The Hokies received some love with 16 votes in the "Others Receiving Votes" section. If you expand out the top 25, that puts us at number 36 in the country. This isn't as high as other preseason polls, but it's a solid improvement from past years.
Other ACC teams include:
1. Duke
6. North Carolina
7. Virginia
14. Louisville
17. Syracuse
Others Receiving Votes
26. Florida State
29. Miami
34. Notre Dame
36. Virginia Tech
42. Clemson
45. Pittsburgh
To view the poll click here
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Comments
UVA is pretty high for a team that graduated as many minutes as they did.
UVA did graduate some key players in Gill, Brogdon and Tobey.
They do have Austin Nichols, 6'9 235 lbs Power Forward starting for them this season after sitting out last year from Memphis. As a sophomore for Memphis, Nichols averaged 13 PPG, 6.1 RPG, and 3.4 BPG. Alongside Nichols will be Mamadi Diakite, 6'9 215 coming off a redshirt season last year. Expect Jarred Reuter to back these two gentlemen up.
London Perrantes returns after averaging 11 PPG, 4.4 APG, and 3 RPG last season.
Guards Marial Shayok, Devon Hall, Darius Thompson and Isiaah Wilkins all return as well. They combined last season for 17 PPG, 13 RPG and 6 APG. These guys playing time ranged from 15 MPG to about 20 MPG so expect to see those numbers rise this year.
That is five of their top eight scorers returning along with a double digit big man being added to the mix and a potential double digit scorer in Diakite.
Expect to see Jack Salt and Jay Huff to rotate at their center spot. Both are 6'11, Salt with a bit more bulk at 245 to Huff's 215 but Huff is a highly touted Freshman as a four star center, ranked 15th at his position and expected to contribute immediately. Huff also has a well developed outside shot, so defenses will be stretched to cover him outside when he is on the floor.
Thats just a quick look so you can see why analysts are big on UVA being able to deliver again, especially with their reputation for defense under Tony Bennett.
Diakite, you say? I remember one of those.
Get that weak shit outta here "Psycho T"
That was a very fun game
Master Chiek!!!
All that said, they lost Brogdon. I'm not sure his contributions were measureable.
Also, I found it interesting that there are only 32 college coaches that vote for this Poll. Buzz Williams is not one of the voters.
I'm glad we are lower in the poll than we thought we would be. All chips on shoulders will be aptly addressed by Buzz's coaching technique and the Hokies will surprise many.
via GIPHY
That gif is hilarious, and accurately represents what assholes cats are.
Just say "NO" to Feline Discrimination.
Cats are pussies
Anyone know when the AP Poll comes out?
Expect it sometime between the 1st and 3rd of November.
Thanks, I figured it was released about two weeks after the Coaches Poll.
If Blackshear is out for the year, then 36 is pretty reasonable IMO.
Absolutely can't wait for basketball season in the burg. Hopefully we'll break the top 25 this year as rank doesn't matter until you back it up on the court
KenPom's initial rankings put us at #39, too, FWIW. Which isn't much before any games are played, but it sounds about right.
http://kenpom.com/index.php?y=2017
Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly, but didn't all the (admittedly meaningless) "way too early" polls right after the season have us top 25? Just find it weird that they thought so highly of us at the end of the season and now we seem to slot in around 35-40 everywhere...don't see what changed.
Most of those polls didnt have a schedule of games to compare schedules of teams. They also were being put out before all the transfers, graduate transfers, and underclassmen deciding to stay or go to the NBA were all finalized to see what impact that had to rosters. Another thing to keep in mind is that none of the preseason polls really matter, its all in how you deliver once the games start. Make a clean run through the OOC schedule and Tech is easily sitting in the Top 25 of most polls, but lose to Maine or a couple of those programs and Tech could be in the 60s before the ACC schedule starts.
If Blackshear is out, that would be big. But as people mentioned this Coaches Poll is a super small sample and the KenPom rankings are based on a formula, which hates our SOS this year and our Defensive Efficiency the past couple years. So KenPom is a little wonky. Just look how underranked NC State is and overranked Florida State is, for an example.
We'll wait to see what the AP says, but like Rob mentioned, it doesn't really matter, we just have to play the games.
Good point on Blackshear, completely forgot to mention injury changes to rosters.
I dont know if I would consider NC State underranked. There is the ever present question on why Mark Gottfried never seems to deliver with an overabundance of talent.
They are also still waiting on word if the five star center Omer Yurtseven and the four star forward Ted Kapita will be cleared to play by the NCAA.
They are going to have a freshmen playing point guard (albeit supposed to be one of the most talented players in the country) so you never know what you might get and he has also had a history of injuries so thats tough to count on with the grueling college schedule. They also expect contributions from two other freshmen.
They did get back BeeJay Anya and Abdul-Malik Abu who both decided to withdraw from the draft so that bolsters the roster tremendously. There is also the unknown of three players returning from injury or transfer into the program that did not suit up last year. Too many fluid pieces for many people to really put a reliable ranking to. They could end up competing for the National Championship, or they could end up finally causing the Gottfired to happen. More likely somewhere in the middle of all that.
NCAA came down with a ruling on Omer Yurtseven, he receives a nine game suspension and $1,000 fine in clearing up his eligibility issues which means he will be back just in time to be game ready by the ACC schedule. The NCAA has still not ruled on Ted Kapita's eligibility at this point. Both were thought to be key pieces to the Wolfpack's rotation this season.
Glad to see Yurtseven is a 7 footer. That name had all the hype to be 6'11 and 3/4"
Well, the family name used to be Yurtsixelevenandthreequarters, but it got shortened when they came through Ellis Island.