According Evan Daniels, a basketball recruiting analyst for Scout.com, Virginia Tech will land the Maryland transfer.
Seth Allen will transfer to Virginia Tech, per a source. Quality pick up for Buzz Williams.— Evan Daniels (@EvanDaniels) May 10, 2014
Maryland transfer Seth Allen on why he committed to Virginia Tech. "I love Buzz (Williams). It's as simple as that."— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) May 10, 2014
According to a release by the University of Maryland, in two seasons with the Terps, Allen played in 56 games and averaged 9.8 points, 2.5 assists and 2.1 rebounds, while missing 14 games to injury.
The Washington Post's Alex Prewitt transcribed an interview Allen gave with Baltimore's WNST radio. If you want details from Allen's perspective about the transfer, it's worth the time to read.
Comments
This is a massive pickup. Allen will be our most talented player on Day 1.
And by day one , you mean day 366 (transfer year sitting out)
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is he immediately eligible or will he have to wait a year?
Unfortunately, I believe he'll have to sit a season, but will then have two to play.
Thanks, I didn't know much at all about his situation but that is what I was expecting. A good pull in for the future of VT basketball though. Way to go Buzz!
He will almost certainly have to wait a year.
Several people on the other forum said he would be applying for a hardship waiver. I'm not sure what his hardship is though.
i would imagine living in college park is hard enough by itself
That's wishful thinking. He'll sit out one year, then should be a great player for Buzz. In the silver lining category, it will give him a year to adapt to Buzz' system, and Buzz to select among his 2015 PG group.
what's going on in maryland anyway? they've lost a big chunk of their roster.
Because they transferred to a lesser and vastly inferior conference.
What? This isn't true at all. And for the most part, it's all about money. The BTN pulls in a lot of extra revenue to be distributed among all the schools. I think it probably wasn't the best idea to leave the ACC, but the almighty dollar can persuade a lot of decisions.
He forgot to end his statement with /s to indicate it was sarcasm.
The bigten network is vastly superior to the acc television plan. Those schools pull in much more than the acc
Actually I was just taking an opportunity to take a stab at ye olde b1g.
It's a little bit crazy how much more though. I remember reading somewhere that it's almost 25 million per school. Just insane.
Part of the reason Allen transferred was the star of Maryland's incoming recruiting class, Melo Trimble, from Bishop O'Connell HS in NOVA. Trimble was likely going to play the point which would move Allen to the 2, and at only 6 foot 1 he thought that his NBA dreams were most achievable playing point guard.
Sabre meltdown in 3...2....1.
Just went over and saw this haha
I also went on the Sabre. Whats up with their format? It's awful
Going on the sabre Just makes TKP look incredible.
Boy did they ever
What a great weekend
IT BEGINS
I can't wait for us to be better than UVA in EVERY SPORT
Well, we're already easily ahead in football, wrestling and swimming. Only a matter of time...
and Track & Field, soccer, golf, softball....and architecture, engineering, agriculture, computer science, vet. medicine, etc. (you know the shit that really counts)
being a soccer fan...an avid one at that who can pick out some of the finer x's and o's of the game....we have A LONG ways to go to catch them there, however with some of the recruits we have coming in...I like our coach, I hated his style my freshman year but we opened up our play a ton last year. I think part of the parking the bus strategy came down to the lack of talent he had. I think tech soccer could really surprise some people this next fall, however lets hold off before we call them better. as good as our womens team as last year (and yes I know they beat UVA last year) UVA's lost twice all year and their mens team is consistently better than ours...given a few more years yes I think we'll surpass them..but not quite there yet. As for the other sports...yeah screw those guys they're straight up worse than us in 90% of the sports we both compete in. I think the only category I really see us surrendering to them every year is the biggest douche in the universe award
are you going to be our World Cup/USMNT expert?
One of the problems with our team though is that we consistently lose 5-6 players, not including seniors, each season to either transfer or just quitting. That is terrible for a 25 man roster. Supposedly though we are getting a bunch of German players next year that are good and a goalie that is projected to be in the MLS draft after his freshman season. All these foreign players have been crucial since the NCAA ban was lifted before last year because it is very difficult for us to recruit in a region that includes Duke, UVA, UNC, VCU, Maryland and even JMU.
OK, you make a good point...so we are merely equal in soccer.
You forgot Bass Fishing. So to sum up we're better at the manly things.
Beard growing, etc
throwing hammers
Bear wrestling.
Turkey legs for Popcorn Sutton.
The awesome part of this is that UVA wanted this guy so bad and Buzz swooped in and locked him up right away.
This kid at PG and Ahmed Hill and Bibbs at the 2???? Is this real life????
i have the bibber fever
Lets not get crazy. Seth Allen is a solid point guard but he will not be "the best player on the roster" when he is eligible. Two of the incoming class at a minimum are better players than Allen. I see him having a hard time getting a hardship waiver unless his family moved south to be near a specific doctor since he is from Woodbridge. He was a solid three star coming out of high school and while he has done well at Maryland, Roddy Peters would have been the better get of the two PGs from UMD as he is more talented and would have had a third year of eligibility.
I am happy to see his attitude towards it be immensely positive but he also wont impact the play on the floor until 2015 except from helping in practices. It worries me that this will possibly push Peters into one of our competitors arms since there was so much focus from UVA and NC State to get Allen.
Lets look at the numbers and why they concern me. In 29 minutes of play this season as the starting PG, Allen averaged 3, thats right, 3 Assists per Game. That puts him about fifteenth in the ACC this year. Roddy Peters managed 2.1 APG in only 15 mpg as the backup PG. Allen did score at a pretty solid clip with 13.4 PPG, up from 7.8 PPG his freshmen season. He also shot a respectable 40% from the field this year.
My concern is that with the scorers that Buzz has brought in this season getting a year of Mueller/Devin feeding them them ball unless Allen significantly improves his ability to distribute, we may be better off with Devin getting the ball to Bibbs and Hill than watching Allen shoot first and pass second. Just to be clear, this season, with a mediocre offense at best, Devin finished third in the ACC with 4.8 APG. It may not sound like a big difference but it means Devin made the spot pass to the shooter in the perfect spot almost two more baskets a game.
How many games did we lose by three or fewer possessions this season with a mediocre offense? Eight in ACC play and three more in OOC play. So you can see why I am concerned about a couple scores difference per game.
As for whats going on at UMD, there are all kinds of rumors regarding the coach being miserable in the College Park environment, he apparently hates the traffic (who amongst us doesnt) and apparently has been bringing a miserable attitude to the team environment, which is why they have had a rash of transfers this season. He also felt duped about the move to the B1G, as one of the big questions he had when he took the job was whether UMD was solid in the ACC, where he wanted the challenge of coaching against the legends.
I would much rather have Allen than Peters. Almost every single Maryland fan was mad when Allen left and some of them were even happy when Peters left.
From the Maryland fan perspective they had more invested in Allen having been there two years and playing as the starter so of course they were more upset with his announcement. His leaving also came outside the group of three from Peter's class. Talent wise, Peters would have delivered more on the court. The big positive I see of Allen being the one to come is that he will be gone sooner, allowing Buzz to bring in a top flight PG that much earlier. There is a chance he wont be able to displace Devin if Devin gets a significant amount of playing time this next season, depending on how Mueller heals from his surgery.
I think you are overrating Peters a bit. He has a ton of talent and potential for sure, but can't shoot right now and is still learning the PG position. Allen is a borderline All ACC player who can shoot well and get to the basket also. Right now Allen is a much better player than Peters and a better get for the Hokies imo. Peters does have a lot of potential though and will be a good get for whoever lands him.
I don't consider what Allen did this season even close to All-ACC. He missed a third of the season due to injury, he would have been third team in scoring which is a positive but he should be there with 11 shots a game, he turned the ball over more than he created turnovers, he has a lousy assist to turnover ratio of 1.76 which doesn't take into account that his assist numbers are already on the low end for point guards in the ACC. Devin basically has comparable numbers unfortunately. Peters does as well. Did he have certain games where he played like an All ACC guard? Sure, but much like Jarell Eddie, he would have games of 20+ and then come back the next game and score 4 points. You never knew what you were going to get from Allen and when he laid an egg, UMD usually lost.
I think that Peters would have been the better get because both would have had to sit out a year and I think Peters benefits more from sitting out working with Buzz than Allen will, and he has the potential of one extra year of performance under Buzz with his extra year of eligibility which to me would have been the key. As for why players play, Mark Turgeon is very much like Buzz in his significant dislike for starting freshmen. He was forced to start Peters at the beginning of the season and he performed fairly consistent with Seth Allen's freshmen numbers. Averaged 20 mins a game the first twelve games while Allen was out with a foot injury. Shot 48% from the field, scoring 6.7 PPG, with 3.75 APG (higher than Allen this year), 1 steal and 3 turnovers per game. Not earth shattering but neither is Allen.
Regardless, the comparison doesn't matter because we wont see them side by side anymore more than likely. Allen is now a Hokie and Peters probably wont be. I do love Allen's desire to play for Buzz and we will get to see it go live in late 2015.
I still say Allen is a much better get and Buzz and many other people liked Allen more so we have to trust in him. I will say that Allen just won't be handed the starting spot. He'll have to earn it.
I feel like you're putting far too much weight on how strong of a recruit each player was. Seth Allen was far better this season for Maryland and started because he was the better player, not because he was a year older.
To say that 2 of the players in the incoming recruiting class are better players than Allen is somewhat ridiculous. It would be one thing if we had a Jabari Parker coming in, but right now Seth Allen is more talented than all of our recruits. A couple of them may pan out to be better than Allen, but if we were playing one game tomorrow against Duke that we needed to win, I'd be hard pressed to find a coach that would take any of our recruits before Seth Allen.
As for who starts, Turgeon is very much like Buzz. He doesn't want to play freshmen if he doesn't have to. When Peters played because Allen was hurt he did so admirably, but no he isn't as developed a player yet as Allen. That doesn't change my opinion of who would be better off long term for our program, especially since both have to sit out a year.
Guess what? I do actually think that both Bibbs and Hill are more TALENTED when it comes to playing the game of basketball. Do they have as much EXPERIENCE playing in the ACC as Allen? No, but do I think that they are likely to be bigger impact players for Virginia Tech, yes. Right now doesn't matter one iota though since Allen wont see the court until November 2015. By that time both Hill and Bibbs will be one year further into Buzz Williams system with what matters most - game experience since Allen will more than likely have to sit out this first season. By the time they are all on the court together, I do think that it will be more imperative to get the ball to Bibbs and Hill than for Allen to be shooting the ball. He has a nice shot but both Bibbs and Hill have a better pure shot and will likely continue to. I expect that by Hill's second year, he will be competing for an All-ACC selection, where I don't have that expectation for Allen, even with sitting out another year.
Kind of a side note but the notion that ANY coach doesn't want to play freshmen in this day in age is completely absurd to me! You don't bring in Top 100 players to sit the bench, they sign where they're going to play and play a lot. If you get the reputation of not wanting to play freshmen then you're not going to get the talent you need to compete in the ACC. Coaches always play the best player in any sport, especially basketball - there is far less of a jump in competition/readiness from AAU/HS to college ball for the top talent.
Neither of these coaches prevent freshmen from playing, they both do however consistently not start freshmen as a significant preference or play them as often as upperclassmen. Just look back over the Buzz' time at Marquette, very rarely did he start a freshmen or give them "starter minutes."
Here is what Buzz did at Marquette in terms of leading freshmen playing time.
2013-2014: JaJuan Johnson 13.5 MPG
2012-2013: Steve Taylor Jr 8.6 MPG
2011-2012: Todd Mayo 21.1 MPG
2010-2011: Vander Blue 19 MPG
2009-2010: Jeronne Maymon 16.3 MPG
2008-2009: Chris Otule 6.7 MPG
He is hit with a somewhat different position with the upcoming season at Tech as he may be forced to play several freshmen for significant amount of time since they will account for almost a third of the roster.
I know the statistics, I just feel like it's pretty bold to say that a coach doesn't like playing freshmen as a general statement. I think it's far more likely that the freshmen he's had just haven't earned their time, whether that be by lack of offensive production, defense, ability to understand the systems, etc.
Buzz just strikes me as more of a straight forward kind of coach, you bust your ass, play smart and produce then you see the floor more. I don't think we'll see any any of the mind games being played like we've seen before, at least I hope not...
I am not being bold in making the statement. There was a story about Buzz and either his first year at Marquette or his year at New Orleans and how he was forced by circumstance to play freshmen as starters and that after the season was over he felt that by having to start, it had stunted these players development and hurt them long term and that given his preferences now he would not play freshmen if he has other options, even slightly less talented ones. I cant seem to find the link right now but I came across it when he was first hired.
There is also this link, and while I think the guys numbers are fairly challengeable, its just an indicator of where Buzz falls as part of this topic. They list Buzz as the lowest coach on the list for playing freshmen at about 8% of total minutes.
http://basketball.realgm.com/article/228645/Freshmen-Playing-Time-Part-1
This is another look at the statistics that I think is much better done and more realistic. Shows Buzz plays freshmen about 10.4% of total minutes available.
http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=41318.0
Beyond all the great stats you're giving us, I think the biggest difference in this whole debate on playing freshman significant minutes is that Buzz hasn't had the 5* guys who make the biggest impact right away (i.e. one-and-done). While he's had very good recruiting classes come in to Marquette, it's not like he was reloading year after year in the way we see Kentucky, Duke, UNC, and more of the top-tier programs doing.
For the most part, freshman who play significant minutes in college basketball are doing so because they are either prodigious talents or they are forced into the situation on lesser teams where they may not be ready for the minutes, but it's necessary due to talent depletion.
Well back then these one and done's were going straight to the NBA and weren't even looking to play college ball. A lot has changed since he first started at Marquette and I would bet due to the changing landscape his views may have changed as well. Well I'll just say that I hope they have! If he expects to compete with the top tier of the ACC moving forward he's going to have to start playing freshmen more in order to pull in the top talent. No top 25 player is going to consider a school where he's going to only play about 10 min a game in his first and possibly only year in college.
I think Buzz will do whatever he feels is best for the team and play whoever deserves the minutes. Without going back and checking, I would think that Buzz did not have a bunch of "one and done" type players, thus he would always have veterans on the roster and plenty of junior/senior leadership.
I have no doubt that freshman are going to play a significant role this season. I don't think playing heavy minutes stunted Devin Wilson's growth. He got better as the season progressed...trial by fire.
Saw Mueller on Friday and he wasn't in a boot, so I'd imagine he is healing up fine and will be ready sooner rather than later.
I'm not too concerned. How he played at MD may be nothing like how he plays at VT under Buzz. He won't be asked to run his own system, he'll have to fit within whatever Buzz wants. Allen gives Buzz the option of having a scorer at the point...and that is huge.
Having a scorer at the point? Devin averaged 9.8 PPG as a freshmen while getting 4.8 APG. Mueller is supposed to be a better scorer and distributor than Devin so considering Allen scored 7.8 as a freshmen and then 13.4 as a sophomore, I would actually expect, whoever is at the point, numbers to come down the next time they see the court (Mueller of course doesnt have numbers) because there are only going to be about 72 points per game (normal Buzz offense) to go around. I would expect to see the PG scoring around 11 PPG at most under a Buzz offense and even that is a bit high based on his teams at Marquette. I think ideally Buzz is looking for about 9 PPG/ 4 APG from the PG starter
Buzz PG's scoring/assists at Marquette going from 2014 back to 2009,
2013-2014 Wilson 5 PPG/ 4.2 APG,
2012-2013 Cadougan 8.5 PPG/ 3.8 APG,
2011-2012 Cadougan 6.3 PPG/ 5.4 APG,
2010-2011 Buycks 8.8 PPG/ 3.4 APG,
2009-2010 Acker 8.7 PPG/ 3.7 APG,
2008-2009 James 11 PPG/ 5 APG
What's the big deal with Devin starting at point next year? Not directed at you ltrepeter2000. Just in general. From my watching our games I was pretty impressed. I think he could develop into a good guard. To me he was asked to do too much for a talent lacking team. He's going to have better players around him and to be honest I think he will be fine...if not better than fine.
I never really thought he was an unbelievable passer on offense. He was however the only player who could attack the basket with any regularity and one of our best defenders from the 1-3 positions (see TJ Warren final 10 minutes). If he can fix his jump shot he'd be a very good 2-guard. I know we have a lot of guys coming in, but is having too many good players a bad thing?
I actually think Devin did yeoman's work from the PG position considering what he had. He was forced to grow up quick and once he got confidence driving the lane was a completely different player. As was said below, if he can develop the free throw length jump shot with consistency then he could very well play a big part from the point next season but he will have to earn it just like anyone else. Buzz is going to go with the best upperclassmen when it comes to starters and freshmen if he absolutely has to.
I should have said outside scorer. Allen seems to gets the majority of his points from long range (and looking at his stats, he did). I have nothing against Wilson or Mueller. I was very happy when they signed and am excited to see what they can do this year. But I don't think Buzz is bringing in Allen just to add depth.
Buzz and Malcolm Delaney going back and forth on Twitter was a nice sideline to this whole thing going on.
Would be talking about this If Buzz wasn't at VT. I think Not, Buzz has done more in three months for VT's Basketball than anyone has in ten years ! Give Whit , our new AD , a high five for getting VT heading in the right direction...carry on Hokie Fans.
Even my friends from UMD are excited for how much Buzz is turning this thing around. I'm still in shock we got him to come here, I can't even get myself into football mode because I'm still so pumped for basketball.
At 6 "1 with NBA aspiration, Allen will have to take the Hokies to new height to make his dream come true. With Buzz, his NBA dream is possible.
Buzz ain't messing around, and I love it.