Virginia Tech forward Darren Buchanan Jr announced today that he is entering the transfer portal after one year in Blacksburg.
Thank You. 🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/k2mANLVrdV
— JunBoogiee (@dbuchananjr2) March 21, 2023
Buchanan redshirted this past season for the Hokies and will have all four years of eligibility remaining. This means that Tech has at least one scholarship open as we are still counting Grant Basile and Hunter Cattoor against Tech's scholarship numbers as using their COVID year next season until we hear specifically otherwise though neither has publicly appeared to have made a decision yet.
The Washington D.C. standout originally chose the Hokies over fellow finalists Georgetown, Rutgers, George Mason, and George Washington while also holding offers from Xavier, Pittsburgh, Seton Hall, VCU, Richmond, North Texas, Iona, and others.
It's easy to envision Buchanan having a similar next stop to Joe Bamisile and landing in a high mid-major conference as Bamisile did transferring from VT to George Washington of the Atlantic 10 after his freshman season. Buchanan also could be in position to jump back to a major conference later in his career given that he has all four years of eligibility remaining and likely will have his degree before exhausting his eligibility.
As mentioned above, Buchanan's departure officially opens a scholarship for the Hokies which will certainly be used on the portal. Tech seems to be looking to add a true power forward to replace Justyn Mutts and/or a bigger win with one name to watch being UNC transfer Tyler Nickel. Nickel is a VA native and former 2022 top 100 recruit who chose UNC over the Hokies originally and showed promise in limited minutes in his one season in Chapel Hill.
Nickel is far from the only player that fits the mold that Tech seems to be looking for with Tulsa SF Tim Dalger, Florida wing Kowacie Reeves, Texas Tech PF Robert Jennings, Harvard SF Chris Ledlum, Illinois-Chicago wing Jace Carter, Northeast Conference standouts Tedrick Wilcox Jr and Ziggy Reid, and more.
We will have more as this story develops.
