Virginia Tech enters Mike Young’s eighth season with a familiar truth hanging over the Hokies: keeping the core together mattered, and Young knows it.
At ACC Tipoff in Charlotte on Wednesday, Young spent plenty of time talking about the return of guard Ben Hammond, along with Tyler Johnson and Amani Hansberry, as Virginia Tech tries to build on a 19-13 season that ended without an NCAA Tournament bid for the fourth straight year. The Hokies also brought back forward Sin'Cere Jones and center Solomon Davis, giving Young a group he believes still has room to grow.
“A lot of the same characteristics, but some different attributes as well,” Young said. "... I'm excited about it, I'll tell you that."
The biggest piece of that puzzle may be Hammond, who was central to Virginia Tech’s 2025-26 season and became even more important as Neoklis Avdalas’ production dipped late in the year. Young said Hammond has taken steps forward in more parts of his game, and he expects to use him in a bigger variety of ways this season.
“He shoots the bottom of the basket day in, day out,,” Young said of the third-year guard to the ACC Network.
Young added that Hammond has developed more into a shooting guard while still retaining the ability to handle the ball. In 2026-27, Young plans to play him “a lot at the point” while also moving him off the ball more and using him in different actions. Hammond averaged 13.2 points last season and led the team with 14.9 points per game in ACC play, when he shot 31-of-66 from 3-point range.
Retaining that group, Young said, was no small thing.
“It’s a big, big deal to retain your core and guys that have done it and good players, and there are no guarantees,” Young said. “We know it.
We all know it. They are free agents at the end of every year.”
Virginia Tech’s season a year ago was derailed by injuries and missed chances. Johnson missed 15 games with a foot injury, Lawal missed nine with one of his own, and the Hokies dropped nine games by single digits, including four by one possession. Young did not hide how much that wore on the team.
“Let’s hope we have some good fortune and we can keep them healthy,” Young said. “That was as frustrating and as debilitating as anything I’ve experienced in 25 years as a head coach, what we went through last year. We’re in good health now.”
The Hokies have already put in 35 practices, most of them lasting between an hour and an hour and 15 minutes, and Young said the group still has work to do on both sides of the ball.
“We've still got great strides to make on other sides of the ball,” Young said.
Virginia Tech also has used live work to keep evaluating itself. Young said the team scrimmaged Liberty and will have a closed-door scrimmage against Maryland before the season begins. The Hokies are also scheduled to play Wofford in an open-door exhibition on Oct. 16 in Spartanburg, S.C.
“There were some things I thought we were in good shape with [and] we're not as in good of shape as I thought we were,” Young said. “There are some areas that I had some concerns about that took a step forward last night. ... Next week we'll have the opportunity to go to Wofford and we'll learn more about ourselves and it will be a great experience.”
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