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VT Signees Stay Unbeaten; Norcom Rises in Polls | Recruiting News

Posted on22 January 2011. Tags: , , ,

The Virginia Tech basketball Class of 2011 remains undefeated.  With Norcom’s two district wins this week, the Greyhounds are now 17-0.  Dorian Finney-Smith streaked to 32 points against the Granby Comets on Friday.  Norcom is now ranked #5 in the ESPN Rise Fab 50 Poll.  They are #13 in the USA Today Super 25 Rankings.  For some reason, they are ranked behind Findlay Prep, whom they beat a few weeks ago.  The Greyhounds are #7 in the Rivals rankings.

Hargrave’s post-grad team, featuring the three amigos — Robert Brown, Marquis Rankin, and C.J. Barksdale — recently won a game at the Basketball Hall of Fame and have since improved to 15-0.  Barksdale tends to put up the biggest scoring numbers (he had 42 earlier this season) and lead the team in rebounding, while Brown shows what a sharp-shooter he can be.  Rankin is looking like an assist machine and should battle Garland for the back-up point guard spot next year.

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Niemo is a member of the VT Class of '98. Attended every home basketball game during his 4 years at VT after missing the first home game. Has attended 122 straight VT football home games (every game since '94), eclipsing the 100 mark in September of '09. During the final home basketball game of his senior year, he was brought onto the court and was awarded 2 passes to the Atlantic 10 Basketball Tournament in Philly during a timeout. The Hokie Bird made the award on behalf of Athletic Director Jim Weaver. Niemo was known to be in the front row of every home game with his familiar red afro hairdo. Niemo currently lives in DC and speaks the Hokie gospel as often as possible. He watches over 50% of all ACC games, making him one of the most knowledgeable experts on ACC basketball.

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  • http://stores.ebay.com/hip-hop-heads-vinyl-crates HipHop_Hokie

    In case you didn’t know, the game that they won at the “Basketball Hall of Fame” was a 20 point squashing of national power St. Thomas More out of Connecticut, a team that features Rivals’ #1 overall national recruit for 2012 in Andre Drummond. We’re talking about a kid who already has offers from the likes of Duke, UNC, UConn, Georgetown, Pitt, Louisville, and pretty much anywhere else he wants to go.

    And yes… our three amigos and their crew flattened his team by TWENTY (78-58). C.J. had 16 and 7, Robert had 11 and 3, and 2011 Xavier recruit Dezmine (Dez) Wells led Hargrave in scoring with 20.

    Fear the future Hokies.

  • Chris

    Finney-Smith just got his 5th star on ESPN. He’s currently ranked 19th in the ESPN 150. Robert Brown checks in at 89th, Barksdale at 99th, and Rankin fell out.

    So what are the chances Finney-Smith gets an invite to the McDonalds All-American game?? He’d be the first ever McD AA to play for the Hokies, right?

    • Niemo

      Sweetness! Dell Curry played in the McD’s AA Game back in the early ’80s, so he wouldn’t be our first. The ESPN Recruiting guy loves Dorian, but I don’t know who actually picks the 24 players that make it. All up to the eye of that beholder.

      Rankin’s ranking has been up and down more than an elevator. He was nearly a 5-star when he committed, dropped off the map because, as it was told to me, he wasn’t facing real competition and may have missed some opportunities to show his stuff, then went back up when he got to Hargrave, now has dropped back down. I still like him and feel he will be a player. And remember – freshman guards do nothing anyway in the ACC, so expectations should be low for him next year. Let’s really start to judge him for the 2012-13 season when he’ll be battling to be the heir apparent for the starting PG spot.

  • Chris

    Oops, I need to make a correction. It’s the ESPNU 100, not 150. I was thinking of Rivals.

    And I didn’t know Curry was a McD AA, but it’d be sweet to get one for the first time in 25 years! Maybe it would help out future recruiting down the road as well… It is great to see though that Greenberg is able to recruit these caliber of players. It’s difficult to do when you’re not UNC or Duke in the ACC.

    Yeah, I’m not worried at all by Rankin slipping. I know he was a mega-prospect when he committed and from what I’ve read, he seems to be playing well at Hargrave right now. It will only help that he’s playing with future Hokies Barksdale and Brown too. I’ve seen a few videos of him and, like Green, he seems to have loads of athletic ability.

    I was worried about the PG position after Delaney left before the season started, but when you factor in the way Green has played and having Garland and Rankin in the fold, PG should be the one position we’re set at for the next few years.

  • http://stores.ebay.com/hip-hop-heads-vinyl-crates HipHop_Hokie

    I was more concerned about needing Marquis to be a major player before The Rifleman starting gunning fools down left and right. Now that Erick Green is a totally legit PG, I have less overall concerns with how “ACC-ready” Marquis is when he gets here. I do hope that Garland starts to evolve a bit, though… because he looks really clueless out there. Not to mention super undersized physically. I think that he needs to start by cutting that damn hair… stealing Da Brat’s 1994 hairstyle really isn’t working for him…

    • Niemo

      HipHop – I’m with ya on Garland… but I’ll wait until next year to pass judgment on Garland and give him a pass the rest of this year (even though we need him to produce somewhat now). I think Seth is good at developing guards. Definitely more so than developing bigs. And look at the steps Gordon/Dowdell, Delaney, and Green took from year 1 to year 2. The only exception is Thorns. And I think Munson would have been a heck of a talent if he had stayed. Of the guys I just mentioned, he seemed the most composed as a freshman.


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November
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