Virginia Tech Basketball: 2019-20 season preview for Hokies
The roster was decimated by graduation and departures
Virginia Tech loses all four of their double-digit scorers and their top five overall from last season. Guards Nickeil Alexander-Walker (NBA) and Ty Outlaw (Greece) decided to pursue professional opportunities, Justin Robinson and Ahmed Hill graduated and forward Kerry Blackshear, Jr. transferred to Florida for his final season. Those three accounted for 61.3 of the 74 points, 23.9 of the 32.6 rebounds and 12.6 of the team’s 15.3 assists per game last season, to say there is some production that needs to be replaced would be an understatement.
What returns are juniors P.J. Horne, a 6’5 forward who averaged three points and two rebounds last season, and Wabissa Bede, a 6’1 guard from Massachusetts who averaged over 25 minutes per game, but with the other offensive options on the roster wasn’t asked to do much, attempting just 3.6 shots per game.
Two other guards return, both sophomores, Isaiah Wilkins, who should be poised for a bigger role this season after 4.7 points and 2.3 rebounds as a freshman. He shot the long ball well, knocking down nearly 41% but he only attempted 54 on the year. Brendan Palmer is a 6’3 guard who appeared in just four games last season. Young’s rotation took a hit when it was announced earlier this summer that swingman Jonathan Kabongo would miss the season with an injury. The 6’5 Toronto native was pegged for a much larger role this season.
Young does have two redshirt-freshmen that were with the program last season ready to see the floor. Tyrece Radford is a 6’2 guard from Baton Rouge and Landers Nolley II is a 6’7 small forward from Atlanta who also handles the ball well enough to play some guard. Nolley II was a three-star recruit in 2018 who was redshirted to prepare for this season. The Hokies also get grad transfer Branden Johnson who comes to Virginia Tech from Alabama State. Johnson is a 6’8 230lb. big man who was a starter the majority of his career, he averaged 7.7 points and 6.8 rebounds as junior, starting every game for the Hornets, but last season he started just 16 games and four points and three rebounds.
Young’s first recruiting class has four players in it, three guards and a power forward. Jalen Cone is a diminutive (5’11) point guard who averaged over 25 points and six assists as a senior and is listed as the 10th best point guard in the class by 247Sports. Hunter Cattoor, who originally committed to Young at Wofford is a 6-3 guard from Florida who did a little bit of everything last season, scoring (18 points), rebounding (5.7 rebounds), facilitating (2.8 assists) and playing defense (3.2 steals).
Nahiem Alleyne is a shooting guard from Georgia who can shoot the long ball. John Ojiako is a native of Nigeria but went to high school in Florida, the 6-10 Ojiako has put on 50lbs. in the last year or so as he is listed at 190lbs. on the 247Sports recruiting page and the Hokies roster has him listed at 240.