And the plot thickens! Let the speculation begin! Seriously though, Virginia Tech is already in the red in terms of scholarships for next season so I seriously doubt Curry will end up a Hokie unless he’s willing to pay his own way, which seems unlikely.
Or… could a scholarship be opening up? One recruiting site has said that Momo Jones has reopened his recruitment. This would be terrible news for the Hokies, who badly need back court help, and whom better to get than the point guard for the #1 high school team in the nation, Oak Hill?
Here’s how the scholarship situation breaks down:
- The Hokies have inked four players (Green, Boggs, Atkins and Raines) for next year’s class already
- Momo Jones would make five if he signs with VT after April 15
- Tech had two seniors this year
- VT was only using 12 of their 13 scholarships this season, meaning they have that one plus the other two seniors’ scholarships available
So even if Momo inks elsewhere, Tech is still one in the red in terms of grants in aid. That means one, if not two, current players are on their way out if all signees show up next Fall. I speculate a little in the comments below, but I’ll leave that for there.
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You mean Hank Thorns isn’t transferring to George Mason University or the University of Nevada? lol
What is our scholarship situation Niemo? I’ve tried figuring it out, but can’t. There’s 4 signed, 1 verbal, but not that many slots. We have 2 seniors graduating, maybe Vinson will graduate too, so do we expect one current Hokie to transfer and another recruit to go to prep school for a year?
If someone transfers, who do you think are the most likely? I’d say Thorns would be the easiest, because all of the quotes would be something about him missing home in Nevada and wants to be closer, but if his minutes are going to drop significantly, maybe he’d want to leave anyway.
We were only using 12 of 13 scholarships this year, so that gives us another – that 1 plus the 2 departing seniors = 3. Then, it has been hypothesized that Vinson will not return next year, which would free up another scholarship to get to 4 (but this isn’t locked in stone yet). Plus, latest rumors are that Momo Jones has reopened his recruiting, so we may only need 4. But if we do need 5…
After that, who knows. Rumors have circulated that Thorns may be on his way out, or Jeff Allen. Based on what I saw Saturday, I could believe Thorns but not Allen. A) VT desperately needs anything they can get inside and Jeff is Tech’s 2nd best player overall next year. B) Allen was out warming up 90 minutes before the game against baylor. He and Delaney were the first two guys out taking jumpers, followed by Hudson. Thorns was dead last out on the court, almost leading you to believe he had packed it in (or maybe he warmed up in the back gym or there’s another reason). But I just found that odd for someone who needs work on his shot, and if Allen was on his way out, why put in all the extra work? C) Allen is a 21 year old sophomore and turns 22 in June. So he’s an old Soph as it is since he went for a post-grad year at Hargrave. If he transfers, he has to sit out another year (unless he gets a waiver which is rare) and he’d be 24 by the time he finished up his redshirt-Senior year somewhere else. If he was entertaining thoughts of playing in the NBA, that wouldn’t make him very appealing. Or maybe he might be forced out. I guess we will see in the coming weeks. But like I said, I can’t believe it will be Allen, there were rumors about him last year and nothing happened.
Allen could go to mason if he had family reasons, right? That might be the rare circumstance that you’re talking about for the waiver… just think… Allen and Thorns… with Patriots in Fairfax… I’m sorry… I’m having too much fun with this… lol.
I hope Allen and Thorns know the fans would hate to see them go — don’t want to sound eager to lose them.
DW… I somewhat agree with you… Thorns and Allen are fan favs… but Allen has a low basketball IQ… he still makes ridiculous fouls at the most inopportune times (his play did improve by season’s end) and his massively immature for someone who’s 21 years old… I expect massive improvement out of him if he sticks around… Niemo’s right that Allen’s the only game we have inside right now… but I hope he gets a run for his money next year with the new recruits coming in.
And we can’t have a backup point guard who does not have the ability to knock down a midrange our better jumper… if MoMo does come to Virginia Tech (heavens, I hope he does), he’s going to take A LOT of minutes from Thorns… and I’m sure Thorns won’t like that… as a season ticketholder, I met him in person twice at the Hokie Roundball Club basketball socials after the games… he’s a good kid, he can’t score… we need someone at that spot who could take some of the pressure off of Delaney…
MoMo, if you are reading this, please come to Tech… we need you… most likely, you can start now and Malcolm can go back to shotting guard… we will be like the Phoenix Suns, baby.
I’m as pleased as the next guy when Thorns hits his one jumper per game. I think your points are great on Allen Niemo, it doesn’t make much sense.
I always thought Hudson and Bell would be fighting for playing time, and for awhile during the season they always seemed to substitute for one another. I like Bell, but he’s the only other one I could see possibly departing, even though I don’t have a great reason why. With A.D. gone, there’s 38 minutes per game for someone to fight for too and Bell will be in that mix I’m sure.
This should definitely make for an interesting offseason… Hokie fans/alumni/boosters will be clamoring for Greenberg to go after Seth Curry, so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. I’m not sure what kind of relationship Dell Curry has with Greenberg, but I’m hoping it’s a good one. I’m guessing that Curry’s transfer isn’t entirely fueled by basketball either… there are some strange rules that Liberty enforces on their students (my old roommate graduated from there).
I love Little Hank, but I don’t love the way he plays basketball… I love him like people love puppies and kittens and other small animals. I applaud that he had the highest assist/turnover ratio in the ACC, but that’s mostly due to the fact that he always passes when he touches the ball. He’s just not an ACC-caliber player and he can’t become one. He needs to be able to hit the open jumper and he needs to be able to drive to the hoop and finish, and unfortunately he can’t do either. I really am going to wish him luck at whatever school he ends up transferring to though, and I’ll be rooting for him to lead that team to their conference title.
John, I agree with your comment about Terrell Bell… I don’t think he has finished his development by a long shot, and he could really become a solid part of our rotation.
VT50, are you sure you WANT the Hokies to become like the Phoenix Suns? I could cut off my hands and still be able to count the number of NBA titles they’ve racked up.
http://www.roanoke.com/sports/vtbasketball/wb/198863
and
http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/college/college_basketball/article/TECH25_20090324-222107/240088/
Great, great updates on Tech’s scholarship situation.
Not their titles, GR… just the Sun’s offense
I hope were not wishing for something thats going to kill us next year because in my view Hank Thorns was the only guy on the team that could beat a press and the only team player. Does anyone remember Clemson or Wake Forest or Boston College last year? What about the 2 Maryland games in 07? Doesn’t anyone think the way Hank was yo yo’d in and out of the lineup hurts your confidence? Most schools wanted him for a scorer and worried about his point guard abillities but Greenberg seemed to pull him everytime he shot make it or miss it. I guess if Hank leaves we’ll see how our team handles the press. Let’s not forget Malcomn wasn’t the sharpshooter we’d hope for but he got plenty of shots without any discouragement or fear of being pulled. I hope we know what were getting because I here Green is very unsure of himself with the ball, and we turned the ball over without pressure this year so what will next year bring?
Is Hank Thorns transferring? What did I miss? He was one of the few who would play defense. The big three only wanted to play offense and pout when they didn’t get to shoot the ball. Why did Hank come in when we were behind but never when we were way ahead? Who’s going to cover the opposing teams fast guard next year? Dellaney? I doubt it. I hope no body press’s us next year because all the Clemson players could talk about was the little guy who broke their press. You must be kidding to say the only reason Hank led the ACC in turnover to assist was cause he passed the ball as soon as he touched it cause I saw him dribble out of trouble all year and when he was in the game he was handling the ball most of the time. We lead the league in turnovers. I think Hank is a perfect point guard who makes everybody better. What were doing isn’t working. PLEASE DON’T LEAVE HANK!
Tell me were not losing more players especially at the guard position. Got to make you wonder with Monson leaving 2 years ago and now Thorns? For you who think Thorns doesn’t have game, you must be crazy, probably the best athlete on the team! Does anyone like our results with current lineup? Not me, we suck on offense and defense if you want to call it defense. If Hank leaves I will make this prediction, it is going to come back and haunt us. Say it ain’t so Hank