2012 VT signee Montrezl Harrell dropped just over 2 quarters on Fishburne Military Academy Thursday night, scoring 51 points and adding 17 rebounds and 6 blocks in a 122-119 overtime win for the Hargrave Military Academy Postgrad team (ARTICLE about the game). The win propelled Hargrave to 28-0 on the season.

You can see all of Montrezl’s stats on his PERSONAL PAGE (LINK).

Harrell is averaging over 22 ppg and just under 10 rebounds on the season.  He will no doubt provide a post presence for the Hokies next year, bringing a similar style as Cadarian Raines into the paint, but with slightly more offensive skills in the post compared to Raines at the same age.

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For those of you interested in the progress of next year’s two signees, here is an update:

Montrezl Harrell (Link to his page):

• I’ve updated his stats from all of the 23 Hargrave post-grad games this year (check the Game Notes section).
• Averaging 21.4 ppg and 9.6 rebounds.
• Recently had 31 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 blocks against Rise Academy.
• Has led his team in scoring in 12 of the 23 games.
• The team is 23-0.

Marshall Wood (Link to his page):

• I’ve updated his stats from all 14 of the Rustburg Red Devils’ games this year (check the Game Notes section).
• Averaging 24.4 ppg, 12.3 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks per game.
• Had a triple-double (21 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 blocks) against Glass back in December.
• Exploded for 49 points, 15 rebounds, and 2 blocks in a win over Liberty (Bedford) in mid-December.  He hit 7/8 3-pointers in that game.
• Led his team to a Holiday Tournament championship in late December and made the All-Tourney Team.
• Has led his team in scoring in all but one game.
• The Red Devils (AA) are 10-4.

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I’ve (finally) created a page for the 2012 Virginia Tech Recruiting Class, along with pages for both signees.  I have all the game stats for Montrezl Harrell, who is playing at Hargrave this year.  The Top 100 recruit is averaging 21.1 ppg and 9.3 rpg.  Marshall Wood’s page is up, but I’m still researching his game stats.

You can find the pages underneath the ‘Recruiting’ link on the top nav bar, or here:

• 2012 Recruiting Class
• Montrezl Harrell‘s page
• Marshall Wood‘s page

Tech still has at least 2 scholarships available in this class, and 3 if JT Thompson decides not to return next season.

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I’ve added a new page that shows all of the Virginia Tech basketball signees since Head Coach Seth Greenberg took over in 2003 along with how they did, if they stayed, and other notes.

VT Greenberg Recruit Tracker

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The Hokies landed their second commitment, and second forward, for the Class of 2012.  Marshall Wood from Rustburg High School in Rustburg, VA (just south of Lynchburg) will stay close to home and play for the orange and maroon starting next year.

• Rating: Wood is a 3-star recruit according to ESPN, Rivals and Scout.
• Height: Both Rivals and Scout list him at 6’8″, while ESPN has him at 6’7″.
• Weight: Rivals has him at 210 lbs (compared to 200 on ESPN and 195 on Scout).
• Rankings: He was not ranked nationally or at his position by Rivals or Scout.  ESPN has him as the 5th best in VA this year, 27th in the region, and 33rd nationally at his position.
• Offers: According to Rivals and ESPN, he had offers of note from clemson, michigan, vanderbilt, uva, vcu, and wake forest (Rivals only)

Doug Doughty of the Roanoke Times talked about Wood in his latest Notebook Plus article (look about 2/3 of the way down) and had an interesting perspective on uva not initially offering Marshall for the Class of 2012.  The article also talks about how Wood is a bit of a late bloomer and his stock has been blowing up lately.

Article: Doughty on Wood

Wood joins 4-star power forward Montrezl Harrell, a top 100 recruit, in the Class of 2012.

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43 Photos have been added!*  DFS at the Capital Classic (PHOTOS)

Dorian Finney-Smith, a 2011 VT signee and Tech’s highest ranked recruit in almost 30 years, scored 16 points in 21 minutes of action as the US All-Stars pummeled the Capital All-Stars in the 38th annual Capital Classic in Upper Marlboro, MD.  The Washington Post credited him with 9 rebounds to boot.

Dodo was the highest ranked recruit in the game according to most recruiting services, and showed flashes of what excites many Hokie fans. His first hoop was a coast-to-coast drive and finger roll layup. He knocked down his first triple. DFS added another bucket and 2/4 from the foul line. He closed the half with a tip-in dunk to give him 9 points at the half. Dorian also got the biggest laugh, though at his expense – he clanked a dunk off the underneath part of the rim on a breakaway, sending the crowd and players into a hardy laugh. I hope it was a 12-foot high rim because he was well short.

Dorian cruised through the second half in the blowout. He showed a great spin move off the dribble to score in close. Then he beat his man with a great ball fake, went baseline, elevated to dunk with one hand, got fouled and had the shot partially blocked, but finished the shot and converted the 3-point play. Dodo added two more free throws to finish with 16 points by my count. He was 5/7 from the line, 1/2 from 3-point range, and approximately 5/11 from the field.

Dorian showed a lot of versatility. He played the wing at times, but also had to guard the Capital All-Stars’ center, a st. louis recruit who was listed at 7-foot but was closer to 6’9″.

While there wasn’t much intensity in the game, and DFS seemed to be conserving energy, here’s what I noted in my first in-person viewing:

• Explosive leaper (despite the missed dunk).  Check out the lead photo in this article and on Flickr.  Dodo is up there with the birds. He’s going to posterize some guys. Not a Deron-like leaper, but he will be fun to watch. Roll the highlights.
• Good penetrator. Can handle in traffic. Probably not good enough to bring the ball up the court, but what 6’7″ guys are other than Magic and Penny.
• Needs to work on his outside shooting. I only got a small sample size, and I’m biased by what I’ve heard, but this isn’t his strength at this time. Didn’t get to see him shoot a midrange jumper.  Haven’t looked at the photos I took, you can see he leans back too much on his jumpshot (same issue Erick Green has).
• Solid rebounder, especially on offense. Really attacks the tin. If teams don’t check him, he’ll be flushing missed shots. Positions himself well on defense and puts his body on his man. Aggressively goes after balls coming towards him, but wasn’t that active chasing down misses that weren’t right at him.  Needs that mentality he owns every miss.  But again, this was an all-star game.
• Since this was an all-star game so I won’t even bother accessing his man defense, but he did battle the big man for the other team.
• He’s very tall (legit 6’7″ – look at the photo of him next to me – I’m 6’1″ and he towers over me) and very smooth. Great athlete. Looks like the real deal but I’d like to see him in a meaningful game where the intensity is there. Seems like a team player, too. Actually passed the ball some (90% of the guys didn’t).

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The Hokies got their Class of 2012 off to a great start, continuing the dazzling class they put together in 2011.  Tech received a verbal commitment from Montrezl Harrell out of Tarboro, NC.  Harrell helps fill a big need for the Hokies (a need they’ve had for years).  Montrezl already fills out at 6’7″ and 225 lbs.  He should certainly have an ACC body for the low post within a year of his arrival in Blacksburg, if not sooner.

Here’s where Harrell ranks in the various major services for the Class of 2012:

• Scout: 4-star, #12 PF, #49 overall
• ESPN: 4-star, #13 PF, #50 overall
• Rivals: 4-star, #15 PF, #58 overall

Once again, John Richardson was given a lot of credit on this get.  He is proving to be a big asset and this shows he wasn’t just good for Dorian Finney-Smith.  And hats off to Seth for continuing to raise the bar on recruiting and get a player at a position of need.

VT beat out the likes of uva, south carolina, miami, wake forest, xavier, and clemson for Harrell.  A really solid get.  Harrell had visited the weekend of the duke game.  Apparently that weekend paid a lot of dividends to VT already.

So, what nickname are we going to give him?  Trezl my dizzle?   Trez?  Mon-triz-ay?

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The wins keep piling up for the Hokies’ four signees in the 2011 class.  The biggest win came at the Scope last night in the Eastern Region semi-finals…

Norcom 54, Kellam 53 – Eastern Region Semis – The Greyhounds narrowly pull out a win in a match-up of the top two teams in the state and punched their ticket for the Virginia AAA State Tournament.  Norcom will look to repeat as state champs, but first they’d like to lock up the Eastern Region title on Monday against Phoebus.

Dorian Finney-Smith hit two clutch free throws to put the Greyhounds up 54-50 late.  A Kellam 3-pointer and a Norcom turnover gave Kellam a chance at the win, but the inbounds passed turned into a loose ball that ran out the clock.

It was Kellam’s first loss of the season while Norcom improved to 26-1.

Dorian had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Greyhounds.

Two weeks earlier, Finney-Smith had 20 points, 16 rebounds, and 8 blocks to lead Norcom to the Eastern District Championship over Booker T. Washington, avenging their only loss of the season.

For more game notes on this year’s class, check out our 2011 Recruit Stat and News Page (link).

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Don’t forget to check out our 2011 Recruit News and Game Stats Page (Link) that has the score and stats for the four VT signees for 2011 for almost every Norcom and Hargrave game to date.  Both teams are really kicking butt…

The Norcom Greyhounds are 21-1 and #1 in the state of Virginia (AAA).  The defending state champs got as high as #4 in the nation in the ESPN Rise poll.  They currently sit at #7 in the land thanks to wins over #5 Findlay Prep and other powers like Word of God (Raleigh – John Wall’s school) and Dematha.  Dorian Finney-Smith, now a 5-star recruit in the ESPN rankings, is averaging 19 points per game [I have stats from 17 of his 21 games].  His high game for the year is 32 points.

The Hargrave Post-Grad team is 21-0 and just bombard their overwhelmed opponents.  C.J. Barksdale scores between 16 and 20 most nights, but had 42 points and 13 rebounds against roanoke earlier in the year.  Robert Brown is stroking it from the perimeter, but can also attack the rim.  He is scoring around 15 points per game.  And Marquis Rankin is showing he’s a real field general.  Dude can rack up the assists.

So Tech’s 2011 signees are a combined 42-1 on the year!  I’d say they are winners and hopefully will continue that way next year.

2011 Recruiting Class Page

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The Norcom Greyhounds, led by 5-star VT signee Dorian Finney-Smith, saw their 24 game winning streak end Friday night in a 59-54 loss at Booker T. Washington. But the Greyhounds, ranked #4 in the latest ESPN Rise Poll, rebounded on Saturday to defeat the national power Dematha Stags 71-57. Norcom seems at their best in big games, having beaten Dematha, Findlay Prep, and Word of God among others. Pretty good for a public school.

Dorian had two monster games. Against BTW he had 21 points and 16 rebounds. Then he put 18 points, including a rare 3-pointer, on the Stags in their dominating win.

The Greyhounds are now 18-1. As of last week, Tech’s four signees had not lost a single game this year (the other three are at Hargrave).

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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.

For more info, check out our other pages:

• 2011 Recruit News and Game Stats
• 2011 Recruiting Class Page

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Dorian Finney-Smith looked poised to be Virginia Tech’s biggest recruit since Dell Curry when he committed to VT several months ago.  Well, the buzz has done nothing but increase since then.  DFS’s Norcom Greyhounds moved to 13-0 with a stunning (well, stunning to everyone but the Greyhounds) win over Findlay Prep of Nevada by a 68-66 score on Saturday.  Findlay Prep is a national powerhouse that came into this game ranked #4 in the ESPN Rise rankings and #5 in USA Today.  Norcom sat at #23 in the ESPN Rise rankings but wasn’t ranked in the USA Today top 25 or the south region top 10.  That will change in the next rankings.  Expect the defending Virginia AAA State Champs led by the reigning Player of the Year (DFS) to skyrocket up the charts.

Dorian scored just 8 points in this game (he battled foul trouble), but calmly knocked down two free throws to break a 66-66 tie with less than 10 seconds left and give the Greyhounds their 23rd straight victory.  While he didn’t have a huge game and had bad luck finishing inside, he has been dominant most of the season and has seen his stock rise.  Dave Telep of ESPN Recruiting even talked about DFS as a possible McDonald’s All-American earlier last week.

Norcom led big early, took a 12-point lead to the half, and increased it to 17 in the third quarter.  But Findlay Prep battled back and took leads of as much as 5 with 4 minutes left, before Norcom rallied and pulled out the win.

Findlay Prep features Myck Kabongo — a 5-star texas signee (#24 overall in Rivals), Nick Johnson — an arizona signee and #40 in the Rivals’ rankings, and Amir Garrett — who is going to st. john’s and is #51 on the Rivals’ list.  That’s three top 50-ish players on a private school power that can recruit players, but they were no match for the Commonwealth’s best team, a public school team no less.

For more news on the 2011 VT signees, check out our 2011 Recruiting Stats and News Page (LINK) or check out the Player Profiles (LINK)

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Hokie Class of 2011 signee Dorian Finney-Smith and the undefeated Norcom Greyhounds stayed undefeated last night with a 69-67 win over Norfolk Christian, which features unc signee James McAdoo (son of the former LA Laker).  This was a mega-match-up on many fronts.  Norcom, the defending Virginia AAA State Champs, are ranked 13th in the nation by Rivals.com and 23rd in the country by ESPN Rise (rise.espn.com).  Norfolk Christian was ranked 65th in the land by Rivals.com. 

Then you have the two stars.  Dorian, last year’s Virginia AAA Player of the Year, is ranked 37th in the Class of 2011 by Rivals, #27 on ESPN, and 26th on Scout.com.  McAdoo, also a forward, is a 5-star and 8th ranked recruit by Rivals, #5 on ESPN.com, and 7th on Scout.com.

McAdoo led all scorers with 24 while Finney-Smith got a double-double with 16 points (6/13 from the field) and 10 rebounds.  Norcom is now 11-0 and have won 21 straight games.  The Greyhounds play Norview tonight, then face #3 ranked (according to ESPN Rise) Findley Prep from Nevada on Saturday at Wilson High School.

Finney-Smith Getting Major Pub: Dorian is on the ESPN college basketball recruiting front page right now after his performance at the GSK Invitational in Raleigh.  Says ESPN Recruiting Analyst Dave Telep, “At this point, given how his senior season has gone, he’s vaulted himself into serious contention for the McDonald’s All-American Game. His candidacy supports the notion that every game matters. In the title game at GSK, D.F.S dominated all facets including intensity and purpose. He didn’t take a perimeter jumper in the championship but was a beast inside and a tremendous decision maker. The best player at the event.” 

High praise.  And it would be sweet to have a McDonald’s All-American if it pans out.  McRibs for everybody!  (oh, wait, they are gone… tear)

Norcom won the GSK behind that “beast” named Dorian Finney-Smith.  He had 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks in the opening round win over Word of God (pretty sure that’s where John Wall went), a 64-62 OT win.  Norcom had to overcome a 20 point halftime deficit in the game.

The Greyhounds then beat Westchester in the semi-finals and Charlotte United Faith in the Championship Game.

For more news on the 2011 VT signees, check out our 2011 Recruiting Stats and News Page (LINK) or check out the Player Profiles (LINK)

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LINK TO 2011 RECRUIT STAT AND NEWS

The page linked above will keep you up to date on all published stats related to Virginia Tech’s four signees for 2011 – C.J. Barksdale, Robert Brown, Marquis Rankin, and Dorian Finney-Smith.  The first three all play for Hargrave’s undefeated post-grad team, so their games include stats for all three players.  Finney-Smith plays for the defending VA AAA champion Norcom Greyhounds.  They are off to a 2-0 start and play in the National HS Hoops Festival on Saturday night in Hyattsville, MD (Dematha HS).

The best game so far goes to Barksdale – he had 42 points and 13 rebounds against roanoke college on November 16th.

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Various sites are reporting that all four Virginia Tech verbal commits have put pen to paper and signed their Letter of Intent with the Hokies!  This could go down as Virginia Tech’s greatest class ever, but at the very least helps build a bright future for the following years after Delaney, Hudson, Allen, and Bell depart this year.

ESPNU (LINK) ranks VT’s class as the #12 class in the nation.

Let’s give a big Hokie hi to DORIAN FINNEY-SMITH, C. J. BARKSDALE, ROBERT BROWN, and MARQUIS RANKIN.

LINK TO THE CLASS OF 2011 PAGE

RECENT RECRUITING NEWS

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All four of Virginia Tech’s verbal commits in the Class of 2011 are now in ESPNU’s updated list of the top 100 recruits. Recent commit Dorian Finney-Smith headlines the list at #26, just six spots from 5-star status. This is actually a sizable drop for Dorian. He had been a 5-star before, sitting at #15, but dropped 11 spots. ESPNU had been the only service that had him as a 5-star, but this is on-par with where other services seem to have Dorian.  Finney-Smith sits as the #6 rated small forward.

Robert Brown is really moving on up.  Reports are he was very impressive this summer and has looked great at Hargrave to date.  Robert went from a 3-star recruit to a 4-star, ranked #83 overall on the ESPNU list.  Brown is ranked as the #25 shooting guard.

C.J. Barksdale also moved into the top 100.  He is at #88 and maintains his 4-star status, and sits at #18 among power forwards.

Point guard Marquis Rankin, who dropped a ton in his ratings over the last year, seems to have had his stock reevaluated.  He also jumped into the top 100, sitting at #95.  Rankin is the #18 ranked point guard in the class.

The Hokies are clearly getting big time respect and Brown’s, Barkdale’s, and Rankin’s decision to all go to Hargrave seems to have been a positive one so far.

HERE IS THE ESPNU 100 LIST

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