#Hokies sophomore guard Wabissa Bede will enter the NCAA transfer portal, per a source. He could return to the program when the new coach is hired.Former Tech forward Chris Clarke has entered the portal as well, and will not have the option of returning to the Hokies' program.— Mike Barber (@RTD_MikeBarber) April 5, 2019
Virginia Tech guard Wabissa Bede and forward Chris Clarke have both entered the transfer portal, sources told ESPN. Bede started 26 games for the Hokies, while Clarke was suspended back in October but should be eligible to graduate transfer.— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) April 5, 2019
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Clarke will probably try to transfer to Oregon or Colorado.
Hopefully his plans to play don't go up in smoke
Gotta weed out the bud seeds
He's just trying to get to a higher level.
Holy smokes, you can't blame the dude for wanting to take his game to a higher level.
UNLV...good herb there
Hopefully Bede comes back. I wish they had just kicked Clarke off the team to stop giving us false hope with the "suspension" language. On the positive side, I saw that Wilkins "liked" a tweet urging current players to stay. Hopefully he can be a building block for us
I'd really be bummed if Bede left. He got thrown into the role of playing the 1 way earlier than planned. He improved noticeably as the season went on. Wake was the only game I got to go to this year, and watching live he really stood out to me playing his nuts off. I think he has a real future as the leader of this team.
But as a long time Hokie Hoops fan he'd just be the latest of a long line of promising players who transferred.
Who is the long line of players?
Finney Smith....who else?
Hudson
Trevor Thompson
Ben Emelogu
CJ Barksdale
Marshall Wood
Malik Mueller
... All in the first year of Buzz's reign
They were all kicked out or told to transfer. Barksdale couldnt hack it. Thompson kicked out. None promising really. Buzz was cleaning house.
Marshall Wood averaged 3.6 ppg his senior year at Richmond.
Barksdale never played again.
Meuller was not ACC caliber.
Actually Hudson only average 9.3ppg this year.
Thompson was booted for answering his cell phone on the first meeting with Buzz.
Emelogu had career averaged 6.7 ppg for his career.
Thompson nearly averaged a double-double his last year at Ohio State. Emelogu had a back injury and then averaged double-figures his senior year. Adam Smith averaged 15 points his senior year. Hank Thorns was all-conference for TCU. Ty Garland helped lead La Salle to a sweet 16.
No all-stars, but not bums. But, without looking, this probably happens to every program with any degree of coaching turnover. Heck, Marial Shayok transferred from UVA and nearly averaged 20 points a game this year at Iowa State.
If by "never played again", you mean played professionally in europe, then yes, you're right...Barksdale never played again.
Tyrone Garland, Seth Leday, Adam Smith
Yeah, Hudson was good. But that's only two promising guys in the last 8 year's. Not a long line.
Montrezl Harrell. Got his release when Uncle Fester was fried.
(And would've been in the same class as DFS...tha would've been fun to watch)
I feel like we just barely got over transfer portal news. Can we fast forward to August?
Damn, Fuente just can't stop the bleeding.
Another locker room. Gone.
The struggling Justin Fuente has now lost both the football and basketball locker rooms. Sad!
I believe it's Dustin Fuentes
Bede and Clarke were Beamer guys
It would really hurt to see Bede leave, hopefully Vance Vice can reel him back in....
Any word on Wilkins (I'm more concerned about losing him than Bede)???
Bede come back! You can blame it all...on...me. I was wrong. And I just can't live without you!
Such a Player
Buzz who?
This is the attitude i have to have to move forward. Buzz left so fast and under circumstances where he has left the VT cupboards bare. That is friggin lame. The way this has happened, it shows he didnt care that much about VT. Its been said, buzz is about buzz. It surely shows.
VT basketball is headed to the bottom. The speed of the climb back to relevency is dependent on the new coach. Hopefully Whit hits a grand slam.
Buzz doesnt exist to me.
If we see aTm in any sport, our athletes need to bury them. Every. Damn. Time.
Every. Single. Damn. Time.
This.
No ill will towards Buzz as a person. From a sports perspective, Buzz who?
Get it done Whit
He had a bunch of recruits coming in. There would have been no attrition if he had stayed. Tech might have slipped back a little with no Outlaw, Hill, and Robinson but the potential for greatness is still there. Wilkins has really shined at times, Bede had more points than NAW in the last game.
He posted a picture to his Instagram account of him standing on Kyle Field and doing the Johnny Manziel "show me the money" gesture which really rubbed me the wrong way. I decided to unfollow him at that point.
That one was the final straw for me too
Mine was his caption for his picture with Jimbo Fisher "My 1st ever pic with a National Championship Football Coach". Don't think it was a subtle jab, but for a guy that acted like he loved Frank so much you would think he would see how that could be read the wrong way after leaving us like that.
Ouch. That's gonna leave a mark.
And officially marks the end of affections.
I was all on the don't shit on Buzz train. But screw Buzz that's just low right there, I hope Whit can get a future series scheduled with A&M; but we gotta do it within 4-5 years so that Buzz won't have bolted for another job yet, I would love to kick the shit out of them, and honestly after how immature he's acted about some things I don't wish him well anymore, I hope he loses every game he coaches for them.
Jesus, you guys are way too sensitive. He wanted to go home and get paid. He turned Virginia Tech Basketball into a destination job, we should all be grateful for that. Grow up.
That being said, I think it was a mistake that he left purely because Bennett vs. Buzz could have been the next K v. Williams. He had a shot to be in the same group as Jay Wright, K, Williams, Izzo etc. if he had stayed. He didn't see the forest through the trees.
So somebody needs to grow up because they have a different opinion than you do? No it wasn't about Buzz leaving, it's all the little jabs and petty bullshit since he's left. My opinion is mine and yours is yours and I hope every team they play puts them in the dirt
You can have a different opinion, but you need to grow up when you say things like:
I'm not gonna argue about it honestly, if A&M loses every game buzz ever coaches for them I would be thrilled, he's not a VT guy and I have a hard time believing he ever was IMO y'all can call it salty I call it reality. He's fine with taking every remaining player on our team and recruits with him, why should I be happy for him? 1 program sweet 16 isn't gonna mean jack shit if we fall back to obscurity because Buzz wants to run the cabinet dry on his way out of town.
I'm definitely with you on this one.
I started my Buzz who? movement nearly 5 days ago here on TKP, and haven't looked back. We're now calling him Buzzard because it wasn't enough to hamstring our program, but to circle back around to come pick at the carcass is what we're most worried about right now. Maybe it won't happen, but I wouldn't put a plug nickel on it not happening. I speak only for myself and my dear Hokie wife who's as salty as anything I've read on this site, but he's pretty much dead to us now. And it ain't just business to us, but personal, again, something I've said before, but that's just the way these fans' cookies crumble here in the fish household.
Edit: Looked up the timeline for my own edification, added it in. It brings me no pleasure, though.
We'll see how much the thank you Buzz crowd feels when we win 5 total ACC games in the next three years.
What do you have some sort of a crystal ball or something???
Feeling better about it now.
If we fall back into obscurity that's on us (as a community) and Whit. If we want to say VT is a desirable place and is a winning institution than we can't at the same time say we're any one coach away from falling off the face of the planet.
We are if we make the wrong hire, ala James Johnson
A hire like that is so unlikely it approaches impossible. James Johnson was a hire made by a man who was sick and not performing at his full capacity let alone potential. Even when Weaver was well his philosophy on how to run an athletics department was very different than Babcock's.
You're right about one coach and obscurity, and while I know Weaver was ill when he hired JJ, I don't know whether that factored into his decision making. He always seemed to go cheap when he could as a general philosophy, as you sort of indicated. Also agree that Babcock will take a good cut at this hire, but just wishing for back to back home runs, you know? The ACC gives us a true shot at the top every year, and the taste of honey is sweet and leaves me wanting more, but it'll be the coach who gets us there or not. It would be such a shame to waste the momentum we spent millions upon millions of dollars to achieve.
You mean him posting stuff at his new job that you take personally as "jabs and petty bullshit"? It's business, let it go.
I like Buzz and all but I think you're greatly exaggerating his potential.
I listen to One Shining Podcast regularly and they said that Buzz is one of the top 10 coaches in the country (from a tactical perspective). The podcast is done by a former OSU walk-on and an UNC grad so there's no reason for them to be biased.
I honestly think he one of the top basketball minds in college basketball right now. We can agree to disagree. I think Buzz vs. Bennett for the next decade would have been awesome.
Not disagreeing that he's a great coach/basketball mind.
Disagreeing that we'd ever rise to the level of being compared to being on par with the Coach K/Roy Williams rivalry.
I am with you. Buzz had a foot out if the door all year. When guys start with the philosophical remarks, it tends to lead to being gone. He was a little too introspective this year. It's time to move on and find someone who wants to stay at tech.
Agree. If we are successful at attracting our next coach, it's because we're in the ACC and Whit is whipping out the checkbook.
Like the Bob Seger song, Buzz used us and we used him, but neither one cared. We were getting our share. He was here for one stanza. We sort of needed him for the second one.
Buzz is in his new space, and won't be giving VT much thought at all. Sort of like when he left Marquette. Players gonna play.
We certainly don't have to root for Texas A&M because Buzz was previously here. We paid him and he did a job. In that case, I don't think there was any loyalty required or expected on either side. That transaction is complete.
Thanks for the perspective. It's challenging for me, but I'm coming around to agree with this.
Leg for the Seger reference...
Welcome to the off season. The words "transfer portal" are like a swift kick to the groin now
More like a hard fist up the port hole.
Butt stuff.
Can we add a title to HokieMacGruber's handle like some of the others that says "Butt Stuff Contributor" or "Butt Stuff Ambassador"?
Because he needs encouragement?
Even if the mods were ok with it
Take your leg you one upper
With Clarke being a grad transfer, my bet is on NC State. James Johnson being there would be the in.
Clarke didn't commit to Virginia Tech until James Johnson was fired. Clarke was Buzz's first recruit (outside of the guys he "flipped" from Marquette to VT). I don't see how Johnson being at NC State would inspire him to go to NC State.
First program to offer Clarke was Virginia Tech. The coach at the time was James Johnson.
Cool. He committed to Tennessee over Virginia Tech. He flipped when we upgraded coaches.
Just pointing out a potential link, geez man.
Yeah sorry man, I didn't mean to be a dick.
Eh, I think TeamCoachBuzz should change its motto from "Get Better" to "If it don't make dollars, then it don't make sense."
I'm with you fellers, Buzz who?
Dollars? This guy?
Why are they welcoming him in the football stadium? Is he going to be on Jimbo'a staff?
because it's a football school...joke's on Buzz.
No shit he said he was "there to pay proper respect to Manziel. #MoneySZN"
LOL, honestly Jimbo looks a little more natural with the basketball than does Buzz with the football.
Shitemoji.gif
Fuck that shit.
It's like he was never here.
He's making it very easy to let go at this point.
I like Buzz and probably always will. If he'd been talking up Marquette and didn't change his Twitter from Marquette to VT when he was hired I'm sure there would be some giving him shit. So I can't complain about him buying in to his new job. I will quietly root for him unless he's playing us.
Anyways Buzz did an interview with gottlieb today, but it got cut short right before all the stuff we wanted to know. Gottlieb took too much time talking about the Duke game and went against a hard break when the tamu search answer was being given.
Long story short my from the interview
1. The oop to Med was drawn up believing there was only 0.6 seconds left. Only after the play was drawn up during the timeout was it changed to 1.1 seconds and buzz thought it would be bad to change the play (at least he says). The way Med popped that ball instead of a catching it and shooting makes me think he didn't know there was 1.1
2. Buzz said he went home on Saturday and got his dogs out of the kennel and spent Sunday trying to be "normal". Monday he went to workout and only then did A&M contact VT to get permission to talk to him......and the interview cuts off there due to a commercial break. Find it hard to believe his only communication with A&M was on Monday after our Friday loss when it was a "done deal" reported on Saturday.
The gottlieb interview was actually really good until it abruptly ended. Buzz seemed to be spilling the beans on the timeline and search before he got cutoff.
1. That is exactly what I thought at the time when Med tipped the ball instead of catching and shooting it, I figured he didn't realize he had 1.1 seconds.
2. I don't believe Buzz if he was implying that "his" only communication was after the Duke game. Hell, it was a done deal months ago. Now, sure I believe TA&M waited to contact VT until after the Duke game, that's probably true, but Buzz to TA&M has been the worst kept secret in college basketball for months...so we know Buzz had already worked out his contract and leaving a long time ago. And he told Whit after the ACC tourney, before the NCAA tourney.
Eh, Buzz is alright. Can't blame the man for going home, and though he's a showboat, he is a class act.
We got five good years out of him. Long enough for people to notice, but not long enough to cement our team into the elite.
Can't say I'll be rooting for Texas A&M. Do I really want SEC dominance in basketball? No.
caption should read: "Two reasons to root against TA&M"
Buzz sure has been busy down there marketing himself at TA&M...he sure is earning his new paycheck...he won't have to work too hard though as he's already got lots of recruits heading his way...
And our coach...oh wait...we don't have one yet...and our team...oh wait...players keep disappearing every day...
Only thing that irks me is that he is wearing A&M swag yet never wore VT swag
Buzz wore VT swag all the time. If you look at his twitter feed he was in VT gear, many times custom designed Nike stuff, that combined Tech and some of his hashtags or catch phrases. This recent run of stuff I am sure were prearranged photo shoots from the TAMU media relations. Buzz did a bunch of that early on at Tech too.
Yeah I don't know where this notion is coming from
Buzz throws like a girl.
Might be a T-shirt....
Our softball team would beg an audience here, vhokie. And one of my 'hoo friend's daughters can sling a football better than most non football players I've known, and better than a few of them. Leg for the joke, but right now I dislike Buzzard more than almost any girl I've ever met.
what game is that image of Buzz? I assume it's a recent image from a VT bball game. Did TA&M steal the image from us too?
nah, I think TeamCoachBuzz says it all...it's all about himself...always was...it was never about VT
Yall so freaking salty over Buzz like he's an ex that left you for a better person and you know it but won't say it
I'll admit to that. Look, I'm happy for the guy because at the end of the day you're gonna look out for what you think is best for you and I can't blame him for doing that. But it feels more like he dated us only to get closer to the girl he really wanted all along.
Same feeling here.
Buzz please just tell me what I did wrong and I'll never do it again
I'm so lonely 😭
Buzz who?
Yup. Spread the news.
Texas A&M a "better person" than VT....Nah Dog.
tell us why we shouldn't be
'don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened' is a horseshit saying no matter the context, but especially in sports. We were just getting to the good parts and then he left. We've got to find a way to build on the momentum, so far we still don't know who our next coach is, and you're gonna judge people for being salty at the situation? That's not cool.
If he wasn't from Texas, and hadn't coached at A&M before, then I'd have issues too. But it's not like he just up and left for the next shiny program. I bet he'll be at aTm for awhile, it's where his roots and family are.
So he just left us for his childhood sweetheart. Not that she was better, but that he already had a crush on her when he showed up.
I don't begrudge him that. But still, we don't have to follow him on twitter anymore or become Texas A&M fans. He's moved on, and so should we.
Nobody's telling you to keep following him on Twitter lol
I'll give you that. That's why I have mostly kept my mouth shut about Buzz in the wake of all this, because I can see his rationale. It just stings a bit and I think that's what most people are reacting to.
"just stings a bit"? Dude, whack that big ole beard off with a dull rusty butcher knife, then dunk your whole head in a vat of alcohol with your eyes open and you might feel how it stings some of us. OK, hyperbole for sure, but it isn't like pulling off a bandaid or something.
Let the salty tears flow, it's healthy to let it out among friends. We'll all heal, but our grief is added to by the fear of having to start over again trying to build relevance in a sport many of us love as much or almost as much as football.
well of course the bit that stings is pretty sizable, I left out details of the size of "a bit"
Hey, Beard, just yanking your chin hairs. You aren't wrong, it isn't the end of the world and the Buzzard did a lot for us in his tenure. Just trying to excise the salt from my personal wound, and trying to make light of it all while doing so. And you're right, a bit of a dinosaur is a lot more than a bit of a shrew, and my perspective is a bit skewed right now.
The portal giveth and the portal taketh away
Praise Portal!
Just remember that the pie is a fabrication
Someone better at photoshop than I needs to do a shot with Blackshear going through a portal, wearing by gear on one side and then aTm gear on the other.
Like Buzz's twitter page?
Yea you're getting it
The cake is a lie
Shhhhh
"The cake is a lie", well my dog's name is Pie. And my dad has, awww, nevermind.
Ahh the transfer portal, so we meet again,