The men’s basketball transfer portal closes tonight at midnight. Things have been quiet for Virginia Tech over the last week, though as we’ll talk about later, I don’t believe that’s necessarily a bad thing. But we aren’t going to talk about the portal this week. Instead, we’re going to talk about some non-portal prospects to keep in mind.
Yeah, the portal is the hot new thing, but keep in mind that there are still high school players out there. The Hokies signed Ben Hammond late last year, and considering most portal guys are looking for playing time, it can be difficult to fill a large number of spots with just players from the transfer portal.
Tech is heavily recruiting at least one high school player, and that’s who we’ll mostly focus on today. At the end, we’ll go in a different direction — all the way to Athens, Greece — to close out the article.
The Current Virginia Tech Roster
Before we get into specifics on potential new players, I want to talk about the roster Mike Young currently has and compare each player to his counterpart from last season. First, the projected starters:
1: Izaiah Pasha (So.) — An upgrade over last year’s versions of Brandon Rechsteiner and Ben Hammond.
2: Jaden Schutt (r-Jr.) — An upgrade over last year’s version of himself.
3: Tyler Johnson (So.) — An upgrade over last year’s version of himself.
4: Tobi Lawal (Sr.) — An upgrade over last year’s version of himself.
5: Amani Hansberry (Jr.) — An upgrade over last year’s version of Mylyjael Poteat.
Even without adding another starter, I believe the Hokies have already improved their starting lineup. Tech will continue looking for another player that can play on the wing who is either clearly better than Schutt or at the very least can create a major competition for the fifth starting spot.
After that, the objective is more depth. Here’s what the current depth looks like:
PG — Ben Hammond (So.): An upgrade over last year’s version of himself.
C — Christian Gurdak (Fr.): An athletic upgrade over last year’s version of Patrick Wessler. I think he’ll be able to do more things on the court than Wessler, but how much will his youth and inexperience in the system hold him back?
PF — Sin’Cere Jones (Fr.): I don’t know a lot about Jones, and I probably wouldn’t be comfortable with him playing major minutes right now. Hansberry can also play power forward, which means he can also play with Gurdak, so a three-man rotation is possible.
I’d argue that key depth right now is more important than another starter, though Tech will certainly try to find both. Mike Young likes to have 2.5 point guards on his roster, and he currently has two. I would expect him to bring in a combo guard who can also play the point. This player could be a depth guy, or he could be the guy who beats out/challenges Schutt for the starting position.
The Hokies are also seeking another wing to bring off the bench, and they’ll need another frontcourt player as well. The frontcourt player could be a true center, a true power forward or someone who can play both.
The portal closes on Tuesday, and there were some notable players who entered late Monday. That probably reset the boards of some teams at certain positions, which will have a domino effect on many other schools. I don’t know what that means for Virginia Tech quite yet. Things have been quiet over the last week, but I don’t consider that a bad thing at all. With Chester Frazier back on the staff, as well as new basketball GM Nelson Hernandez in the fold, the Hokies now have a couple of guys with a great understanding of market value. Thus, they’re in a position to “play the game” better than they were last year.
My advice: Don’t get too up or too down during the course of the portal window. Just wait and judge things at the end. The way I see it, the Hokies have beaten out multiple P4 schools for two starters thus far, which is an outstanding start and a sign that they are in a better financial position than last season. We’ll have to wait and see how they close.
With that in mind, I want to talk about a couple of players who aren’t portal recruits, which is why I didn’t title this week’s article “Virginia Tech Basketball Transfer Portal Update.” Instead, I’m going to talk about one major high school recruit and give you a foreign name to keep in mind.
Braydon Hawthorne Takes Another Visit To Virginia Tech
Braydon Hawthorne is a bit of a unicorn in that he’s a true small forward in the 6-8/6-9 range and a good outside shooter. He’s raw, but a very good prospect. The West Virginia native was originally going to WVU because of his close relationship with Frazier, but with the coaching change there, his recruitment is now open. He took an unofficial visit to Blacksburg as soon as Frazier was hired, and he returned this past weekend for an official visit.I’ve mentioned Hawthorne before, back when he took his first visit to Tech. To recap, here are his national rankings:
• 247Sports: No. 71
• On3: No. 48
• Rivals: No. 81
Besides Virginia Tech, he also took an official visit to Kentucky last week. Now, I know what you’re thinking: There’s no way the Hokies can beat out the Wildcats for a basketball recruit, right? On paper, sure, but there are several things working in Tech’s favor here.
1: He left Lexington uncommitted, which means he is making his decision at least partly based on things other than program stature and money.
2: Frazier has made him a priority since day one, and he and his family have a great relationship with Mike Young’s right-hand man. Kentucky only made him a priority recently, and even now it’s questionable that he’s a priority for them because...
3: Kentucky already has 13 scholarship players set for next year’s roster at the time of this writing (Tuesday morning at approximately 11 a.m.). Yes, you are allowed to go up to 15 these days, but finding more than 13 decent guys is difficult because of playing time, even for a program like Kentucky.
The Wildcats have five returning players, one of whom is testing the NBA waters, but they expect him to return. They have signed three high school players. They also have five transfer portal commits. Hawthorne is a throw-in prospect for them who they would project to sit at the end of the bench and possibly redshirt during his first season.
The main writer for their On3 site, Jack Pilgrim, claims that sources tell him that Kentucky’s “core roster” is complete. If that’s an accurate phrasing, the Wildcats don’t consider Hawthorne as someone who would be important to them this year. Instead, they view him as a developmental guy. Maybe they’ll keep him after a year or maybe they’ll recruit over him. Here’s the relevant line from the article:
“Those 13 players will make up the scholarship pieces set to contribute in 2025-26, but Kentucky is not ruling out any outside additions among those comfortable with end-of-bench development roles, potentially as redshirts. That includes players like 2025 four-star wing Braydon Hawthorne, who took an official visit to Lexington last week. The Wildcats love the top-50 recruit and would certainly take his commitment as a long-term addition with serious upside, but other schools can offer immediate playing time that is currently unavailable considering the minutes tied up elsewhere.”
That’s the take of one of Kentucky’s main basketball recruiting writers, and it makes sense to me. Hawthorne has a decision to make, and whatever decision he comes to, I can certainly understand. There are also rumors of Michigan trying to get involved and schedule an official, but right now most signs point to this one being a VT-Kentucky battle.
Hokies Involved With a European Player?
https://twitter.com/nathangray_1/status/1913612461837631516
I don’t know who Nathan Gray is, but I have heard that Virginia Tech is recruiting a foreign player, so it’s quite possible that Neoklis Avdalas is the guy I’ve heard about, but I don’t know it for a fact.
Avdalas is considered one of the best players in Europe for his age group. He’s currently holding up well against grown men in the Greek League, and he was named Greek League Best Young Player in 2024. He declared for the NBA Draft on Monday while also keeping his college eligibility open.
Right now, many project Avdalas to be a mid-to-late second-round pick, which means somebody would likely stash him as a developmental player on a G-League roster. Being that he’s Greek, I know absolutely nothing about him, and like I said, I don’t even know for a fact that the Hokies are actively recruiting him. But he would be a pretty major get, with the caveat that one good year of college basketball could see him jump to the first round, in which case he’d be gone pretty quickly.
Or, maybe he won’t go to college at all. Either way, this one won’t get settled quickly, and the Hokies won’t turn away talent on the off-chance that they may sign Avdalas later. I consider the chances of him signing with Virginia Tech to be pretty remote, but I did want to throw his name out there to show that the Hokies are casting a wide net and have more money to play with this year.