The report is from the notoriously reliable CBSSports.com senior basketball writer Jeff Goodman.

Virginia Tech has landed UNC Wilmington freshman Adam Smith, per source. Smith averaged 13.7 points last season for UNCW.— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanCBS) May 16, 2012

According to Brian Mull, who covers UNC-Wilmington for the StarNews, Smith ended up at Tech because of his connection with new assistant coach Mark Byington. Byington recruited Smith while at the College of Charleston.

As a freshman, Smith performed well against ACC competition.

I never thought I'd enjoy a soap opera, but Florida State is quite entertaining. Today, former FSU linebacker and trustee (right now that's the more important part), Derrick Brooks said the Big 12 approached FSU, and not the other way around Here's the audio from the Tim Brando show. So a former trustee has confirmed there is actual interest from the Big 12, while a BOT member thinks it's in FSU's best interest to listen to what the Big 12 has to say, meanwhile the president has reaffirmed FSU's commitment to the ACC. Not everyone at FSU is on the same page, or so it seems.

This is for the DMV readers, or those who don't mind driving. Verizon Center will host the 2013 Men's Basketball East Regional on March 28 and 30. Beers on BCO at Iron Horse.

Wyatt Teller has played defensive end, offensive tackle, linebacker, and H-Back for Liberty High School in Bealeton, Virginia. Both Rivals and 247 rate him a 4-star recruit, and both Virginia Tech and Virginia want to sign him, and they're the favorites.

"Not many people can scratch their kneecap without bending over." — Liberty football coach Sean Finnerty (via http://www.fauquiernow.com)

After watching his film, it was no surprise that he holds 14 I-A offers including: Tech, UVa, Michigan, Notre Dame, Tennessee, South Carolina and Clemson. On his highlights he's relentlessly aggressive, physically superior in size and speed to everyone he lines up against. Liberty coach Sean Finnerty was gracious enough to talk to me about his stud player.

How is his play when he becomes engaged with blockers, is he able to separate well, move down the line and maintain good position?

He moves very well once he's engaged. He's very good with his hands, and because of how good he is with his hands, with his strength, whether it is a swim, or a bull-rush, or a rip he's able to get off the blocks very quickly.

Instead of flaming out like a lot of message board prognostications, the Florida State and the Big 12 conversation is starting to boil up. Money, of course, is at the core of Noles' discontent with the ACC, while the Big 12 is eyeing a huge payday. Let's start here, Florida State's athletic department is cash-strapped.

The Florida State University athletic department may be forced to cut as much as $2.4 million in expenditures for the 2012-13 fiscal year in part because of what athletic director Randy Spetman called lagging ticket sales in football.

Meanwhile, FSU is surrounded by (recruiting against, trying to be more relevant than) SEC schools that are swimming in the cash like Scrooge McDuck.

For the first time since a College World Series appearance in 2008, Virginia Tech softball is headed back to the NCAA Tournament. The Hokies will be part of the Knoxville regional and play UAB in the first round on Friday at 3:30pm. Host Tennessee, ranked 7th nationally, and Miami University (OH) make up the other half of the double-elimination regional.

Tech (40-19, 12-8 ACC) is coming off an impressive run to the ACC Championship, where they knocked off Maryland and top seed North Carolina before falling to Georgia Tech in the Championship game. The Hokies were one of five ACC teams selected on Sunday, joining Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Florida State, and Maryland.

The full release from the ACC is here.

Here are the highlights.

• "ESPN has the right to televise three Friday ACC football contests annually which will include a standing commitment from Boston College and Syracuse to each host one game as well as an afternoon or evening game on Thanksgiving Friday."
• The Labor Day spectacular remains, and so do the Thursday night games.
• 15 years is a long time to be partnered with anyone for anything.
• The ACC has gone all-in with ESPN (won't be able to sell third-tier media rights).

It's evident the ACC has backed off its stance of not playing football on Fridays, I found Swofford's explanation extremely amusing.

The honeymoon is over, according to David Teel, Dorian Finney-Smith intends to transfer, "Virginia Tech's most acclaimed basketball recruit in more than a generation, plans to transfer after just one season with the Hokies, sources said Tuesday."

This is the first bit of adversity James Johnson will have to deal with during his tenure. Johnson was able to keep Erick Green in Blacksburg, and Marshall Wood coming to town. Although, Doe-Doe might had been out the door even if Seth Greenberg was still the Head Hokie (I couldn't resist).

Former Tech utility man/out fielder Austin Wates of the now Astros Double A Corpus Christi's Hooks makes a, to put it mildly, spectacular, over-the-wall, home run robbing catch.

Big East commissioner John Marinatto resigned (was fired by the league presidents) yesterday. As Brett McMurphy, who first broke the news wrote, "He was set up to fail by the league's presidents because they handcuffed his ability to make any relevant changes." Big East presidents turning down a nine-year new media rights deal worth $1.4 billion put the conference on shaky ground, and led to Pitt and Syracuse leaving for the ACC. Then the rest of the dominoes fell. Even if the presidents had accepted the media deal, brought in UCF, kept 'Cuse, Pitt, and TCU, and stayed strong at ten teams it would only have been a matter of time before the league failed, because it's impossible to serve the interests of the basketball only schools in today's football driven world.

Hokie Tracks took a backseat during spring practice, but it's back now. For anyone new here, this is a semi-regular feature summarizing relevant Virginia Tech, ACC and college football news as it piles up. It's not timely, but hopefully it will serve as discussion starter.

National Recruiting Analyst for Rivals.com Mike Farrell dropped some very good information in a live chat Thursday. He believes Deon Newsome, "best fits on offense where he can be a slot receiver, scat back and also potential special teams return guy." He notes with regards to Jonathan Allen that the, "Hokies have turned up the heat and he is responding a bit". Last month Allen named Florida and Alabama his finalists, but now he's considering Florida, Alabama, Virginia Tech, Penn State and Ohio State. Farrell also believes Wyatt Teller will stay in-state, and Tech has 50-50 chance to land him.

"Report finds academic fraud evidence in UNC department" It's becoming harder and harder for UNC to thumb its nose at other academic institutions.

Only ten days ago, Seth Greenberg was the head coach of the men's basketball team, and everything was normal. Now, Seth's gone, James Johnson's in and we have to find another way to spend our time than reading the Teel/Giannotto/Berman Coaching Rumor 3000 (patent pending).

So, starting week one of the James Johnson era, the questions still stand. Why JJ? How will bringing in Seth's top assistant do anything to change the program? Yeah he can recruit, but can he actually coach? Is this guy going to actually write something other than rhetorical questions?

The only people who can officially answer those questions are Jim Weaver and James Johnson, but it's fun to speculate. So regardless, here are the questions that JJ is going to have to answer between now and the start of the season.

1. Can he get the recruits to stay?

Well this one is already partially answered, and so far signs are pointing to yes. Marshall Wood is reportedly back on #teamHokie after initially asking for a release from his scholarship. No offense to Wood, but I think everyone's concern is actually about Montrezl Harrell (for the love of god, can someone please let me know how to pronounce his first name? I feel like an idiot every single time I try). Harrell is a forward from the Blake Griffin School of Explosiveness, and honestly, I dream about his dunks in transition. If JJ can bring him back, that would be huge.

It would also be a huge measuring stick in terms of his abilities as a recruiter, because word around town is that Calipari is VERY interested in Harrell. We all know how.... persuasive.... coach Cal can be, so if Johnson can convince Harrell to come back to Tech, we should know we have a better recruiter than we even thought on our hands.