Categorized | Recruiting News

2013 VT Recruiting Update

Posted on07 March 2013. Tags: , ,

LINK TO 2013 RECRUITING PAGE

Here’s a quick update on the 2013 Virginia Tech signees:

  • Ben Emelogu is playing in the Texas 5A State Semi-Finals on Friday at 4 PM EST.  He hit the go-ahead free throw with 1:10 left in a 35-33 win in the Region Finals.  His South Grand Prairie team takes on Cibolo Steele for a chance to play in the State Championship game (and this is in Texas, folks) at texas longhorns’s arena in Austin, TX.  His team is 37-3 on the year.  Ben leads the team with 13.5 ppg and 4.4 rebounds, and also averages 2.2 assists per contest.  They lost to Marcus Smart (oklahoma state) of Flower Mound – Marcus HS in the Region Finals a year ago by a single point.
  • Donte Clark scored 17 points, snagged 7 rebounds, and had 5 steals against the Virginia Tech JV team in the Cassell back on January 30th.  He scored 21 points on a couple of other occasions in recent action.  Hargrave finished 36-7.
  • Maurice Kirby and his Basha Bears finished a disappointing 9-18 season in the ‘burbs of Phoenix.  Kirby averaged team highs in points (15.6), rebounds (11.5), assists (2.0), and blocks (1.8), while also pilfering 1 steal per game.  But he shot just 44% from the field and foul line for the season.

For game-by-game stats, click on the link at the top of this article and we’ll let you know how Emelogu does in the state semis.

This post was written by:

- who has written 1106 posts on Tech Hoops.

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://twitter.com/QuinnVT5 Brian Quinn

    Are these guys any good ? Or are we looking at an even worse year next year? I don’t see anyone that’s returning that is an ACC caliber player.. and if these guys aren’t , we wasting the effort the SG put in getting the program back on the map.

    • Niemo

      You can’t really expect any freshmen to be huge contributors (unless you are a unc or duke, but even many of them struggle their first year). Look at Dowdell, and Delaney, and Raines, and Green — they were not stars as freshmen. That development really happens between year 1 and 2 (if it ever happens). So don’t expect instant results from this bunch that is largely 3-star material. At least we’ll have enough practice bodies to be able to push the starters and work on true game situations (ghost runner on 2nd base!).

      I think the jury is out on all these guys. Trevor Thompson has a chance to really develop into a solid low post player for us (he’s apparently almost 7′ now in basketball height) and Donte Clark is the most highly rated kid and hopefully will develop into a good shooter/slasher for us by his sophomore season. The others, who knows. Emelogu to me is a Ty Garland-type – could be good if you are patient and play a system that works for him. Kirby is a 44% FG and FT shooter in a public HS league despite being 6’9″, so I’m not sure about him. And who knows about Muller, the German kid. We’ll see how he transitions.

    • Vindictive_Pat

      Donte Clark and Trevor Thompson (not listed above) are both going to be good enough to contribute next year, and personally I think they both have great upside and will end up being excellent players for VT. We also have transfer guard Adam Smith who is eligible to play next season and I think he can be a valuable contributor as the first or second guy off the bench. I’m not as sure about Emelogu and Kirby… I doubt either of them would see much court time next season anyway though.

      As far as being ACC caliber, all 8 scholarship players on our team this season are certainly of that caliber. They are not playing anywhere close to their potential, and that’s the huge mystery of this season. I cannot understand why the whole team besides Erick Green is slumping together and for such a long time.

      • http://twitter.com/QuinnVT5 Brian Quinn

        The people we have are what they are. There has been no improvement even with the amount of minutes we have. When they’ve played as much as our guys have, “Potential” is no longer a word I would associate with them. Eddie played well OOC, but nothing in ACC. Barksdale was the only guy who made made some improvement this year, but that wasn’t hard. I just don’t those guys winning 4 games next year in ACC.

        • Vindictive_Pat

          I respect that as your opinion, but not as absolute truth. I definitely think Brown and Eddie have way more potential than they showed this year. Heck, they both played better last year, so we already know that their ceiling is higher than what they gave the team this year. Personally, when I watch Robert Brown play I can’t figure out why he’s not better on offense. He has a good looking stroke on his jump shot. He has an arsenal of moves going to the basket including a killer floater which he can hit directly or off the glass. His problem is mental, it’s not his ability.

          Also, even though he fouls WAY too much, I think you have to include Rankin as another player who is showing improvement.

  • http://twitter.com/rooD2shoes Mark Rudolf

    Is Trevor Thompson is over 7′ now?

    When we signed him he was listed at 6′-11″ and 215. I thought I read somewhere that he is up to 7′. You have him listed as 6′-10″ and 210. If he really did put on another couple inches, that could be huge for us. We haven’t had an athletic big man since………….Carruth? But he was pretty awful. Have we had a good big man in the modern era (since 80s)?

    • Niemo

      Mark – are heights in bball ever accurate? He’s really tall, we know that. Next year we can judge how tall he really is. If he’s as tall or taller than JvZ, that’s a good thing.


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2012-13 Schedule

November
11/10 Hokies 80, etsu 62
11/12 Hokies 69, rhode island 50
11/15 Hokies 95, vmi 80
11/19 Hokies 96, unc-g 87
11/23 Hokies 87, appalachian state 76
**ACC/BIG Ten Challenge**
11/27 Hokies 95, iowa 79
December
12/1 Hokies 81, #15 oklahoma state 71
12/8 wvu 68, Hokies 67
**Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic**
12/10 Hokies 70, mvsu 49
12/15 Georgia Southern 78, Hokies 73
12/22 Hokies 66, bradley 65, OT
12/23 colorado state 88, Hokies 52
**Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic**
12/29 byu 97, Hokies 71
January
1/5 maryland 94, Hokies 71
1/9 boston college 86, Hokies 75
1/12 Hokies 70, georgia tech 65
1/19 Hokies 66, wake forest 65
1/24 virginia 74, Hokies 58
1/27 clemson 77, Hokies 70
1/30 miami 73, Hokies 64
February
2/2 unc 72, Hokies 60, OT
2/7 maryland 60, Hokies 55
2/9 Georgia Tech 64, hokies 54
2/12 virginia 73, Hokies 55
2/16 nc state 90, Hokies 86
2/21 duke 88, Hokies 56
2/24 Hokies 80, fsu 70
2/27 miami 76, Hokies 58
March
3/2 Hokies 69, clemson 61
3/5 duke 85, Hokies 57
3/10 wake 90, Hokies 79
**ACC Tournament in Greensboro**
3/14 vs. nc state, 2:30 p.m.
3/15 Quarterfinals
3/16 Semifinals
3/17 Finals

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