Incoming basketball signees Chris Clarke and Justin Robinson have been given major honors this week.
Clarke, the #1 player in the state of Virginia and Tech’s highest-rated recruit, has been named VISAA D1 Player of the Year.
2015 Chris Clarke (@Chris_Clarkee) of Cape Henry has been named the VISAA D1 Player of the Year #VaHoops pic.twitter.com/Pm7vb2N7Mp
— Prep Hoops Virginia (@PrepHoopsVA) March 16, 2015
He and his Cape Henry Collegiate team won the State Championship after falling one game short a year ago. He is expected to play the wing, as well as some undersized power forward, for the Hokies.
Justin Robinson has been named the Gatorade Player of the Year in the state of Maryland.
https://twitter.com/CoachShopSJ/status/578547742949171200
Robinson is from Manassas, VA. However, he played basketball for St. James in Maryland. He is expected to contend for playing time as a backup point guard as a freshman.
Glad to have these Guys give us some Immediate help. All of the aforementioned Players were well-Heralded, I remember em all. I do take exception with Blessing who turned out not to be a Blessing. Grindstaff couldn’t get along with Ricky Stokes-like many.
Jenis Grindstaff was North Carolina Mr Basketball in 1987. Only one year at Tech – transferred to Tennessee
That should say 1997
Maybe Glen Combs the Kentucky Rifleman.
And add Chris Ellis out of Newport News mid-sixties as a possibility.
Maybe John Blessing from WV in 1966?
I think that Bimbo Coles might have also been a POY in West Virginia as well as Jeff.
I remember from prior articles that Bimbo was POY when he was a Junior, but not as a Senior. He thinks he was snubbed his senior season because he had committed to VT, not WVU.
This is for Chris or Will: How many Players of the Year (Virginia or otherwise) have played at Virginia Tech? I recall Jeff Schneider (1979 – ?) from West Virginia.
No idea. Not sure where that would be documented, if anywhere.
But yeah, I’d start by looking at Bimbo, Dell, Marque Cooke, Jeff Schneider … maybe Finney-Smith.
Dell was McD All-American in 1982. I believe he was the only one from Virginia.
I went to Bladensburg HS in PG Co, MD. Danny Elliott was our star in the class of 1970, was MD POY that year as well as Wash Post all-Met. Unfortunately, his career at VT never worked out. I graduated HS in 72, started at VT that Fall, and Elliott was no longer on the team. Not sure what happened.
That VT team went on to have a great year, winning the NIT back in the era when only 24 teams went to the NCAA’s and the NIT title was quite prestigious. All games were played in NYC at MSG. I went to the first one against New Mexico, and we won 4 games by a total of 5 points. We beat a great Notre Scum team in the title game, they had 2 or 3 players who went on to the NBA (John Shumate, Gary Brokaw, Bill Hanzlik).
Players of the Year for Virginia and Maryland are not bad for a recruiting class.
Indeed.