Virginia Tech Basketball Balancing Retention As Transfer Portal Reshapes Roster

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Virginia Tech basketball remains in the interesting paradox of having to balance the retention of its 2025-26 roster while recognizing that many of those players will enter the transfer portal.

Four — guard Izaiah Pasha, wing Neoklis Avdalas, center Christian Gurdak and guard Jaden Schutt — have already pledged to enter the portal when it officially opens tomorrow.

The Hokies, as of right now, are in a vulnerable position. Virginia Tech currently holds seven players on scholarship for the team, and though the $229 million financial investment planned for the next four fiscal years should help, the sheer amount men's basketball receives (or whether the investment total actually reaches $229 million) is yet to be determined.

Here's a current look at who Virginia Tech still actually has on scholarship:

Amani Hansberry (Sr.)
Ben Hammond (Jr.)
Tyler Johnson (Jr.)
Sin'Cere Jones (So.)
Antonio Dorn (So.)
Brett Freeman (r-Fr.)
Solomon Davis (r-Fr.)

Virginia Tech did not sign a player from the high school ranks and barring any unforeseen changes, it is increasingly likely that it holds. The vast majority, if not the totality, of the Hokies' 2026-27 will come from the portal, like last year's roster before it. The only difference is that Virginia Tech's 2026-27 season presumably comes with lower expectations after missing the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight year.

Virginia Tech improved its win total by six from 2024-25 to the 2025-26 season, though its ACC win total remained the same (8-10). The Hokies (19-13, 8-10) lost three of their final four and five of their last seven, dashing their NCAA Tournament hopes with a 95-89 overtime loss to Wake Forest in the first round of the ACC Tournament.

"Not the outcome we were looking for or expected," said Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young that day. "Held out hope that we could get Amani [Hansberry] well. ... When we got to Charlotte, we didn't do a lot with him in practice. I was encouraged [the day of the game]. But once we got over here and tried to rev him up at the hotel on our way over, it was apparent that he wasn't going to be able to do it. So, we had to sit him. That's a tremendous loss, needless to say. Not the story of the game. The story of the game is Wake Forest played a little bit better than we did."

Soon thereafter, Virginia Tech declined any advances of a National Invitation Tournament (NIT) bid before the tournament field was finalized. The Hokies cited injury concerns and professional preparations as their cause for deciding to end their season following the loss to Wake Forest.

An update from our program ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/toajanzBj2
— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 13, 2026

Beyond the lingering feeling of a missed opportunity in the 2025-26 season, Virginia Tech's current transfer portal woes are compounded by the graduation of forward Tobi Lawal and guard Jailen Bedford. The two each do not have eligibility remaining, leaving Virginia Tech with two current mainstay starters from the second half of 2025-26: Hammond and Hansberry.

Of Virginia Tech's top eight — Bedford, Lawal, Schutt, Hammond, Johnson, Hansberry, Avdalas and Gurdak — three are slated to return to next year's roster at the time of writing: Hammond, Johnson and Hansberry.

Last year, Virginia Tech turned to the transfer portal and high school well to bring in a total of 10 newcomers, and the season itself offered hope for an NCAA Tournament bid. However, the Hokies' late-game lapses caught them too many times for a March Madness qualification to become reality. Virginia Tech lost eight times to ACC opponents by 10 or less.

This year, the Hokies will again turn to the well of incoming talent; however, with the outgoing departures, 2026-27 is likely to be a step back for Virginia Tech.

Virginia Tech's 2026-27 season begins in early November. Four games are already public information for the campaign, according to public records obtained by the D1 Docket:

Nov. 3: Coppin State ($95K)
Nov. 27: Old Dominion ($95K)
Dec. 10: UMES ($90K)
Dec. 21: VMI ($90K)