The 2026-27 season is almost here, and Virginia Tech enters it with something to prove.
Mike Young’s team is coming off a 19-13 finish and an 8-10 mark in the ACC, but that record only tells part of the story. The Hokies were in the mix until a rough stretch down the stretch knocked them off track, and they’ve spent four straight seasons outside the NCAA Tournament since that improbable ACC Tournament title run in 2022. This group has a chance to change that.
Virginia Tech’s case starts with a solid returning core. Amani Hansberry, Ben Hammond, and Tyler Johnson are back, and the roster also picked up some interesting help through the transfer portal with Isaiah Elohim from Florida Atlantic, Jaylen Curry from Oklahoma State, and Miles Heide from San Diego State. Add in an NCAA Tournament that now expands to 76 teams, and the path looks a little more open than it has in recent years.
The schedule will give the Hokies a real chance to build something, too. Nonconference matchups with Iowa, Northwestern, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, and West Virginia stand out as key opportunities to strengthen their resume. After four seasons of watching March from the outside, Virginia Tech finally looks capable of getting back in.
A big reason for that optimism is Hansberry, who already proved he can be a steady force in the frontcourt. Last season, the former Illinois and West Virginia forward averaged 14.3 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, giving the Hokies a reliable interior presence. Now, with another year in Mike Young’s system and a bigger role possible, he could be ready for his best college season yet.
Hansberry’s scoring is already part of the package, but the next step is on the glass. At 6-foot-8, he has the size and physical edge to battle ACC frontcourt players, and if he can push his rebounding average from 7.4 to 10 per game while keeping his scoring steady, that changes the shape of Virginia Tech’s team. It would give the Hokies a dependable inside option who can impact games without having to carry the offense.
Hammond is another player who could make a major leap. The junior guard was one of the brighter spots for Virginia Tech last season, averaging 13.2 points and 3.2 assists while shooting 43.1% from three-point range. That kind of efficiency already makes him one of the team’s most dependable scorers.
What could take him to another level is what he does away from the arc. With Neoklis Avdalas and Tobi Lawal gone, Virginia Tech has to replace a lot of offense, and Hammond is going to be right in the middle of that effort. Elohim and Curry should help, but the Hokies will still lean heavily on Hammond to drive the attack.
If he can keep defenses honest from deep, get into the lane, and draw fouls, a jump into the 19-20 points per game range isn’t out of the question. That would be a major step forward and could put him among the ACC’s top scorers, while also giving Virginia Tech one of the conference’s more dangerous scoring tandems alongside Hansberry.
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Virginia Techs ACC Path Just Got Tougher Ahead Of A Huge Friday
Virginia Tech had the weekend off, but the ACC picture around the Hokies shifted anyway, and not in a helpful direction. Syracuses win over SMU and Wake Forests victory both tightened the race above them, leaving Virginia Tech in a three-way tie for fifth in the league as the conference calendar keeps squeezing the middle of the standings.
The timing matters because the Hokies are heading into a stretch where every result carries extra weight, especially with upcoming games and tiebreakers now looming over their path forward. Injuries will play a part too, and with the league table so compressed, Fridays matchup carries the kind of significance that can quickly reshape Virginia Techs standing in the ACC. [Read more 🡒]
Which Hokies Have Mattered Most In Virginia Techs 6-2 Surge
Virginia Techs 6-2 start has already changed the feel around the program, and with bowl eligibility secured four games before the regular season ends, the Hokies have given themselves room to think bigger. A handful of players have driven that surge, with quarterback Grant Wells helping steady the offense, Tre Turner providing a reliable target in the passing game, Raheem Blackshear adding balance out of the backfield, and Caleb Farley giving the defense a disruptive edge.
The interesting part now is how that production has been spread across the roster, because Virginia Techs rise has not come from one runaway star alone. The Hokies have found impact players in different spots, and the next question is which of those contributors has mattered most as the season has moved from survival mode into something much more promising. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Tech Faces A Real Gut Check Against ACC Contender
Virginia Tech heads into Friday nights Week 10 matchup with SMU in a spot that should tell a lot about where this season is headed. The Hokies are 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the ACC, but back-to-back losses to Pitt and Cal have put a little more pressure on a team that had been building momentum and now has to answer against one of the leagues tougher opponents.
The setting is straightforward enough, with kickoff set for 7 p.m. ET on ESPN, but the stakes feel bigger than a normal late-season conference game. SMU arrives as the favorite, and for Virginia Tech this is the kind of roadblock that can either steady a season or leave it with more questions than answers heading into the stretch run. [Read more 🡒]