Virginia Tech Men’s Basketball Picked To Finish 14th In ACC
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1y
Personally, I have no idea where we'll finish this season. Feels like we could end up anywhere from dead last to somewhere around the middle of the league. We replaced almost the entire roster and it's very unclear how all the new portal pieces will come together.
Best case scenario: Mike Young pulls out a masterful coaching clinic this year, whips together a very solid team from an assemblage of portal players, and takes VT back to the NCAA tournament.
Worst case scenario: this massive portal influx is a total flop, the new guys don't figure out Coach Young's system, we're out-talented at nearly every position in ACC games, and we crash and burn to a single-digit win season.
I guess we'll wind up somewhere between those two extreme scenarios. Hopefully closer to the former rather than the latter.
(In response to this post by David Cunningham)
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chagerma
1y
(In response to this post by Zanderhokie)
1y
I wouldn’t expect much.
(In response to this post by Zanderhokie)
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VT One
1y
a 16-16 record and, I believe, a top ten win. Only 3-4 players left on the roster after Buzz’s departure and three of the newcomers should have been high school seniors. Way more talent and experience on this squad. No guarantees, but as I mentioned above, there is hope.
(In response to this post by Pride_and_Joy)
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VTCALS72
1y
I can by the MY "system" being tougher for kids who were in high school last year and maybe even the year before. But these are portal guys and they either can or cannot play this style.
(In response to this post by Pride_and_Joy)
I'm not really sure, either.
Personally, thanks to the portal, I can't name a single player for at least half of the ACC's teams. Read David's article closely, and look at how many teams have multiple transfers. So it's a whole lot of unknown for most of the conference.
(In response to this post by Zanderhokie)
1y
That's the world of NCAA basketball we live in these days. It seems like almost no program has much roster continuity anymore, from one season to the next.
Which also makes a team like Wake notable, returning Hunter Sallis, Efton Reid, and Cam Hildreth + some solid portal additions and a 4-star freshman. The Deacs could be really, really good this season.
(In response to this post by Chris Coleman)
1y
There are some that have a lot of questions, even a team like Clemson or Pitt, but I think VT is in a boat with Louisville, Cal, Stanford and SMU as far as mystery goes. VT and Cal have entirely new rosters with the same coach; the other three have new rosters and new coaches. But Louisville and SMU went out and got guys who are proven. I'm not sure you can say the same about VT.
(In response to this post by Chris Coleman)
1y
when things aren't going well. Wow. Talk about a total reboot. 12 portal transfers plus a new coach and only one freshman? Wow, for better or for worse, they are a completely different team. Probably better, since you can't get much worse than they were last season.
(In response to this post by David Cunningham)
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SC_Hokie
1y
Our program is amazing considering the resources it is given…..
(In response to this post by Pride_and_Joy)
1y
There’s no way anyone can look at this roster and say they’re better on paper than NCSU, SMU, or GT.
We’re depending on a former Cal bench player to likely start for us. Our leading returning player by minutes is a guy who’s never played more than 15mpg.
We’re depending on Miller and Burnham to put this team on their backs. It’s going to be a major challenge for MY to try and teach 9 new guys with no collegiate experience his system
(In response to this post by David Cunningham)
Brown isn't starting.
Near as I can tell, the wings have been Schutt and Young pretty much the entire preseason.
(In response to this post by soflahokie)
1y
in the beginning of the season.
(In response to this post by Chris Coleman)
1y
If miller and burnham are not the top two scorers. Young and Schutt right behind them. Looks like rech will come off the bench.
(In response to this post by ancient alien 2018)
1y
He was considered to be one of the top shooters in the country coming out of HS, rated the number 47 player by ESPN, and offered a scholarship by Duke. This is the kind of player we would all be high-fiving over if we got him out of HS.
In MY’s offense he could find his groove.
One of his stats that caught my eye was that in the 96 minutes he played for Duke as a freshman, he had zero turnovers. His PER rating as a freshman was equal to Nickel’s PER last season.
(In response to this post by grtmmt)
1y
Higher than 14th tho, should be better on defense and we have shooters all over. Biggest X factor is Hysier, if he shoots at a 34-35% clip from 3, this team will be perfectly fine offensively. If everything comes together it will remind me of the 20-21 team
(In response to this post by soflahokie)
1y
He couldn’t make a 3 in the beginning of the year but by mid season he was shooting the 3 much better.
Young is a much better shooter than MJ and if he gets better defensively that position is an upgrade.
Schutt was considered one of the top shooters in the nation coming out of HS. If healthy I think he can come close to matching Cattoor’s production. He will not be as good defensively I don’t believe.
Burnham and Lawal are a significant upgrade at the 4 IMO. Beran and Long were major disappointments. Burnham is much better offensively and Lawal will give us more too. I never thought Beran was a good fit and as good as he could be defensively he was overmatched against athletic 4’s… see Auburn FSU.
The wild card in all this could be Poteat/Jones/Wessler. Can they come anywhere close to the output of Kidd. I think the possibility of Jones and Lawal together is intriguing. Not sure where RJ is in picking things up but he can stretch the floor.
A couple of things…will CMY trust his bench because this team is deep. How long will it take this team to be cohesive at both ends.
(In response to this post by jfrance41)
1y
Burnham isn’t going to come anywhere close to his level of productivity on that end, Beran could guard 1 through 5 at a high level.
Burnham is a better offensive player, but get used to guys blowing by him early and often.
Beran and Long came in with much better “credentials”, Long was a double double machine at a similar level program and Beran was a 4 year starter on an NCAA tournament team.
(In response to this post by millmtnhokie)
1y
On that one winning team at year end by Brooks Barnhizer. Every other year they were bad. As for him being our most important player on defense last year why did he only play 21 minutes a game? Hunter Cattoor was far and away our most important player on defense imo.
** Edited by millmtnhokie at 10/16/2024, 2:00:15 PM
(In response to this post by soflahokie)
1y
Doesn’t change the fact that were were a significantly better defensive team when he was on the floor.
Defense is the reason we missed the tournament last year, nobody on the roster could guard 4s and 5s outside of Beran. That was by far our biggest issue last year.
(In response to this post by millmtnhokie)
1y
He was a fine depth piece, but that’s all he ever really was. Burnham is a major upgrade offensively, and the platoon of him and Lawal should pair nicely at the 4. Our rim protection should be much improved now that Kidd is gone, Poteat more mins, Lawal, and Pat in spot minutes
(In response to this post by millmtnhokie)
If you think Beran can be overmatched against athletic 4s...
Then you may not enjoy Burnham. Defending against athletic 4s is considered his weakness (see the NCAA Tournament last year). Plus, I doubt he'll be near the shot blocker that Beran was.
But as you said, he should be a stronger offensive player. And Lawal will certainly give us more production than Long (even when Long was healthy).
(In response to this post by millmtnhokie)
1y
the country in Alabama. Burnham had 19 points in 25 minutes…Beran went several games without scoring 19 points. I am not saying Burnham is a better defender than Beran but I believe we upgraded the 4. Auburn is very similar athletically to Bama and Beran was completely overwhelmed and fouled out in 10 minutes. FAU he was a no show. FSU gone in 11 minutes. It is against teams like this where I see Lawal getting significant minutes.
(In response to this post by Chris Coleman)
I agree that overall the 4 will be better this year.
Simply because we'll have more than one guy who can play the position, and Lawal will bring a needed boost of athleticism.
But I also believe that Beran was our best "team" defender, and that part of his game will be missed.
(In response to this post by millmtnhokie)
1y
I like the versatility he gives being able to play the 3-4, it’ll be better than having to play Nickel at the 4 when Robbie got in foul trouble, this year we can go to either Ben or a couple Johnson minutes when Lawal gets in foul trouble (which will happen)
(In response to this post by Chris Coleman)
1y
Young has had since that first season with us.
We had shooters all over last year and we couldn’t defend.
14th seems gracious to me. This roster is a hot mess of thrown together parts.
(In response to this post by jfrance41)
1y
And Hysier is a capable shooter that should be able to get there on a team with better spacing and better sets, he has good form and no self respecting coach is letting him take 262 3s if he’s not a capable shooter, he will be fine. Even Wessler can step out, and don’t be surprised if Lawal and Poteat hit a couple this year. Gonna have better spacing than last year considering MJ/Long/Kidd/Poteat were a non factor from 3 (and beran started 1/19)
(In response to this post by st_andrew)
1y
We are going to have to force BRoc into mins just because he is one of our only shooters.
Buckle up.
** Edited by st_andrew at 10/16/2024, 12:57:27 PM
(In response to this post by jfrance41)
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VT One
1y
Pedulla, Nickel, and Beran last season?
(In response to this post by st_andrew)
We were No. 132 nationally in 3-pt. shooting last year.
Yearly ranking under Young...
2019-20: No. 77
2020-21: No. 89
2021-22: No. 3
2022-23: No. 85
2023-24: No. 139
Last year's team was the only Young team to shoot below 35% from the outside (34.8%). Much of that was due to MJ Collins (28%) and Pedulla (32.5%). Pedulla is a better shooter than his percentage indicates, but sometimes took bad shots.
(In response to this post by VT One)
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VT One
1y
up to expectations. Maybe we will be better from three point land this season. Shot selection will be a key.
(In response to this post by Chris Coleman)
1y
10-15 mins a game. This team has more shooters than last year, none as good as Hunter/Nickel but more depth, which was our Achilles heel last year. When teams played tight on Hunter this offense became pretty one dimensional. I think the ball movement/spacing will be better between the 1-4 spots. Still wish we had a Mutts level passer at the 4, missing that connector piece
(In response to this post by st_andrew)
Rumor is we scored upper 80s against Liberty.
Just a scrimmage, and I don't even know if it's true or not, but that many points without Miller is not something I would have expected.
** Edited by Chris Coleman at 10/16/2024, 9:30:15 AM
(In response to this post by st_andrew)
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SC_Hokie
1y
I had a feeling tech was rolling in that scrimmage.
(In response to this post by Chris Coleman)
1y
The last 3-4 years we’ve had minimal depth, athleticism, and size. We were hyper efficient on offense and the approach was minimize possessions/breakouts and hope our offensive efficiency beats our defensive inefficiency.
You can’t push the pace when relying on undersized guys like Pedulla and Cattoor for 33+mpg.
We’ve got a bunch of guys now with no experience in the MY system, but significantly more athleticism and size. I think he knows he has to cut them loose and let them play a more “modern” AAU style of ball to succeed this year. That means more shots have to go up, it’s the way Rechsteiner and Schutt were so prolific in high school.
Jaydon Young and MJC last year were square pegs in a round hole. Now we’ve got Young, Johnson, Brown, and Schutt who all want to get up and down the floor. Miller and Hammond bring a more Boopie Miller type of play to the 1 then Lawal obviously wants to have space. I expect to see a lot more NBA style offense this year.
(In response to this post by Chris Coleman)
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dj97223
1y
(In response to this post by soflahokie)
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Vippie1
1y
but I don't see where anyone would think draining 3s is going to be a strength of this team. Hopefully we will be more efficient with downhill basket takes, and that will make shooting look better stat wise, but the past few teams were very heavy on pure shooters...for better or worse.
(In response to this post by st_andrew)