College Hoops Today Predicts 14th-Place Finish in ACC for the Hokies
An early assessment on the Virginia Tech Hokies’ men’s basketball team has been released by College Hoops Today with Jon Rothstein. While it’s an early preview on the ACC conference overall, it’s one that can be safely taken with a grain of salt.
While Rothstein’s assessment, “Mike Young’s second ACC season will feature a much more traditional alignment than his first,” is spot on, his placement of the Hokies as the 14th-place team in the conference is pretty hard to understand.
It’s tough to envision the Hokies finishing at 14th in the ACC behind the likes of Georgia Tech, Clemson, Boston College and Pittsburgh, a year after going 7-13 in conference action.
Does losing a scorer like Landers Nolley III hurt?
It certainly does.
However, with the addition of Cartier Diarra, Darius Maddox, Joe Bamisile and a much better frontcourt, the Hokies have the pieces in place to fill the void.
With six newcomers on the roster for Mike Young in 2020-21, it’s hard to foresee another season like the last, particularly at the conclusion where the Hokies lost 11 of their final 14 regular season games.
Tech's basketball team will have a lot more to work with in the cupboard in terms of players that fit Young’s coaching style. While things got interesting for them down the stretch last season, the development of Wabissa Bede, Jalen Cone, Tyrece Radford and Nahiem Alleyne is hard to ignore.
Bede dished out a career-high 5.5 assists per game during his junior season. Cone finished the year shooting 45.7 percent from 3-point range. Radford led the team in rebounds per game (6.2) at 6-foot-2. Alleyne averaged 8.8 points through 27 games, started as a freshman, and isn’t even in Rothstein’s projected starting five.
The Virginia Tech Men’s Basketball program should certainly surprise some folks this upcoming season, especially Jon Rothstein. Keep an eye out in the coming days for an early breakdown of the 2020-21 basketball roster.
Writer covering Hokies MBB and WBB.