After weeks of waiting, Virginia Tech fans received some great news this evening as veteran guard and 2022 ACC Tournament MVP Hunter Cattoor announced that he will be using his COVID year and returning to Blacksburg for his fifth season.
One last year❤️ pic.twitter.com/dsmwvRiSoY
— Hunter Cattoor (@CattoorHunter) April 18, 2023
Cattoor returns to Blacksburg after a strong four-year career to date averaging 9.0 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.0 steals in 27.9 minutes per game while shooting 43.3% from the field including 41.8% from three-point range. He is also coming off the best season of his career as he averaged 10.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.0 steals per game while shooting while shooting 43.0% from the field including 42.4% from the three-point range.
One thing Cattoor should achieve during his fifth season is breaking the school record for most three-point shots made in a career as his 251 are only 16 behind A.D. Vassallo's record of 267 which he might have broke this past season if not for injuries.
Cattoor's return gives the Hokies all four of their core guards back for the 2023-24 season with Cattoor, Sean Pedulla, and Rodney Rice projecting to start with MJ Collins as Tech's sixth man. Cattoor's return also likely means one of Brandon Rechsteiner and Jaydon Young will redshirt given the depth in the backcourt plus the versatile forwards Tech has with Mekhi Long, Tyler Nickel, and John Camden.
Cattoor is perfectly built for Mike Young's system as a sharp three-point shooter who is great both on true catch-and-shoots and off some of Tech's dribble hand-off screen and shoots. A fully healthy Cattoor should also be able to regain his top defensive form after his elbow injury seemed to throw his defensive game off some during the second half of the season after he returned from injury.
He also provides tons of veteran leadership for a team that has more spread-out experience but hasn't done have as many highly game-experienced P5 players outside of Cattoor and Sean Pedulla.
We will have more as this story develops.
