It is over a week into the Transfer Portal officially being open for basketball, and there have been more players who have left Blacksburg than have come in for men's coach Mike Young. Now that shouldn't come as a surprise, as Young did, after all, get a commitment two years ago when Jaden Schutt committed to the Hokies in May. He has since entered the portal this season after two years at Virginia Tech and is now at Kansas State.
As far as retention goes for the Hokies, Young got three key players to come back: forward Amani Hansberry, forward Tyler Johnson, and guard Ben Hammond. That was who needed to be retained. That's a solid core to build around.
Speaking of building around them, so far, Young has one commitment, Oklahoma transfer Kuol Atak, who should be a good fit for the system. There still needs to be an addition, and you could say it's concerning a little bit that there is just one commitment, so far.
Virginia Tech men's basketball coach Mike Young struggling with portal commitments
Ok, so struggling might be a strong word for what has been or hasn't been going on so far. The truth is, there are plenty of needs that Young still has. He needs another shooter to bring in off the bench, something they lost with Schutt. Promising freshman center Christian Gurdak hit the portal and needs to be replaced. Antonio Dorn also hit the portal and has landed at Wake Forest. Gurdak, however, played a lot and was going to be a key piece of the future.
In an ideal world, Young would be able to land a combo guard, a forward, and at least one big, if not two. Of course, there will be other additions to round out the roster for the 2026-27 season, but more than halfway through the portal cycle, it can be concerning how quiet it has been to date for Virginia Tech.
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