Where Does Virginia Tech Basketball Still Need To Add to Its From The Portal?

Where do the Hokies still need to add on to the roster?

Virginia Tech Athletics

Virginia Tech men's basketball has secured four players from the transfer portal so far: Oklahoma forward Kuol Atak, San Diego State center Miles Heide, Florida Atlantic guard Isaiah Elohim and Elon guard Ned Hull.

With those four additions, the Hokies currently sit at nine scholarship athletes for the 2026-27 campaign. Virginia Tech comes off the heels of a 19-12 (8-10 ACC) season in 2025-26 that was defined by missed opportunities. The Hokies lost eight games to ACC opponents by single-digits, including six by two possessions or fewer. Four were one-score losses.

The Hokies' exodus started soon thereafter. On the guard front, Virginia Tech lost Izaiah Pasha (Duquesne), Neoklis Avdalas (North Carolina) and Jaden Schutt (Kansas State) from its pool of mainstay options. The Hokies also watched as centers Christian Gurdak and Antonio Dorn departed for Rutgers and Wake Forest, respectively.

Virginia Tech is still in a fickle position regarding its 2026-27 prospects. The Hokies are potentially still in need of an adequate starting center if they don't feel entirely comfortable with Heide (or a reserve to back up Heide), but the five-in-five proposition continues to be a looming threat for every team dealing with the transfer portal, not just Virginia Tech. In this situation, it impacts every player without eligibility at the current moment.

While the Hokies are unlikely to regress back to the ACC bottomfeeding that they were in pre-Buzz Williams for the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons, Virginia Tech's odds to make the 2027 NCAA Tournament appear increasingly unlikely. If the Hokies miss the cut for March Madness this season, it will be the fifth straight year that Tech is left on the outside looking in. Add on to that the 76-team expansion that came a year too late for the Hokies. Had the 76-team expansion been in effect for the 2025-26 season, Virginia Tech would have been one of the teams fighting in the first round — I guess it'd be the First 24? — to crack the 64-team field.

This is what a new “First 12” would look like, based on NCAA seed list, First Four Out, and WAB.

Mid-major AQs get pushed down, and still no room for Belmont, New Mexico, Yale, etc. And Akron, South Florida, McNeese likely would’ve missed w/o autobid: https://t.co/pqXqKc7mJE pic.twitter.com/ZYTPGmLkmV

— Kevin Sweeney (@CBB_Central) March 16, 2026

If that bracket held, Virginia Tech would play Oklahoma State in the play-in and contest five-seed Wisconsin in the Round of 64. Whether that would yield any fruit is a lost cause at this point. Back to the Hokies: Virginia Tech is need of a tertiary scorer. While forward Amani Hansberry (14.3 points per game) and guard Ben Hammond (13.2 ppg) have proven an able one-two punch, the Hokies need another player who can score — one that can fill the role left by Avdalas or senior forward Tobi Lawal.

It's entirely plausible that growth could arrive from within — Hammond serves as a prime example, going from averaging five points per game in his freshman season to 13.2 in his second — but Virginia Tech's goal in the transfer portal should be to leave itself in the best position to avoid being beholden to internal improvement.

Beyond the potential need for a tertiary scorer, which likely will need to be from solid recruiting of a diamond-in-the-rough prospect, Virginia Tech is in need of more depth in the frontcourt, particularly at the four-spot. Depending on how the Hokies deploy their lineups, Hansberry can be utilized at the five, but if Virginia Tech can acquire a face-up center with more moveability that Gurdak had, it should be well-positioned. Heide should be a solid plug-and-play option; his two-point shooting percentage in Mountain West play (66.7 — 46/69) topped the conference last season, and he also finished with an offensive rebounding rate of 12.9% across the entire season (No. 5 in MWC).

Virginia Tech is in need of more depth, too. The Hokies need a backup four or a backup five, depending on how they wish to deploy their lineups. Tech also needs to find a backup small forward and potentially a backup point guard, depending on how Hull pans out. The Hokies have the bones of a solid squad — anchored by Hammond and Hansberry — but their effectiveness on the margins will likely be what defines their 2026-27 season.