I haven't seen anything official from Aluma yet, however, it appears that he is joining Mutts in declaring for the draft. We're going to have to be really active in the transfer portal with all of these potential changes to the roster.
DRAFT BOUND: Check out @TimThomasTLP's thoughts on Keve Aluma declaring for the 2022 #NBADraft while maintaining his college eligibility, Aluma's legacy at Virginia Tech, and where the #Hokies may turn to replace Aluma if he doesn't return here: https://t.co/dF77kB6yCK— The Tech Lunch Pail (@TechLunchPailD) April 13, 2022
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Good luck to him. He will be missed.
Always a chance he returns until he doesn't.
I am more shocked that it took this long. Best of luck to the man! Go get yours!
Surely CMY and staff are ahead of this and have an idea of if Mutts and Aluma return. I'd bank more on Mutts coming back. I don't want to be waiting on these two and screw our roster next year letting transfers go. I'm not the coach, so trusting we are ahead of the game on all of this.
Agreed - and I am comforted by the fact that Coach Young knows what he is doing.
Always a good idea to test the draft waters and get feedback from the NBA on how to improve your game
To be fair he did that last year.
I want our guys to have professional success, but I also feel that these situations really limit our options in the portal. Its got to be a really tricky balance for the staff to actively recruit while also keeping their pulse on which way these guys are leaning.
I hope the NIL money is there because I'd love to see Keve and Bacot go at it again last year.
If Aluma wants to go NBA it's now or never. I think he could make summer league and maybe pick up a short term contract somewhere if he shows out. Mutts I don't think has as good of a chance.
Could be completely wrong, or flip flopped here but I think most likely Aluma leaves and Mutts stays
My worry is Aluma didn't improve much over the last year. Mutts got significantly better last year than the year before. If Mutts improves again like he did this last year, I think he has a better chance of playing in the NBA than Aluma.
The difference is Aluma was already playing at a higher level than Mutts, so he had less room for improvement than Mutts did.
I think Aluma 21-22 season was much better than Aluma 20-21 season. While he's still a finesse big man, he was much more assertive and physical, had fewer dumb fouls, and had fewer times in which he disappeared.
If Aluma comes back next year, I think he will be the ACC player of the year. He is a bad matchup for almost every ACC big.
Totally agree. Aluma got a bunch of hype in 20-21 from the media, but for most of the latter half of the season he was pretty inconsistent, at least to my eye - tons of instances of sloppy ball handling, sloppy passes, and not really looking like his mind was always synced up with what his body was doing. This past season I thought he did a really good job of cleaning a lot of that up, and was much more consistent throughout, plus like you mentioned he got a lot more physical and assertive against other teams in/near the paint - that coupled with working more on those little touch hook shots was a fantastic overall improvement.
Best of luck to him, whether he ends up here or the draft. I don't think the Mike Young era looks nearly as good as it does now if he doesn't develop into the player he's become. Gonna be tough to replace but I think he's got a chance to make a roster.
He's hired an agent:
Best of luck to him. He was a great Hokie that helped deliver an All Time moment.
drinking
Even if it's overseas, go get you $$ young man! Thank you for being a key part of giving Hokie Nation its first MBB ACCT!
Thank you Keve. Best of luck to you buddy!
Sad to see him really leave but I hope he goes and gets PAID. I've been following VT basketball for 20 years now, and he was the best post player we've had in that timespan. Amazing to consider his collegiate path coming from Wofford to VT and then playing at the level he did.
Not to mention he didn't start playing hoops until like late middle school/into high school
Aluma came out of the gate quietly but kept getting better all season long. With his size and skill set, I see his game as comparable to Christian Laettner's back in the day. But without all of the fake stepping on people.
How do you declare and keep your eligibility!
Now that he has signed with an agent, I think he can't maintain his eligibility.
You are allowed to test the waters with the draft process and maintain eligibility, but as of 14 hours ago, that is now not the case.
I've edited the title and removed the eligibility part since he has hired an agent now (when the news initially came out he could have come back as he didnt have an agent at that time).
Aluma signed with an agent that is not cleared with the NCAA to act as an advisor only so that ends his eligibility. He is staying in the draft or going pro.
I will miss him, but I understand his desire to move on with his life. Best of luck.
Thanks Aluma for being a Hokie. Now go get that money.
Go get paid Keve. I appreciate everything dude did for us and we couldn't have won the ACC without him.
Agreed. Much respect for Cattoor, but to me Aluma was truly the ACC tournament MVP based on all 4 games played, not the least of which was the Duke game where Cattoor shined but Aluma darn near had a triple double with 19 points / 10 rebounds / 7 assists / 1 steal.
We will miss Keve big time. Good defender, can score with both hands, had ACC experience. Played at a high level in the best conference. Those dudes are hard to replace.
Agree on all points. Replacing Aluma is going to be very hard. He played excellent defense in our system and he was a rough match up for any ACC big. We likely have the other pieces to make some noise but we need to bring in someone who can be productive at the 5.
I think it could have easily gone to any of the three big guys Cattoor, Aluma, or Mutts all three had big moments in the run.
Aluma should have been the tourney MVP and it shouldn't have been close.
Just curious, what was feeling on the board when Aluma committed? Did you guys think he could be a stud, a rotational piece or something in between?
Lol if anyone tells you they thought he would be anything beyond a rotational piece they're lying. He averaged 7 and 7 his final year at Wofford. Heck, even Mike Young has repeatedly commented on the growth that Aluma achieved during the year he sat out and how much it shocked him. I'm pretty sure we all thought at the time that he might potentially become a good back-up center or power forward at most. Very happy to be proven wrong!
I mean I thought he'd be more than a rotational player, but that'd due to the lack of players when he committed not due to I thought he'd be all acc teams player
thankfully we have a few receipts on that. Living4Fall predicted "quality ACC player", so props there
https://www.thekeyplay.com/content/2019/may/5/wofford-big-man-keve-aluma...
Well in case anyone missed it, the NBA draft was last night and Aluma wasn't picked. I was hoping he'd be a 2nd rounder, but it looks like teams didn't like his lack of long-range shooting and general lack of dominance. I'm sure the fact that he is 23 also hurt his draft stock, which seems pretty crazy but that's just how it goes these days.
He has a free agent deal with the Grizzlies.
Edit: Drinking
I get why he wasn't drafted for all the reasons above, but I think he could absolutely be a solid contributor on a team like the Grizzlies.
Not Aluma-related, but general OT draft chatter. The Duke team that we smoked in the ACC Championship had three guys drafted in the top 16, one more drafted later in the first round, and another drafted in the 2nd round. As if we needed another reason to remember our 2021-2022 team fondly...
Yeah 4 in the top 23. And Mutts posterized the #1 pick so hard the guy was on the ground.
This one?
I am loving the Hi-Definition humiliation of this play and am wondering all over again why a foul wasn't called because Banchero totally hacked Mutts' arm on the play.
Because Duke
The refs felt bad for Banchero?