Virginia Tech Guards Ashley Owusu, Charlise Dunn, & Maddie Vejsicky Enter the Transfer Portal

A trio of backup Virginia Tech guards have entered the transfer portal according to reports headlined by former All-American Ashley Owusu plus younger guards Charlise Dunn and Maddie Vejsicky. WBB reporter Mitchell Northam was the first to report the news on Dunn and Vejsicky while Talia Goodman of The Hoosier Net was the first to report the news on Owusu.

Owusu will have one year of eligibility while Dunn and Vejsicky each have three years of eligibility remaining.

Owusu played in 17 games with 7 starts after transferring in from Maryland suffering a broken pinkie against Nebraska that derailed her season. She averaged 5.1 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 1.0 assists in 15.2 minutes per game while shooting 39.2% from the field including 53.3% from three-point range plus 72.2% from the free-throw line.

Dunn played in 11 games this past season averaging 1.4 points in 5.5 minutes per game while Vejsicky played 6 games averaging 0.8 points in 2.5 minutes per game.

With these departures, Virginia Tech now has 7 open scholarships for next season and will certainly be active in the transfer portal to build out their rotation around the star trio of Liz Kitley, Georgia Amoore, and Cayla King plus promising redshirt freshman Carleigh Wenzel.

The departures of Dunn and Vejsicky do come as surprises as both were young pieces for the future with Dunn especially being very highly regarded upon arrival in Blacksburg. Both had opportunities to climb into regular rotation roles regardless of what the Hokies did in the transfer portal this offseason.

Their departures definitely increase the emphasis on finding players who have multiple years of eligibility in the transfer portal to not only boost next year's team but also help build up the long term core around Wenzel and Tech's 4 incoming top 100 recruits.

Meanwhile, the Owusu departure should come as a shock to no one as things went sideways when she returned from her broken pinkie during the middle of ACC play right as the Hokies were starting to take off. The meshing of Owusu into Tech and the style they played just never found any traction with the former All-American struggling a good amount leading to Kenny Brooks to decreasing her minutes before not appearing in the ACC and NCAA Tournaments.

That led to some social media frustration from Owusu which finally blew up after Tech's Final Four loss when multiple teammates expressed their frustration seemingly about how invested Owusu was in the team. While many in the national media saw this as a public first shot by either side, this was most certainly not for those who have kept up with the team. Of course, none of this likely plays out this way if Owusu never gets hurt and is able to be fully incorporated into Tech's system after transferring in this past offseason.

In the end, this is the best for all parties as Owusu and Virginia Tech clearly were not a fit. The Hokies will be better for this while Owusu is still a former All-American who can be an impact player at a school that should be a better fit for her.