1) What type of player(s) should Mike Young bring in next year in order for this team to be competitive and finish in the top half of the ACC? Obviously, no one player can replace Hunter Cattoor. Is another sharpshooter type imperative or can Nickel pick up the slack there from a shooting perspective? Where else do you focus? – VTScanlo

Chris Coleman: Good question, and I’ve spent a lot of time this week thinking about roster management, so it’s good timing. Virginia Tech’s best defensive team under Mike Young was the 2020-21 team that featured Wabissa Bede, Tyrece Radford and Nahiem Alleyne. I want to talk about defense first. Here are the defensive efficiency ratings of all of Mike Young’s Virginia Tech teams:

• 2019-20: No. 82 overall, No. 7 in ACC play
• 2020-21: No. 53 overall, No. 1 in ACC play
• 2021-22: No. 54 overall, No. 5 in ACC play
• 2022-23: No. 122 overall, No. 10 in ACC play
• 2023-24: No. 88 overall, No. 11 in ACC play

It was just three seasons ago that the Hokies had the best defense in the conference in ACC play. Bede, Radford and Alleyne could all really defend on the perimeter, and Cattoor was also playing major minutes off the bench. Justyn Mutts was the power forward, Keve Aluma was the center, and those guys were good as well. Tech lost Bede and Radford in 2021-22, but they still had all of those other guys, so while the defense was ever-so-slightly worse, it was still pretty darn good overall.

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