Virginia Tech Men's Basketball Team: A Lay Of The Land Entering May

Where are the Hokies at as we near the month of May?

Virginia Tech Athletics

Virginia Tech men's basketball is in another transition period. The same could be argued for last season, but that was in the sense of an attempt to be more transformative. Last offseason, the Hokies landed Neoklis Avdalas (Greece), Jailen Bedford (UNLV) and Amani Hansberry (West Virginia), Izaiah Pasha (Delaware) and Antonio Dorn (Germany). Ten of the program's 14 players were newcomers.

The only returnees from the Hokies' 2024-25 iteration were senior forward Tobi Lawal, redshirt junior guard Jaden Schutt, sophomore guard Ben Hammond and sophomore guard Tyler Johnson.

For lack of a better word, it was a very mercenary-kind of team — one whose aim it was to construct an immediate win-now roster. And while they won — the roster improved by six wins from 2024-25 and finished with a 19-13 (8-10 ACC) — it wasn't enough to grant the team its first berth in the NCAA Tournament. For the fourth consecutive year, Virginia Tech was stranded on the outskirts of an NCAA Tournament berth, consigned to a bid to the NIT that it ultimately declined.

The exodus started soon thereafter. Pasha, only in Blacksburg for one season, was the first, leaving for Duquesne. Several soon followed. Then, Avdalas and center Christian Gurdak followed suit, departing for a pair of Power Four schools in North Carolina and Rutgers, respectively. Schutt and Antonio Dorn also went out the door; Schutt is set to play for Kansas State next season alongside former Virginia Tech guard Brandon Rechsteiner, while Dorn remains in the ACC at nearby Wake Forest.

Though Virginia Tech only lost one main starter — Avdalas — to the portal, it sustained further losses due to graduation. Senior forward Tobi Lawal and graduate guard Jailen Bedford both are out of eligibility, and unless the NCAA's looming five-in-five grants them an extra year, it seems as if they're out the door.

One note of what the NCAA is proposing is that such effects would set in at the start of the 2026-27 season, nullifying a chance of Lawal and Bedford suiting up in maroon again.

I've talked a lot about what Virginia Tech has lost. What exactly has it gained?

At the time of writing, the Hokies have procured four pledges from the portal. Three have more than a year of eligibility remaining. Here's the full list:

• forward Kuol Atak (r-So.) (committed on April 12)
• center Miles Heide (Sr.) (committed on April 23)
• guard Isaiah Elohim (Jr.) (committed on April 25)
• guard Ned Hull (r-Jr.) (committed on April 27)

Hull is likely to be an eighth or ninth man off the bench, given that he averaged 4.5 points at the CAA level. Atak, Heide and Elohim, however, should play a factor in the Hokies' main rotation. Elohim averaged 12.4 points and 4.2 rebounds per game last seasona t Florida Atlantic, and as of now, he should slot in as the primary two-guard opposite point guard Ben Hammond.

Heide likely takes the center spot by osmosis of the only other center on the roster being redshirt freshman Solomon Davis, who has not played yet in college. The return of senior Amani Hansberry should alleviate any potential problem, since if needed, he can contend as a five.

Atak's shooting touch is potentially higher than Schutt's, except the Oklahoma transfer operates as more of a stretch four that could potentially do damage at the three-spot, depending on how much size Virginia Tech can still acquire in the transfer portal.

Atak shot 43-for-104 (41.3%) from beyond the arc as a redshirt freshman with the Sooners. Twenty-three of his 127 total shots were inside the arc.

Pivoting off of the players, where do I see the program at? Virginia Tech is set to retain Young and assistant coach Chester Frazier for at least one more season.

Continuity. Culture. Commitment.@_ChesterFrazier is here to stay 🦃🔒

➡️ https://t.co/f4fU8gnjx2 pic.twitter.com/7fyvQ7WcjE

— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) April 22, 2026

According to public documents obtained by Virginia Tech On SI under 5 U.S. Code § 552, Young is set to be paid a base salary of $600,000 for the 2026-27 season with a supplemental compensation of $2.4 million. If there is termination without cause, the university pays Young the remaining amounts due under the contract. Now that March 15, 2026 has passed, there are no damages attached to a termination. Young's contract was extended in mid-2021, according to Tech Sideline's David Cunningham.

Do I think that Virginia Tech is yet in a position to where it can definitively get a coach of higher quality than Young? No. I think that there is a chance that whoever is the next head coach after Young could be a better slection, but there is an equaly likely chance that it could be worse. For now, I think no change of course is needed.

Virginia Tech looks positioned to be solid in 2026-27 if it can round out the roster with capable contributors, but beyond that, I think that the outlook remains uncertain.