I can't wait to see the improvement this team makes over the offseason. I expect to win the games against the teams we should've beaten this year. Mostly Alabama State, but Northwestern, Syracuse, and Notre Dame. And now BYU. We showed a much better ability to finish teams off by the end of the season, and I expect we will be even better by next year. We will continue to get to the free throw line often, and hopefully make them at a higher rate after having an entire offseason to improve those numbers. I don't know how the team chemistry could improve (it seemed as good as it could've possibly been), however returning everyone, excluding Henry, gives the potential to have a team with even greater team chemistry than this year. We should have a healthy Hill and Outlaw, along with hopefully a healthy Clarke all year long, and a deep rotation of strong contributors. We have seen different types of leadership from multiple returning guys - LeDay, Robinson, Allen, Wilson, Clarke, among others.
I see a lot to look forward to with this program, and Buzz has already all but proven that can he lead us there.
Thanks Buzz, and Go Hokies
Comments
I thought the offensive team chemistry was pretty good down the stretch, but we definitely have quite a bit to work on when it comes to defensive chemistry/rotations.
Go Hlkiss indeed. After all the hires Whit has made I'd give him a hlkiss.
I even proofread it after I wrote it, but I guess alcohol negatively affects my proofreading skills just as it does my writing skills. I found 4 or 5 mistakes. Maybe just wait for the next morning to post the final draft when I'm that inebriated. But regardless, Go Hlkiss!
Are you kidding me? If people proofread we wouldn't have gems like "dont deny my pussy touchdowns", "dork magic", and now "go hlkiss".
Drunk posting is the fabric of TKP.
Well then I'm glad to have potentially started something new. That alcohol sure will get after ya
Ahhh, but it do lubricate the synapses, eh?
Recruiting Stuff:
1) What happens with Tyrone Outlaw? Obviously none of us can definitely say if he will be on the team next year. If he can't play, an extra scholarship will open up which will allow us to pursue another player. As of right now, here's how I see the rotation next year (w/o Outlaw):
Point Guards: Justin Robinson, Seth Allen (Sr.), Devin Wilson (Sr.)
Wings: Chris Clarke, Justin Bibbs, Jalen Hudson, Ahmed Hill
Bigs: Zach LeDay (Sr.), Kerry Blackshear, Johnny Hamilton (Sr.), Satchel Pierce, Khadim Sy
2) Tying into my first point, we're losing 4 (potentially five depending on Outlaw) players after next year. This recruiting cycle is going to be important for Buzz. Clearly we need to restock at point guard and our big rotation. Snagging a PG like Matt Coleman, Markell Johnson, CJ Roberts or Blake Harris is critical. However, getting a blue chip big man should be the main focus for our coaching staff. It worries me a little that (according to 247), there's not a big man where we have the inside track. Obviously it's still early so it's not a pressing issue.
3) The biggest "nuts on the table" move that Buzz could pull off would be getting Thon Maker to commit to VT. According to verbal commit, we made an offer to him but not according to 247. I put the odds of us getting Thon as less than winning the lottery but it's fun to think about. Here's his highlight take for shits and giggles:
1) I could see Pierce or Hamilton transferring. Both barely played this year, one might want to find some playing time somewhere else. With how active Buzz allegedly is with the 2016 class I think a transfer from somewhere could be expected.
2) Its too early to look at crystal balls, most of the predictions are guesses based off of current offers. After the first EYBL sessions is when you should really start to take notice. Think Markell Johnson is the best bet though. Not sure what bigs are out there that we're involved with
Hamilton won't cause he is a JUCO transfer and has only 1 year left of eligibility. But I can see Pierce transferring if we get another big man.
Big men usually need a few years to develop. Our one recruit this year so far is Sy, who doesn't seem ready to play as a freshman. Next year Blackshear will need a consistent back up so the door is wide open for both Satch and Johnny. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them transfers and we get another recruit, but I don't think that's very likely. We need at least one of them to step up, and Buzz even said he designed this team to have a low turnover rate for next year, making it sound like he doesn't expect anyone, or at least a lot of people, to leave.
And this is exactly why they originally planned to redshirt Hamilton. With his height, he is an ok shot blocker and rebounder, but obviously needed/needs work on his offensive game and in his positioning on the defensive end.
How do you not even offer T. Maker when he's in your backyard? Of course we wouldn't get him but at least an offer. He is quite literally the piece we are missing right now.
If he's not an OKG, don't want him.
Well, he is not in our backyard any longer, hasnt been for two seasons. He is up in Canada because the Canada Athlete Institute gave his sponsor a job. He also could be a complete detriment to the team atmosphere for how his recruiting is being handled by said sponsor. He definitely will be a one and done. The last aspect is that Buzz doesnt have any open scholarships for this season unless he forces someone else out because he already accepted Khadim Sy's NLI to replace Henry.
Markell Johnson is looking to reclassify to 2016 and is trending toward us from what I heard. He could fill outlaws spot for next season assuming ty isnt cleared
I would like to have Johnson but I would prefer him in 2017. Next years team doesn't need another PG unless Wilson transfers (hope not). For next year, We need what we always need, a post player who defends and rebounds like a madman.
Johnson would be great but based on the very little knowledge I have on these guys, I would rather go with Coleman...757 kid that plays at Oak Hill, two critical places for Buzz to have inroads in from a recruiting standpoint.
I don't quite understand the obsession with getting blue chip basketball recruits. What is considered blue chip? If we're talking 5 star or top 15-25 guys a lot of them end up being one and done. I'd be interested in someone taking an in-depth look at top schools, excluding recent iterations of Duke/Kentucky, in the one and done era and see where their recruits ranked.
ESPN top 25 recruits from this years 4 number one seeds (not including transfers)
Kansas: Wayne Selden (14th Jr), Cheick Diallo (7th, Fr), Carlton Bragg (21st, Fr)
UVA: None
UNC: Marcus Paige (22nd, Sr), Isaiah Hicks (18th, Jr), Justin Jackson (8th, So), Theo Pinson (10th, So), Joel Berry (17th, So)
Oregon: None
USA Today First Team All-American this year and their rankings coming out of high school according to ESPN
Buddy Hield: Unranked, 4 stars, #20 Shooting Guard
Brice Johnson: #34, 4 stars, #8 Power Forward
Jakob Poeltl: No information coming out of Austria
Tyler Ulis: #25, 5 stars, #4 Point Guard
Denzel Valentine: #98, 4 stars, #26 Small Forward
And for good measure ACC POY Malcolm Brogdon: #73, 4 stars, #19 Shooting Guard
In comparison our top 5 in minutes played this year plus Clarke and Hill (includes transfers)
Zach LeDay: Unranked, 2 stars, #52 power forward
Seth Allen: Unranked, 3 stars, #42 shooting guard
Justin Bibbs: #70, 4 stars, #14 shooting guard
Justin Robinson: Unranked, 4 stars, #20 point guard
Jalen Hudson: Unranked, 4 stars, #19 shooting guard
Ahmed Hill: #54, 4 stars, #13 shooting guard
Chris Clarke: #54, 4 stars, #10 small forward
Getting good recruits is important, but building a program requires seniors (outside of a few schools who can do it with one and done freshman). Most consistently good teams have older players and are not usually made up of more than a few top 25 recruits. Getting one top 25 guy here every couple years would be beneficial, but overall our recruiting the past two years has been phenomenal. This is the type of HS recruiting that builds competitive teams. Add in a few JuCo or college transfers and you're set. Compare UNC and UVA, UNC won with a bunch of highly ranked guys, UVA was right there with them with significantly lower ranked players. Buzz knows what he's doing, we have good players right now, and I don't doubt that we'll continue to get good players in the future.
A good graduate big man transfer would be great. I also believe one of Pierce, Hamilton will not likely be back. I would think a decision on Outlaw would be made soon, hope he is able to play but needs to be decided.
Andre Washington (C/7'-0"/240 lbs) from Wake Forest would be awesome if Buzz decides to go that route.
I don't know how much of an upgrade he would be over Satch or Hamilton. He didn't play this year and peaked at 2 ppg.
On another note, any talk about Buzz possibly leaving can't be a big help in recruiting.
I hope those get resolved sooner rather than later.
The rumors have little to none meaning with recruits unless he actually leaves (same deal with every coach.)
And in a good amount of cases, the recruits just follow wherever the coach go like Pierce and Hill.
I'll try to make this as short as I can. I thought year 3 would be the breakout year where we made the tournament and Buzzketball announced itself. Now I'm thinking that not making the tournament would be a disappointment. I don't want to judge the whole season on what they do in the ACC or NCAA tournament, however I do think a Sweet Sixteen trip is likely. Overall outside of March I think we can be high in ACC standings, consistently ranked in the Top 25, and get a top 6 seed in the tourney. The ceiling next year is ACC Championship and Final Four/National Championship. Seriously. I believe we can be that good. To do that, or even just be a good ACC team, a few things need to improve:
1) Inside presence on both ends, Blackshear needs to be able to play 20-30 minutes per game and be effective on both ends. Another big needs to step up and be an effective backup. LeDay should be playing almost all of his minutes at the 4.
2) Overall defense. Much improved this year (kenpom 75th this year, 245 last year), needs to keep improving.
3) Three point shooting. During the ACC losing streak, only Bibbs and LeDay were shooting well and LeDay needs a ton of room to get his shot off. Teams packed the paint and limited our ability to drive or post up. Improved shooting was important on our win streak. Allen needs to shoot at career averages, Blackshear should improve, and Clarke needs to become enough of a threat from 3 that teams don't sag on him defensively.
4) Free throws. See last night.
This could be an all-time year coming up for VT basketball. My expectations are high, but they were high coming into this year and they were exceeded. All aboard the Hype Train. Choo-choo motherfuckers.
Those are about my expectations as well. To start with, I want to win that Wooden tourney. Ucla, aTm, Dayton, Nebraska, New Mexico....we can win that.
That will get us in the top 25, where I want to see us stay.
Next goal: top 4 seed in ACCT. that bye gives you a chance to win it.
Then a top 5 seed in the NCAA. That gives you an advantage to get to the 2nd weekend. Once you get there, anything can happen.
{bonus goal: higher ACCT and NCAA seed than UVA}
We could use a grad transfer for the post, but it has to be an obvious upgrade over Pierce. Washington from Wake is not an obvious upgrade, I would rather just keep Satch.
We need to keep Hudson and Wilson, the two obvious contributors who may want to go elsewhere for more time. Hudson has so
Much talent, hopefully he doesn't see Hills return as a negative since they are so close in skills.
Finally, I'm really excited for Hill. I think he can be All-ACC. He can be most improved like Blossomgame was this year.
I doubt Wilson will be in the rotation much next year, and I could see him transferring because of that. But he'd still have to sit out a year, and I think Buzz would like his knowledge, toughness, and leadership on the team. And I feel like Hudson knows that if he plays well he's the best wing on the team, when he's Tyrone he can't be taken off the court. Depth is important and hopefully everyone sees that they can be contributors and that this team can be extremely deep and extremely good.
As for post players, I just hope they develop into serviceable bigs. It takes time but Satch has improved from last year and Johnny has shown promise.
Devin won't leave. He won't get much time anywhere else and it wouldn't be worth sitting out a year. This an opportunity for him to be on a good team and he won't pass it up.
Wilson wouldn't have to sit if he has taken enough credits to graduate this summer. Not sure if that's the case but it's a possibility.
Have heard from #sources that Hudson is at least thinking about transferring and that he doesn't get along that well with Buzz. Most likely related to playing time IMO. My source is not digital and can not be confirmed, so take it for what it is. Obviously this would be a huge blow and hopefully he comes to the realization that staying will be worth it in the end.
Love the enthusiasm but that might be a bit ambitious for next year. The ACC is going to be an absolute blood bath next season so I think a top 8 finish in the ACC and a non double digit seed in the NCAA are much more achievable goals for next season. And in all tournaments once you get in it all matters on the match ups. Look at Gonzaga this year, they weren't going to make the tournament unless they won their conference and now they're pretty much going to walk to an elite 8 appearance. Its just really really tough to make goals based off of tournament wins when you have no idea who you're going to be playing.
The defense was improved but was still garbage to finish the season, got scorched by FSU Miami Princeton and BYU to finish the year. We usually hit the original rotations but after that it seems to fall apart. Hopefully with another year of Buzz those get cleared up.
The most important thing is for the freshman to make the sophomore leap. Thats what will take the team to the next level
Walk to an Elite 8? I'm sure Syracuse will have something to say about that.
I get what you're saying but about 6 months ago I would've thought a 6 seed in the ACC Tournament and a win in the NIT would've been a bit ambitious for this season
UNC is losing Paige and Johnson, but they'll still be good. Duke is losing Ingram, Plumlee, and possibly Allen but adding enough to be elite. UVA is losing Brogdon and Gill, they'll fall from their elite level. Louisville will be good but who knows how good. Miami is losing McClellan, Jekiri, and Rodriguez. We lose Shane Henry. The ACC will always be tough at the top, but there is a window opening next season. My expectations are based on us returning everyone and all those players improving not just the freshman. I'm not making goals off of the tournaments, I'm just saying that once we get to the postseason those things are very possible.
Notre Dame returns a ton so I suspect they will be right there at the top as well.
Losing Auguste is a big deal, may lose Jackson.
Agreed, I think the ACC is down across the board next year. Who will be better next year? VT, Fsu, Duke(?). Everyone else is worse.
And FSU has Leonard Hamilton at the helm. He always underperforms. They may win the ACC tournament, but I don't think they have a chance at a regular season title.
Not necessarily. The only team thats going to take a really big step back is Miami. And maybe even not them with the talent they're bringing in. I guess UNC will be worse but still probably more talented that us. The bigger thing is there's no teams other than BC that are going to suck. That means if you have an off night shooting you can be in real trouble
UVA will have a down year without Brogdon and Gill, higher than a 5 seed in NCAAT.
Duke has been less than the sum of their parts pretty frequent recently. How does Duke ever lack depth? UNC may lose a lot to the NBA and these Roy to retire rumors persist.
Lville will lose those two transfers and could get more NCAA time (doubtful).
I see UNC and Duke being top of the league, but there's no reason someone else wouldn't join them there. It just feels to me like it's very wide open after that top two. The league is always tough, but I believe we can compete with that even better than this year. There are no easy wins in the ACC outside of BC.
UVA is adding Austin Nichols to replace Gill and are bringing in a ton of talented freshman. I'd be willing to bet they're better than a 5 seed. I wish they'd be down but Bennett has a pretty well oiled machine running.
Duke only lacks depth because K likes to keep his rotations short. They have plenty of guys who can play on their bench. And (what is a recurring theme for Duke now) I think they're about to sign 4 top 20 guys to come in. Plus they'll get Amile Jefferson back from injury.
I'm really not saying that we can't finish in the top 4 next year or win the conference. Its just a lot tougher than we return everything and finished 6th so we should move up. Its entirely reasonable we improve as a team but finish lower in the ACC standings next year
We just have to take care of non-conference, and we will be in the dance. It would be nice to improve on 10-8 in conference, but that record will easily get us in if we win the games we should OOC.
Bacon and Beasley are likely off to the NBA, so FSU will probably take a step back as well.
From what I've seen they're both likely to stay. Rathan Mayes is supposedly getting shown the door though. Interesting to see what they are, they're adding another top 10 class and get a bunch of guys back from injuries
No way. Between Bacon and Beasley they at least one is gone. They are both projected in the first round and would be foolish to turn it down.
Most important thing? Is Buzz coming back...
I was in Raleigh this weekend for the first two rounds of the Tournament (for those of you who gave some advice with tickets, thank you! We had a great time.), and I can say that VT is not far away. Here are a couple of things...
1) VT may have (outside of UNC) the best guard duo in the ACC. Of the teams we saw, only UNC had a better 1-2 combo and it wasn't really that close.
2) We have a couple of really good scorers at the 3/4 spots (depending on where you put Bibbs and Hudson). I didn't see a team (other than UNC & UVA) that could put two guys in at those spots who had the scoring potential that those two have. If Clarke can develop a legit med-range game to boot, watch out!
3) We really are only solid play from a "big" away from being a very good team. That is not a knock on Zach LeDay, but he cannot carry the entire load down low every game. And if we are all honest Clarke looks completely lost on defense when in the paint. If we can get just solid play from Blackshear next year, that would be huge for this team.
4) The UVA crowd in Raleigh was almost abysmal. If VT had been playing in Raleigh (or somewhere close), Hokies would have filled the arena. So, for all the UVA fans that talk about how VT is a "football school" that "refuses to invest in basketball", why not show up when your team is in the NCAA Tournament only hours from Hooville?
5) Here's to making the Tourney next year and taking over an arena in someone else's city!
I think the NCAA tournament is a proper goal but it's definitely not a given. It doesn't sound like Khadim Sy is ready for a lot of minutes next year so with Shane Henry's departure it's a wash. That puts the onus on our current players to get better this offseason if we want to end the NCAA tourney drought.
We need more from Pierce and JHam. I expect KJB to improve but we have no one behind him and Leday. It hurts our defense, rebounding, and limits the lineups we can use. Being able to go "big" as effectively as we can go "small" is the key to winning more games, particularly of the tournament variety where you have to play different styles.
We need better defense across the board. There's no point to being great offensively if you just give up the hard-earned points at the other end. Our defensive rotation looked a lot better at the end of the season but we're still allowing too much penetration, giving up easy points and potentially getting into foul trouble. I'd like to see someone develop into a defensive stopper as well.
We need injury luck. There is no one who can replace Leday right now. KJB would also be a terrible player to lose. JRob or Seth going down means Devin Wilson has to play more at PG.
If our guards and wings can generate the advantage on both ends while our frontcourt improves enough to hold their own, we could be easily be a NCAA team. One thing I like is we don't lose any major scoring from last year, so hopefully we'll be able to rock and roll from Game 1.
I think you mean KBJ. Kerry Blackshear, Junior.
An announcer during a few of our games referred to him as KJ Blackshear, so I just assumed it was his middle initial. If true, I guess that would make both KJB and KBJ acceptable.
He's known as KJ on the team, not Kerry.
Still a chance to add a more impactful recruit/transfer than Sy, who is a project that is a few years away from contribution.
I agree that the biggest problem is KJB's backup. Hopefully we get more out of Hamilton or Satch. We may need to use Outlaw's scholarship on a big. I assume we will hear something on that pretty quickly. H
e's been through all the medical tests and if VT still won't let him play, he should be released to find someone who will let him play and we can you the scholarship this spring.
The ephemeral part of this is getting the next team to play with the closeness that this team did. Team chemistry is a nebulous object and I'm sure we have all been on teams that came together exceptionally and found it difficult to replicate that same togetherness with a similar group the next year.
Apparently we're looking to add another guard. Wonder who is on the way out, my hope is Devin Wilson, kid has zero offensive game.
He would have to sit out a year since he is just a sophomore.
Our weakness isn't offense.
That's not entirely true. One of our weaknesses is lack of a true 5 who can play offense. Leday is great at the 4, but he gets owned by true 6'10"+ centers.
KJB had a very good year as a freshman. His numbers compare favorably to where Zach Auguste was for Notre Dame as a Sophomore. If I told you the next two seasons, KJB was going to be in the mold of Auguste, that would feel pretty good, no?
I think KJB will be really good. Hopefully sooner than later. We will still need a reliable 5 to come in as a backup for him though.
Wilson has been much more important than the stat sheet shows. Plays great defense and is usually the guy on the court that gets everything back under control when the younger guys start playing too fast or start jacking up bad shots.
Agreed. I would rather see Satch or Hamilton gone if someone was to transfer. We need one of those two guys to step up and develop their offensive game.
Pierce is the one to consider. If we can fill his spot with someone who is better than he is, great. But the likely choices are guys just like Pierce (like Washington from Wake). Against BYU, Pierce got some minutes but there are so many teams that Buzz doesn't even use him. We knew he was a project when he got here, is he one more offseason away from giving us 10 mins per game? Or is this all he's going to do? He seems rather aloof, which is concerning.
My expectation is that we will hear definitively that our administration isn't going to sign off on Outlaw's medicals in the next few weeks. That will give us a chance to add a player. If it is a scoring guard who has to sit out a year like this kid from Delaware, that works out great to replace Allen and Wilson off the '17-18 team. Switching Outlaw's scholarship out for a quality guard in two seasons is an acceptable move.
If we are losing anyone else, I would want to augment next years team with another post player.
Looks like we made Holden's Top 5. Here are his freshman highlights, looks to be a very good and aggressive PG.
Just from watching these highlights, he reminds me a little bit of Seth Allen. Main difference is that he seems to probe the defense a little more and isn't quite as explosive, but plays under control. One concern I'd have is that is release is a little slow - against better athletes defending him in the ACC, I wonder if he'd have trouble getting his shot off. That being said, he's got a high release point so maybe it won't be an issue.
As far as competition goes, the CAA is a quality league but Delaware has struggled recently. If Buzz thinks he's "OKG" (Our Kind of Guy) though, I'll trust his talent evaluation more than my own.
Considering he'd be sitting a year and 2016-2017 will be the last year for both Allen & Wilson, he'd likely have a chance to play right away when he does become eligible.
That's quite the selection