Virginia Tech basketball reportedly gained a commitment last night from 6-6 Lee College (JUCO) guard Tyrone Outlaw. And to confuse matters, the Hokies reportedly did not. Jerry Meyer of 247Sports initially reported Outlaw had pledged to the Hokies.
Conflicting Ty Outlaw info. HS coaches sourced as committed to Virginia Tech. Coach Marcus King of Lee C. says not yet per @JucoRecruiting— Jerry Meyer (@jerrymeyer247) May 13, 2015
However, Brad Winton of JucoRecruiting.com rebuffed the claim.
Ty Outlaw has not committed Virginia Tech, per Lee College assistant Marcus King. They are a strong contender, but not committed yet.— Brad Winton (@JucoRecruiting) May 13, 2015
Kelly Snow, the sports editor for The Courier-Times in Roxboro, North Carolina (Outlaw's hometown) also contended Outlaw is bound for Blacksburg.
Former Person hoops standout Tyrone Outlaw Jr. has committed to play next season at Virginia Tech, according to his HS coaches— Kelly Snow (@KellySnow_CT) May 13, 2015
Jason Stamm of Rivals.com spoke with Lee College assistant coach Marcus King who also said initial reports were false, but Virginia Tech is still in consideration and Outlaw will look to decide within the next ten days.
"When he makes up his mind, we'll let everyone know," King said. "That was a false report. He has plenty of interest in Virginia Tech and others, but he has not made a decision."
In his initial report, Meyer noted an Instagram post from Mark Allen, an assistant men's basketball coach at Person High School, where Outlaw was a four-year letter winner. (Allen's original Instagram post was deleted, but a screen grab is below.)
Allen's heartfelt social media message to Outlaw would seem to indicate there's something to the initial commitment reports. Outlaw's response to his coach doubles down on the notion he'll be a member of Buzzketball in 2015.
It's prudent to note that as of right now Virginia Tech's thirteen men's basketball scholarships are all accounted for.
Kerry Blackshear (Freshman, Forward)
Justin Robinson (Freshman, Guard)
Chris Clarke (Freshman, Forward)
Justin Bibbs (Sophomore, Guard)
Ahmed Hill (Sophomore, Guard)
Jalen Hudson (Sophomore, Guard)
Malik Müller (Sophomore, Guard)
Satchel Pierce (Sophomore, Forward)
Seth Allen (Junior, Guard)
Devin Wilson (Junior, Guard)
Johnny Hamilton (Junior, Center)
Zach LeDay (Junior, Forward)
Shane Henry (Senior, Forward)
Outlaw played his freshman season at University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He averaged 5.4 points, 2.1 rebounds, 0.5 assists and 14.6 minutes per game. Outlaw transferred to Lee College to pursue a more prominent Division I opportunity down the road.
"I felt like my goals that I wanted to accomplish in my life basketball-wise, I felt like I could more easily accomplish them somewhere else," Outlaw said last May according to the News & Record. "I wanted a year of JUCO first."
In 30 games at Lee College last season, Outlaw averaged 21.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 13.1 minutes per game. He shot at an overall clip of 50.2% and 43.5% from downtown.
According to Brad Winton, Outlaw to an official visit to Virginia Tech the weekend of April 17. Winton has a favorable description of Outlaw's game.
He is a 6'6 wing who does an excellent job of mixing things up on the offensive end. His combination of size and shooting ability makes him extremely attractive to high-major programs, especially this late in the year.
He is one of the best shooters in the 2015 JUCO class and his size will allow him to get his shot off at the next level.
According to Winton, Outlaw also had a scholarship offer from South Florida, and received, "heavy interest from Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma St, West Virginia, Oregon and Missouri".
247Sports rates Outlaw as a 4-star prospect. Outlaw has two years of eligibility remaining.
This story was modified at Wednesday, 4:00 PM to include information from a Rivals.com report.
Comments
I hope the back and forth doesn't bother this recruit.
However, from a VT alumni/fan perspective, it sure is nice to see VT in these social and media networks situations for great basketball recruits where we didn't create the exposure.
Pass the popcorn!!
Hopefully it works out and we can get him. I'll take it officially when Buzzketball says he has committed though. Nice to see whe are in the running for the same caliber of player with the likes of Kansas.
...I am so excited for the future of Hokie basketball under Buzz
22 ppg in 13 minutes per game???!!!!???
SORCERY
yeah no joke! that's almost a bucket a minute
That struck me too.......
Let it Rain!!
It's JUCO. And they don't track minutes. Some game logs will just show 1 min played for everyone, whereas other games show accurate minutes. So that throws off the per minute stats.
Saw that and wondered why he didn't get more minutes.
Yeah, my jaw dropped at the same number. Anybody scoring 66.7 points per 40 minutes should probably on the court for more than 14 minutes per game. That's NBA Jam "On Fire" level stuff.
Obligatory:
Wait, which Tyrone are you talking about? Hudson or Outlaw??
Yes
Great news to get what appears to be another solid wing player. Attrition coming?
Attrition is a requirement at this point
SHAZAM!
Better get the sherriff on his trail to drag him into Montgomery County.
I'll show myself out for that cheesy joke...
Who is it going to be?
Kerry Blackshear (Freshman, Forward)
Justin Robinson (Freshman, Guard)
Chris Clarke (Freshman, Forward)
Justin Bibbs (Sophomore, Guard)
Ahmed Hill (Sophomore, Guard)
Jalen Hudson (Sophomore, Guard)
Malik Müller (Sophomore, Guard)
Satchel Pierce (Sophomore, Forward)
Seth Allen (Junior, Guard)
Devin Wilson (Junior, Guard)
Johnny Hamilton (Junior, Center)
Zach LeDay (Junior, Forward)
Shane Henry (Senior, Forward)
Who is it going to be?
Kerry Blackshear (Freshman, Forward)
Justin Robinson (Freshman, Guard)
Chris Clarke (Freshman, Forward)
Justin Bibbs (Sophomore, Guard)
Ahmed Hill (Sophomore, Guard)
Jalen Hudson (Sophomore, Guard)
Malik Müller (Sophomore, Guard)
Satchel Pierce (Sophomore, Forward)
Seth Allen (Junior, Guard)
Devin Wilson (Junior, Guard)
Johnny Hamilton (Junior, Center)
Zach LeDay (Junior, Forward)
Shane Henry (Senior, Forward)
As far as Mueller goes, everything I've read suggests he's bought in to Buzz's style of management more than anyone else. As far as Wilson goes, I've not seen much about how he gets along with Buzz one way or the other. But I swear it feels like people are rooting for him to leave.
I wouldn't say I'm rooting for him to leave, but I do think he'd probably be a better fit at a smaller program. With the addition of the guys coming in who can run the offense, handle the ball better and score in more ways than driving to the basket, it's easy to see how he might be the odd man out when playing time is distributed. That said, he could just go all Erick Green on us, practice a few thousand threes every day from now until the season starts, and just start dropping bombs this year. Ya never know.
I would like to think Va Tech is not the kind of program that encourage players to leave or asks them to leave. My hope is player is leaving because he chooses to or is having academic problems. I know this is probably naive on my part.
Amen bro
I feel the exact same way.
I said the same thing when Joey and Adam left and I was pretty much told to shut the hell up, that's the way Buzz runs his program and that I "didn't get it." It's the one thing i don't like about him. He is clearly telling people to leave.
I most certainly was not saying that Buzz was running players off, I was only hoping for a well run program as being the goal of Va Tech. I don't know anything about Joey or Adam's situation.
I too have felt conflicted by this turnover. On one hand, the guys that are leaving committed to play at VT and go out and work hard to earn their scholarship, so I don't like the idea of people being asked to leave. On the other hand, Buzz was brought here to build an ACC contender team, and we honestly haven't looked like that in the slightest the past few seasons. So if he feels a new player is making us a better team, I have to understand that.
I worry somewhat about continuity if this turns into an annual thing, but maybe Buzz is doing what he feels it takes to make us a top ACC team.
Many (all?) of the players that have left committed to play for Johnson, not Buzz. Playing for a different coach who has a very different style and culture and demands a lot more of you may not be the best thing for them. Adam may have wanted to give it a season and came to realize he didn't want to do it again. I don't see Buzz pushing someone out who has bought into his system just because they aren't as talented as he would like. If he has a player who is not buying into the culture but was just going to hang around, I could see him having a discussion with that player that it is not going to work out between the two and if they want the playing time and opportunity, transferring may be in the their best interest.
Buzz is being paid a whole lot of money to make a winning program and tough decisions will be made. Players transferring out and continuing to get an education elsewhere isn't a huge concern for me right now. If players were being dropped and left to their own, I would be more concerned. If attrition is an issue in 2 years, then that would be a point of concern that Buzz's guys are leaving for some reason.
Buzz cares about his players, and seeing him talk about them or having a conversation with him will do nothing but support that, but he will put the program above an individual every single time. That said, considering this is coming around finals time, it could mean that a kid isn't gonna be academically eligible. Or, we could see another guy transfer to a place where he'll be in a better situation to succeed. Buzz isn't gonna just toss guys out and tell 'em to beat it. Joey and Adam have both landed in solid spots to continue their on- and off-court lives.
Please explain how he ran Joey off the team?
TSL is hinting at an academic casualty .
Well that means it's not Wilson. Wasn't DW an academic all-conference player?
You are correct, sir.
http://www.hokiesports.com/mbasketball/recaps/20150305aaa.html
Müller?
Up vote for gif. Not that I agree it should be the umlaut
I know I know.... but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to use it
I want to win as much as the next guy but this situation definitely comes off as unsavory at a glance...
Agreed, but all of college sports is unsavory. Even the hallowed Frank Beamer has had to do some tough things over the years.
I look at it like this: we have three guys on next years team who I don't think are going to be in the rotation. Those guys are going to play in blowouts and if there are injuries. If it is made clear to them that this is the situation and they decide to stay, they should stay. If it is made clear to them and they leave, you replace them.
What if nobody wants to go, nobody has to go (gradewise), and we just got this guy to commit?
My guess is that this is already a done deal on all counts, but can't be christened until the departing player gets his house in order and announces it.
And who would those three be in your opinion?
(Wilson, Muller, ?)
Wilson, Mueller and Henry.
That's assuming LeDay is passable, which there is a chance he isn't. He was phased out at USF his Soph year. Or he could be a nice Euro-Big at the 4 spot. Hard to say what you are going to get with that guy.
Any further news on this front? Is there a deadline of any kind, for a transfer to say they are leaving and sign with another school to then sit out? Could it go until school starts in Aug?
It is very weird to me. Why did info leak from coach unless it was true?
Coach may not have fully understood the whole story and is now waiting until the prerequisite occurs which will be the trigger.
So this just happened.
Is he gonna greyshirt or walk on? I mean, as far as I know no one else has left.
Walk-on.
#sources. is this just your thought?...
Pro-tip: click his profile and look at his occupation.
Fun story with that. I was eating lunch today, so when someone came asking for a basketball, I didn't think much of it and figured it was just a basketball player that forgot to bring one over from Hahn since there are camps that started. Turns out it was Lawson trying to shoot some hoops. Dude is huge and his beard game is strong.
I'm liking this guy already
but with his beard he has reminded me of Cato of Marshall.
however that is a little bit dated pic. Hopefully he can manage something like James Harden which would be awesome.....
I hope he stays away from that thing that Harden calls a beard. His looks horrible. There is a difference in a big beard and a great beard.
It might be tough to buckle the chinstrap with a Harden beard. If he can win and put up numbers like Cato, then I don't care what's going on with his face.
for serious?
Buzz has got game.
That's...that's....too amazing to believe.
So let me get this straight... Kid has a scholly offer for South Florida and likely would have had offers for at least one out of Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma St, West Virginia, Oregon and Missouri, and instead of doing that, he signs as a walk on to us?!?
If that's the case, that would be great. However, I fully expect the other shoe to drop on this...someone is leaving the program.
Actually it was down to us and Kansas and neither school had a scholarship to give. He is paying his way a year then will be on scholarship. Of course, while that is the case as far as I know, that doesn't mean someone couldn't end up leaving anyway and he ends up on scholarship right away.
The crazy pills will be needed when you realize there is a chance that they want to redshirt Hamilton. I'll believe that one when I see it, but there is a chance of that happening. What I've learned is that you really can't predict anything that Buzz is going to do, because I'm not sure he always knows until he does it.
I would assume if they redshirt Hamilton, that means they are very high on what they see out of Blackshear and are at least somewhat encouraged about the growth of LeDay, Henry and Pierce...but you know what they say about assuming things.
lets just say I've heard from Buzz that Leday is a completely different player now and that his redshirt year was one of the most productive that Buzz has witnessed in coaching
I believe I heard the same thing. I believe we may have heard it at the same place.
Walk on?
Wow, seriously?!. This is bizarre
As someone once said: " What the hell is going on here? "
This sure is getting fun. I get the feeling that Buzz is cooking up a storm, but we're not gonna know what we get until we got it. The intrigue is interesting, however, and I'm really getting excited about this year.
Welcome to JUCO recruiting.
I'm not sure exactly what's going on, but I have to say I like this much talent on the Virginia Tech basketball team.
That, combined with Williams coaching, gives me a lot of optimism. Something good MUST come from this, right?
The whole "walk on" situation makes a whole lot more sense now. Think this kid now has a scholly with Mueller leaving
For those keeping track, Ty has officially enrolled at Tech.
This just keeps getting better!
Redshirting this season due to a medical condition. Get well soon, Ty.
Well, that sucks.