit the 3-pointer that gave the Hokies a one-point cushion.
In the home meeting with NC State, she had 13 points and nine rebounds while hitting three of her four treys. On Feb. 2 vs. Syracuse, Gregg was one point and three assists shy of the program’s second-ever triple-double — nine points, seven assists and 12 rebounds. And at various points throughout the season, whether it be in the ACC tournament vs. Miami or on the road in Raleigh, she made a play when it mattered.
“She is humble, but she’s becoming to understand her importance to this group and that’s the way she’s really working,” Brooks said. “It’s been a long process for her, she has frustrated the heck out of me, but she’s also given this program some joy, and I love that kid to death.”
Virginia Tech is lucky to have someone as unselfish as Gregg is in all aspects. The 6-2 forward stretches the floor and plays good defense, too.
The most important thing to her, though, is the team’s success. After all, it’s the main reason why she ventured to Blacksburg. It’s why the conference title was so savory. And, on Saturday afternoon, she and her teammates face No. 4 seed Tennessee in the Sweet 16 in Seattle. The senior would love nothing more than to keep the special run going.
“For me, coming here, it’s the best decision,” Gregg said, “but I’m just saying, I’m a team player, so it doesn’t really matter if I start. The win means more.”
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