Virginia Tech Men's Basketball Offseason Notes 3/30/18

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March 30, 2018, 03:00 AM

The Virginia Tech Hokies have entered the offseason after making back-to-back NCAA Tournaments for only the third time in men's basketball program history. The Hokies have already made some news on the scheduling front while also showing some interest in a pair of transfers from major programs.

Virginia Tech Will Play in the 2019 Maui Invitational

https://twitter.com/MauiInv/status/978704564949016576 Earlier this week, the Maui Invitational announced that the Hokies would be a part of the 2019 field alongside Kansas, Michigan State, UCLA, Georgia, BYU, Dayton, and Chaminade. This continues the trend of Virginia Tech playing in at least one non-conference tournament every year that goes back over a decade. This will be the Hokies' second appearance in the Maui Invitational. Their first appearance came in 1985 in the second Maui Invitational with Dell Curry being named the Maui Invitational MVP. As VT has improved, so have the early season tournaments that they've played in. This is best shown by how the Hokies will play in the 2018 Charleston Classic that features five teams (including VT) that played in this year's NCAA Tournament (Purdue, Wichita State, VT, Alabama, Davidson) followed by playing in Maui against blue blood programs like Kansas, UCLA, and Michigan State. With this news being released, Hokie fans can already begin making their plans for a trip across America and much of the Pacific to Maui in the fall of 2019.

Virginia Tech Shows Interest in Oklahoma Transfer Kam McGusty

https://twitter.com/coreyevans_10/status/979025641281646595 The Hokies are showing interests in multiple transfers, most of whom are not grad transfers, including Kennesaw State's James Scott who has a visit set up. However, the Hokies are showing interest in some guys from major programs like Oklahoma's Kam McGusty. After averaging 10.9 points per game as a freshman, McGusty averaged only 8 points per game this past season with his minutes, field-goal shooting percentage, and three-point shooting percentage all decreasing. However, McGusty still had solid scoring numbers shooting 42.3% from the field and 75% from the free-throw line. McGusty will have to sit out next season, but will have two years of eligibility remaining after that. Coming out of high school, the 6'5'' guard was a top 50 recruit nationally so it shouldn't be surprising to anyone to see him have an impressive group of suitors. While regional schools like Houston and LSU would appear to be more likely destinations, Buzz Williams's Texas roots could be beneficial for VT in pursuit of the Katy, Texas native as he makes his decision.

Virginia Tech Shows Interest in Maryland Grad Transfer Dion Wiley

https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/979757627801468929 News broke today that the Hokies are among the teams interested in Maryland grad transfer Dion Wiley. Wiley is the first grad transfer that I've heard connected with VT and has the talent to be a solid contributor next season. Wiley played a career high 21.7 minutes per game this past season and averaged 5.8 points per game while shooting 36.7% from three-point range. The 6'4'' guard could immediately come in and add some more depth to a VT team loaded with depth on the wing even with the loss of Justin Bibbs to graduation. The thing with Wiley compared to guys coming from mid-major programs is that Wiley has shown that at minimum, he can be a solid contributor coming off the bench for a major conference team. While VT has focused heavily on transferss who would have a couple of years of eligibility like Seth Allen and Zach LeDay did, the Hokies are keeping an eye on the grad transfer market.