Just over a month ago, the Virginia Tech men's basketball team lost out on a Top 50 recruit and four-star point guard Chance Mallory to Virginia. In the end, it wasn't surprising to see the Charlottesville native pick the Cavaliers over the Hokies, his hometown school.
Tuesday night, Joe Tipton of On3 reported that Mallory has de-committed from Virginia following the sudden retirement of coach Tony Bennett. Now the questions must be asked, does Mike Young and Virginia Tech get back into the mix with Mallory?
The No. 6 point guard nationally in the Class of 2025 according to On3 also had offers from Tennessee, Miami, Clemson, Villanova, and others along with Virginia and Virginia Tech. Point guard is a need in next season's recruiting class to go along with center Christian Gurdak and forward Sin'Cere Jones.
This season, sophomore Brandon Rechsteiner will be taking over point guard duties according to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports. Last season he played some, getting a start in December when former point guard Sean Pedulla was injured and fared well. A year older and a year stronger, this is a big season for Rechsteiner, to say the least.
As far as Mallory goes, here is what Jamie Shaw of On3 wrote about him last spring,
"Each time that Chance Mallory took the court he made plays. The compactly built lead guard plays with the utmost confidence on each possession. He has a strong handle that gets him to his spots and the 5-foot-10 Mallory carries range that extends out to 35-plus feet. In the games I watched during this event, Mallory displayed an understanding of when to score and when to distribute. Good things seemed to happen when he had the ball in his hands and initiated the offense. Mallory is also a uniquely good rebounder for his position."
Virginia Tech lost out on Mallory once, but now they get a second chance and expect Young and his staff to make a big push for the talented point guard who would be a nice fit in Blacksburg.