The hopes for the Virginia Tech men's basketball team's NCAA Tournament hopes were popped on Tuesday night in the first round loss in overtime to Wake Forest in the first round of the ACC Tournament. At 19-13, the Hokies are destined for the NIT again under Mike Young.
There is no doubt that frustration with the program is boiling over with the fanbase. Young is expected back next season, but it remains to be seen who he can retain from this season's roster. After a frustrating loss to the Demon Deacons without an injured Amani Hansberry, here are five eye-opening quotes from Mike Young.
5 Mike Young quotes after Virginia Tech's loss to Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament
- "Not the outcome we were looking for or expected. Held out hope that we could get Amani [Hansberry] well. He was feeling a lot better yesterday. When we got to Charlotte, we didn't do a lot with him in practice. I was encouraged today. But once we got over here and tried to rev him up at the hotel on our way over, it was apparent that he wasn't going to be able to do it. So, we had to sit him. That's a tremendous loss, needless to say. Not the story of the game. The story of the game is Wake Forest played a little bit better than we did. Disappointing, but I thought they did some good things. A little bit better than the Hokies, unfortunately."
After not returning late in the game against Virginia on Saturday when Hansberry suffered his injury, it was hard to envision him playing in Charlotte. Sure, he was a big loss, but this was still a very winnable game for the Hokies. Jailen Bedford's missed putback at the end of regulation will live in fans' minds for months to come.
- "Nope, nope. I just thought -- Schutt played a good ballgame. I thought Bedford -- I was going to go with those -- and Neo got a huge three down in front of our bench in the second half. I just thought those kids were playing better than Neo, and that's how I went."
So, no Neoklis Avdalas at the end of regulation and overtime was interesting. However, you can't blame Young for going that route. This turned into a frustrating season for the star freshman who saw his NBA Draft stock drop over the last couple of months.
- "Well, that's been a characteristic of this team throughout. We had a miserable start Saturday in Charlottesville, and right back they come, as I knew they would. Against a very good Virginia team, you go down five in the overtime, come clawing back. They've got a lot to them, and great kids to coach, and I look forward to coaching them more this season."
Miserable starts were a common theme in 2025-26, but the end of this. The quote deserves some more attention: "I look forward to coaching them more this season.'' That means he'll be accepting an NIT bid rather than turning it down. Still, it feels like a huge missed season in terms of getting into the NCAA Tournament.
- "There was a lot of mixing and matching throughout the year. It wasn't a shoo-in, this team. They all matter. We did a lot of things right. 11-2 coming out of non-conference. We didn't have a blemish. We still don't have a blemish. We had great opportunities. We had unbelievable opportunities. Now, a lot of those opportunities were on the road. North Carolina, Louisville. We won at Clemson, won at Syracuse, on and on. Had Duke at home, and they were playing really, really good basketball.''
They certainly did have their chances this season. The road schedule was a difficult one, but win a couple of those games and things are different. The problem was closing out games and inside the final five seconds of the game. Just a season of gut-punching losses.
- "Doing it a long time. 24 years as a head coach, you have never heard me make an excuse. Was it hurtful? Yeah. But tonight, down Amani, and you've got to find a way to continue to win, and we didn't do enough of that. We didn't do enough of that. Not quite good enough."
No, they didn't. If there was a way to blow a game, they did. Young can take the blame and point to himself all he wants, but at the end of the day, he isn't turning the ball over, missing free throws, or blowing defensive assignments. He deserves the blame, but it also falls on the players.