Rising r-sophomore wing Malik Mueller will transfer from Virginia Tech, according to a press release the school sent out late Friday afternoon.
“Malik and I had multiple discussions about his future over the past several weeks, and he has decided it is best to finish his career elsewhere,” Buzz Williams said. “Malik is a great person, and we are thankful for how he represented the Hokies on and off the floor during his tenure here. We wish him well in all of his future endeavors.
Mueller started 20 games as a r-freshman, averaging 6.2 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.
JUCO wing Tyrone Outlaw is expected to take his place on roster. In fact, according to Mark Berman of the Roanoke Times, Outlaw has already signed his Letter of Intent. However, the signing was not announced by the school.
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I have never ever seen such a Wholesale Purge of the inherited Roster that Williams is doing. Several players have transferred to a lot better than what we got. This thing has all the makings of a Huge Financial F’up. Did Buzz do Anything remarkable in his 1st Year? No. If Anything, We got worse. Reminds Me of Hoosiers-“I hope You know what You’re doing.” Something to that effect. Wow, this has got to work out-as the Football Program continues to flounder somewhat. I just hope that this works out, Confidence Level is sinking.
I could not disagree more with your comments. Too lazy to go point by point but think you are just dead wrong.
Saying every player that has left was run off is completely false. Not sure what some of you are even talking about.
I have to think Mueller was though. If he WANTED to go….wouldn’t he have left before now? Wouldn’t it have been announced before now?
I understand what Buzz is doing, and why. There’s a fairly large part of me though that doesn’t like it.
The attrition on the basketball team since Buzz arrived is akin to that of an infantry unit on the Eastern Front in WWII. It will be interesting to see if Buzz’s “Scorched Earth” plan works or not over the long haul, e.g. 5-10 years from now. We certainly needed a talent upgrade. Jettisoning and replacing the players who were in the program upon his arrival is certainly the fastest way for Buzz to accomplish such an upgrade. However, to the layman it looks like the affected players are being treated harshly. I doubt that most of the readers on this board would condone similar treatment of the football team’s roster by CFB’s eventual successor. Having said that, it’s unlikely the football team will be in such sorry shape upon CFB’s departure that his replacement would feel the need for such drastic measures.
The Bottom Line is that it remains to be seen whether this win at all costs approach will work, and can be sustained without eventually colliding with VT’s ethics, academic standards, and “VT Home” image. The performance, work ethic, and character of Buzz’s recruits also remain to be seen. Most of Whit Babcock’s decisions to date seemed spot-on at the time and look even better as time passes. I believe in him. As a result, I’m willing to give his Buzz experiment the benefit of the doubt. This basketball saga is going to need years to play out, though. Time will tell…
Gimme a break. 1. You never worked as a college bball coach. 2. You never served as an infantryman, or likely even in the military for that matter. Stop being silly.
Sports are not war. Making that comparison shows a fundamental lack of understanding about either. No one should ever want to sound like Kellen Winslow Jr.
-Alpha ’99
The Buzz “experiment” lol. We’re talking Virginia Tech basketball man. Getting Buzz as our Head Coach wasn’t and isn’t an experiment, it was and is a freaking Miracle!!!!
Amen!
Unless we hear Malik’s side of the story we really don’t know exactly how it played out. Was he told his scholarship was revoked or told he wouldn’t have playing time & chose to leave? There’s a difference. I understand this is big boy basketball but I don’t like the ugly side of this. It doesn’t have to be this way, either. Buzz has time in his contract to accomplish what he was hired to do. It doesn’t have to be done inside of 2-4 years. He could recruit better freshmen & if they are better then the upperclassmen they play but the upperclassmen could still ride out their careers. This way in 4-5 years we have a whole new team and we haven’t drastically changed an athlete’s college experience. This way we don’t have the ugliness of letting guys go that chose to be Hokies & have formed friendships that most of us get to keep forever. If we built a program this way, while it may take a couple of extra years it could also be a selling/recruiting tool. Come to VT & be a Hokie for life rather than a throwaway athlete. I like Buzz. He seems to be a man of sound character but I hate to see athletes leaving upset. Again, as I said in the beginnig, we don’t know exactly how this played out. I wish Malik the best.
I agree.
Yes, it DOES have to happen within 2 to 4 years! And certainly all of us wish Malik the best.
Why? Because you want it? Buzz, signed a long contract if he brought in great recruits every year in four years the roster would be completely new. Done this way we should also see a big improvement & players would respect the program.
4 years is forever in college athletics, particularly in basketball! Look at what hanging on too long to Stiney/Newsome/O’Cain did to the football program…
Different sport with a whole lot more players. Plus, I happen to believe the reason for the slip was due to more then just Stiney as the the OC but that’s a different debate. In basketball in one or two years you could easily have an entire new starting lineup.
Why? Because VT basketball has suffered for long enough. It’s time to WIN. Buzz is a great coach, great person and there was a reason we brought him here (which was the best thing to happen to VT basketball in, idk, forever).
Come on fellas, this is the tenth player Buzz has run off. Aren’t any of you ashamed at least a little bit? The sleaze factor factor is thru the roof. Whatever happened to Whit’s pronouncement early on that he favors guaranteed four-year scholarships? The question is rhetorical. Don’t bother answering. We all know the answer is that Buzz is getting it done before binding legislation comes down, maybe as early as next year. We will probably have to do it to keep up with the universities who do give the the guarantee. We will be dragged kicking and screaming into an ethical position. And Whit will get to keep his word, albeit a year or two after Buzz “got it done.”,
I know you are going to give me your usual “corporate-business-model argument.” (Um, um, sputter, if if I don’t produce up to quota, my boss will fire me. Why should these kids expect anything different!) Well, these are kids (hopefully students) and we are a university. I would like to think there is at least some difference left and some goals other than bottom line profit. And please don’t tell me, as you are itching to, that I am living in the past. I know you are right, but I am not alone, since there are people out there in the NCCA pushing for the guaranteed four-year offer.
Anyway, Will, how about an (investigative) article on the subject of running off athletes? Is it simply a way of life and we have to adopt it or fall behind? Or is it cause for concern at (serious) universities?
Nope, not even a little. We hired Buzz to fix the basketball program, and he’s doing that. Malik is a great guy and a scrappy, tough player. However, there are guys on this team now that will play more and play better than he will. It’s not fair to him to stay and play ~5 mins per game and it’s not fair to his teammates to keep him and not give his scholarship to a guy who will help the team more. That’s how big-time basketball works. We upgraded big-time at the coaching position and now we’re completely turning over the roster. Why is anyone surprised by this? We’ve finished last in the ACC how many years in a row now? Why in the world would anyone think we should keep things the same?
Are you for real? Please explain EVERY detail of Mueller’s departure. Can you? Doubt it!
Again, I agree.
12-58. That is the last 4 years, and that is a shame. Poor administrator making poor coaching decisions.
How does 9-9 sound? Definite not shameful. 16-16 by Spring 2016? Definitely an improvement. Bet that gets VT into the NIT. I’m happy with that. Go Hokies!
When he starts running off players “he” recruited, then I’ll worry. Sorry, but he was brought here to fix the program. Not to be consistent bottom dwellers.
Exactly!
I agree with a lot of this….but I’m not to the point where I would call it sleaze.
If the point of college is to prepare kids for the real world, guess what, this is how the real world works…
In the “real” world, there are also people who do good things with patience and dignity. The real world can and does work with grace and deference if people act that way – and many do.
How many in corporations and/or professional sports? I’ll give you a hint, not many…
Have to agree. Some coaches are great cause they “coach em up”.
Buzz doesn’t seem to be one of them.
Hate to see a good Hokie go. I don’t see an incoming freshman really replacing his experience and maturity. Could be a long 3-4 seasons. People are saying this is how to build a team, but, remember Buzz has never built a team, just maintained one, although very well at Marquette.
No, a JUCO transfer who averaged 22+ Ppg is replacing him
Malik u da man –
I hate to see a hard working kid leave the team. Best of luck Malik!
I really hate to see him go
Malik was a great Hokie, its unfortunate for him that the playing time was just not going to be there. It probably is in his best interest. He is talented enough to log a lot of minutes on the right team. Wish him the best. He always gave the effort. Thanks to Malik for his contributions.
Mueller is going to be 25+ years old when he finally finishes his college career. He sat out his freshman year. Now he has to sit out another year unless he can get help from the NCAA.
Malik was one of my favorite players. I’m sure Devin Wilson is a little bummed since Malik was his best friend at Tech.
Bball team is dropping like dominions.
Good thing
You want the program to get better, right? Well, this is how it’s done.
All part of the plan. But I hate to see Malik go. Really liked him and enjoyed the way he took to playing the 4.
Malik was my favorite player on the team. I really appreciated how he busted his butt and gave everything for the team. Now , it seems, he’s done that one final time.
Feel same really liked maliks energy..I’m curious to see buzz get his talent and start some home cooking.