Virginia Tech’s path back to March looks a lot clearer if the Hokies can stay on the floor.
After last season unraveled with injuries and ended without a postseason trip, Mike Young’s team enters this year leaning hard on two things it didn’t always have a year ago: health and continuity. At ACC Tipoff in Charlotte on Wednesday, Young made it plain that keeping Ben Hammond, Amani Hansberry and Tyler Johnson in the program matters just as much as any offseason addition.
“We’re in good health now,” Young said. “It’s a long year, but thrilled that we’re able to retain Ben Hammond and Amani Hansberry and Tyler Johnson.”
For a program navigating the transfer portal era, that kind of retention gives Virginia Tech something rare: players who already know the system and have already been through the battles. Young didn’t hide how valuable that is.
“To retain your core and guys that have done it and good players ... it’s a big, big deal,” Young said.
The Hokies finished 19-13 overall and 8-10 in ACC play last season, then saw their NCAA Tournament hopes end with a 95-89 overtime loss to Wake Forest in the opening round of the ACC Tournament. Virginia Tech turned down an NIT bid and shut things down without any postseason at all.
That makes the start of this season feel different, especially with Hammond and Hansberry back in the fold.
Hammond, now entering his third season at Virginia Tech, is expected to carry even more weight. The former Paul VI standout became one of the team’s most important players last season and averaged 13.2 points per game. His biggest night came on New Year’s Eve against Virginia, when he poured in a career-high 30 points in a 95-85 triple-overtime win over the 21st-ranked Cavaliers.
Now, Hammond says his next step is bigger than scoring.
“Leadership as well. Communication,” Hammond said when asked about his offseason focus. “I need to talk more as a point guard, leading those guys that we have coming in.”
He also wants to make life easier for the players around him, including Hansberry, who emerged as one of the Hokies’ main offensive threats last season. Hansberry averaged 14.3 points per game and earned All-ACC third-team honors after arriving through the transfer portal, then chose to stay rather than look elsewhere.
His explanation was blunt.
“I’m not one to enjoy yes men,” Hansberry said. “Coach Young is definitely not a yes man. I just want to hear the truth.”
Hansberry said he’s aiming to become a more complete player this season, especially when opponents try to load up on him.
“Being able to abuse mismatches, understanding when to face up, see the floor, knowing when the double team is coming from,” he said. “But overall definitely being able to hit the 3 more and abuse double teams.”
The health piece carries real weight for Young, who called last season’s injury situation one of the most frustrating stretches of his coaching career. Hansberry was among the players who were banged up, and he missed the ACC Tournament loss to Wake Forest.
“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,” Young said.
That’s why getting a healthy core back at the start of the season matters so much. But this isn’t just a case of running it back.
Virginia Tech also has a group of newcomers who need to pick up Young’s system quickly, and Hammond said the offseason work has gone well so far.
“Instilling this offense that Mike Young runs could be difficult for a lot of players,” Hammond said. “But I feel like the guys that he recruited, they’re pretty much doing pretty well with the offense that we got going on.”
Still, Young isn’t ready to declare the Hokies settled. The team scrimmaged Liberty on Tuesday night, and he said it gave him a better picture of where things stand.
“There are some things I thought we were in good shape with; 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.”
There’s more work ahead in the preseason, including an exhibition game at Wofford next week and a closed scrimmage against Maryland before the regular season begins.
The larger target is obvious. Virginia Tech hasn’t been back to the NCAA Tournament since 2022, and this group believes it has the pieces to end that drought. Young said that kind of expectation should exist in the ACC every year.
“I think that should be the expectation year in and year out, if not nine or 10 from our league,” Young said of the ACC’s NCAA Tournament representation.
For the Hokies, the mission is straightforward: stay healthy, keep the core together, and make sure this season ends with a ticket to March.
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