Six months removed from its first-ever Final Four appearance, Virginia Tech women’s basketball is now consistently in the spotlight.
Two of the biggest national media outlets listed the Hokies seventh and eighth, respectively, in their early rankings. What’s more, Tech picked up two of the top-30 transfers in the offseason and has the reigning two-time ACC Player of the Year back on campus.
Yet, while decorations from Dallas are present at the facilities in Blacksburg, serving as a constant reminder of what last year’s group accomplished, the Hokies have turned the page.
“The expectations are no higher than what we put on ourselves,” Tech head coach Kenny Brooks said at the team’s Tuesday media day. “And we expect to come out and win.”
It’s a new group with a bunch of inexperience. Of the 12 players on the roster, only six have played in a collegiate game. Three of those players — transfers Matilda Ekh, Rose Micheaux and Olivia Summiel — have never played for Tech.
That means the preseason is a combination of things. The returning trio — Georgia Amoore, Cayla King and Elizabeth Kitley — has over 10,000 career minutes combined — they’re extremely experienced. On the other hand, the three transfers have just over 5,000 career minutes while the other half of the team has none, so they require a bit more instruction.
“The balance is I have to keep my veterans loose, because they’ve logged a lot of minutes, while I’m teaching the others,” Brooks said. “It’s a constant balance of making sure that I can balance everything for everybody so Liz and Georgia don’t get stiff while I’m teaching … what we need to do, they stay engaged in what we’re doing. But they’re doing a tremendous job in helping me coach.
“Instead of having to pull Clara Strack to the side, I’ll say, ‘Liz,’ or I’ll look over and Liz has already grabbed her. ‘Hey, he wants you to do it like this.’”
Brooks recalled a moment in practice on Monday between Amoore and freshman guard Samyha Suffren. He had just explained something to Suffren, and during a break, she walked past him to ask Amoore what he meant.
“I was right there and I’m like, ‘OK, all right, I’ll take that.’ I don’t have to do it because she’s doing it for me,” said Brooks of Amoore, who has logged over 3,000 minutes in three seasons.
Redshirt freshman guard Carleigh Wenzel gave another example on Wednesday. In an interview with Tech Sideline, she recalled working on her post-entry passes to Kitley after a practice. The program’s all-time leading scorer went and stood on the block while King helped give Wenzel pointers on the kind of passes to make.
“They’re understanding that I haven’t played college basketball yet,” Wenzel said of the upperclassmen. “Like, I’m coming out of high school and I haven’t played in a year, so they’re definitely very patient with me, but understanding like they want me there with them. I’m very grateful to have them around.”
Those are the kind of moments the Hokies are experiencing right now in the preseason. They’re learning, and it’s necessary growth for the young players who haven’t been through the battles, who haven’t played in an ACC championship game or a Final Four.
This is the time of year where Brooks often second-guesses himself. He witnesses the Hokies practice multiple times a week, and while there are good and bad plays, he doesn’t have another team to compare them to.
“Where we are right now, I know we have lots of energy, I know we have lots of talent, and we make lots of mistakes right now,” he said. “… What I love to do is talk to other coaches, and if I get a chance, go see somebody else practice. It gives you a different gauge of where you are.”
Brooks’ individual workouts give him some good perspective on where Virginia Tech currently stands, though. That was a cornerstone of his program at James Madison from 2002-16 and a key reason why the Dukes won 337 games and five CAA tournaments in his tenure. Head coaches working out players individually is somewhat uncommon across college basketball — players who have transferred to Tech have said just as much — but it’s a staple for Brooks.
The success is twofold: It helps the team get better and gives Brooks an opportunity to learn his players. He knows what makes them tick but also where they’re most comfortable on the floor and what kind of moves are in their repertoire.
“It’s what I love to do,” Brooks said. “… Before I work out Liz or Georgia, we’ll walk the floor up and down dribbling a basketball and we just talk. I might talk about Raven [Kitley], I might talk about Georgia and her little sister, Jemma. We just talk, and I learn them and they learn me.
“While I’m down on the floor, the conversations that we have, we build a relationship. Some people will say, ‘Why do your kids play so hard for you?’ It’s because I know them, they know me, and if I’m going to coach them hard, I have to know them. … Give me the opportunity and I want to be with my kids, and that’s how we’re going to develop this program.”
There’s plenty still to be learned about the Hokies between now and the season-opening game on Nov. 6 vs. High Point, especially on the defensive end, but they’re progressing, integrating the vets with the rookies, and the Greece trip in August only sped up the process.