Sounds like Deron might want to hit up the Rosetta Stone kiosk at the mall…

Deron Headed Overseas?

Manny Atkins Notes:

Doug Doughty of the Roanoke Times wrote about new VT 2009 verbal Manny Atkins in his weekly recruiting article: Notebook Plus: Manny Atkins a Book Worm?

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Congrats to Deron Washington, who was picked in the second round of tonight’s NBA draft by the Detroit Pistons. Deron was the first Hokie picked in the NBA Draft since Eddie Lucas was drafted 58th overall by the Utah Jazz in 1999.

I have to admit that I was surprised by the pick, only because the so-called experts were not calling for it. ESPN.com writes, “Washington is one of the most athletic guards in the draft — an explosive leaper, but just a so-so player. I doubt he’ll stick, but he does have physical tools.” We’ll see about that.

Here is a list of all the Hokies ever drafted:

1. Chris Smith, 14th overall, 1961, Syracuse (2nd round)
2. Dell Curry, 15th overall, 1986, Utah (1st round)
3. Allan Bristow, 21st overall, 1973, Philadelphia (2nd round)
4. Wayne Robinson, 31st overall, 1980, LA Lakers (2nd round)
5. Bimbo Coles, 40th overall, 1990, Sacramento (2nd round)
6. Larry Cooke, 46th overall, 1976, Atlanta (3rd round)
7. Keith Colbert, 56th overall, 1986, Philadelphia (3rd round)
8. Eddie Lucas, 58th overall, 1999, Utah (2nd round)
9. Deron Washington, 59th overall, 2008, Detroit (2nd round)

Niemo’s Notes:

• Hey!  Now I’ve arm-curled a NBA Draftee!  So I’ve got that going for me, which is nice.
• Based on trends, does this mean another Hokie won’t get drafted until 2017?  (1990 – Coles, ‘99 – Lucas, and ‘08 – Washington)
• With the way Detroit plays (suffocating defense), Deron has the right system for him.  He has a chance to make the squad, but it is an up-hill battle.  He needs to be a lockdown defender in the NBA Summer Leagues and into camp.
• It is interesting to look at that list above and realize VT has only had one 1st Round selection ever.  Even Bimbo Coles, who was VT’s first ever Olympian while at Tech and went on to have a long NBA career, was a 2nd-Rounder.
• # of duke and unc players drafted combined: 0; VT: 1.  File that under “may never see that again.”  And yes, I realize hansbrough, Lawson, and Ellington all would have been drafted had they stayed in it, but they didn’t.
• The ACC only had 4 players drafted total and only J.J. Hickson of nc state (#19 overall) went in the first round.  uva’s sean singletary and md’s james gist went in the 2nd Round with Deron.  By comparison, the ACC had 6 First-Rounders last year alone and 9 players drafted overall.  In 2006, it was 3 First-Rounders and 6 overall for the ACC.

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Nice article about Deron Washington’s preparation for the 2008 NBA Draft (Thursday, June 26th) and his prospects of getting taken in the 2nd (and final) Round.

Roanoke Times

As I mentioned a few days ago, no Hokie has been drafted since 1999 (Eddie Lucas – Utah Jazz – 2nd Round) and before that it was Bimbo Coles in 1990.

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Update: Here’s an article I found on Manny from December 2007…

Manny in the Orlando Sentinel

Original Story:

It didn’t take the Hokies long to fill Kendall Durant’s scholarship.  With the news Durant would not be attending VT next year, a scholarship opened up.  That scholarship was quickly snatched up by Class of 2009 recruit Manny Atkins.  Manny is a 6′6″ small forward from Stone Mountain, Georgia. 

Manny is a 3-star recruit according to Rivals.com and Scout.com.  Scout.com has him as the #20 small forward in the 2009 Class.  He averaged 24 points and 10 rebounds per game last season as a junior.

Atkins (Tucker HS) becomes the fourth VT recruit from the Stone Mountain/Eastern Atlanta area in the last seven recruiting classes, joining Class of 2003 signee Coleman Collins (Chamblee HS – signed by ricky stokes), 2005 signee/ gwu transfer Wynton Witherspoon (Lilburn, GA/Berkmar HS), and 2007 signee Terrell Bell (Stone Mountain HS).  Based on that, expect another greater Atlanta prospect to join the Hokies in 2011!

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Seth Greenberg will be part of the Fox Sports Radio NBA Draft coverage this Thursday night.  Will he get the chance to talk about Deron Washington being drafted?  Probably not (he isn’t mentioned in any mock draft I’ve seen), but there’s always hope.  The coverage will go from 7-10 PM EDT.

Hokiesports.com Article

NBA DRAFT NOTES

No Hokie has been taken in the NBA Draft since 1999, when Eddie Lucas went to the Utah Jazz in the 2nd Round.  Before that, Bimbo Coles was the last Hokie drafted back in 1990 to the Sacramento Kings (so it took 9 years and it has been another 9 years since Lucas was selected… fate?).

CollegeHoopsNet.com has Deron ranked #76 of eligible prospects in this draft (there are only 2 rounds and 60 picks).

 

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The Roanoke Times thinks so. While that might be a crazy comparison, the article gets you excited to see Davilia’s actions both on and off the court.

[Niemo's Note: I'd rather NOT see, or hear, about his actions off the court, Wick.  No news is good news in my book with any athlete these days since the media rarely talks about good kids doing good things.]

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Check out our new photo gallery page with all of our photos since the site launched in January 2007. You can view each photo individually within the site or in a slide show format. We’ve also tagged each photo so you can view a set of photos by season, player, game, or event. You can even check out all of Niemo’s arm curls.

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With the news that 2008 signee Kendall Durant, a guard from the DC area via New Hampton Prep in New Hampshire, will not enroll at Virginia Tech, the cupboard remains bare in the backcourt for VT for at least another year. 

This will leave just two from the 2008 Class – Victor Davila and Gene Swindle, both of which are big men and will leave a hole at the guard position until the two 2009 signees (Ben Boggs and Erick Green) arrive.

Personally, I think the Hokies desperately needed another guard for next season.  Hank Thorns has not shown he is an ACC caliber guard, but he is VT’s best ball-handler.  Malcolm Delaney is better at shooting guard, but will have to continue to eat up minutes at the point next year.

A scholarship is now available for either immediate help, or could be used to sign someone for the 2009 Class.  While it is unlikely Tech will sign someone this late for next season, they do have some recent history with this.  Hank Thorns did not commit or sign with VT until May 30th last year. 

For next season, expect Thorns and Delaney to split time at the point while Delaney and Hudson play the 2.  Terrell Bell and possibly even A.D. Vassallo might also get time at the shooting guard spot, though they are a better fit as a 3.

Looking ahead, Erick Green is more of a point guard than Ben Boggs.  Expect him to challenge Thorns for the starting point guard spot for the 2009-10 season, with Delaney and Dorenzo Hudson at shooting guard.

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The Roanoke Times is reporting that 2008 signee Kendall Durant will not be enrolling at Virginia Tech this year. According to the article, Durant will enroll in junior college next year. Read more of the Roanoke Times article.

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With the exception of gus “whichever way the wind blows” gilchrist changing schools … again … it’s been a pretty slow and uneventful news cycle this off-season related to the Hokies. Of course, in this day and age, that is a great thing! Look at Indiana’s program – all the news out of Bloomington this off-season has been catastrophic.

Top Virginia Tech recruit and big man Victor Davila (Starmount High School, North Carolina) won the Winston-Salem Journal’s Frank Spencer Award for a second straight season. The Award is given to the top boys basketball player in Northwest N.C. He averaged 20 points, 11.5 rebounds and 6 blocked shots a game during the 2007 season, his senior year of high school. Davila will lead the West All Stars next month in the state’s annual high school all star East vs. West game. More…

In other news…
Former Virginia Tech head basketball coach Bobby Hussey, who passed away last year from a massive stroke, is being remembered by Nike. The company’s annual Memorial Day Classic featuring a 64-team field of elite 15- to 17-year-old basketball players has been re-named the “Bobby Hussey Memorial Day Classic.” The tournament was conducted May 24-26 at two Nashville, TN venues; Vanderbilt University and Ensworth High School. More…

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T-Bone

Many of you have been regaled with stories of the Weekend Warrior arm wrestling guys three times his size (and he isn’t small): A Tall Tale of Arm Wrestling Paul Bunyan.  Well, apparently America has liked what they saw.  Or at least one dude did. 

While the Weekend Warrior was at one of his favorite Arlington watering holes last weekend, a man approached TWW and asked him to step outside.  No, he wasn’t looking to give TWW a [female dog] slap like Manny Ramirez did to Kevin Youkilis last night, or punch like a woman like Coco Crisp did (seriously, the red sox might need to start wearing skirts the way they fight).  The man wanted to ask TWW if he wanted to be a bouncer at a new bar opening up.  TWW’s reply was, “If I do this, I want to be called T-Bone.”

And to think the Weekend Warrior has wasted 10 years of his life in Corporate America when he could have been living the glamorous life of a bouncer.  Hmm…

gus gilchrist

gus gilchrist was spotted at a Denny’s in morgantown, wv yesterday.  Word is he was seated, ordered the “Moons over My Hammy”, then got up and left.  He then went to an IHOP, ordered, received his food, and then bailed again but demanded he get his pancakes to go for free.  No word on which restaurant he headed to next.

Chipper Jones vs the Hokies

With his 4/5 performance last night (including his 400th career home run), Chipper Jones is now hitting .418 on the season.  Just to put this into perspective, this is higher than Deron Washington’s (.416), Hank Thorn’s (.344), and Dorenzo Hudson’s (.356) field goal percentages from last season.  In fact, it is higher than Cheick Diakite’s free throw percentage (.375) last season!  Virginia Tech’s opponents shot for a lower percentage than this from the field last year (.407).

And yes, Chipper would kick Mike Ditka’s butt (old SNL gag about da Bears).

And yes, I realize I’ve jinxed Chipper by mentioning this.

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gus gilchrist is at it again. After asking for and receiving a release from his letter of intent with Virginia Tech nary a year ago, the 6-10 forward/center is transferring from yet another team that he has never played for. Earlier today, maryland released gilchrist from his scholarship with the maryland terrapins.

When Gilchrist transferred from Virginia Tech to maryland, NCAA rules mandated that he sit out a season, an obligation that he only partially fulfilled last year. Since he did not enroll at maryland until the Spring Semester, he only sat out one of the two required semesters and would have had to sit out this year until Fall Semester classes ended.  For whatever reason, gus decided he didn’t want to sit those 10 games or so.  And since he is transferring again, he may be required to sit out the entire 2008-09 season unless a waiver is granted by the NCAA.

So far, no word on where gilchrist might end up, but rumor has it that he will put together a short list soon, which will not include any ACC schools due to the transfer rules that have already burned him.

If you want to read more about gilchrist’s adventures, click here to read an article in today’s Baltimore Sun.

Niemo’s Notes:

• LOL!  Oh man, I never check other school’s message boards, but I may have to go read the maryland message boards.  They are sure eating crow right now after ripping VT (and me) on getting gilchrist last year from us.  Here’s a good one: twerp message board
• Favorite quote from the article linked above: “He was totally eligible. He had another semester to sit out. He would have been eligible the day after final exams in December, and that was basically because of the ACC interconference [transfer] rule, ” maryland senior associate athletic director Kathleen Worthington said.  “Totally eligible”???  Me fail English? That’s unpossible! 
• It’s almost sad to think gus will never play in Cassell now.  We were already planning t-shirts to wear to “welcome” him.  Ah, I’ll take maryland’s misery.
• Here’s a nice tribute of mine to gus and the md fans from February: Niemo goes to maryland

 

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