High School

Virginia Tech basketball lands former Maryland Gatorade Player of the Year

Former Mount St. Joseph star Amani Hansberry has made the move from West Virginia to Virginia Tech

Brandy Simms

Former Maryland Gatorade Boys Basketball Player of the Year Amani Hansberry has transferred from West Virginia to Virginia Tech.
Former Maryland Gatorade Boys Basketball Player of the Year Amani Hansberry has transferred from West Virginia to Virginia Tech. / Ben Queen-Imagn Images

Maryland native and former Gatorade Maryland Boys Basketball Player of the Year Amani Hansberry has transferred from West Virginia to Virginia Tech. 

The 6-foot-8, 240-pound forward averaged 9.8 points and a team-high 6.5 rebounds per game last season for the Mountaineers (19-13, 10-10 Big 12).  

Hansberry played in 31 games, starting 24, and recorded a team-best four double-doubles. He scored in double figures 13 times and recorded seven games with double-digit rebounds. 

“Amani is relentless and always around the ball,” Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young said in a news release. “He brings a rare combination of skills that will give us valuable versatility on both ends of the floor. Amani is a fierce competitor and someone who knows how to win. I look forward to coaching him.” 

Hansberry, who hails from Silver Spring, Maryland, will have two years of college eligibility remaining. He spent his freshman campaign at Illinois where he averaged 2.5 points and 2.1 rebounds in 7.5 minutes per game. 

In high school, Hansberry was a standout at Mount Saint Joseph in Baltimore and was named the 2023 Gatorade Maryland Player of the Year after leading the team to a 38-4 record and back-to-back MIAA conference titles. 

A two-time Baltimore Sun All-Metro Player of the Year, Hansberry was the state’s top-ranked prospect coming out of high school. 

Hansberry is set to become the latest Maryland native to play for the Hokies during Young’s tenure in Blacksburg, joining Keve Aluma (Berlin), Darius Maddox (Bowie), Rodney Rice (Clinton), and Mekhi Long (Bryans Road). 

Hansberry’s basketball roots run deep – his mother, Angela, played collegiately at Howard University and is a member of the Lincoln Park Athletic Hall of Fame based in Rockville, Maryland.

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Brandy Simms
BRANDY SIMMS

Brandy Simms is an award-winning sports journalist who has covered professional, college and high school sports in the DMV for more than 30 years including the NFL, NBA and WNBA. He has an extensive background in both print and broadcast media and has freelanced for SLAM, Dime Magazine and The Washington Post. A former Sports Editor for The Montgomery County Sentinel, Simms captured first place honors in the Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association 2006 Editorial Contest for a sports column entitled “Remembering Len Bias.” The Oakland, California native began his postgraduate career at WMAL-AM Radio in Washington, D.C. where he produced the market’s top-rated sports talk show “Sports Call” with host Ken Beatrice. A former Sports Director for “Cable News 21,” Simms also produced sports at WJLA-TV and served as host of the award-winning “Metro Sports Connection” program on Montgomery Community Television. Simms is a frequent contributor to various radio and television sports talk shows in the Washington, D.C. market. In 2024, he made his national television debut on “The Rich Eisen Show” on the Roku Channel. He began contributing to High School On SI in 2025.

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