Going into the 2025-26 season, there is renewed hope around the Virginia Tech men's basketball team. Veteran coach Mike Young vowed to bring back a better roster this upcoming season than he ended with in the first round of the ACC Tournament back in March.
Young added some players through the transfer portal, but the biggest addition was a commitment from Neoklis Avdalas. After he gave his verbal commitment contingent on his withdrawing from the NBA Draft process. After he got the information he was looking for and decided to play a year of college basketball in Blacksburg. Shortly after withdrawing, he signed with the Hokies.
Last week, Jon Rothstein, of CBS Sports, visited Virginia Tech's practice one day and was rather high on the Hokies going into this season. On his latest Inside College Basketball Now podcast, he compared Avdalas to former BYU freshman Egor Dëmin, and if he comes close to playing the way Dëmin did for the Cougars, it could be a big season for Virginia Tech.
Jon Rothstein is high on Virginia Tech freshman Neoklis Avdalas
Rothstein was impressed with what he saw from the Hokies' freshman, despite not fully practicing because of a "small injury."
"Virginia Tech has a potential star in Neoklis Avdalas,'' Rothstein said. "Making the trip to Blacksburg last week, I knew there were high, high hopes for Neoklis Avdalas. I did not think I would see what my eyes saw. Watching (Avdalas) doing individual instruction before practice, watching him shoot the basketball, looking at his overall size, I think there is a real, real possibility that Neoklis Avdalas will do this season for Virginia Tech what Egor Dëmin did for BYU last year, except Avdalas has the potential to be a much better shooter than Dëmin was.
"(Avdalas) is an elite passer, he's got great size at 6-foot-9, and he is another example of these European prospects that can now come to college basketball instead of playing professionally because finally we have NIL that can play these players.''
Dëmin averaged 10.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 1.2 steals a game last year for the Cougars before being selected eighth overall by the Brooklyn Nets in last June's NBA Draft. If Avdalas can stay healthy this season, he should average better numbers in some areas with how much he'll have the ball in his hands.
Rothstein went on to say that he thinks Virginia Tech could be a bubble team when it comes to the NCAA Tournament, but there is no doubt that there is a lot of excitement for Avdalas this season as a Hokie. The season is less than a month away.