and

http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/college/college_basketball/article/TECH25_20090324-222107/240088/

Great, great updates on Tech’s scholarship situation.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.