2022 four-star Rodney Rice has committed to Virginia Tech, he tells @On3Recruits. Story: https://t.co/rMjskxv2Ys pic.twitter.com/OajFtplxsV— Joseph Tipton (@TiptonEdits) October 3, 2021
Third-highest rated bball recruit ever for the Hokies after Dorian Finney-Smith and Nickeill Alexander-Walker
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Comments
The Mike Jones hire paying dividends already. Excellent move by MBB and the athletic department to bring him in.
Elite
I LOVE EVERYONE IN THIS BAR
Fam
WHO! Mike Jones
That's incredible.
Basketball school?
YEAH!
let the good times rolllllllllll
💥
LFG! Clowney next!
Really excited about the future of this program
Jones Paellas Big Dividends, Serves Rice To Hokies
Big time player! Welcome to VT! Basketball team continues to get better and better!
Cannot wait for the season to start.
Welcome home Rodney
To quote CMY: Boom!
https://twitter.com/CoachMKYoung/status/1444402998797553665
It seems like an eternity ago when we were worried about the direction of the basketball program when Brent ditched us to chase "success" at A&M.
It is simply amazing what Mike Young has already accomplished. Love that guy.
If the rumors are correct, this is just Round 1 of the good recruiting news
Don't play with my emotions, I'm fragile right now. I'm hoping these rumors relate to a very talented pf who would complement rice beautifully
The PF your talking about probably would be a C over here. There's another PF hokies in the race for that can play the 3 or 4
They can call him a pg if they want as long as it's in maroon and orange. Is Lubin who you're thinking would fill the 3/4?
Yeah I think he can fill etiher position really well
The more the merrier, we have enough room for both
Both would finish out this class correct?
Ehhh I say it might but let's say a top 40 PF from FL wants in the boat in a couple months someone might have to go
Not saying we have the best of chances but the MY/MJ combo might give tech a fighting chance. Also mich boat gotta feel up
I've never known how this works but always been curious. Do the coaches just tell someone they don't have room anymore if a top target decides they want to join?
Idk but I know it happens alot in football recuirting
.
When was anything negative said?
Look, I'm done. I get annoyed when every single time we get a new commit (fb or bb), someone always has to say that a current player has to leave the program. I'm tired of that negativity. I don't care if it's reality or whatever.
I get it, but I'm just tired of it. You wrote, and I quote: "Ehhh I say it might but let's say a top 40 PF from FL wants in the boat in a couple months someone might have to go" and the discussion continued...
In my mind, that is a negative comment about our team when the post is about a great new commit. Now, I'm done, you don't need to reply to this, as it obviously will only gain you new legs and increase the chance I lose even more legs. I wish I had never posted.
That's not negative, its just the reality in regards to recruiting.
I think you're missing the point here.
Primus was saying that *in general* football teams have to do this quite frequently. It's the whole "the numbers always work out" kind of thing. It wasn't directed towards VT football anymore than any other team and wasn't really negative at all.
Teams have X number of scholarships available. Sometimes they get a commit early in the cycle who ends up drawing the short straw at the end of the year because a team has a better recruit that they end up being able to land.
When I was asking it was more just general curiosity in how it works, less so specifically about tech. I'm new to the recruiting world and I like knowing how things work. I understand where you're coming from and I'll keep it in mind in the future
I don't think he was being negative, believe he's talking generalities between bball and football recruiting, not specifically commenting on Tech football recruiting.
That's a 100% of what I was saying. It's nothing at tech specifically it happens through out all college in alot of sports
https://247sports.com/player/noah-clowney-46110266/
There's been some chatter about us being in a good spot for Clowney.
1/x?
Are you clowning around with us?
Hokie basketball is fun
Admire your self imposed challenges. I could never stick to that. So much content out there that needs to be memed and gifed.
You have discipline my friend.
Woooooo! Big fish in the boat! Great get, gonna be fun to watch for the next 4 (3? 2?) years! This guy seems tailor made for Mike Young, love his flexibility on the court.
Wow a 4star guard. Who says this coaching staff can't recruit. Can't wait to see how Coach Vice develops this guy!!
What?....you say this is a basketball recruit. Oh well......
/s obviously.
Great pickup by CMY
Not gonna lie, I saw "Rice committed to VT" and thought "doesn't Rice (football) hate us or something?" Took another click to realize it was the basketball Rice.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO9OOOOOO
I'd give 5 cents for Tyler Nickel's thoughts right now
Might cost you 10 cents if his last name is Nickels.
He got to go to his dream school because they missed out on their first choice. I wish him all the best but I doubt he's regretting it yet.
WOOOOOOOOO FAM!
Glad to eat crow on this one! Let's go Hokies!
We big dogged it on this one. Great great pull can't wait to see Rice tear it up with us
And just like that its another good day to be a Hokie!!!
We probably have more 4 stars on shooty hoops then we do football at this point, maybe fuente should take some recruiticorning lessons from Coach Young?
Its kind of crazy how we've been able to turn things around. Its not that long ago that every basketball expert out there said that it was impossible to win in Blacksburg. No 'if only they had the right guy' or 'maybe if things break the right way', it was accepted as fact that even the best coaches in America could not win in Blacksburg, and even worse, it would be impossible to recruit well for this school.
Buzz Williams and Mike Young spat in the face of that mindset and proved that, as good as the experts can be, when it comes to what anyone is capable of, they don't know their asses from a hole in the ground.
The school administration and athletic department made a conscious decision to commit resources and energy to basketball, and Whit was able to convince some really good coaches to come to VT. They started giving basketball the attention and prominence it deserved in the athletic department.
Well I mean yes that's what happened, but at the same time, there was absolutely the belief amongst the basketball community that even if we committed resources and energy to basketball that it was a futile effort because "you'll never be able to recruit those players to Blacksburg" with a not subtle at all insistence that being rural rather than urban made it impossible for us.
I mean hell, when Buzz was hired the basketball community went 'oh why would he do that, its career suicide, he'll never be able to win there'. When Buzz left to a&m, those same pundits basically celebrated the fact that VT was going back to the gutter where they belonged and they'd never be able to continue it, and that VT was only good because of Buzz and there was absolutely no sustainability to what was built.
I'm very glad that stereotype has been dismantled over recent years. Watching Mike Young elevate our recruiting from where it was under Buzz while watching the team reload rather than rebuild on the court has completely turned what was 'known' about VT basketball on its head.
Most of the agonizing like you're mentioning I read on TKP. Several years later, TKP is STILL wear I read that kind of bullshit. Frankly, it wasn't so much that VT basketball had doubters in expert basketball analysts, but that analysts didn't talk so much about the program at all. VT basketball just wasn't a huge factor in a league with UNC, Duke, Maryland, Florida State, and UVa. Though VT did manage to knock of UNC and Duke every once in a while.
You left out Seth Greenberg, and there were improvements in the program even then. VT was the perennial bubble team.
Over the last few years I'd say VT has proven some things, and gotten more and more noticed. Buzz told us why he came to VT. He believed there was an opportunity there, and he was right. I don't doubt for a second that Whit helped sell him on the idea. The resources and the desire were there.
I'm damned glad Buzz came here, and even gladder that Mike Young is here.
"In these days, a man who says a thing cannot be done is quite apt to be interrupted by some idiot doing it."
--Elbert Hubbard
Mike young and staff are kicking butt. Great job,
Mike Young is getting it done. VT might not have to wait 3 years for a good senior-laden team to compete. We might be at the stage to be in the top third of the ACC every year
Those other two guys ranked higher are both in the NBA right now. This is terrific.
I see a lot of disappointed (or worse) fans next year. The program isn't there yet.
What makes you say that?
Well...look at who will be leaving - and how many minutes they've logged - and who will taking their place. In year 3, how many players recruited by Young to VT originally out of HS will be getting more than 25 min/game this year? Young doesn't have any more ex-Wofford guys to lean on to plug into his system.
IMO, three or four of the guys on this year's bench are going to have to step up their games pretty appreciably. But college basketball is becoming less and less of a developmental game. You need to be ready pretty quickly. If you're not a significant contributor by Y2 in a program, the odds are against you ever doing so. Thus so many players in the portal, but not many P5 starters.
Look, I'm not criticizing Young or the program. I like what Young is doing. I think he can turn VT into a fairly consistent top 1/3 ACC program. But to be top 5 consistently that means VT has to relegate at least one of, say, Duke, UNC, Louisville, UVa, Syracuse, or FSU to the 2nd tier consistently. All while keeping a few other programs with good scholarship players where they are. Not easy, but not impossible either.
Nevertheless I think next year will be a bit of drop-off. I'm sort of preemptively warning the fans jumping on the bandwagon now to not be the first to jump off when the program doesn't live up to their current exuberance for a year or two.
I see what you are saying, but look who we had when MY came in. MY has shown he can use the portal to bring in plug and play players, and not just from Wofford. Next year we lose a lot of experienced talent. But we bring in some great talent, and have some experience coming back. I agree we will likely be a piece or two short depending on how this years bench develops, but I think there is a decent chance MY will see what we need and go get it from the portal.
The problem is he'll definitely have more talent than Y1, but not as much balance and experience (and maybe not even as much talent) as Y2 & Y3. But yes, the portal is always a big wildcard these days.
So short of an infusion of just the right transfer(s), that would probably put VT in the 15-20 win range for Y4. Not bad, but a drop-off from Y2 and quite probably Y3. Which my only original point...
Anything after that is anybody's guess.
Fair enough.
I think MY and staff have shown enough that I'm confident that they can recruit with the big dogs and we'll be a great long-term coach here at VT. I hope folks don't get too antsy IF he has a dip for a couple years in the near future.
Insert gif of sad guy in the rain.
I'm with HammerTime:
It can't be a coincidence that MY is very Beamer like in personality?
How is CMY's milkshake drinking game? CFB's needs a bit of work
Let him retire, then I'm sure it's game on!!!!
Whit nailed the MY hire.
MY nailed everything else.
Phrasing
Yes, let's not confuse MY with Urban Meyer.
We don't know that Urban nailed it yet, just fingered it.
That train wreck has been even more entertaining than I thought it was going to be down in Jacksonville.
I just realized this is a commitment thread, so I'm going to hold further commentary at this time. But yeah.
Or Galen Scott
Was curious to see Rodney's game in action, and went and searched up a couple videos on YouTube showing just how much talent he truly has.
Rodney Rice Video #1
Rodney Rice Video #2
Here's also a full gameplay of Dematha Vs Paul VI (A very talented team with notable Dook recruit Trevor Keels residing on that team). Rice has a good game and also it allows us to see just what valuable coaching experience Mike Jones also brings to Blacksburg for (hopefully) many years to come.
Full Game Video
(*SPOILER ALERT* Of note in that game, it goes to OT and Rodney Rice sinks the game winning/sealing FT's to give Dematha the win. Can you say clutch gene much?)
Overall, Rice is a fantastic get for this coaching staff and Mike Jones was an enormous hire for the future of Virginia Tech Basketball. Very excited for this season!