I figured it was worthwhile opening a discussion on portal transfers especially those inside the ACC.
To get us started, Jordan Goldwire from Duke announced he will be transferring. He led Duke in assists and steals. He joins Jaemyn Brakefield in transferring from Duke.
Just in this last week, UNC's Walker Kessler, Georgetown's Qudas Wahab, Florida's Noah Locke, Indiana's Kristian Lander, and West Virginia's Emmitt Matthews, just to name a few, have all entered their name into the transfer portal. All of these players either started or played a significant role on their team this past season.
Going to be another big moving off-season especially with Covid providing the extra year.
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Kessler would be a nice get.
Priority CG target out of high school (Suffolk, VA) Jayden Epps committed to Providence. That stings, but I'm mentioning it here because it could impact things for VT and Providence in the race for Louisville transfer Bobby Pettiford, Jr.
Jayhawks have entered the Pettiford sweepstakes.
He gone. Kansas.
Pettiford isn't a transfer, he's a 2021 recruit who asked to be released from his LOI at Louisville after they let Dino Gaudio go
6'8" 210 Furman PF Noah Gurley is in the transfer portal, and the Hokies are interested. He's hearing from Marquette, Xavier, Arkansas, Georgia, Texas A&M, Marshall, and Auburn. Gurley averaged 15.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists this season.
Alabama
So how many are we targeting realistically at the moment?
I'd put the o/u at 2
Obligatory:
Depends on who is actually staying. If Pemsl is done, we need another big man, preferably one who can push Aluma and Mutts for legit minutes. I'm assuming Bede is done playing? So maybe one guard/wing if that's the case.
Jayden Gardner of ECU has entered the transfer portal and Chester Frazier liked the tweet. Not a true center, but seems like he would be a big "get" at 6'7" and 235, with career averages of 18 points and 8.7 rebounds.
Tech reached out to him, along with a bunch of other big programs. And this is just within the first couple hours of entering the portal, I'm sure there will be way more
Recruiting is just like dating. Someone changes their status to "single" on social media and within minutes the DMs fill up with "Hey girl"
Would be a hard get for VT because he plays the 4.
Are we sure that both Aluma and Mutts will return?
Why wouldn't they?
Mutts already has a degree and is almost a year into a master's. Aluma will probably have his degree this May. It's not uncommon at all for guys with degrees to leave their remaining eligibility on the table.
Or they could transfer again, that's not unheard of.
If they're not pro prospects, which right now they aren't, it is extremely unlikely they would leave before exhausting their eligibility. Mutts has already transferred twice, and Aluma transferred once to follow his coach, they seem to me the least likely guys on the entire roster to transfer.
Mutt's dad (i think) posted something kinda cryptic after the loss vs. Florida, but he deleted it. Most likely they'll both be back, but you never know these days
Just a point of differential on that, while neither has NBA prospects right now, they both will easily find work at the G League or European level, so playing additional seasons here is one less year they can play paid basketball.
How often do guys leave early by choice (discounting next year's extra Covid year) when they know they have zero shot at the NBA?
In 2019, more than half of the 80+ undergrads who left school early for the nba draft went undrafted.
That's not my point. Those guys left to get drafted or at the very least sign with a team. Are there guys with no shot who leave early to go to Europe?
I am not sure there is a good source of data for that but this year is very unique in that some of these players wouldn't be "leaving early" since they have degrees, some have graduate degrees as well. Economics of making 6+ figure salaries for even one extra year has to be an enticing opportunity. Athletic careers are typically limited to a 3-4 year window.
Yeah I'm saying excluding an extra Covid year. Let's save this argument for another day. This subthread is getting pretty narrow on my mobile feed.
Mutts will be a 3
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I hope not. That sadly benches either Radford or Alleyne, probably the latter. Which I think is a bad choice. And if we start Murphy-Radford-Mutts-Aluma-other big man, we might have horrible shooting numbers. I don't think that's a very well balanced lineup IMO.
Jayden Gardner would instantly be probably the best player on this team. I have been able to watch him dominate several times the last three years despite being the main defensive focus of every team ECU plays. I also know a few people very close to that program.
Unfortunately I haven't heard whether he has much Tech interest, I didn't even know they contacted him. Apparently Arkansas, Miami and UVA are all pushing very hard. He's also heard from Keatts at State and is originally from Raleigh.
He'd be an incredible get, hopefully coach Young gets up with him in the next couple days and can work some magic.
Good and bad news. CMY is now in the mix! But the bad news is he really liked liked his call with TB 🤢
Oh dear god I would absolutely love it if we got him. Yes, it would be nice to snag him over teams like UVa and NCSU, but god I would love to outrecruit Buzz like that.
Your salt levels are looking pretty high, man. I don't think his decision is going to come down to Mike Young vs. Buzz
I don't think he fits what NC State does offensively at all, I don't think he'll end up there
UVA
Qudas.... plzEdit: I really hope we land a big man/center
Qudus Wahab to Maryland.
If anyone is interested, Isaiah Wilkins is transferring to Longwood. He could barely get minutes for Wake Forest this year, and that was a bad team. Really odd last 2 years for him, he showed a lot of potential in his freshman year, when he was a good role player for our sweet 16 team
Sad to think about the potential of that team if Clarke and Nolley were eligible and J-Rob stays healthy all year. No way Wilkins is even used in that situation.
Buzz's plan was to redshirt him, but he said he developed very quickly and was ready to play. (plus the Clarke suspension and Nolley eligibility factoring in I'm sure)
With Roy retiring, any UNC players/recruits we realistically might have a shot at?
Anthony Harris was a high ranking Buzz commit then decommit but just has not looked impressive.
He was injured the first half of his freshman year and then looked good the second half of the season. Then I think he was injured off and on this season plus there were 5 star freshy guards that were able to sneak in front of him.
Another big dude hit the portal yesterday. Wichita State is losing 6'10" 232 lb Josaphat Bilau from Ohio via France and recruited by Georgetown, GT, Illinois, Texas Tech, Tennessee, and others. Worth mentioning Georgetown may be looking to replace Qudus Wahab, who is now at Maryland. Bilau didn't light up the stat sheet because he's dealt with injuries and only saw about 60 minutes of playing time over 12 games.
Recall his film and he looked like a potential
I seem to recall some VT involvement as a recruit. His film was eye popping.. Never saw him play at WSU though.
I can't imagine we'd go for him when we already have one raw big man with plenty of eligibility left (Ojiako)
You may have caught Tanner Groves's 35-point performance against 3-seed Kansas in the tournament. Those performances will not be returning to the Big Sky champs at Eastern Washington U. as the 6'9" 235-lb junior has hit the portal. According to a tweet from Groves, the Hokies have expressed interest in the SF who averaged 17.2 points and 8 rebounds per game in 2021.
His beard game is strong.
Dude...this guy is a monster
I will not complain about our uniforms after seeing that.
Nah, our unis still trash
This is an opinion, it isn't a violation of CG. If you got a problem with my opinion reply, don't hide behind downvotes. Our bball uniforms look bad. The maroon numbers/words on orange or the orange on maroon is ugly. I've never been a fan of the new font. I don't understand the side piping or whatever you call it, the WBB jerseys has a cool Hokiestone pattern on the sides of their jerseys. The basketball jerseys aren't great, but at least they're better than the baseball jerseys which look like bad warmups or street vendor knockoffs.
I think our basketball jerseys are just fine. They're pretty standard, with school colors. I like utilizing the school colors in the numbers and words instead of plain white anyways.
I agree that the jerseys have gotten progressively worse, but I wouldn't say they're trash. As has been previously said, they're pretty much standard/average jerseys.
I've always liked the scripts:
And the Delaney-era ones were pretty good. I liked this font better than the current one:
Big fan of the Delaney-era font. I really hate what we switched to.
I have a maroon nike VT shirt with this font and then basically the exact same shirt in the current font. The current one's maroon looks a little off and the orange font looks neon-colored. The rebrand a few years ago was a big step backwards IMO.
by "the maroon looks a little off" do you mean "we went from burnt orange and chicago maroon to neon orange and kinda purpley" ?
Yep. That is exactly what I mean.
I don't hate the current, but I think they missed the mark on coloring. The numbers on the maroons should be white with orange border, and the numbers on the orange should be white with maroon border. The way they have it now creates a visual mess that is hard to see from a distance. Interestingly, I actually much prefer the orange number with maroon border on the current whites than maroon number and orange trim. Visually, you can actually see the border of the numbers, which is good.
Other than that? Don't really care, as long as they stay away from slapping a gigantic VT on the fronts. Those jerseys look like trash.
If we sign him, Beard of de Christopher might have to change his username.
Another PF in the portal. 6'8" 200-lb Woody Newton is leaving Syracuse. He has 4 years of eligibility remaining. A 2020 recruit out of Mt. Zion in Baltimore, Newton was offered by Mike Young and the Hokies in 2018 and took an unofficial visit to Blacksburg in 2019.
Oklahoma State
Looks like we landed a big guy:
7 footer, played for USF last 3 seasons:
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/michael-durr-1.html
Interesting transfer prospect with whom the staff had a Zoom call just yesterday. 6'9" 223-pound junior Filip Rebraca is transferring from North Dakota after a season that saw him average 16.8 points and 7.6 rebounds. He also shot 50.6% from the field. A quick Google search reveals a lot of Iowa fan interest. He's also hearing from South Carolina, San Diego State, Minnesota, and others.
A couple of things jump out at me. 1) Getting in the ear of his dad (former NBA and European player Zeljko) and godfather (George Grkinich, who played at Fresno State) because they're cited as his two strongest advisors in the process. And 2) he's got a Bachelor's in Economics and looking at business school for his grad work (ND's grad program is all online and, as an international student, he must take at least one in-person course).
Noah Locke to Louisville.
Ugh, have to hope Carlik Jones actually goes pro and doesnt return.
Louisville loading up on shooters.
Looks like Mac McClung has entered the portal as well.
That feeling when the SWVA contingent (we can smell our own) start getting triggered because Mike Young doesn't offer McClung.
via GIPHY
McClung is the SWVA equivalency of Laborn for 757 Hokies fans.
He has had a better career at this point...Doubt he stays in College
I'm 100% triggered
He sucks. Can't play dead in a western. Sucks
How do you really feel about him?
Was hoping it wasn't true but here it is official. Jayden Gardner to UVA. Ugh I hope Mutts eats him alive 🤢
drat
Walker Kessler off the ACC radar. Auburn it is.
Two familiar names are in the portal. Emanuel Miller and Cashius McNeilly are looking to transfer. Both were heavily recruited to VT by Buzz Williams. Miller initially committed to the Hokies, then followed Williams to College Station.
McNeilly would be another good guard addition. Problem at this point is, do we have too many guards? We have 6.
In a two-guard lineup, one of them probably isn't gonna get a chance to see the court
In a three-guard lineup, we might get all of them on the court, but that means Mutts, N'Guessan, Ojiako, and Hayes are likely on the bench for most of the game
In a four-guard lineup, you can add Aluma or Durr to that list.
We're perfectly even with 6 guards and 6 post players right now, with all the guards shorter than 6-5, and all the post players taller than 6-6.
Sure, but in a five-guard lineup they'd all get a lot of run
/ssssomanyoptions
or that five-forward lineup
Nah, we are going to run four forwards and a Center.
Not at all, in fact the opposite may be true. We only have 4 guards capable of playing big minutes (Murphy, Radford, Alleyne, Cattoor) and 2 guards with virtually zero college experience (Maddox, Pedulla).
If anything, I think we don't have enough guard depth for 3 guard lineups. Ideally I would like another guard, or at least a wing who can shoot. If Maddox can take a huge step up and be relied on for 10-15 minutes vs legit competition, we would be in good shape as is.
I think you've got this one backwards too - i don't see how that's a good thing. You always need more guards/wings than post players, because you can only play two post players at a time. If Coach Young actually successfully deploys Mutts on the wing for big minutes, however, that would make the current roster look better logistically (though i would argue that using Mutts on the wing would not be good for our shooting and balance)
Probably related to Coach McNeilly departing A&M for Minnesota. Cashius is his nephew and Miller is also from Canada, so McNeilly was likely his primary recruiter.
Weird move for him, he's followed Buzz everywhere and it looks like he's moving from top assistant at A&M to 3rd assistant at Minnesota, if what I read is correct. But yeah, he's the guy that got the Canadian recruits, including Nickeil
I don't suspect that past ties to VT will come into play for either player. They were committed to Buzz Williams, not VT.