Hello Hokies! What a roller coaster of a week for Virginia Tech as the Hokies suffered blowout losses at No. 4 Duke (MBB) and Florida State (WBB) to start the week before ending it with a pair of late game comebacks against Miami in both men’s and women’s basketball to pick up each team’s first ACC win of the season. Add in the dramatic football finish and you had the three VT-Miami matchups in the highest-revenue sports come down to the final 15 seconds in each case.
Meanwhile, a disappointing season that left many fans bitter fittingly came to a disappointing close on a bitter cold night in Charlotte as the Hokies lost the Duke’s Mayo Bowl to Minnesota 24-10, with the Golden Gophers’ PJ Fleck getting dumped with mayo by Flavor Flav. Despite not having 14 starters, Virginia Tech did fight admirably in this game but an offensive line disaster and inexperienced secondary proved to be the downfall for the Hokies.
The attention now turns to the offseason with Brent Pry’s seat warming and two major hires still to be at defensive coordinator and strength & conditioning coach. The DC hire seems likely to be the next one made against the Hokies go with the internal promotion of Jarrett Ferguson for S&C coach, which would make a lot of sense.
But as we dive into all that, let’s start with one of my biggest takeaways watching Virginia Tech beat a much more talented Miami in men’s basketball on Saturday.
Team vs Individuals
Often, we can get so wrapped up in the play of stars that we forget that sports are about the team (unless you are talking about golf or tennis though those individual sports have plenty of coaches and support people that are crucial to their success).
That is especially true in basketball where stars dominate the conversation at the professional level and even somewhat at the college level. Look at the rightful attention someone like Duke’s Cooper Flagg has earned for example or even a wily veteran like Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson.
But basketball is still a team sport and if you watched Saturday’s men’s basketball game between Virginia Tech and Miami, you were reminded that teams beat individuals.
On paper, Miami has one of the most talented rosters in the ACC and still is a way more talented team than Virginia Tech even when they’re without their star guard Nigel Pack as they were in this game.
However, Virginia Tech didn’t win this game because of talent but rather because the Hokies actually consistently operate like a team while Miami too often looks like a collection of individuals who could do great things together, but are a mess when doing it alone.
Miami shot 58.9% against the Hokies, but a lot of those shots they made were tough shots not fully because of Tech’s defense but in part because Miami played like individuals and chose tougher shots alone rather than finding better shots together. Their skill was on full display because of some of the tough shots they made, but they also had some really bad misses that left you scratching your head and wondering what if.
That theme became clearer in the closing sequence where Miami interim coach Bill Courtney told media after the game that the message was to switch 1-5 and yet Miami’s point guard didn’t do that, leaving Mylyjael Poteat open to take a great pass from Ben Hammond right to the rim for the bucket and the foul. It was a failure of the “team” by Miami that led to the error and a success of the “team” by Tech with Ben Hammond waiting for the right option as he drove to come open and then feeding Poteat brilliantly.
See when you have a lot of talent but a team never forms, you get what happened with Florida State on the gridiron this season, a 2-10 mess with camera shots of a coach knowing he has no chance because the “team” aspect is completely missing. That’s the harsh reality for Miami’s collection of individuals who are the Florida State of men’s college basketball this season.
If Miami doesn’t figure out how to be a team soon, it’ll be the Hurricanes’ collection of individuals who finish at the bottom of the ACC behind lots of less talented TEAMS like Virginia Tech who understand this sport is 5-on-5, not 1-on-1.
So if you’re a young player dreaming of playing college hoops, just remember that you might make some highlights as an individual, but you’ll only win if you’re invested in the team.
The Week in Review Highlights
Hokies of the Week: Carys Baker was phenomenal Sunday against Miami with 23 points and nine rebounds including a career-high seven threes. One of those threes gave the Hokies a 64-63 lead with just about one minute to go before Carleigh Wenzel needed to make four free throws during the final 15 seconds to win the game for the Hokies. Regardless, Baker’s performance was crucial to the Hokies going on the road and taking down Miami.
Mylyjael Poteat also deserves a shoutout after having a career-high 25 points including the game-winning three-point play with 2.7 seconds to go against Miami on Saturday. Tobi Lawal also had an impressive week with 19 points in the loss at Duke including a career-high 3 threes followed by 22 points and a career-high five assists against Miami.
Stat of the Week: 17 - the number of points off turnovers for Virginia Tech WBB in their 68-64 victory over Miami.
After having turnover issues against Florida State, Virginia Tech dominated that category with only 12 turnovers compared to 19 for the Hurricanes. What’s more impressive is that the Hokies turned that into a 17-3 points off turnovers advantage which obviously was crucial in a four-point victory. This victory over Miami is the best win of the season for VT to date and gives the Hokies some momentum entering a tough road matchup against a top 15 Georgia Tech this week in Atlanta.
Quote of the Week: After the loss to Minnesota, Brent Pry was asked about the trajectory of his program and had this to say about that.
"I’m excited about the guys returning. I’m excited about the class we signed. I’m excited about what we’re doing in the transfer portal. We’re a much better team, even today, than we were last year at this time. We’re just closer in so many areas, whether it’s in our locker room, whether it’s on the field, whether it’s depth, we’re just in a better place. And I thought this bowl prep kind of gave me confidence in that watching these young guys and what they did and how they worked and practice habits. There’s a lot of good things. I think the core of our football team moving forward is guys that we signed, guys that we brought in here as freshmen, and the majority of those guys have stuck with us. They understand the culture, they’ve laid the foundation. These seniors that played out here today, I’m so proud and thankful for them. You’ve got eight or nine guys that hung in there with us and played in that game today. In today’s times, to me that speaks volumes.”
While Virginia Tech is bringing in a lot of transfers this offseason, next year’s team is going to be defined in part by a lot of guys Brent Pry and his staff recruited like Ayden Greene, Benji Gosnell, Brody Meadows, Johnny Garrett, Keyshawn Burgos, Caleb Woodson, Dante Lovett, Quentin Reddish, and more. The depth of this roster will also be largely full of guys Pry and his staff recruited out of high school or are in their second year or later at VT since transferring from elsewhere. If VT is going to turn the corner back to ACC contention under Pry, next year’s team has to take a step forward from this disappointment, especially with a greater influence of Pry-recruited guys in starting and other important roles.
Monday Notes
Bud Foster Returns in Advisory Role: One of the biggest headlines from this past week was head coach Brent Pry revealing that former VT defensive coordinator Bud Foster will be returning in an advisory role. You can read more about what Pry had to say about that along with his and players’ reaction to Foster’s involvement in bowl prep from my reporting from Charlotte here.
Carnell Warren Commits to VT: Virginia Tech landed a commitment from 2026 four-star WR/TE Carnell Warren out of South Carolina, who chose the Hokies over Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, and others. You can read more on Warren’s commitment and what he could bring to the Hokies in the 2026 class here.
VT Finalist for Four-Star WR: Virginia Tech is among the finalists for 2025 four-star WR Cameron Sparks out of Chattanooga, TN along with Arkansas and Mississippi State according to On3’s Chad Simmons. Sparks will announce his commitment during the Navy All-American Bowl on January 11th on NBC and then enroll early at his next school.
Wrestling at Southern Scuffle: Virginia Tech took a limited roster to the Southern Scuffle including a pair of starters in Lennox Wolak and TJ Stewart. Wolak had a disappointing weekend finishing sixth, which will likely cause him to drop a few spots from #4 at 174. Meanwhile, Stewart finished fifth which was at least an encouraging sign that he might be showing signs of finding form. Sonny Sasso finished third at 197 in the best finish for the select group of Hokies who made the trip, though Andy Smith’s strong start to the season means any talk of Sasso breaking into the lineup over Smith is basically dead for the rest of this season.
Nine Hokies Have Landed at P4 Programs: One interesting fact from this transfer portal cycle is that nine Hokies have landed at Power 4 programs so far in CB Mansoor Delane (LSU), OT Xavier Chaplin (Auburn), C Braelin Moore (LSU), S Mose Phillips (Missouri), LB Keli Lawson (UCF), RB Malachi Thomas (Purdue), DE CJ McCray (Cincinnati), WR Chance Fitzgerald (Vanderbilt), and OL Gunner Givens (Vanderbilt). What’s even more interesting is that five of those nine were not starters on the final regular season depth chart, with at least two of those guys no longer being on a trajectory to start at Virginia Tech in the future. That should be considered a positive sign that the Hokies have a much more talented roster than when Brent Pry arrived, a credit to the talent acquisition work done by Pry and his staff.
The Week Ahead: Here’s a look at the Virginia Tech Athletics schedule from now through Sunday.
Wednesday (1/8)
- Men’s Basketball at Stanford (Palo Alto, CA, 9pm on ACC Network)
Thursday (1/9)
- Women’s Basketball at No. 13 Georgia Tech (Atlanta, GA, 7pm)
Friday (1/10)
- No. 8 Wrestling at No. 23 North Carolina (Chapel Hill, NC, 7pm)
Saturday (1/11)
- No. 19/RV Swimming & Diving at No. 17/1 Virginia (Charlottesville, 2pm)
- Men’s Basketball at California (Berkeley, CA, 6pm on ACC Network)
Sunday (1/12)
- Women’s Basketball vs Wake Forest (Blacksburg, 2pm)
