Discuss and share any Virginia Tech related basketball recruiting topics from winter 2019-2020 that don't warrant their own thread. Please do some digging to share original content (e.g. embed the original tweet, not a link to another post/website with said tweet), add context / relevant information and respect the Community Guidelines.
If someone would like to make this thread from month-to-month, let Joe know, he is apt to forget and pressed for time. Or simply copy the boilerplate and start a new thread.
New commitments, decommitments, portal entries, etc... deserve their own thread. Please read the brief best-practice tips at the top of the recruiting forum.
Forums:
DISCLAIMER: Forum topics may not have been written or edited by The Key Play staff.
Comments
hey! some size to join Ojiako! Pronounced "tah-PAY". Hometown is Charlotte. Will being closer to home be a draw? Will it matter that much as he has only one year of eligibility remaining?
Tapé was a 2019 preseason honorable mention All-Ivy PF. This past summer he was selected as a member of the USA East Coast team that competed in Greece and scrimmaged against the USA Pan American squad.
warning: the volume on this highlight reel is VERY uneven
PLEASE 🤞🤞🤞
Looks good! I'm just not sure Tape will stick.
(Somebody had to do it.)
This guy looks pretty good. Thanks, Wartooth, for linking the Tape on this guy.
looks like he'd be avery good addition
Quick feet for a big man. Sign him up.
DAMN! There are not many big men that can move like that with control. Ojiako is not going to be a scoring threat. This guy could be a center piece like Kerry was. Would be an excellent get for us if we can.
You have to also consider that Ojiako has roughly 2 years of basketball playing experience, we don't really know what he will be in the long term. I think there are some good signs early on, but obviously he has some current limitations to his game. Big men especially guys with real length can take time to develop, Blackshear for example wasn't anywhere near the player early on that he later became. However in the short term I agree with you, he is likely gonna be mostly defense, energy and rebounding when he starts to contribute.
John is getting better week to week. As you said, he has only been playing BB for 2 years. It is going to be fun watching him develop.
I'm very aware of his experience. My point still stands. This guy can score, move, and defend now. I have nothing against Ojiako. It's nice that he came to us to learn basketball. I'm not completely sold on Blackshear not being good early on. IMO Blackshear was allowed to shine more when 5 went down and show the skills that he wasn't really able to show earlier.
Having Ojiako play against this guy in practice would really help his development.
Remember He's currently practicing against Aluma who will have 2 years starting next year
Looks like new 2020 offer. David N'Guessan, 6-9. Could play 3 or 4 spots. Really athletic, has range past 3 and good handle so a versatile big. Looks like his offer list could blow up quick. Originally from Holland. He's playing some serious hoops competition at Mt. Zion in Baltimore.
N'Guessan
David N'Guessan Video
He's probably going to keep us n'guessan if he's going to commit or not.
Going to the way-back machine for the picture in this tweet
We need Mr. Fudge on the team.
I love seeing pictures of the 5 size too big uniform Nike era... it's awesome. LOL. Chris Webber liked his shorts a little long in 1991...that morphed into wearing drapes on the court. Glad normal uniforms are back.
Yup, it's funny, Gordon played while I was in school, and it looked normalish, after seeing that style for years, and I played HS ball from '98-'01 so wore some of the bigger gear myself....now looking back at it, it's just ridiculous looking
2020 Offer: 6-4 220 SG. Baltimore Poly. Has had a couple 40+ point games lately vs good competition
No CB's? I guess he's gonna keep em N'Guessan until the very end.
Also, */looks at DePaul (7 PFs on Roster)....*/cries
Rivals Link from last year
3 visiting for Pitt game. Carter Whitt may reclassify to 2020
2020 3* PF David N'Guessan (Official Visit)
2021 4* PG Carter Whitt (Official Visit)
2022 PF/C Kel'El War
" >
Anyword on how it went?
I mean, we won. Winning matters to croots, right?
N'Guessan would be a hell of a pickup
Preferred walk-on Gill Williamson commits. 6-8 multi-sport athlete. Looks pretty springy and good with either hand in the post. Needs a lot of work in the weight room.
https://www.techlunchpail.com/blog/virginia-tech-basketball-adds-preferr...
[blows dust off thread]
3 Hokies CBs including Jerry Meyer and Andrew Slater
Nice, thanks for dusting this off! I like separating the football and basketball recruiting news.
Pontificating out, if we land him and Whitt.
Bamisile 2020 #11 SG, #70 OA
Whitt 2021 #11 PG, #74 OA
Maddox 2020 #14 SG, #92 OA
Cone 2019 ##9 PG, #102 OA
Camden 2021 #23 SF, #103 OA
N'Guessan 2020 #39 PF, #169 OA
*Kabongo 2018 #40 PG, #234 OA
Ojiako 2019 #52 PF, #246 OA
Though Alleyne and Cattoor weren't rated very highly coming out of high school, those guys will probably be a big part of the future too. I feel like Alleyne can be like Mike Young's version of Justin Bibbs.
I agree. We just seem to have blue chips to go along with the diamonds in the rough
pontificating?
You don't think discussing the potential of a class with recruits that haven't even committed yet doesn't count as annoyingly dogmatic?
Come again for big fudge?
Mac Mcclung just entered the portal from Georgetown.
Would be interesting. IMO he has a lot of empty calorie stats though. I'd be interested to see how he fit onto a winning team.
I'm in the club that thinks we should have offered him out of highschool.
Hard Pass
Is it me or does our team seem to be getting much taller under Young?
it's not you
Hokies offer 2021 Center
I know the meat of the content is behind a paywall, but the basic details are there.
6-11 255 pound Center Sam Ayomide, rated 3 stars, from the Phelps School, Malvern PA. Rivals #28 Center
Offers from La Salle, LSU, Seton Hall, TCU, Temple, Texas A&M, and VCU
6' 11" 220lbs = obligatory:
Can we put him on a football scholarship and just let him bat down any passes that come over the line?
Looks like we might try and fill the scholarship that PJ Horne left us with
Mike Young and co. shooting their shot on #4 player in the nation.
God if VT got a player this good for basketball where individual players matter so much more we're talking about a player that would make a legit turning point to moving VT up the ACC
Fingers crossed for some good news this afternoon
Praise Thy portal!
I thought Mutts was gonna announce. Goodman kinda scooped it and spoiled it. Either way, good news for us.
I think Mutts is going to be a valuable player for us but I'm worried about anyone who transfers up in basketball. There was a breakdown in The Athletic a couple weeks ago which showed that the vast majority of grad transfers who move up in conferences (i.e. going from the CAA to ACC like Mutts) see significant drops in scoring, especially once conference play starts. This could be an issue as we're still going to be incredibly young next season, even with adding Pemsl, Aluma, and Diarra.
On the upside, based on the super limited amounts of YouTube clips (see his highlights against Pitt when he was at High Point) he looks crafty around the rim (scoring and rebounding) and works hard on defense. Considering our top two returning rebounders from last season are Radford and Bede, a guy who averaged 8.4 boards will be a big help. Plus he should have two seasons of eligibility left. I don't think there were many two-year grad transfers in The Athletic article, so I could see him having a much bigger impact in year two. As always the future under CMY looks bright.
I think he's gonna be PJ horne 2.0 just a couple inches taller
I don't think Mutts is going to be taking many outside shots. Hopefully he'll be a solid inside presence.
Fair i think physically they're similar
CMY is amazing. Who would have thought that Buzz bailing late would kick the program to an even higher level. The 20-21 team will have a lot more size and looks to have no walk-on type players. This is probably the deepest team that I can remember and that dates back 3 decades.
buzz williams took us to 3 straight ncaa tournaments, including a sweet 16.
i like coach young and the work hes done but we arent even back at the same level as under buzz until we make multiple tournaments
Williams achieved those runs with a core group of 3-4 players in 5, KBJ, and NAW (Hill's the 4th)
Young is building what Williams didn't have, a core group and depth. Radford, Cone, Ojiako, Cattoor, Bamisile, N'Guessan, and Maddux all have at least 3 years combined to play together.
You're severely underestimating the Portal
lmao that's like 3 of the top 10-15 VT players in the last 20 years.
do you think they're going to 3 straight ncaa's starting this season? much less to the second weekend in any? I would love it but don't think it's likely but that's what it would take to match the results
According to 247 composite scores, 7 of the top 41 all time Virginia Tech Men's Basketball recruits are currently on the team:
Not saying everyone is going to pan out (there are a lot of names on that list that I do not remember at all, even highly rated guys), but that is a lot of potential currently on the roster. I don't think that we start a run of three straight tourney appearances - but neither did Buzz when he started here.
We really won't be all that young. Assuming a project starting lineup of Bede/Diarra/Alleyne or Radford or Cattoor/Mutts/Aluma, we'll be going Senior, Senior, Sophomore, Junior, Junior. And the bench will still be young but will hold a good emo unit of experience from last year
Emo? So they all listened to AFI? Hell yeah 😂🤘
Mutts...can't get this out of my head
The Justin Mutts transfer really needs its own thread. Just so I can praise CMY for being amazing and not have it be buried in a recruiting thread.
Let's get this story straight. PJ Horne decides in late May that he wants to transfer to be closer to home. So basically a bomb dropped on the Hokies late in recruiting. Somehow CMY ends up getting somebody who is arguably more talented a few weeks later. What kind of bizarro world am I living in where good stuff is happening to the Hokies basketball team? While Mutts may not have the perimeter game that Horne has, he totally fills a huge need with rebounding and defensive chops. In one year CMY has taken us to a "we don't rebuild, we reload" stage.
Can someone outline where our roster stands now? Excited for our upcoming season!
13 Scholarship players. Sr: Bede, Pemsl, Diarra, Jr: Aluma, Mutts, So: Cattoor, Alleyne, Cone, Ojiako, Radford, Fr: Bamisile, Maddox, N'Guessan. Ojiako, Aluma, Pemls & N'Guessan are all over 6'8, Mutts is 6'7 so we added height, spread out the classes, added experience and depth this offseason.
so, all the things?
Aluma and Mutts are R-Jrs.
nm
2020-21 Hokie Basketball Team
Forwards:
r-Sr Pemsl 6-9 246, r-Jr Aluma 6-9 230, r-Jr Mutts 6-7 220, So Ojiako 6-10 240, Fr N'Guessan 6-8 195
That's 5 forwards, 4 of whom have NCAA experience, with 2 of those having Major conference experience
Guards:
r-Sr Diarra 6-4 185, Sr Bede 6-1 195, r-So Radford 6-2 195, So Cone 5-11 170, So Cattoor 6-3 205, So Alleyne 6-3 195, Fr Bamisile 6-5 175, Fr Maddux 6-4 180
8 guards, 6 of whom have NCAA experience, all at the Major conference level
Walk-ons
Sr Payne 6-8 220, Jr Palmer 6-3 190, Fr Williamson 6-8 180
Just pointing it out that we have 7 guys over 6-6 now
from Forgetting Sarah Marshall GIFs via Gfycat