Didn't take long for the first player to bolt.
PORTAL: #Hokies sophomore guard Izaiah Pasha plans to enter the transfer portal according to @KayserHoops. pic.twitter.com/JDLRdOlp28— Tech Sideline (@TechSideline) March 24, 2026
I wouldn't be surprised if many follow
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No surprise on Pasha...he was probably encouraged to find a place with more chance to play.
IMHO, Hammond is the Lynchpin to this Offseason, if we can keep him on-board, then I think we stand a chance of convincing others to stick as well.
That being said, I think its not likely that happens.
Can we speculate about who we might be going after in this thread?
Sure, why not?
Ok, so FanRecap put out an article that Sir Mohammed, a former VT target and #83 overall will be entering the portal. Can't say he's not talented.
Pasha first out is the least surprising thing ever. It didn't work out pretty much right from the start, which makes you wonder what exactly went on in the recruiting process to where either side would have even agreed to come together in the first place. Further contributing to how much this not working out sucked is he took up a good chunk of NIL. Could easily make the case that had that gone elsewhere to a player that could have contributed, it would have been the difference to being on the right side of the bubble.
Just further proof how tight the margins can be and how every part of the program needs to be aligned from AD to GM to Coaching staff to have proper funding allocated and identifying the right types of players. Plenty of other schools with bigger basketball reputations and budgets missed the tournament too, sure. But its less a bigger deal for them because they have more funding. We don't (or at least, won't fund it enough). So we have to align everything perfectly. Any miss can end up being a big deal.
Women's - lot of smoke around Carys Baker leaving.
Unfortunately expected her to get some big offers. Won't be surprised if its a top SEC school, Texas Tech, USC, or UCLA.
I really, really, want it to just be smoke. But I can see her getting a six figure offer from at least a couple schools.
Not upset about Pasha either. When he got in the game it was obvious why his minutes were so low. A guy who looked good at a lower level, but looked outclassed in the ACC.
Interesting... she was a CMD Marquette recruit right?
Really torn on this one. She had a good start to the year, then fell apart and lost her shot. She started to get it back at the end of the year, but I think by that time Trent had already taken her minutes.
Hate to see her go. She really plays hard; but she's just not tall enough for her position and does not shoot well enough to move outside.
Yeah, I really liked what she was doing end of last season, start of this one, but then she fell off in ACC play this year.
She might really shine if she steps down a level. Best of luck to her.
Not all that surprising.
Played 5 less mpg, shot 9% lower from floor (still shot better than Carleigh 35.7%vs33.3%) and 10% higher than Wenzel inside, shot 10% lower from 3p from last season(15.8%), 2 less ppg.
Rebounds stayed the same though.
After whatever happened to her face, it was not the same player out there.
I want to blame the kick in the face, but I think she was slumping before it.
She and Neo were very similar, hers just went farther downhill. Three good games, then it was 4 or less points in every game after those three.
She scored 71 points on the season. 34 were from the first three games.
What game was the kick?
I think it was the at syracuse game on January 8th.
Committed to Marquette
hopefully she does well...good kid
ESPN reporting Neo in the portal.
yep
Had some bright flashes, but I don't think he really lived up to the hype - whether that hype was fair or unfair, that's a different discussion
100% expected and probably better for both sides.
If Neo is a better player than what he showed on the court this year, a fresh start and a new system is probably needed.
If he's not, there is no reason for VT to foot the NIL bill for a guy putting up 7-8th man numbers.
But per VT's luck, he'll go on to average 24/8/5 next year...lol.
Honestly interested to see his landing spot and how much P4 interest there is...
He has good measurables and the raw talent is there. I'd expect heavy P4 interest. I actually wouldn't be shocked if he doesn't go the NBA route. Only reason he came to VT was because he couldn't get a guaranteed draft slot. Not necessarily a 1st round pick, but say if the Magic (pick any team) told him "Yeah, we'll take you in the 2nd round 34th overall", he would have went. But he didn't have a guarantee and only graded out as 2nd rounder to undrafted (50s or undrafted). So he and his team chose college in hopes of boosting him up to a 1st rounder. Obviously that didn't happen, but most everything I've heard and read has him being drafted in the 2nd round so he at least boosted his stock there. If he can get a guarantee or likes the teams in the general projected range, he might go with the draft.
But next year's class is weaker than this year's (a damn good draft class, best in years depth wise). If he does go to a P4 and shows out, that likely would boost him into the 1st round a year from now. It's going to come down to how bad does he want to be a pro and if the money is worth it (what he makes in college is enough to offset delaying future pro earnings on how soon you can get to your 2nd contract)
I am honestly not sure after a year of tape showing him in the ACC would help him secure a second round pick. If anything he showed he is more of a project than thought.
On the other hand I fully expect him to look like a lottery pick next year playing for someone else.
Crystal balls logged for Neo to be headed to UNC.
Gross. Guaranteed he'll put up 30-15-10 the first time we play them...just because.
Had this same thought because....Hokies
Ehhh doesn't worry me.
Put all our resources into football.
I think we already have, and that this is what that looks like.
Nah. You can't let a revenue sport die on the vine or else there's a very good chance you will never get it back. If you do, its gonna take an even greater investment down the road than what it would require to just keep it properly funding presently. If the numbers VT claims they are investing into the athletic department are accurate (I'm skeptical) where we have something like a top 20 to top 30 AD budget nationwide, there's enough money to successfully fund your revenue sports in football and men's basketball. I'd toss women's hoops in there as well because popularity is exploding enough to where its going to be able to stand upright moreso than other collegiate sports. That is, its possible if you have an athletic department that actually knows what its doing and not a country club racket looking out for their own interests. If the money is there, you can carve the pie to make it work. Money goes farther in basketball. You can land one player can be the difference for a successful season. So even just a modest bump can make the difference.
The VT fanbase has been trained for decades to expect mediocrity. If any sport other than football goes .500, its "Oh well. Good enough I guess". It's not really important just make sure football is good. Football being good won't save everything. We've been good at football before and the trickle down effect didn't matter. Those other sports trophy cases stayed empty. You're good where you invest (theoretically at least). If we really need every single cent to go to football in hopes of making it to the P2, I've got some bad news for you. We're too far gone. Both hoops programs aren't far off from where they need to be. The women are positioned better than the men but its not worth it to strip everything to bare essentials all for football. Just a modest boost from where we're at now I believe would keep the women as a tournament team most of the time and the men a tournament team half the time. Both are reasonable goals. It's not like I'm asking for enough money to be contenders in everything.
I think top 25 football budget, top 35 in Athletic Department budget is more realistic.
There's 32 P2 teams, ND, Clemson, FSU, TTU, then privates like TCU, SMU, Miami... Also, you have to remember that fund goals targets were proposed in August 2025. At that point, the only numbers widely available were from FY24, which went from July 2023 - June 2024 (meaning that if numbers announced in August 2025 made us a top 20 athletic department in 2023/24, we're probably top 35-40 in 2026).
Eh, Softball, Men's and Women's Basketball, baseball, and wrestling all peaked while being in the ACC. Those aren't ACC programs without football. If VT was never great at football, we're not landing Buzz and reaching the sweet 16 and we're not reaching a final 4 in WBB.
Another way to phrase this question - If VT accepted the rumored bid to the SEC in 2010/11, how much better off would our entire athletic department be right now? Would VT even be rumored for the SEC if not for 15+ of sustained football success?
That said, I largely agree with your point. We need to strike the right balance between funding football and funding other sports. 100% football funding is not reasonable. But how much spreading the pie is too much?
Basketball is the easiest to get back, you need so few players to really make it work. You can always come in with a decent pocket books and get back. What are you worried about VT never getting back to .500 in the ACC? We were ranked playing a ranked duke and not on national TV we shouldn't be worried about basketball revenue, we ain't anywhere we can't get back too.
Bummed about Neo... not a good look for our coaching staff... especially when he goes somewhere next year and averages a double/double. This may not be a popular take but one way of evaluating the coaching staff is whether the players are better at the end of the season versus the start. How effective are they in high leverage situations? What is the players' situational awareness? Neo came in full of confidence and flair and is leaving dejected and insecure. That's coaching.
He enrolled August 1st. Three months before the season started. That's not a lot of time for the coaching staff to have a pre-season impact and get him to adapt from Euro basketball to NCAA. When he transfers, he will have 7 months at the new school before the season starts. That, plus his experience in season one of the ACC will have more to do with future success than pinning his less than ideal performance on the VT coaching staff.
There's 2 kinds of coaches. Coaches that see a player's skillset, adapt their coaching to boost that player's skill set and how it fits into the larger team profile. They still have an overall vision for the style they want to play, but they adjust the recipe given the ingredients available so to speak. The other kind of coach is rigid. Everyone adapts to the system the coach wants no matter what. If the pieces fit, great, it works well. If they don't fit, that square peg is getting jammed into the round hole. Mike Young is the latter. This is why throughout his tenure, even before the portal really took off where teams routinely lose like half their roster, you would see players leave and play better elsewhere. And its usually always more higher touted players well because Mike Young's system is good at elevating undertalented rosters, but it puts limits on those with raw talent. Both types of coaches can be successful and I don't feel like debating the pros and cons of each, just saying what it is.
Not as devastated by the Neo news as I would've been after the first month of the season. I'm more worried about finding a better player to replace him than the impact of him elsewhere. His game was disappointing in the ACC portion of the schedule and his attitude was not what I thought it would be, seemed to shrink and get frustrated too easily. If he couldn't handle the ACC I'll be curious as to his next step.
Let this sink in.
Neo had 10 ACC games he scored less than 10 points.
He had double digit scoring in only three ACC wins.
UVA, Wake and BC.
He shot
38% from floor
31% from 3p
45% from 2
67% FT
Averaged 2.5 TO per game
Will he eventually have a successful NBA career? Yes
Might it take two more years to put him on that path? Yes
Wish him well but there are better current portal options
Random thought, does he end up back here next year? Was this his idea or was he shown the door? If he was shown the door, no chance. If it was his idea because we told him NIL was going to be half of the initial, and he decides to test the waters and finds the water cold?
He's gone. The skills are there, his confidence is lacking. He needs to rebuild in a different environment.
Not much on the women's front.
So far, this season, 173 have entered the portal
It will pick up after tournament is over. Expect men and women's to be 700-1000 each before it closes
Technically the portal doesn't open until the April 6th or 7th.
I'm not sure why the expectation is that we will see a mass exodus. Pasha looked outmatched and Neo wasn't coming back, but my money would be on a lot of the other rotational players on the men's side being disappointed in the season but feeling like they have something to prove. I never got the feeling that this team had folded and were all going to bolt (which we've FOR SURE seen in the past.) Possible we get big dogged for a player or two money-wise, but outside of Neo I don't think that we have the kind of prospects that are going to get huge money to get poached by big teams. If we can afford to fend off folks coming with mid-tier offers for guys like Hammond and Hansbury, feels like pretty good odds we can keep them here.
Obviously the results speak for themselves, but this team was two half-court heaves from being somewhere on the 8/9 line. I think you could make a decent case, crazy as it would have sounded pre-season, that without Neo they were a tourney team. It wouldn't shock me if the feeling inside the locker room was different than the feeling outside it on where they are as a team.
Or this is all copium. Also fully possible. We'll see.
It's the view of college sports under this current NIL model. Any player that likely to develop into an All conference player will get a higher NIL offer from somewhere higher on the food chain and any player who thinks they are better than they are will take their talents to the market and probably transfer for a similar role and a few thousand more. The only players who stay are the ones who don't have enough tape or enough good tape to shop themselves around.
We will in fact. I'd be ecstatic if we managed to keep Hammond and Hansberry.
edit: I'm ecstatic
It's a really nice start. We need an actual big, but there's still a core of talent on this team. Get me a guy who can pass from the inside and two guys who can really shoot. See if Mutts and Catoor want to sue for an extra year maybe.
Disagree--I think the players realize that Coach Young won't be back after next year and they will move on unless Frazier can talk them into staying.
Gurdack in the Portal
dang it. It is so incredibly difficult to follow and like college sports in the portal/NIL era.
I enjoyed watching him play and thought he'd be a solid contributor for years.
As a fan of a middling team,I feel like in this day and age, to stay above that disappointment, you have to go into every season expecting that every player that shows their value will be gone next year
He's 6'10, young and has shown some skill. Big men like that can get PAID in modern mbb.
If there's a chance for us to keep him, we'll have to cut a check. He will have plenty of offers
I honestly cant hold it against any of these players. Untenuous situation and these kids deserve better coaching. Hopefully he finds a spot that maximizes his strengths.
I still like CMY and his assistants, I think the money is calling him away and that is what I will continue to think unless I hear leaving players bad mouthing Young. As a 6'10" freshman, he showed good highlights and minutes. Somebody is going PAY him.
The players aren't blind to Young being a lame duck, no guarantee Frazier stays to take over (frankly for his future I hope he doesnt). They know that the school isnt giving the program enough money to seriously contend. Why risk your development and potentially your future job on a program that is not serious about competing? Even if they like the coaches, best move for many of them would be to go elsewhere.
And this ultimately is the shortcoming with having a developer as a Coach in the Cash Your Check and Go era.
CMY simply hasn't been able to keep enough of the promising young players around to begin to develop them or any sort of Program.
Short-sighted one or two year rentals are the way of CBB now and will be until there are actual rules. You have to play in that sandbox to compete. CMY doesn't fit in that sandbox and never will.
If I had to choose an individual to coach one of my children, I would choose Mike Young 500,000 times before Nate Oats, Will Wade, or Todd Golden, but college athletics has decided that's not what is valued anymore.
Committed to Rutgers. They now have two former Hokies as Darren Buchanan also is there. Played against Gurdak in High School in the WCAC.
Florida's Olivier Rioux is in the portal
Yet VCU apparently has no issue retaining their talent
Ugh. Why can't we have nice things.
I guess since VCU doesn't have a varsity football team, it's easy for them to go all in on basketball. Still, this arms race for talent is nauseating.
You nailed it. No football makes it a lot easier to fund a competitive BB program.
They dont have football but the A10 TV deals are a pittance compared to ACC. The only genius move on the A-10 part is they have three separate TV deals with ESPN, CBS Sports, and NBC Sports. That said, their entire TV deals value is estimated at $11.2M annually for the entire conference and thats for both men's and women's basketball.
Yes, but if they don't have football, where do they get the money to compete? We all know football is the revenue driver. Possibly smaller overall athletic dept so the revenue that comes from basketball can be reinvested at a higher rate rather than spread out over multiple negative cash flow sports. Either way, Tech should be able to out-spend VCU if they wanted to.
You nailed the correct words... "If they wanted to."
I thought about using bold for those
VCU is a better job than VT and I don't think many of our larger fan base realize that. They have better infrastructure and NIL support. What's sad is it doesn't have to be that way. While it is true that VCU doesn't have football so its easier to pour their resources into basketball, we're a P4 school. We're also a P4 school that (supposedly) is getting a hefty boost to its athletic budget. It should be possible to walk and chew gum at the same time where we don't have to pour everything into football and be bad in everything else. The athletic department needs to be gutted. It's crazy that many of them still have a job. We have a revenue sport here that can't even afford to keep its own players and from what I've seen/heard, alumni networks willing to help but nothing ever changes because the people in charge of VT Athletics can't get out of their own way.
Wouldn't be surprised to see Terrence Hill and/or Brandon Jennings hit the portal
KB 'gon have that.
you on the roof too?
They also don't have to spend revenue share on foootball
INCOMING
CMD adds Alyssa Latham a 6-2 Forward from Tennessee
Carleigh has posted that she is officially returning to VT next season.
I know she has her wtf moments, but this decision is huge. She is a fierce competitor and it feeds the rest of the team.
Come on Macki, you're next!
She was named an All American Honorable Mention by WBCA Division 1 Coaches. That was announced today.
Iowa State 6-3 C Audi Crooks has entered the portal.
She gon get paid.
Having watched aome of her defense clips... Woof.. they are playing 4v5
Yeah once teams realized you just had to go at her when she had no help, it was practically a free basket every time.
I will say this though...we play very good supporting defensive basketball. She might not be such a liability here.
Though I don't think we'll have the NIL money to get her.
Ehhh, Im pretty sure 99% of drivers got to the 2nd layer of defense and needed the rim protector to help... Which is a free layup with her at the 5
Supposedly there is another 6-6 player entering the portal that has a high 6-7 figure offer. Cant imagine what Audi will command if that's the case.
Kenny Brooks losing another 6'5 center because he refused to play her. Lost Clara Silva last year for same thing. Silva jumped to TCU and averaged 9 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 1.8 bpg and 1.3 apg. Shot nearly 60% from the floor.
His refusal to play the bench continues to boggle my mind... Strack was hitting 35 minutes in ooc blowouts
Nice to know he never learns. That was my biggest gripe against him here.
The number keeps climbing and ours keeps declining....another example of even if Young was a great coach, that doesnt trump NIL divide in most cases
Also....$12M across 15 guys and most of it going to top 6 guys....thats better than NBA paychecks for half the games.
VT. Taking the under.
Thinking I can bet the house on this one, but I never bet more than a nickel. No jackpot for me.
The median NBA pay is $5.7m which at 30 games equates to Just under $2.1m. So you need to pay around the NBA median salary for a team just to be competitive in college basketball. If I had a team of the middle talent NBA players I bet I could coach them to the final four and I dont know much about coaching basketball.
OR - hear me out - people are lying.
I mean thats a read between the lines kind of thing when I said you could go get 6 NBA players and win a title easily, the math just doesn't math, or we are going to get a lot more 4 year players cause the money is better in college, which makes zero sense.
Rechsteiner back in the portal out of Colorado St
Trent and Jenkins returning for women's basketball
Good news- keep and develop
That is actually great news.
Schutt entered the portal
This one is a headscratcher to me.
Given the state of the Roster, it's hard to think CMY advised him to move on...
But the guy is a 3 Pt. "specialist" with a career sub-40% average and is a below-average defender. There is really an NIL market for that??
Sounds like he could be an 8th man on another team and get more nil
Can't afford him. Should tell you a lot about the state of funds being allocated to the team
I feel like we're going to need to find a distinction between "can't afford" and "unwilling to match." They're related, but not the same. If we NEEDED to keep Jaden Schutt on the roster, they could do it. The fact that someone else is willing to overpay for a mediocre 3/D kind of guy doesn't mean we have to. He's replaceable.
Every team can use a 3 AND D guy, but not much use for only one or the other.
To underline below-average defender. Schutt had the worst Defensive Rating on the team, allowing 114.5 points per 100 possessions
Team order Worst to Best
Schutt 114.5
Bedford 113
Dorn 112.9
Avdalas 112.3
Gurdak 109.8
Jones 109.8
Pasha 109
Hammond 108.6
Johnson 106.8
Lawal 106
Hansberry 105.2
Unfortunately not one player under 100 points per 100 possessions. For contrast, Michigan has 8 players under 100.
Yeah...being the worst in Defensive metrics on a team that was just plain bad on D is a pretty big achievement.
Again, that's what I don't get...how is there a market for this? Is there no one writing these NIL checks asking or caring what they are paying for??
Lets call a spade a spade...very slightly above average 3 shooter who can't defend. 8th man type, maybe not even that for a team looking to make it past the 1st Round of NCAA Tourney.
The NIL "marketplace" might be equally as insane and grossly fraudulent as the NFT market was.
That Michigan comparison is a bit of an overall team comparison more than it shows individual defensive ability. One or two (or three) bad defenders are going to elevate everybody else's numbers along with their own. This definitely shows that we didn't have a lockdown five anywhere on our roster (or even a strong four who could cover up one weak link). Which both tracks with what we all saw this year, and is a bit of a problem if you're not shooting lights out every game.
I've been wondering about Solomon Davis, big freshman. Don't recall anything about him, just see him standing at the bench. Any good? He is tall, for sure, and has the hair. Will he contribute?
What popped in my head was SOLOMON DAVIS SMAAASH!
And now I know less than before!
The power of the modern internet
Trying to watch the portal to see what is available and what we need, for both teams.
For the men:
1. Shooting Guard
2. Big Depth
3. Point Guard
4. Scoring Depth
For the Women:
1. Veteran Big (6-4 or taller)
Think we need at least one more pure shooter for the women. May need a shooter/big if Baker doesnt announce she is back.
Sophie Swanson in the portal. Never seemed to find her shot here. Major falloff from prior two seasons. 35% 3pt shooter coming in but shot 18.9% this season on limited minutes. Doesnt seem like a big surprise.
Sears' minutes (assuming she's healthy) are coming from somewhere
Grace Olivier from WF is in the portal. If VT is truly top 4 in budget, go get her and move Baker to the 3.
Dagger to women's basketball
Mackie Nelson in the portal
Yep. She was my #1 to bring back.
Let's hope Sears is as good as advertised.
Sears isnt a point guard. She is a shooting guard. This means not getting a break from Wenzels sloppy ball control at the point. Nelson in my opinion was more important to bring back then Wenzel because she made the offense flow.
How about Kaleo Anderson, can she handle backup point?
I haven't seen enough of her passing the ball. Her high school relied on her to do most of the scoring. Won't discount her but expect more a Wenzel/Sears/Wells trio as starters if healthy.
A friend of mine who's a AD for a North Carolina HS said she's the best women's player he's ever seen in HS. Better than Kitley. So I'm choosing optimism for her career.
UVA planning to fire Head Coach Mox from Womens side. Just took them to the Sweet 16
Woah....would have to think there was some cause/event/major fallout here??
UVA WBB has been largely awful since Coach Ryan left....this is the most success they have had since the Early 2000's.
They thinking they will bring Dawn Stanley back?
...and now Baker to the portal
Thats 4 out of 5 starters portal or graduated
Thats 44.4 ppg of 72.9 ppg between 4 portal and 2 graduates. 61% of scoring
The athletic department is completely screwing over all things VT basketball.
Carleigh's dad is posting on TSL (non paywall) and indicates that the AD is supportive and there is money. He implied the departures may be looking for different roles or may have been offered a lot of money but still want to look for more.
Carys was a 3 being forced to play down low to meet team needs.
Carys barely played down low. Most of Duffys offense was 4 out 1 in.
Guh. They're about to have the same season football just had.
Baker taking visits to UNC and Louisville. Suboptimal
Heard Notre Dame was on her list too
Those teams know her best from playing against them. Do I hate her staying in conference more than going to a SEC/B1G team for the money, yes.
I guess I under appreciate Nelson...she's competent with the ball but is nothing special on D.
Really like Baker and wish she'd stay but she doesn't assert herself as much as I'd like to see to be a 3
I think Sears has the highest ceiling on the team so will be eating lots of crow if she fizzles.
If we are going to be more than a fringe tournament team playing Duffy's preferred style; then we are going to have to be much more athletic. So I'll wait to see who we bring in before sweating the departures.
Duffy loves the track meet and thats a part I dont think Spears translates to as well. Some of our most efficient basketball was Suffren and Nelson together running opponents ragged. Nelson and Baker season defensive rating has a 0.3 difference. Baker 87.2 to Nelson 86.9
I don't follow any advanced stats. I do know Baker is a better defender...she shut a few folks down and was asked to do a lot more than Nelson was at the point.
Mackie is fundamentally very sound, and there is room for that on any roster, but she doesn't really give you an advantage that you can exploit. We need to upgrade at the point and we need a 3 that can put the ball on the floor.
Rumor is Mackie and Carys were Kenny's kids and didn't fit Duffy's profile. Duffy seems to be an aggressive recruiter so I'm going to wait and see.
Thanks, I needed that. I was trying to see an upside, but like you, think I'll hold my water and see what Duffy assembles.
Might have been Kenny's kids, but Baker has been a huge part of the team for multiple years. But a six figure bag is a six figure bag.
Multiple six figures is the rumor. $300-$400K more is speculation. Can't fault a 20 something putting away a lifetime retirement figure if invested right.
Yep, its amazing how something like that changes your financial outlook if properly invested early.... You can hit Coast FIRE much earlier
Kate Sears announces return.
Hokies benefitted from it with Latham committing but Tennessee has lost 100% of their team.
5 to end of eligibility
8 to the portal
Holy hell. Something must really be rotten if a program as historic as Tenn women's hoops and as crooked as Tenn Athletics can't hold on to their talent
Allegedly one of the two fired assistants was undermining Caldwell all season.
Tylda Trygger in the portal from NC State. True center
6'6 averaging 10.6 ppg, 1.3 bpg and 7 rpg. Played 31 mpg. Could change the Hokies significantly if they could find a way.
You'll need about $750k + to secure that commit
No way. As much as women's hoops has come along, there is no chance there is 25% of that value in NIL rights for a female college basketball player. The WNBA League min is $300k. most women's college basketball teams were losing money before NIL, no way they are handing out 750k to one player, I would be surprised to learn more than 10 teams were handing that out to the whole roster.
Don't know what to tell ya but that's the number for Tylda
Women's basketball has now surpassed 1100 players in the portal
Yay sports. This is fun for the consumer and fan.
Amani Hansberry is returning to MBB
THANK JEEBUS!!!
There's one. Keep Hammond in house, find a few guys who can shoot a three and actually stay in front of a guard, you got yourself a stew going.
But can he stay out of foul trouble?
Brace yourselves.
360 hours of portal is upon us
Let the chaos begin.
the portal givith, the portal taketh away!
Let's hope it givith more than it taketh.
Suffren is returning for the women!
Big keep with Makie gone. Her minutes just skyrocketed.
Has Leila Wells announced her intentions?
Have not seen any post from her
Dorn's in the portal.
That leaves a starting 5 of Davis, Hansberry, Johnson, Jones, and Hammond, with Peterkin and Freeman as the bench.
Freeman is gone as well
So we have a freshman big and a little used SF starters and the lone backup is a football player.
Where was that posted? Haven't seen any mention him being in the portal.
I use the Verbal Commits portal tracker. He was on there this morning
https://www.verbalcommits.com/
https://www.verbalcommits.com/schools/virginia-tech
This version is really odd. Shows alot of names from prior years and names I have never heard of.
Well this is somewhat interesting. Dorn goes to Wake Forest, who (if rumors are true) are in worse financial shape than we are.
Maybe he's from the Black Forest and just thinks anything Forest is more like home.
I was just looking at On3's transfer portal stuff, they've got Neo as a 96 rated transfer, currently the top combo guard in the class and 14th overall. I wish him well, but that seems a little nuts. He's a very good distributor, has a pretty good handle, is a questionable decision maker, and is a minus shooter. That's a tough combination, as we saw in critical moments over and over this year. Assume it's mostly based on physical talent and the assumption that the decision making can improve, but I'm a little surprised this year didn't hurt the hype more.
The raw talent is there. Given that and his age, evaluators will chalk it up to being a bad fit until proven otherwise.
Not sure I can buy the very good distributor. Too many high passes, telegraphed passes, etc.
I also dont buy the good handles part after watching the end game turnovers
I think the kid got exposed and is not the raw talent we all hoped and thought he was. Him as a draft lottery pick = total bust.
In my opinion this is more a CMY thing than a Neo thing. How many really promising players grossly underperformed (at various degrees) only to transfer and play really well at their next spot?
I'm legit curious who you're talking about. Joe Bamisile? Nolley? I looked at guys who have transferred out, there are only a few who have started at least 20 games at their new homes and averaged double digits: Bamisile, Nolley, Nickel, Kidd and Pedulla. Of those, really only the first two didn't work here. They were both good at their next stop, although Bamisile fell off his Jr and Sr years at OU and VCU. The others were good here and then left for money. Not sure I buy the narrative.
There are people that look for reasons to rag on CMY.
I know he's more than likely not the best coach in terms of x's & o's and player development, but until we chose to invest in basketball it is difficult for me to criticize him too much. If he consistently loses to teams that invest less than us in basketball, that is a valid criticism. If he consistently loses to teams that have larger and better funded staffs, and pay more for better players, I fail to see how criticism can be placed fairly.
At a minimum, he seems to be a good man of good moral character that is a great culture fit for our program. If we want to be better than that, we need to make the conscious decision to invest in that improvement. It will come as no accident or magic combination of us being the good guys and deserving more.
I am not one of those people.
Sometimes reality is a difficult pill to swallow. See reply from Intrepeter2000 below.
There is actually a long list of guys that have been successful after leaving here. Some of it by taking a step down but quite a few that were at P4 or Tournament teams. Some Young had no chance of keeping but there are still several he did. NIL now though throws any transfer in question.
N'Guessan, Nickel, Kidd, Pedulla, Collins, Rice, Maddox, Buchanan, Camden, Rechsteiner. All averaged double digit scoring after leaving Tech. Rodney Brown too this season. Probably missing a few more.
Darius Maddox went to George Mason and put up 14 and 13.8 ppg in two seasons.
David N'Guessan went to Kansas State and doubled his production first year compared to time with Hokies. Averaged 13.3 ppg his last season.
Tyler Nickel averaged double digits both seasons at Vanderbilt including 13.5 ppg this season.
Sean Pedulla put up 15.4 ppg at Ole Miss.
Brandon Rechsteiner put up 12 ppg at Colorado State, a 5 ppg improvement.
Darren Buchanan went to GW and put up double digits for two years and was in the conversation for A10 Defensive Player of the Year. Transferred to Rutgers to be 6th man. Put up 8.1 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 1.7 apg in about 24 minutes.
John Camden put up 13.9 at Cal this year after putting up double digits at Delaware the year before.
Rodney Rice was over 20 per game at USC before getting hurt this season.
M.J. Collins put up 17.5 at Utah State this season.
Rodney Brown went to Loyola Marymount this year and put up 14 ppg.
Sure. I'm not saying there aren't people who have improved once they've left. I'm saying there isn't a long history of people leaving and immediately being amazing. Rodney Rice was a good call, I'd forgotten about him. He's maybe the closest.
On some of these other guys though, N'Guessan's doubled production went from 3.7 to 6.4 ppg in that first year. Not exactly a superstar being held back. He's gotten better with time, good senior year. Buchanan played well down half a level and only ok back up at the top level. Also a Mike Jones guy, so questions on if he would have ever stayed. Collins had almost exactly the same production at Vandy as he did here, then put up numbers against the Mountain West. A lot of the other guys (Pedulla, Nickel) were good here and then left and were still good.
My point is that we don't have a long history of folks being mid here and then exploding when they get to a "better" situation, which is what the OP was saying. There are plenty of fine to good players who have left and been fine to good in other places. Many have improved over time in college, but that probably would have happened if they stayed as well. Hammond is notably better than he was a few years ago. Players develop, both here and elsewhere.
A number of the people you mentioned went from sharing time to more starter roles and they left right before they would have produced more anywhere. Its rare that a player produces less each year, so naturally a freshman off the bench or even a sophomore who gets good minutes SHOULD have increased production the next year. The fact that they are prepared to break out is an argumnet that they didnt get behind on development and are prepared for being an upperclassman.
Haha I was waiting for this post! I knew it was coming. The fact that people try to defend CMY's skill at developing players is crazy. It's extremely mediocre at best, and he is also incredibly tone-deaf at the current era of college basketball, stashing highly-touted recruits on the bench and then they transfer out the next year. People will say "oh well we expects XYZ out of his players so they must not be doing that" but hmmm, remind me whose job it is to coach and develop those players again?
Storm Murphy do a real fun griddy tho
Rumor has it that he developed that griddy under the caring tutelage of CMY.
Always thought he learned from the school of Mike Gesicki
Yeah
Bingo bingo. The amount of people on twitter who argue the opposite is actually staggering. Billy Ray Mitchell chief among them. Like how much more evidence do you actually need
Tyler Johnson is BACK
Come on Ben Hammond...
Looking at ND, we could do a lot worse than grabbing Garrett Sundra (recruited by VT) and Cole Certa. Certa is a 6-5 MY prototype gunner and Sundra has the inside out versatility aka Keve Aluma and Grant Basile. Seems both would be affordable NIL
Spela Brecelj is in the portal
Tyler Johnson is returning to MBB
CMY and staff probably have narrowed their focus (NIL) on only keeping Ben Hammond, Armani Hansberry, and Tyler Johnson from this past year's team and try to build around them with new transfers. Others who have transferred out/landed in transfer portal were probably asking for too much than they were willing to pay for their services.
This is all IMO.
Those 3 were the best players on the team last season imo
Opinion is close to reality. The budget the team should have had isn't going to be there so they've been forced to pick and choose more than they anticipated. They've poured what resources they do have in retaining Hammond, Hansberry, and Johnson. So far they've got 2 out of 3, and it looks like Hammond will be staying barring a godfather offer coming in. But they're having to let others go because they can't pay them market price. Funds shifted to retaining those 3, a little extra to get a decent center, and then moneyball literally everything else.
Those three aren't a bad core to build around (if Hansberry fully recovers...),but this situation also isn't ideal nor what was expected. You're basically hoping to hit on literally every moneyball player to just get back to the bubble level the 2025/2026 team was at. Possible, but its a very narrow path
I'm not convinced we'll keep Hammond
We did
yes, we did!!!
great news
🔥🔥🔥
Amaze! Amaze!
I loved what I saw from Sincere Jones, adding to the front court mix.
I thought he was a 6-7 200 three, but the dude apparently worked his ass off cause he is a stud now- explosive and thick lower body pushing 230.
No one is Toby, but watching Sincere from the 4th row where I was for UVa, he has legit hops. His stroke is really good and I'll go on a limb and predict him in the low 30's from 3 with the body type to bang down low and guard a 4.
Sure hope he stays.
I would have like to keep Gurdak as well, but of the folks who have left, I am guessing they will not be worth whatever NIL (do we have to keep up the scharade by calling it this?) they think they deserve.
There are now 2,901 players in the men's portal. Thats over 50%.
Welcome to the new world.
Don't hold hope that anybody stays.
Don't get used to people.
Well, thanks for the welcome, but this new world of yours absolutely SUCKS!!!
UNC women's basketball Sweet 16 team has lost four of five starters to the portal
Good, I don't like Banghart
Leila Wells officially back.
I liked Mackie better, but hopefully Wells is going to grow with her minutes.
I liked mackies hustle, but I will not miss her layups and shooting
What was wrong with her layups? She shot 43% inside, most of that layups. Thats 10% better than Wenzel and 5% better than Wells. She also was more selective, taking under 5 shots per game and focused on passing the ball. Every other starter + Suffren took 7+ shots inside per game.
Her 3 point shooting was spotty at 29.2% but that was still 3rd best for players in the main rotation and she only shot 2.3 attempts per game.
She was the most prone to the no-hope yeets at the backboard
Not a chance she was
Wenzel OWNS that category.
She was 2.6 for 7.6 per game inside the arc. Wish I had a shot graph and it would show Wenzel hitting layups at about a 15% rate.
Hammond is back!
Fammond, or I should say Hammalammadingdong!
Yes.
We have a core upon which we can build.
Time to raid the portal
Kudos to CMY & staff for doing whatever they did to keep these guys with the good team!
Jailen Bedford in the portal. Trying to get another season due to JUCO time. Entering portal protects him in case Hokies have moved on before NCAA decision/court case is resolved.
Ami I interpreting that kind correctly that both parties want him to be a Hokie, but this is a "just in case" type of move?
My understanding is yes but so many variables.
Hokies WBB visits
Tennessee transfer Lauren Hurst (6'3 Freshman forward) 24 games 2.3 ppg, 1.6 rpg in 10mpg. 64% inside, 41% 3p, missed only free throw attempt
Princeton transfer Madison St. Rose (5'10 Grad) 28 games 15.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 2.2 apg in 31.8 mpg. 56% shooter inside, 28% 3pt, 77% FT on 4.4 attempts per game.
I wanted Hurst outta Hs. This will be her 2nd overall visit to Virginia Tech
Can St. Rose play PG?
Haven't watched much of her but her assist numbers indicate she has never been a facilitator. 2.2 apg this year was her highest in four years. Prior two seasons was 1.3 apg.
Starter quality; important part of a good Princeton team. Handles the ball pretty well but more of a 2 that can mix it up near the basket, imo.
Former WBB reserve SG Maddie Vejsicky has now transferred to her 4th school
According to the Greg Roberts radio show out of Roanoke is that the agent for Neo is asking $3 million for his services.
His final deal will likely never be known, but I can't imagine anything he put on tape last year has any schools offering in that ballpark. If he does fetch this kinda cash, I don't see how college basketball survives.
The 7'9 center from Florida that averaged 0.5 ppg this season is also reportedly asking for $3M so Neo's asking it is easier to understand than that nonsense.
I too am asking $3million per year to switch employers
I have also informed my agent to make it known I'm seeking $3 million for my services.
What those services are, well, if you don't know, then you can't afford it.
giggle, snort, chortle. Good luck. I am not sure he played worth $100k.
No way, Jose. He certainly wasn't for us. Maybe once he grows up he'll work for somebody, but 3 mil?
Its a crazy knew world. You have UConn getting ready to offer one of their stars a bigger deal than being a Top 10 NBA pick to get him to come back. Saw reports of a proven Euro from the Euroleague getting $6-$7M offers.
Well I hope if he is going to UNC they are playing him the 3 million to ride the bench there. Less money for their better players.
Saw online that mackie nelson is visiting tennessee... Honestly she could be a good fit for caldwells system
Hopefully she avoids that mess. I know Caldwell thinks she has fixed it by firing the assistant coach that was undermining her but the pressure from the Tennessee fan base to win now and win often after how this season went could get ugly fast considering it will be 100% a new team. They wanted her fired but the AD decided to give her another year. Just not the environment I hope Mackie picks.
Welp as soon as I typed it, my Twitter confirmed she had committed to them
There were fake tweets yesterday, are these ones real?
At this point, not sure but Vols Basketball twitter last night put out their version of commitment anticipated.
A side note on Nelson, her little sister just committed to Northwestern out of the portal from Syracuse.
Neo confirmed to UNC
Rumor is (maybe already confirmed) Kim English--fired Providence coach--is going to be a top Assistant there...he may have an overly sunny view of Neo.
I have no reason to actively root against a the guy but Neo did nothing here to make me think he is worth anywhere near $3 Mil...if UNC paid that (or something close to it) to get him, then it tells me they're probably drifting farther away from the right track than they were with Hubert Davis.
I heard it's close to 4 million
Except he'll probably excel in a NBA style of play with heavy sets of pick and roll. With his passing ability, he has the potential to be lethal in that type of offense. And if he shoots consistently (unlike he did for us), then he'll average 20 ppg. I know we want to hate on him because of his inconsistency, but you can't say he has no talent or potential. VT was obviously not the right fit for him. I also think a rising tide lifts all boats. If they surround with him with better talent, he will naturally be a better a player. He is not cut out to be the center of it all which it seemed CMY tried to make him. But he can be a productive player for sure. Is it worth what they likely paid him? Not for me to decide. I can't figure any of this current landscape of college sports. But it really sucks to see a guy transfer in-conference. If he is successful and the potential becomes reality for UNC, it will sting that much more.
He could possibly thrive at UNC, and the raw talent is certainly there, but to me he's kind of a guy without a natural position.
I also have concern about who is making decisions for him...i.e. his agent/handler from Greece?
CMY I tried to fit him in multiple positions. He started the year essentially as a point guard, but never had any semblance of the required ball handling skills to be a primary ball handler. You can't tell me Mike Young et. al didn't figure that out in practice.
Later he transitioned into essentially a spot up shooter, but spent much of the Season shooting sub 20% from the three-point line So that's out.
At a high level, a guy his size is supposed to be a wing. You have to defend...which he doesn't do... and either be a slasher, shooter or facilitator. He certainly has above average passing skills and may have more luck as an assist guy at UNC.
My guess is that he has a slightly better season in UNC, but never becomes a primary offensive option.
Again, the thing that gets me though is how a guy like this gets a huge raise in NIL money after having a largely disappointing season. It's like managing a project at work that never functions or makes money and then demanding 300% raise the next year. NIL is 100% a House of Cards.
every college (and pro) team runs pick & roll constantly...
That's a good spot for him as Malone has quite a bit of experience with Euro players.
Bigger school + more pressure = bigger the choke.
Mackie commits to Clemson
In conference transfers hurt...
Carys baker to louisville
In conference transfers hurt... I can understand if she is getting a mid 6 figures bag, but it still hurts.
Woof. Other teams buying starters. VT is buying backups.
Maybe in terms of being proven, but Latham (71) and Hurst (45) were both big time recruits, putting the women's roster at 7 players rated in top 100.
All season long Maryland fans trashed Buzz and were calling for him to be fired ...but now that he has the #1 overall recruiting class HS/Portal, they are bandwagon claiming they fully supported him, cant wait to see what he does next season, knew he was the right coach for them....Terps clown school
They must have missed the memo where it says your first year under Buzz you will be horrible. You'd think after multiple stops people would learn
How many players did he take with him this last time?
Think it was only one or two. Portal now has evolved to where he gets better options than guys he had, especially with the budget Maryland gave him.
Do people think JMFF will be our Buzz for football?
I don't think so. Buzz is a weird dude and is all about Buzz's brand. JMFF seems to be more attached the community. He carries around the comprehensive plan, so I think he wants to build something and enjoy the benefits. If he has a ton of success early enough, I could see him going to the NFL (but that's not as enticing as it used to be).
He carries around the comprehensive plan
Really?
Will give Franklin credit for one thing. He is present at all the other sports regularly. Buzz was not that guy.
Buzz never recognized that improving the visibility of all of the programs will also help him with revenue.
Thanks for the added insight guys
No, only becauae Buzz was looking to leave the day he arrived and I dont see that in Franklin, that doesn't mean Franklin wont leave but he is here to make VT football better, Buzz was here to make Buzzball better.
Yeah I remember Buzz rubbing media the wrong way
Phrazing....
lol I meant he didn't play well with their questions
He paid 2 years, $5.2M for a guy who avg 6pts and 4 RBs. Let's pump the breaks on Buzz for a moment.
Sincere Jones returning next year
Other basketball news, Tobi was player of the game in Game 3 of the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament. He had 19 points and 5 rebounds. Shot 4 for 6 from 3.
Long Beach State transfer Gavin Sykes is currently on a visit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5gcC6dzrBA
TCU got him
Being poor sucks
Looks like Miles Heide from SDSU is inbound.
Really active, high energy and athletic- Dunks everything within 3' of hoop... The anti-Gurdak :-)
Grant Basile/ Aluma type athlete
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqegGTA9T_0
Gurdak played really well for a freshman.
I agree. I hated to lose him.
Gurdak is definitely better than the incoming transfer unfortunately
Defensive versatility (this guy can guard 4 or 5) and offensive versatility (pushing 30% from three) has me excited about this guy especially if we have him for 2 more years and considering this staff's ability to quickly improve big man shooting.
Another transfer in for MBB, FAU guard Isaiah Elohim committed. Looks like a good shooter, 37% from 3 last year, 12+ ppg. Could do some damage in CMY's system.
Finally, a Guard
Will do damage or be damaged in CMY's system.
I expect a very Bedford-esque season from him.
Former top 50
Hokies add Ned Hull
Guard, Elon
Scratching my head at this one. 4.5 ppg as a bench guy at Elon. No idea what they see. Maybe a lesser Schutt role?
???
Thats not what we need.
Agreed...only closer comparison might be Conner Serven who was essentially just a practice body
How is his defense? Think we need a strong defender to sub-in.
His D rating is 118.4 for his career, worse than anybody from last year
His O rating is 110.2, better than Bedford and Avdalas.
He is a career .826 from the charity stripe.
A warm body with very affordable NIL
Bingo...we are at the just trying to find 13 guys stage now.
He went 2-3 from 3 for 6 points against us this past year in our big overtime home win against elon by 1 point
Must've been enough
Yeah, feels like a bench guy who can come in and hit spot-up threes (or at least keep the floor stretched) as needed when the starters need a breather.
Some of y'all act like this guy is going to be a starter. Hes a cheap spot bench player who can shoot. He might play 10 mins a game and you hope you get a 3pt or 2 every game
When a team doesnt have 5 starters on the roster necessarily then its not a stretch to question this add even as a deep bench guy. He wasnt even a starter at a 4th tier D1 school. His defense at that level was atrocious so likely only gets worse with our schedule. He had a -3.1 BPM last season. A box score estimate of the points per 100 possessions a player contributed above/below a league-average player, translated to an average team.
Frankly if he is getting 10 minutes a game we are really in trouble. Pasha and Sincere Jones were only Hokies last season with equivalent or worse BPM than Hull.
Right now Hull is 3rd guard on the depth chart.
i don't think they are counting on him for any minutes...current rules version of a walk-on
Yeah, let's not burn the outhouse down yet. There's plenty of time to get more guard depth. This dude is probably a $50k guy. Low risk, high reward for the role
Guess we only need to be top 76 next year to make the tournament. NCAA announced expansion of both men's and women's tournaments.
We will still find a way to be on the wrong side of the bubble
This is completely and totally unnecessary.
This year was the weakest bubble ever and the Transfer Portal will almost certainly keep it that way.
This is for 17-13 P4 teams that have one Quad 1 win on the year.
But what it's really for is more games to be put on TV and TV $$$.
We've let TV Executives ruin college sports and convince us that they're doing it to be altruistic to Athletes.
Truth is, fans are footing the bill on both ends--private money is paying the NIL bill and it's near-certainty that the NCAA will be just like the NBA and put some of the lower end games behind a subscription service paywall.
The brightside is that I will get to see an extra 50 adds for Gambling Apps....this is going great!!!
The state of College Sports right now is an absolute hellhole.
UVA womens team just got a huge pickup from overseas.
They got Emilie Brzonova, 13.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists while shooting at a 48-percent clip from three-point range at the FIBA U18 Women's EuroBasket 2024. She also played for Faenza Basket Project in the Italian Serie A2 which is a top ten league in Europe.
May she turn into their version of Neo.
Both WVU men's and women's teams are doing well in both the portal and HS recruiting while we slip further and further behind. Currently the mens' portal class is ranked First in the Big !2 and the high school class is ranked 23 nationally including the #14 overall player/#3 point guard in the class.
WE FINALLY GOT A CURRY
Offensive Rating: 111.7 - On par with Hansberry
Defensive Rating: 112 - On par with Avdalas
Mediocre offense and really poor defense unfortunately but some of that was team as a whole. Compared to last years Hokies team would have been 8th in offensive rating and 7th in defensive rating. That said, Oklahoma State was much worse as a team defensively than Hokies. He was 3rd best rating out of top ten minutes guys for OSU on defense and 7th on offense.
My question is would those metrics improve with better offensive players and defenders around him.
Yes, team around you definitely plays a big role in both ratings.
He was a much better defender with Massachusetts (105.1 and 108.3) which would have been equivalent for Hansberry (best on team) and Hammond (4th best on team)
played a lot of point; very left handed (defensively I'd overplay him); decent passer; goes hell for leather to the basket, especially on the left side
We need more players who drive the basket.
And who can then actually put the ball into the basket. I haven't seen a team miss so many lay-ups and put-backs since I coached 5th grade Rec basketball.
Or since our Carleigh and our women's team last played....ba da bing.....
Musa Sagnia Commits To Virginia Tech. Former NC State. 6'10 235 pounds. Has three year's of eligibility left
Big body with power conference experience. With what we're working with, I'll gladly take it
Played 12+ mpg, avg 2.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg, .5 bpg
Shooting is limited to 3 feet and in. Shot 25% from 3 and 45% from FT line. Shot 62% inside.
HUDL Profile
One of the top replies on the X machine is:
and the rest of the replies aren't much better soooo we'll see
If he can play defense. It's okay
107 defensive rating would have been middle of last seasons Hokies roster. Not terrible but not great either. Much higher offensive rating at 119.
Watching some clips reminds me of a Wessler more confident in scoring under the basket
I don't know how they come up with that rating but this dude is elite on perimeter switches. Also, completely misused at the 5 last year. Is a 4 all day.
This is a sneaky good pickup
Go back and look at the comments on Keve Aluma when he committed. Remember one "expert" saying he was a wasted roster spot.
We will see if Mike Young and the staff can work their magic. We have turned a few "terrible" players into at least Euro League players.
Sagnia played several years in Spain. and some of his career productivity stats are remarkably similar to Heide's.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/stats/_/id/5176243/m...
https://www.basketball-reference.com/international/players/musa-sagnia-1...
They are both fairly athletic bigs that can't shoot free throws.
Shockingly, Sagnia shoots just under 30% from 3...42 out of 141...yes, he tried 141 3's in 3 years and one game (averaging 15 mpg)...about 45% of his attempts were 3's. Over there, he was essentially a wing.
Frazier has himself a project.
https://www.google.com/search?q=sagnia+video+highlights+spain&sca_esv=8a...
Peteris Pinnis on the Beavers has to be Top 5 All Name Qualifier
Self fulfilling prophecy that he's filling in a spot with the Beavers
Sounds like this kid can really shoot it. If he can keep those percentages up, should have decent role off the bench
Anyone else watching all the drama with Will Wade and LSU? Just announced their third signing of a player that went through the NBA Draft.
Today it was forward Saliou Niang, who was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2025 Draft and was playing for Virtus Bologna in Italy Serie A as well as Euroleague.
Previously it was RJ Luis, who went undrafted but signed a UDFA contract with Jazz and was traded to the Celtics before being released. He was the Big East Player of the Year in 2025 with St John's.
Yam Madar was drafted by the Celtics in 2020 and has been playing professionally in Israel and Italy since then. Rumor is they gave him $5M.
Wade has also signed Brice Dessert, who has been playing for one of the top French teams in the EuroLeague.
Marcio Santos was also signed out of Maccabi Tel Aviv in the top Israeli league as well as a EuroLeague team. He spent three years in Brazil as an All Star/league champion in their top league before going to Israel.
The three drafted are considered ineligible by the NCAA. Not sure if NCAA has issued an eligibility determination on Dessert or Santos but both have at least five years of top end professional basketball.
Average age of this group is like 23 years 9 months.
Am assuming Wade feels he has a friendly judge willing to deem them all eligible in court if he is committing so heavily to this path.
What a joke.
LSU is the poster Program for all the shitty things that NIL and lax transfer and eligibility rules have allowed to fester in college sports.
A group of coaches who have the collective integrity of a bucket of slime. Rosters constructed with Semi-pro mercenaries being paid through private funds, and a general indifference to any rules or academic standards.
The NCAA exists (maybe existed at this point?) to prevent College Sports from becoming semi-pro slop that no one really cares about. Does anyone really want to watch a bunch of NFL and NBA washouts beat up on 18 year-olds??
Is there a secret market out there clamoring for a Louisville Kings Vs. USC matchup??
The NCAA was meant to prevent rogue bullshit like this (and the Charles Bediako crap from Alabama) but the world apparently decided castrating the NCAA and creating a modern Lord of the Flies with guys like Lane Kiffin, Nate Oats, and Will Wade setting the "moral compass" was a better plan.
Fuckin Brilliant
Georgia men's basketball gets $10M from Adam Wexler, founder of DFS operator PrizePicks
Here's another winning idea to add to the pile...
Let's use Gambling money to support our Pay-for-Play operation. We can use that money to pay 25 year-olds who can't deal with the fact that they will never actually be rich professional athletes.
Can't see how this could ever create some obvious problems in the future.
Free College Education= no actual value
Money from Gambling apps = a rocketship to future success.
Absolutely idiotic.
It's Louisiana. Of course he does.
Will Wade treats objects like women, man
Finally signed a Curry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU4poWfQChA
Well there's our second PG.
Not a shooter, but man he is lightning quick and drops some highlight assists.
Hard to find a better finisher through contact vs. size.
He appears to have great court vision even under serious pressure. He seems to have an innate ability to know when to drive or dish.
I also focused on his play vs the caliber opponent. Didn't see any "drop off" from the lower competitive teams vs the bigger programs.
David Cunningham shared this quote from Megan Duffy:
Sorry but thats insane. No way a women's college basketball team, even winning a championship, has a positive return on investment at these kind of numbers. This is like WNBA numbers, players getting salaries that keep the league in the red yet the players still want more. Not faulting the players if someone is willing to cut them these kind of checks but just have to wonder when any kind of economic sense is applied.
WNBA team salary cap is $10M.
Thats the new one. Even on the old one, the league lost $40M last season even after generating $300M in revenue.
This season the league gets a TV contract bump of about $200M but they quadrupled player salaries so are projected to lose $75-$80M this year.
They also added $500M in team fees for the two new franchises that began play. They will get $250M a year for team fees for the next three seasons as the leagues expands to 18 teams.
The biggest problem for profitability is the number of games. NBA plays an 82 game schedule. WNBA plays only a 44 game schedule. Thats only 330 total games compared to NBA playing 1230 games. Playoffs make the discrepancy even larger.
Since 1997, the league is estimated to have lost $350M. The NBA owners used it as a tax write-off.
NCAA WBB (or at least Techs) operates in the red every year and that was before the implementation of NIL and revenue sharing. The season tickets and TV rights do not balance the budget of operational costs (including travel), coaching costs, scholarships, etc.
Agreed, so now add 5% of Revenue Share ($1.125M for next season) and having to fundraise $8-$9M in NIL above that Annually. The Championship teams should benefit by actual corporate NIL deals but thats probably only the top 2-3% of players. It just exacerbates an already losing position.
For sure... Even with my assumption that that figure is significantly inflated, any team paying even half of that for a WCBB roster is taking a bath monetarily.
The NIL "market" is legitimately disconnected from reality at this point. It makes the US housing market pre-2008 look completely sane in comparison.
I cannot fathom how they successfully fundraise to this.
And the sad part is Tech sells out for WBB even if attendance isn't there compared to sales. That said our attendance numbers for WBB look great compared to most WBB programs everywhere.
Would winning a school's first NCAA championship be a positive return on investment? Asking for a friend.
Positive feelings yes, ROI probably not. The trip to the final four was actually a financial loss for the WBB Hokies. The TV revenue for NCAA post season games was not sufficient to cover the expenses is my understanding from a friend in the athletic department.
the entire point of the organization is to win games and win titles, not make money. Having money gives the organization a better shot at the goal of winning games, but beyond that it's useless to an athletic department.
if you can "overspend" on a sport (but not so much that you go bankrupt) and end up with an excellent team that wins a ton of games, or even a championship - that is called success. It may lead to a few lean years while the debts are cleared but that gets into semantics - what's better? an 80% winning percentage for 3 years and a 40% win rate for 3 years, back and forth, or winning 50-60% of games steadily each year?
I'd give up a lot for that to be true.
What else are athletic departments doing besides spending money on things that they believe will increase their chances of winning?
Well I dont think balloons help winning and yet they all have insane balloon budgets so that.
Getting away from this ethos has caused most of the problems in college athletics over the past few decades.
I want our team to win. My point was unfortunately unless things change WBB is actually a net loss. That doesn't mean you stop playing.
Women's college basketball has better ratings than the WNBA. The elite eight games this year averaged 2.7m which was down from last year, the fibal four games averaged 5.2m. The wnba finals averaged 1.5m, also down fron last years 1.6, how've those are the top two most watched years.
So I would expect a more popular league would pay better than a less popular league.