Right before the ACC Tournament last week, Virginia Tech men’s basketball coach Mike Young sounded like a coach ready to turn things around in Blacksburg after a disappointing 13-19 season. After the Hokies were eliminated in the first round of the ACC Tournament last week by California, Young was honest and blunt about this season.
“A lot was missing,” Young said. “Just call it what it is. They’re great kids and a pleasure to work with. We’ve got to get more talented, and we’re going to, quick. I’m not living through that again.”
He’s not wrong, he needs more talent. The fact that he got them to eight wins in the ACC says a lot about his coaching job this year, as well as playing in a down ACC. Regardless, if you had them winning eight conference games after the non-conference start, then you really know ball.
Virginia Tech early transfer portal exits is good for the future
Nobody wants to lose anyone from their program, but given where the current state of college sports is with NIL and the portal, every school is subject to losing players to the portal. On Monday, three members of this year's team, Rodney Brown, Jr., Jaydon Young, and Patrick Wessler, will be entering the portal when it officially opens on March 24. Opinions are everywhere on some of the players leaving, but in the bigger picture, to get better, you need to lose some players and bring some new ones and hopefully better ones in. You can’t run it back and expect change and different results.
Does it stink to lose players to the portal? Yes, but in this case, Young currently has seven open scholarships for next season and likely more with more portal defections in the coming week or two. To get where Young and the fans want the program, subtracting from this year’s roster and adding through the portal, with what reportedly is a bigger NIL package for Young, has to happen. It’s not the end of the world. Young is eager to make the roster better.
“I hope we can stay around [Charlotte] a long time, but I will be excited to head back up [Interstate] 77, 81 and get back home, which is going to be short-lived. We’ll be bouncing around trying to get this thing back to where Hokie fans expect it to be.” https://t.co/cude5JnXEi
— David Cunningham (@therealdcunna) March 11, 2025
It’s time for Mike Young to cook for next season in the portal.