It's interesting that so many fans insist that there's no way for VT to compete with B10 or SEC programs because they have so much more money and so many advantages from being in a P2 league... but those same fans are willing to make excuses when VT does worse than teams with far smaller budgets and far less attractive league affiliations. In the specific cases mentioned (Buchanan going to GW, Rice possibly going to ODU) it's not just a case of players leaving for an easier path at a lower level of competition. It's also a misalignment between the coach's eval of a player and the player's belief in himself. Many have pointed out that player movement is the standard these days, and that's correct. VT is no different, nor should we expect it to be. The problem comes when that revolving door is pushing out more-talented players than the guys who are coming in.