ACC Basketball: 10 questions looming for the 2021-22 season

6. What’s the next move for Mike Young and the Hokies?

The Virginia Tech Hokies are building something special under head coach Mike Young. After going 16-16 in his first season, Young led the Hokies to a 15-7 record in 2020-21 with a third place finish in the ACC standings at 9-4 and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

Enter year three, Young is without Jalen Cone (Northern Arizona) and Tyrece Radford (transfer portal) but still returns four of their five starters from a season ago while adding some key newcomers. Keve Aluma, Justyn Mutts, Nahiem Alleyne and Hunter Cattoor will return while the addition of grad-transfer Storm Murphy should certainly boost their 3-point shooting and playmaking.

Outside of the cool first name (Storm), Murphy is a prospect to keep an eye on given his body of work at Wofford. He was an All-Southern Conference first-team selection this past season while posting 17.8 points, 4.3 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game on 40 percent shooting from 3-point range. He played under Mike Young from 2017-19 and reunites with him again in Blacksburg.

It’s worth noting, Aluma is also a Wofford hold-over that’s blossomed quite well in the ACC while producing 15.9 points. 7.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.3 blocks per contest this past season.

It will be interesting to see how things fare for Young and the Hokies in 2021-22 but given their recent additions, it’s hard to say things aren’t looking up for them.