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Hokiekid1

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Last post: 11/22/2021 08:04 AM ET

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Dimaro imo will be ready to contribute, she’ll need to adjust to ACC play

But she’s 21 and has good experience in Japan, and was productive there (my prediction is she will start). I don’t think Baldassare will contribute as much, I think she’ll be more of a depth piece (nothing really stands out about her game). Dimaro’s game has a lot to like about it, good size (6-3 or 6-4), very good rebounder and shot blocker, and can score efficiently inside the paint.

Duffy can be a tough coach to play for (which I think overall is good)

But not everyone is going to gel with her style. It’ll be interesting to see what Duffy does with the open spots, she has an opportunity to continue to build the roster to fit her style.

Only 6-4 is funny to me, because 6-4 is pretty tall for WBB. Talented

Centers that are skilled and taller than that are very rare and highly coveted. Just look at ADR, she’s 6-6 and was a 5 star recruit, and hasn’t gotten lots of minutes because she hasn’t developed the skills yet. Currently there’s just 2 centers in the 2026 class listed taller than 6-4 (Abuna Ruop is one, who VT has offered and is recruiting). Anyways, I really like her potential on the defensive end and rebounding, needs to develop on offense, but I think she has a solid base there to start with.

CG Atlee Vanesko has an official visit scheduled for September 6th, and

also visited VT last summer. G/W Kaleo Anderson also recently went on an official. Both inside the top 100 by ESPN. High 4 star Forward Julia Scott visited last summer as well and appears to be a top target also. VT also made the top 12 for 5 star PG a while back, but that's gonna be a tough one for VT to pull out. There's many other names as well, but those are the ones I've seen the most about.

Freelon is actually a very good rebounder- there might be other concerns

With her starting in the post with her lack of size, but imo rebounding isn’t one of them.

Name 1 player on both teams that needs to have a good season for VT to make

The NCAA Tournament. What about their game/role makes them important to their team’s success. ** Edited by Hokiekid1 at 6/24/2025, 12:15:52 PM

I’m pretty confident Swanson will play because of her shooting ability and

She’s a pretty solid all around player. I think Sears and Wells will battle for that 6th spot. I think Sears will prob get more playing time as the season goes on though

Amoore signed after her…Sears was very very good against weak high school

Competition. With most high school prospects, you really don’t know how good someone is until they hit the court. Also I’m not exactly sure what hat you mean by sign (just out of high school?). but if we’re talking about all players to join VT’s roster since Kitley joined the roster, you can prob name several players clearly better than what would be a fair evaluation of Sears (Amoore, Soule, Traylor, Owusu, Strack, Baker, Wenzel are the first to come to mind). .

I’m more looking at it from the perspective of Martin- she’s hasn’t visited

VT (she doesn’t even follow any of the coaches on social media), and VT already has a lot of guards on the roster- no clear early path for playing time. She could be interested in VT, but everything I’ve seen doesn’t really point that way.

She hasn’t visited VT as far as I’m aware, and VT already has 7 guards on

The roster. So I don’t really see it happening, I think there’s prob other schools higher up on her list.

I think she should get a roster spot, cause the Aces need depth in the post

Right now. They had some injuries there. Since Kitley is coming back from the knee injury and adjusting to the league, she should only get better at the season goes on.

Mr projected starting lineup would be

Nelson, Wenzel, Daley, Baker, Freelon With bench in rough order Swanson, Suffren, Peterson, Jenkins, Sears, Wells, Trent Of the freshman, I think Jenkins is most likely to play because of need for depth in the post, and she is pretty college ready imo- she’s not necessarily gonna wow in any one area, but pretty solid across the board, has good handles for a forward and can score inside, and can keep teams honest from 3. Trent is another option for the 4th post spot, and Sears is a talented player, but there’s a lot of depth at guard so will be interesting to see if she can crack the rotation. For expectations, I think this team can make the tournament, defense will be improved, but they will need to figure out how to replace Rose, Ekh, and White’s production on offense.

We just got a commitment from a very good 6’2” forward (yes 6’2”, VT has

Her listed at that height). 6’6” forwards with the skills of Kitley are very rare. Many 6’5”+ centers just don’t pan out because they don’t have the skills or athletic men required for D1 basketball. VT will prob get another post player, but it won’t necessary be a starter (prob won’t be), and doesn’t need to be 6’6”, 6’3” or 6’4” should be big enough if they are athletic and skilled. I think people were disappointed we didn’t get ADR, but honestly I think Freelon is the better player, has much more experience and more polished. VT needed 2 post players and had to be smart about how they used NIL, which is why I think we didn’t ADR and maybe others. I do think they’ll get a quality backup, and VT also has 2 4 star freshman forwards (Jenkins and Trent) coming in.

She’s versatile, can play 3-5. Unless VT gets 2 more centers (which will

Be difficult and I don’t think is necessary) VT will go small ball quite a bit with 2 of Baker, Peterson, and Freelon at the 4 and 5.

There have been other targets, and they’ve been continuing to add to it as

Players have entered the portal. There should be some visits happening next week once the dead period ends. Also, it was big for VT to lock down a commitment from Swanson, cause now they can focus in more on post players. One of the 3 big needs has been filled (VT needs 1 star table wing (Swanson) and 2 quality bigs) the backup guard spot is not as big a need, and also there are a lot of options there, so I’m sure the focus is mostly on getting bigs onto campus.

We need another guard or 2 that can shoot, and Swanson is a good shooter

(34% on her career). VT will prob add close to 4 players, so they will still have room to add a couple bigs.

Well yes, but that doesn’t mean you need someone 6’6”. Many teams in the

Sweet 16 have centers around 6’2” or 6’3”. Ashley Sofilkanich is 6’3” and she would be a great addition. So would Caitlyn Weimar (6’4”). My post was also more talking about the backcourt, but some fans are expecting us to get Clara Silva or someone similar, and that’s prob not gonna happen.

Sure, but I think it still is a similar style. Also a lot of the transfer

Guard targets I’ve seen aren’t exactly big guards. I’m expecting Duffy to add a PG and a SG/wing.

Don’t be surprised if VT has a generally smaller team next season,

Especially in the back court. Remember, this is no long Brooks’ team and Duffy has a different style. At Marquette, Duffy often played 2 PGs together, and I think Duffy will probably use similar guards at VT. Duffy will want to get our transition and have fast guards driving to the basket, so wouldn’t even shock me if you see Nelson, Suffren, and Wenzel all on the court at the same time.

Post play is where we needed the most improvement and we have 2 post player

Transferring out. Not sure which guards you’d prefer to leave, our young guards are pretty talented.

She has much better resources at VT to attract good centers. Also, there

Are good centers out there that are around 6’2”. If they are athletic, strong, and can defend the post and rebound, then they can def fit at the 5. VT got spoiled with Kitley, but centers like that are very rare. Demeara Hinds (6’2”, Wake Forest) and Carter McCray (6’1”, Wisconsin) are 2 centers in the portal, that I believe VT is taking a look at, and would be solid additions. I could see VT getting someone like Hinds and then someone a little bigger, that would give them some matchup versatility.

They changed the quadrant system for WBB this season and it’s very

Different from the men’s which is why VT only has 1 quadrant 1 win, they are difficult to get. Below is the quadrant system and I also included a link to ESPN’s article on it. There is a lot of confusion on it this year, so hopefully that clears it up. Quadrant 1 Home games against teams ranked 1–25, neutral games against teams ranked 1–35, and away games against teams ranked 1–45 Quadrant 2 Home games against teams ranked 26–55, neutral games against teams ranked 36–65, and away games against teams ranked 46–80 Quadrant 3 Home games against teams ranked 56–90, neutral games against teams ranked 66–105, and away games against teams ranked 81–130 Quadrant 4 Home games against teams ranked 91–plus, neutral games against teams ranked 106–plus, and away games against teams ranked 131–plus

Yeah, chances of landing her are low. I think VT has a much better shot at

Julia Scott, who is a versatile big at 6-3 (not sure if she’ll be a 4,5 or will rotate at both).

Kaelyn Carrol has not officially narrowed down her list, but she did visit

VT in October and it appears VT has a chance in that one. Also, if VT misses on Lunan, keep an eye out for 5’10” guard Harissoum Coulibaly, VT offered her and she also visited in October. She is coached by former Hokie Taj Cole. She isn’t ranked by any of the sites, but she also has an offer from Georgia, along with VCU, Memphis, and others.

To my knowledge, VT has not offered her yet, though there is still plenty

Of time for that to happen. The 2 2026 bigs I think you should watch out for are 5 star Olivia Vukosa (6’4” center, ranked 5th overall on ESPN) as we made her top 16, and Julia Scott (6’3” F/C, ranked 37th on ESPN), who visited VT in October. At guard, watch out for 5 star 5-7 PG Autumn Fleary (14th overall on ESPN) as VT made her top 12, and 4 star 5-11 guard Tori Oehrlein (ESPN #43) as VT made her top 6 and she visited in October. Tori Oehrlein is announcing her decision on Friday, and VT is very much in the hunt there. ** Edited by Hokiekid1 at 11/2/2024, 9:46:17 PM

Just because a player reports an offer

It doesn’t mean the staff is pushing for the player, or that it’s even committable. VT is in a very good spot for a bunch of guards and wings that are more than likely higher on VT’s board (I’ve listed those I’m aware of below). Divine Bourrage- 5 Star 5’10 G Caliyah DeVillasee- 4 star 5’7” PG Destiny Lunan- 4 Star 5’9” PG Harissoum Coulibaly- 5’10” G Agot Makeer- 5 star 6’1” W Nyla Brooks- 5 star 6’1” W Kaelyn Carroll- 5 Star 6’2” W Zhen Craft- 4 Star 6’2” W/F Maddie Parrish- 4 Star 6’0” W

If you look at past classes, that’s about where it would end up, maybe it

Would be slightly outside that if we got no one else depending on the other classes, but VT will get more recruits. It will not be a miracle if VT lands a 5 star, VT actually practically did it last class with Silva (she would have been a top 10 recruit if she was in the US), and the only reason we lost her was cause Brooks left. VT WBB has become a national brand, and the reason (along with the coaching staff) why VT has many highly touted prospects considering joining the program.

For those that don’t know, Agot Makeer (#1 wing for 2025, 6th overall)

Visited over the weekend. Divine Bourrage (5th overall) has a visit set for September 21st. So VT has a legitimate shot at 3 top 15 players. And there’s a bunch more inside the top 100 that VT still has a shot with. The 2025 class is looking like it will be very strong, could be the best VT has ever had. Even if they were to add no one else, the class would prob still finish as a top 25 class, but if we land one of the 5 stars, it’ll make for a clear top 10 class, and could be program changing. Exciting times! ** Edited by Hokiekid1 at 6/25/2024, 9:10:17 AM

I counted 8

- Nelson, Suffren, Baker, Wenzel, Hazelton, Wells, Petersen, and Ramiya White. But yes, that is a really good core to build around.