Was this Virginia Tech Team Talented Enough to make the NCAA Tournament?

The Virginia Tech Hokies fell to Wake Forest, 95-89 in overtime, to both end day 1 of the 2026 T. Rowe Price Men's ACC Tournament, and to end the Hokies' hopeful chances at a March Madness. But did they have the roster to potentially fulfill that bid?

Ask Hokies' head coach Mike Young, and his answer is obvious: "I've got an NCAA tournament team, fellas." Young said this during his team's dedicated 45-minute practice on Monday ahead of the contest against Demon Deacons.

Tech entered the tournament as the No.12 seed, yet the hopes remained high for the Hokies, who looked to dance. With Tech's nine different contests this season that were decided within a single possession, the Hokies have the lineup to compete with many of the teams in the nation.

Everyday Starters

"Address some things in the offseason; I can assure you that," was Young's statement following the first-round bounce in the 2025 ACC Tournament.

He did deliver on this promise, bringing in three everyday starters that elevated this team in a multitude of ways: Greek freshman Neoklis Avdalas, West Virginia transfer forward Amani Hansberry, and UNLV guard Jailen Bedford.

Avdalas and Hansberry elevated returning starters Tobi Lawal and Ben Hammond, both allowing the spotlight to be taken off them, even though the light would return to Hammond in his breakout season.

The only limiting factor in Hammond's 2025-26 season was out of his control, being his 5-foot-11 stature. It does allow insane explosiveness from the Virginia-native point guard who averaged 13.2 ppg, up from his 5.6 of last year, giving him a quick first step, allowing him to breeze by the best defenders in the conference, while also having the ability to knock down any size up trey, as he went 44-for-102 on looks from behind the stripe.

Hansberry proved himself as one of the best players in the ACC, let alone for the Hokies, earning an all-ACC honorable mention with his 14.3 ppg and 7.4 rebounds per game. In Hansberry's first two collegiate seasons spent with Illinois and then West Virginia, Hansberry got the starting nod in 24 of his 50 contests.

For Tech, however, Hansberry started in every contest he appeared in, which was all but one of the Hokies' regular season contests, and then also missing the first round matchup against Wake Forest. Hansberry was a machine in non-conference play, notching double-digit scoring efforts in all but one game, his nine-point outing against Charlotte.

As conference play ramped up, his numbers fizzled down to a much more expected split, but still opened up the first two ACC matchups against Virginia and the Demon Deacons with back-to-back double-doubles.

Bench

Redshirt junior guard Jaden Schutt returned for his second season in the maroon-and-orange. As he saw all 32 games for Young in back-to-back seasons, his starts was dialed back from 26 to 5, though his production became more efficient in his more limited time off the bench.

Schutt honed in on his deep shot, focusing primarily on his ability to contribute on that end of the floor, seeing a 3% increase in his shooting percentage. Which may seem small, but he made eight more threes while attempting nine more than last year, in 50 minutes less of gametime.

Behind Hansberry, the freshman big duo of Christian Gurdak and Antonio Dorn split time for the Hokies' front court, with Gurdak seeing the majority of the time while Dorn battled with a back injury throughout the season.

Gurdak only averaged 5.6 points per game this season, but he shone on the glass, specifically in his positioning ability. Gurdak used his physicality to mesh in the paint and obtain a nearly 50-50 split of offensive and defensive rebounds, with 66 and 70, respectively.

Where did it go wrong?

Though you'll never hear it from Young, but injuries plagued this team all season. From Lawal's nine missed games, to Johnson's 16 missed conference games, and ending with their All-ACC honoree unable to preform in the tournament.

"Doing it a long time. 24 years as a head coach, you have never heard me make an excuse," said Young. "Was it hurtful? Yeah. But tonight, down Amani, and you've got to find a way to continue to win, and we didn't do enough of that. We didn't do enough of that. Not quite good enough."

If Tech were healthy, it is easy to say these games would have gone another way, but that's the testament to good programs: how to fight through the adversity of missing a player due to injury, and being ready to have the next guy step up and perform to as close to a level as possible.