College basketball is just a couple days away from starting, and Mike Young has reloaded this Virginia Tech team from one of the least talented teams in the ACC to a team with legitimate NCAA tournament aspirations.
It’s hard to guess how quickly and how well a team is going to gel, especially when it only retains four players from a year prior. For months all we could do is speculate, but the October 25th scrimmage offered fans a chance to finally see the new-look Hokies in action.
While the result was less than ideal (83-81 loss to Duquesne), it did provide interesting information on how players have progressed and what lineups Young might roll out there in the early season.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at the projected rotation for Virginia Tech heading into the regular season.
Projected Starting Lineup
PG: Ben Hammond
Ben Hammond didn’t get the start against Duquesne, but he played 31 minutes - second most on the team - and scored a game-high 22 points for the Hokies.
The sophomore was one of the key figures in the Hokies midseason turnaround last season, providing full-court pressure and much needed ball-handling from the point guard position.
While Hammond struggled with turnovers, he won’t be asked to do as much ball-handling this season with the addition of Neoklis Avdalas. Instead, Hammond should get more off-ball opportunities where he can show off his long-range touch (50% 3p%) with much more volume (1.2 3pa per game) than he did last season.
Player Comp: JJ Barea - Pesky Floor General
CG/SG: Neoklis Avdalas
Neoklis Avdalas was Young’s prized addition of the summer and one of Virginia Tech’s most highly-touted additions ever.
