This team finished 11th in the ACC last year. Yes, injuries hurt them and they've brought in a lot of talent in the portal. However, they're also losing 40% of their rebounds and points (Mutts and Basile) and replacing that production with players who haven't put up similar numbers in their careers. I think there's a lot of reasons for optimism. They have a healthy squad going into the season and look better defensively (on paper). I'm hopeful this will end up being a solid NCAAT team that finishes in the top half of the ACC. But I think we need to see it on the court before we can set those expectations. I know one thing for sure, I'm going to be cheering hard for the ACC in OOC play this year. The ACC shot themselves in the foot in the past two years by losing big OOC games and the result was a meager 5 ACC teams in the NCAAT in each year. If the ACC replicates that this year, I don't think VT has much of a chance of making it.