There was a good amount of churn for Virginia Tech Women's Basketball this offseason after the Hokies reached the NCAA Tournament in Megan Duffy's second season at the helm. Standout forward Carys Baker and starting PG Mackenzie Nelson headlined the transfer portal departures to Louisville and Tennessee respectively, while the Hokies brought in some intriguing talent via the portal to pair with Carleigh Wenzel and company including Tennessee F/C Alyssa Latham.
One of those intriguing transfer portal additions, Tennessee F Lauren Hurst, suffered an injury and is out for the season as announced by Megan Duffy on Friday.
The expectation is for Virginia Tech to return to the NCAA Tournament with a roster that will be built around it's defense, athleticism, and ability to attack the rim. There are some clear concerns with shooting that could limit this team in some ways, especially with Carys Baker gone and Hurst now out for the season. However, the defensive upside of this team could make them a pain for many top tier ACC teams and could have them dreaming of winning a game or two in March should they get there.
So with that said, let's dive into our starting lineup project and roster preview.
Starting Lineup
- G: Carleigh Wenzel
- G: Samyha Suffren
- G: Leila Wells
- F: Alyssa Latham
- C: Jessica Dimaro
This is a lineup that is built to be strong defensively, very apt at getting to the rim, and able to push the pace in transition; all of which are things that Megan Duffy wants from her teams. One thing this team is lacking is some balance on the offensive end, with Carleigh Wenzel being the only somewhat proven shooter having shot 38.9% from three-point range during ACC play last season.
Wenzel is the star and the backbone of this team as she enters her fifth and final year at Virginia Tech. The Texas native helped lead the Hokies back to the NCAA Tournament after averaging 15.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in 30.9 minutes per game last season while shooting 33.3% from the field including 32.6% from three-point range and 76.8% from the free-throw line on 5.5 free-throw attempts per game.
Offensively, the one thing that is holding back Wenzel is her inefficiency as a scorer, with her three-point shooting improvement during ACC play last year being an encouraging sign. She's made up for that with her ability to draw fouls and get to the free-throw line but if she wants to take that next step from being an All-ACC level player to a borderline All-American/consensus All-ACC type player, she has to become a more efficient scorer at all levels. If she can do that, Tech's ceiling will take a significant jump.
Wenzel isn't as strong on the defensive end as she is offensively, but she is a solid defensive player who had career highs in defensive box score plus/minus (2.1) and defensive rating (88.5) last season. Given the strong defensive players around her, the biggest value she brings is as the offensive focal point who will be trusted to make things happen late in games on a team with little proven high-end offensive talent outside of her.
