Sean Pedulla: Virginia Tech’s Floor General Thanks To A Leap Of Faith

Dominic Pedulla first realized Sean was special when he was a toddler.

Drinking coffee on a Saturday morning with his wife, Bernadette, a balled-up sock flew across the room out of nowhere. It fell through the hole and landed in the center of the family’s baby-jumping toy.

It was puzzling at first with no kids present in the room. But Dominic soon found the culprit: Sean, hiding 25 feet away and peeking out from behind the wall of the adjacent room.

That was the first sign that Sean Pedulla was athletic. Now a sophomore in college, he’s Virginia Tech basketball’s starting point guard in 2022-23.

The Upbringing: One of Nine

The seventh of nine Pedulla kids who grew up in Edmond, Oklahoma, Sean was extremely active as a child.

He was raised in an athletic family that tried a variety of sports. His oldest brothers and sisters participated in gymnastics; he swam, quarterbacked his Pee-wee football team (often rushing for two touchdowns a game) and hit home runs on the diamond. There wasn’t a sport at which Sean wasn’t good.

He was always ready for action, too. His eldest brother, JJ, recalled walking downstairs to get breakfast on a Saturday before heading to Sean’s football game. There sat Sean on the couch in full uniform, ready to go with his helmet, pads, cleats and mouthpiece.

He was an ultra-competitive youngster, which showed on the basketball court as he aged. Sean’s three older brothers — JJ, Edmund and Brendan — played in the driveway, but those were the years where they told him he couldn’t participate.

When Sean was finally allowed to join, he went head-to-head with Brendan, a fierce defender who was “tough as nails,” according to JJ. It was there Sean’s basketball legacy began.

“We’d go to this gym that we used to go to back in those days and Sean was maybe six,” Dominic Pedulla told Tech Sideline. “Sean would get beaten down and have his shots blocked, but you never saw discouragement get on his face. He just had a determination. And then one day he’s in the corner and Brendan’s defending him.

“All of a sudden, he steps back and shoots a jumper from the corner that swishes. We all looked at each other like, ‘Where did that come from?’ … As he got older, it was starting to become clear that Sean had a gift.”

Sean accompanied Dominic to Brendan’s basketball practices and occasionally joined in despite being three years younger. But to no one’s surprise, he held his own.

“One or two trips up the court and the biggest smile came over his face,” Dominic said of eight-year-old Sean at one practice. “It sort of dawned on him that he could not only keep up with these older guys, but he can actually score on them a bit.”

Edmund, the second-oldest brother, recalled a game at Frederick Douglass High School in Oklahoma City. Playing up on Brendan’s team, Sean usually spent the game on the bench because he was a few years younger than everyone else. But the group was missing a few players in a tournament. Called upon when some teammates fouled out, Sean didn’t disappoint.

“They were down by 15,” Edmund said. “Sean came in and just started feeding this team buckets. And he was a good foot-and-a-half shorter than everybody. But he just busted one 3-pointer after another. They ended up winning and winning the tournament. Sean became a focal point of that.”

It didn’t matter that Sean was undersized and undervalued. He enjoyed hooping, and as he grew older, he became more serious about pursuing a career in basketball. It helped that he was uber talented, like when he scored five points in eight seconds at the end of a sixth-grade game.

Cool, calm and collected, Sean was a difference-maker on the floor. Colleges started to take notice as he prepared for his senior year of high school.

Spotlight Showdown In Dallas

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nike cancelled its Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) in May of 2020. The circuit routinely featured many of the best high school players in the nation.

As a result, four- and five-star recruits had to play on the grassroots circuit. Sean Pedulla had played at that level for some time, but opportunities that summer led him to Dallas to face some very talented competition.

Nationally unranked in July 2020, his team crossed paths with a Nike EYBL group headlined by Keyonte George. The 6-4 guard from Lewisville, Texas is a freshman at Baylor this fall and was the No. 7 recruit in the country in the class of 2022.

One might think that’s about as lopsided as a matchup could get. Wrong. Like he was playing against his brother Brendan in the driveway, Pedulla did more than hold his own.

In an electric game of basketball, George finished with 30 points. Pedulla one-upped him with 31. Colleges immediately started blowing up his phone.

“He always rises to the occasion,” JJ Pedulla said. “He doesn’t flinch when you tell him, ‘Hey, you’re playing against the best point guard in the nation.’ You tell him that and he’s like, ‘Okay, well, I’m bringing it.’”

“When he does those things, you think back to the times when we’d be like, ‘Hey, you can’t play. You’re not able to carry your own.’ And he’s like, ‘Okay, we’ll see about that.’”

Afterwards, Virginia Tech assistant Kevin Giltner reached out. The Pedullas liked the style of offense Mike Young played and were attracted to the idea, but recruiting visits weren’t allowed due to COVID.

Pedulla and his parents met with Young over Zoom and liked what they saw. From the other side, Young was interested. As a result, the family flew to Blacksburg in August to visit the Virginia Tech campus on a “self-guided tour.”

“Me and my parents were driving down Washington Street and we saw Coach Young just going on a walk,” Pedulla said about his first trip Tech. “I was like, it’s just so crazy that I’m here. Like, we bought a ticket to fly up here and I can’t even say any words to him.”

But as soon as he stepped foot on campus, Pedulla knew Virginia Tech was where he belonged. The family explored on its own and got good vibes. It felt like a place where Pedulla, who was used to being part of a large family back in Edmond, was at home.

After that trip, the Hokies were No. 1 in his mind.

“I told my parents, ‘Unless the other schools do something crazy in these next couple of months, this is the place where I see myself,’” Pedulla said.

Oklahoma State and head coach Mike Boynton, who was an assistant on Young’s staff at Wofford in 2007, were also on Pedulla’s radar. Stillwater was less than an hour north of the family’s house in Edmond, so the Cowboys were the hometown team.

Minnesota was the third school in the mix, but Pedulla was torn between Virginia Tech and Oklahoma State. One was close to his family and the people that he grew up with; the other was over 1,000 miles away. But the Pokes arrived late on the scene, despite him being in their backyard.

https://twitter.com/PedullaSean/status/1318381504159010820?s=20&t=oZbaNIaN5zPlFjYKabWQ1Q

Ultimately, Pedulla’s heart was set on Virginia Tech. He took a leap of faith and committed on Oct. 19, 2020.

Growing Into His Role

The start of Sean Pedulla’s college career wasn’t a breeze.

When Virginia Tech scrimmaged Richmond ahead of the 2021-22 season, the true freshman point guard didn’t play in the first half. But he didn’t sulk about it.

“I remember thinking to myself, ‘There’s two options to this,’” Pedulla said. “’I can obviously pout and do that. But it could also be a test and he [Mike Young] could also have done that on purpose to see my reaction, so I acted like it didn’t faze me at all.

“I obviously wished I had played a little bit more, but I knew the best way to go about it was head down and keep working.”

Pedulla was behind Storm Murphy, a fifth-year player who transferred from Wofford and knew Young’s system by heart. So, it took some time for him to earn quality minutes.

In the first eight games, the most he played was 14 minutes vs. Merrimack. He scored six points in Brooklyn, N.Y. against Memphis, but he still struggled to establish himself in an ever-changing role.

Some of the Pedulla family visited Blacksburg for the Wake Forest game on Dec. 4, an 80-61 loss for the Hokies. Sean played just five minutes. Afterwards at a local Mexican restaurant, Dominic and JJ reminded him to stay tough.

“’You haven’t been in this situation in a really long time,’” JJ Pedulla told Sean. “He was down a little bit, but he didn’t want to show it. And he had the right attitude about it. He knew that his time was going to come.”

Four days later in a 93-60 win over Cornell, Pedulla played 20 minutes, scored 11 points and made four of his eight shots (three-of-four from deep). It was a confidence builder.

Depending on the game the Hokies were in, his playing time varied. At Virginia in January, he saw just two minutes. But two games later at NC State, he had his first big moment.

With 12.4 seconds to play in a one-point contest, Pedulla stepped up to the free throw line, and the clutch free throw drills his dad instilled in him paid off.

Three times a week from 4:45 a.m. to 6 a.m., Dominic trained Sean and two of the other brothers on “clutch” free throws as they grew older. Distractions were the name of the game, and it helped the boys tune out their surroundings.

In PNC Arena on Jan. 19, Pedulla did just that, relaxed all the while. Two swishes helped the Hokies seal their 62-59 win over the Wolfpack.

“I remember I was nervous,” Pedulla said in October, recalling the moment from January. “My hands were sweaty and the ball was different because it was an Adidas ball. And I was like, ‘Gosh, I have to hit these free throws.’ … But I just kept thinking, ‘I’ve hit a thousand of these in my life, probably more.’”

His playing time continued to increase as he earned more of Young’s trust. With the exception of the ACC Tournament game vs. Duke, he played at least 10 minutes in each of the following 19 games. His next breakout game came at Florida State.

Virginia Tech was 10-10, 2-7 in the ACC, with its back against the wall in Tallahassee. But Hunter Cattoor and Pedulla came alive, combining for 47 points and 15-of-18 from long range. That helped set in motion the ensuing Hokies’ run.

They finished the regular season 9-2 and were dangerous down the stretch, winning nine-of-ten games at one point. Pedulla was clutch again in the Watsco Center against Miami on Feb. 26, adding 17 points off the bench.

The momentum propelled the Hokies to an ACC Championship in Brooklyn where they knocked off Clemson (courtesy of a buzzer beater from Darius Maddox), Notre Dame, North Carolina and Duke. That was good for an NCAA Tournament bid, and Tech drew Texas in Milwaukee, where the season eventually came to a close.

The year ebbed and flowed for Pedulla, who slowly grew more comfortable in his role as the season progressed. But to win an ACC title and make the Big Dance as a freshman? Pretty eye-opening stuff.

“It was definitely a crazy experience as far as an emotional roller coaster,” Pedulla said of winning the ACC Championship. “In my first year as a college freshman, which was crazy, and then realizing we’re playing in March Madness, which is another goal I had growing up.

“It was an awesome season, but I wish we went further. I remember telling people that the ACC Championship was a great accomplishment. … But it wasn’t the end-all, be-all. It’s more of the same going forward.”

Sean Pedulla: Starting Point Guard, Virginia Tech

Pedulla now has a year under his belt in the college game. With Murphy’s departure due to graduation, he’s the Hokies’ starting point guard in 2022-23. It just took a little time and patience.

“Last year, I was just trying to figure out my role on the team coming off the bench, figuring out what I had to contribute,” Pedulla said. “At times, it was getting guys open. At times, it was hitting shots. What’s going to be different about this year is I’m just going to be playing a lot more.”

He knows exactly what to expect going into this season, as do his teammates. Virginia Tech has an explosive backcourt with Pedulla, Maddox and Cattoor, three veterans.

That trio shot 44% on 354 three-point attempts last season, and the first two came off the bench. Those numbers should only be amplified in 2022-23.

However, the one constant with Pedulla through the ups and downs has always been his demeanor. Away from basketball, he’s mostly a quiet kid that is goofy when in the right environment. On the court, he’s locked in, but he carries a bit of moxie with him.

“I would say he’s one of the better competitors I’ve seen in all my years of playing basketball,” Cattoor said of his teammate. “He’s fearless. Sometimes a little too fearless that it gets him in trouble. … He’s a special player and he’s got a lot to prove.”

Pedulla never shies away from a challenge. He learned that growing up with eight siblings and battling with JJ, Edmund and Brendan in the driveway. He was often told he was too small or not old enough to play, but he didn’t let it stop him.

Now, thanks to a leap of faith, the kid from Edmond, Okla. is the floor general for Virginia Tech.