Three months ago, it seemed as if the Virginia Tech Men’s Basketball program was dead in the water.
The Hokies were riding a six-game losing streak - their longest non-conference skid in a century - including a devastating double-digit home loss to Jacksonville.
2021 ACC Coach of the Year Mike Young was dealt a difficult hand to say the very least. As Virginia Tech dumped nearly all of its NIL funds into a still-underwhelming football program, Young and the basketball program was left to dry, losing over 85% of its production from a year ago. Many former Hokies took larger offers from high-profile programs.
2023-24 All-ACC point guard Sean Pedulla took his talents to Ole Miss, and is currently leading the tournament-bound Rebels in scoring. Tyler Nickel and MJ Collins joined Pedulla in the SEC for the up-and-coming Vanderbilt Commodores, while Lynn Kidd transferred to one of Virginia Tech’s premier ACC rivals, the Miami Hurricanes.
Mike Young likes leading veteran squads, but between three rotational seniors graduating and four of the Hokies’ top five scorers leaving for greener grass and more NIL money, that was simply never an option.
To make matters worse, the Hokies premier transfer addition, former Temple point guard Hysier Miller, was dismissed from the team just a week before the season due to illegal betting allegations from the previous year.
This left the Hokies with only one surefire contributor in returning backup center Mylyjael Poteat. While transfers Ben Burnham, Tobi Lawal and Jaden Schutt seemed bound to produce in some capacity, the majority of minutes were up for grabs.
Mike Young brought in three scholarship freshmen: Ryan Jones, Tyler Johnson, and Ben Hammond. With the opportunity at hand, Virginia Tech was set to rely on freshmen heavily for the first time in half a decade.
Looking back at Mike Young-led Virginia Tech teams…
