Virginia Tech Lands Commitment From Duke SG Transfer Jaden Schutt

Virginia Tech Men's Basketball roster reload continued this evening as the Hokies landed a commitment from Duke SG transfer Jaden Schutt.

Schutt is the fifth transfer addition for the Hokies this offseason joining Temple PG Hysier Miller, California SG Rodney Brown Jr, Charleston F Ben Burnham, and VCU PF/C Toibu Lawal. Schutt had plenty of significant programs interested with Dayton, Butler, and DePaul among the other most heavily linked to Schutt in the closing stages of his transfer recruitment.

He has three years of eligibility after spending his first two seasons at Duke including a redshirt year this past season due to an injury he picked up right before the season. During his freshman year back in the 2022-23 season, Schutt played in 14 games and averaged 2.1 points and 1.1 rebounds in 6.9 minutes per game while shooting 35.7% from the field including 35.0% from three-point range. He is also a former four-star and top 100 overall recruit in the 2022 class.

Schutt is an intriguing young talent who didn't get a lot of opportunity while at Duke, though you do wonder how much he would have played this season if not for injuries. The potential is absolutely there for Schutt to be a very good player with his play in a limited sample size being very good. That's highlighted by the fact that he had an offensive rating of 123.4, a defensive rating of 101.4, and his box plus/minus being 3.3 (1.8-offense, 1.5-defense) during his limited sample size. He also knows what college basketball looks like at the highest levels having been at Duke the past two years.

Even with the recruiting pedigree, Schutt should not be considered a sure thing given the very limited sample size that he does have along with the left knee injury that caused him to miss this past season. The fact that he's only played 96 live game minutes in two years of college basketball can't be overlooked even if some of that is due to injuries.

Schutt's addition sets up a battle at the two based on the current roster construction with Cal transfer Rodney Brown Jr and returner Jaydon Young. Some may be penciling in Schutt given his top 100 recruit pedigree, but Brown has the most college game experience, while Young showed promise and already has a deep knowledge of Mike Young's system which is a great benefit to him.

While Schutt does seem like the slight favorite given that background, I don't think this is as cut and dry as most will feel though part of that is simply because Schutt has only played 96 minutes of college basketball. It'll also be fascinating to see how Schutt develops and if he could become the latest big-time sharpshooter for a Mike Young team as he's produced over the years with guys like Fletcher Magee and Hunter Cattoor.

Tech has built a backcourt with lots of intriguing young talent that will be fascinating to watch develop in the coming years and provides tons of long term upside. However, it's almost impossible in my view to look at the 2024-25 backcourt and see it as anything but a downgrade compared to what the Hokies had last season with Hunter Cattoor and Sean Pedulla leading the way, or what they could have had next season with Pedulla leading the way if not for the transfer portal.

With Schutt on board, the Hokies still have one scholarship open. Personally, I would like to see the Hokies land a more proven, efficient scorer to play the two or three who could lead the way on the scoring front following Jordan Ivy-Curry's decommitment. However, most of those quality options are already gone and unless something changes, it seems unlikely that the Hokies have the NIL resources to entice the type of proven, efficient scorer that they really could use.