Multi-year Northwestern starting power forward Robbie Beran is one of the top available bigs in the transfer portal at the moment.
The Richmond, Virginia native played an important role in helping Northwestern reach the NCAA Tournament for only the 2nd time in program history averaging 7.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in 25.7 minutes per game including 1.1 offensive rebounds per game. For his career, Beran is a 41.2% shooter including 36.1% from three-point range plus 75% from the free-throw line.
Unsurprisingly, he has received interest from schools all across the country during his time in the portal as he considers where he wants to spend his final season of college basketball.
This weekend, Beran provided us with an update on his transfer recruitment including the final 3 schools he's considering and the visits he has either taken or has scheduled.
"You know going into the portal, I was fortunate to have a lot of different coaches from all over. Some of the calls were from the same people who recruited me out of high school, which was cool to reconnect with them and see where they landed at a new spot or if they have stayed (at the same school) for 4 years," Beran said.
"In my process, I’ve narrowed it down to three, focusing my attention on Miami, VT, and UVA. Tomorrow (Sunday, April 23rd), I will actually be on campus in Blacksburg for a visit. This will be my second visit as I took a Miami visit last weekend."
Obviously, there's a lot to break down here but the two most notable things are the fact that Beran is down to 3 ACC rivals in Virginia Tech, Miami, and UVA; and that he will be visiting VT on this Sunday, April 23rd after visiting Miami last weekend. It isn't clear if Beran is planning on visiting UVA just yet though it would be obviously be a fairly simple addition distance wise going from Blacksburg to Charlottesville up I-81 to I-64.
There's a significant prior history between Beran and Virginia Tech as the Richmond native was one of Mike Young's top targets in the 2019 class prior to his decision to choose the Wildcats over Tech. That past relationship between Young and Beran combined with the fact that assistants Christian Webster and Kevin Giltner were on Young's staff as well during his recruitment gives Tech a great familiarity boost that could be quite valuable for them here compared to Miami and UVA, neither of whom offered him out of high school.
With Grant Basile signing with one of the top teams in Italy, the need for another big man who could instantly take on a large role opened with Beran becoming a top target.
Beran makes a lot of sense for the Hokies to prioritize as he brings tons of experience with 99 starts and 21.9 minutes per game during his four seasons in Evanston in the Big 10. He profiles as a 4 but has the versatility to play all over the floor and could be used as a small ball 5 at times with Mekhi Long, Tyler Nickel, or John Camden working at the 4. He would also immediately jump to being a projected frontcourt starter whether that was as a smaller 5 or a bigger 4 for the Hokies.
One of the biggest areas where Beran can help the Hokies is defensively as his defensive box plus/minus has been at least 1.9 or better each of the past three seasons with Justyn Mutts being the only Hokie above that number last season. His average of 1.1 offensive rebounds per game last season is also a positive for a team that has lost their top 3 offensive rebounds from last season in Mutts (1.9), Basile (1.3), and Darius Maddox (1.3).
Additionally, Beran is a career 36% three-point shooter who can stretch the floor and give the Hokies the type of floor spacing that Mike Young wants to run his offense at its best.
Robbie Beran is down to 3 ACC rivals with the Hokies getting the chance to impress the Richmond native who would boost some of Virginia Tech's biggest weaknesses if he chose VT.
