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   Welcome to TSLMail #274 - Friday, April 13, 2007    
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   Tech Sports News


ACC Basketball Recruits in the Rivals150
by Chris Coleman, TechSideline.com

As we've covered many times in the past, Virginia Tech has an excellent basketball recruiting class entering for the 2007-08 season. The class is filled with highly-touted players who have performed well against top notch competition throughout their prep careers. Many Tech fans are excited about the incoming class, and hope they can help take the program to new heights. But when you look around the league, there's a lot of talent heading to other schools as well.

A total of 23 Rivals150 players have either committed to or signed with an ACC program. The incoming Virginia Tech recruits will have plenty of competition. Here is a list of every ACC Rivals150 signing.

Rivals150 Players Heading to the ACC
Rank Player Position School
4 Kyle Singler F Duke
16 J.J. Hickson F NC State
20 Solomon Alibi C Florida State
28 Gani Lawal F Georgia Tech
38 Nolan Smith G Duke
39 Taylor King F Duke
43 Tracy Smith F NC State
52 Jeff Teague G Wake Forest
55 James Johnson F Wake Forest
72 Jeff Allen F Virginia Tech
74 Jeff Jones G Virginia
82 Malcolm Delaney G Virginia Tech
90 Maurice Miller G Georgia Tech
98 Dorenzo Hudson G Virginia Tech
101 Augustus Gilchrist F Virginia Tech
103 Mike Scott F Virginia
105 Julian Vaughn F Florida State
107 Ed Rios G Miami
121 Rakim Sanders F Boston College
136 Gary Clark G Wake Forest
142 Terrell Bell F Virginia Tech
149 Braxton Dupree C Maryland
150 Damontez Stitt G Clemson

Virginia Tech has an outstanding recruiting class coming in, but note that nine other future ACC players are rated higher that Tech's top recruit, Jeff Allen, according to Rivals. They include some of the top prospects in the country, such as Kyle Singler, J.J. Hickson and Solomon Alibi.

11 of the 12 ACC schools are represented on the list above, meaning all but one team in the conference signed at least one Rivals150 player. As usual, there will be a lot of talent playing in the ACC in the next few years. In fact, the only program that didn't sign a Rivals150 players is UNC, but the Tar Heels have elected not to sign any players this year after bringing in arguably the #1 class in the nation last year.

Here's an overall breakdown of the total number of recruits for each ACC team. The list is sorted by the number of Rivals150 players that each team signed.

Breakdown of Top 150 Players
School Total Number
of Recruits
Number
in Rivals150
Virginia Tech 6 5
Duke 3 3
Wake Forest 3 3
Virginia 4 2
Florida State 3 2
NC State 4 2
Georgia Tech 3 2
Clemson 3 1
Miami 4 1
Maryland 4 1
Boston College 5 1
UNC 0 0
Totals 42 23

After losing so many good seniors following the 2006-07 season, Virginia Tech was able to sign more players than any other team in the ACC. The Hokies signed six newcomers, five of whom are included in the Rivals150.

Virginia Tech isn't the only program in the ACC to have a lot of success this year with highly-touted recruits. Duke is the unanimous choice as having the #1 recruiting class in the ACC this year. The Blue Devils are bringing in three players rated in the top 39 by Rivals.com. Even though the Hokies signed more players than Duke, all of the Blue Devils' signees are rated higher than any of Tech's incoming recruits.

Wake Forest also managed to do very well this year. All three of their recruits are rated in the Rivals150. Virginia, Florida State, NC State and Georgia Tech signed two Rivals150 players each, while Clemson, Miami, Maryland and Boston College each signed one.

Of all the ACC schools, which had the best year purely in terms of Rivals150 talent? Check out this table:

Average Ranking of Rivals150 Recruits
Team Number of
Rivals150
Average
Ranking
Duke 3 27.0
NC State 2 29.5
Georgia Tech 2 59.0
Florida State 2 62.5
Wake Forest 3 81.0
Virginia 2 88.5
Virginia Tech 5 99.0
Miami 1 107.0
Boston College 1 121.0
Maryland 1 149.0
Clemson 1 150.0

According to the Rivals rankings, six ACC teams did better than the Hokies in average rankings in the Rivals150. But of course, none of those teams signed nearly as many Rivals150 players as the Hokies did.

Despite the lofty ratings of the other ACC recruiting classes, Virginia Tech still ranks #2 in the conference for the 2007 class by most experts, behind only Duke. Tech signed more overall recruits than any other team, and more Rivals150 recruits than any other program in the conference. They'll have a lot of competition, but if the recruiting rankings are to be believed, they should more than hold their own.

Rivals Hoops Recruiting


Win a TSL Pass Subscription and VT Merchandise by Playing the Pete Dye River Course

For the Spring Game, TSL will be having its annual Spring Game Tailgate (more on that coming next week), and in addition, we've partnered with Virginia Tech's Pete Dye River Course on a competition that could net you a free year of TSL Pass and a nice piece of VT merchandise. The prize package is valued at about $100.

To participate, just play the Pete Dye River Course the weekend of the Spring Game (Friday, April 20th through Sunday, April 22nd). Report your score to the PDRC staff, and the lowest "TSL score" of the weekend wins one year of TSL Pass, and either a Virginia Tech polo shirt or a Virginia Tech windshirt (your choice).

Here are the details:

  • Set up a tee time at PDRC. (Click here for greens fees.) You can do this online at RiverCourseGolf.com. You can also call 1-888-Pete-Dye and ask for Keith or John. Be sure to mention the TechSideline.com promotion.
  • Play the course.
  • Report your score, name, and email address to PDRC staff (Keith or John if available), and tell them to include you in the TechSideline.com competition.
  • We'll let you know if you won the following week.
  • In the case of a two-way tie, prize packages will be awarded to each winner. In the case of a three-way-or-more tie, the tie will be broken down to two winners via a random chance method to be determined later (roll of the dice, coin flip, etc.).


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   TechSideline.com Updates From the Past Week

Inside the Numbers: Quarterbacks Improve ... Most of the Time

April 12, 2007
Since the ignominious end to Virginia Tech's last football season on the turf of the Georgia Dome, talk has centered on the two areas that must improve for Virginia Tech to make progress in the 2007 football season: the offensive line and quarterback. Offensive line performance is difficult to measure, but for quarterbacks, they've got it down to a complex formula that measures it to as many decimal points as you desire. It's called the quarterback efficiency rating, and I started thinking: If you analyze the efficiency rating of VT quarterbacks during Frank Beamer's tenure, what trends do you see?
more

Miles Explodes on the Recruiting Scene
April 12, 2007
Donovan Miles is one of the hottest names in the 2008 football recruiting class. The 6-1, 225-pound linebacker prospect out of Brooke Point (Stafford, VA) is four for four - he has provided only four Division 1A programs with junior tape, but all four have come back with scholarship offers.
more

Top DB Whitley Adds to Impressive Offer List
April 12, 2007
Butler High School (Matthews, N.C.) defensive back Eddie Whitley is making a nice run in the offer department. The talented defensive back is now up to 12 scholarship offers and counting and is approaching the number of offers out to his two teammates - Spencer Adams and R.J. Blanton.
more

Virginia Tech in the Mix with Florida ATH
April 11, 2007
6-1, 195-pound Kathleen Senior (Lakeland, FL) wide receiver/defensive back T.J. Lawrence claims eight written offers at this point in his recruitment. Virginia Tech is one of the eight schools and is one of three programs that Lawrence has visited.
more

Next Visit Important for Glennon
April 11, 2007
6-6, 195-pound Westfield (Chantilly, VA) junior quarterback Mike Glennon plans to head to Charlottesville this Saturday for UVa's spring game. He has more on his mind than just watching the game, however, as he will be looking to discover more about UVa's possible future plans for him.
more

Scrimmage Report: Glennon Looking Good
April 10, 2007
Reports out of Blacksburg over the last couple of weeks have indicated that Sean Glennon not only has a stranglehold on the starting quarterback position, but that he's separating himself from the field. Those reports seem accurate based on the performances of the three quarterbacks in Tuesday afternoon's scrimmage in Lane Stadium.
more

Spring Football Update: Cheeseman Emerges
April 10, 2007
A look at the tailback depth chart for Virginia Tech reveals eight names. That's a lot of running backs, but the truth is that not every one of them is an every-down type of running back, and not every one of them can fill Branden Ore's role. Figuring out the depth chart and every tailback's role is the challenge the Tech coaching staff has this spring. We've got some thoughts and information on that, plus our take on the whip and rover positions.
more

Vinston Painter High on Two Schools
April 10, 2007
Blue-chip offensive/defensive lineman Vinston Painter plans to be in Blacksburg this Friday for an unofficial visit. Maury High School's 6-6, 315-pound prospect, who returned home to Norfolk last night following visits to UNC and N.C. State, respectively, is looking forward to Friday's trip. The Hokies continue to be in good shape with the top prospect, but another school is now certainly high on his list.
more

Ruff Visits VT
April 9, 2007
Buddy Ruff last visited Virginia Tech in the ninth grade and he doesn't have a clear memory of what his initial Blacksburg experience was like. He and his parents visited Tech this past Friday, though, and came away with a positive feeling.
more

Tech Commits in Action at BWI
April 9, 2007
Both of Virginia Tech's 2008 men's basketball recruiting class commitments participated with their respective AAU teams in this past weekend's Boo Williams Invitational. J.T. Thompson played with the Charlotte Royals while Shamarr Bowden played with eventual 17-and-under champ Boo Williams Summer League.
more

Spring Practice Update: Position Battles
April 6, 2007
The Hokies have completed five of their 15 scheduled practices this spring (prior to Friday's practice), and there are still some position battles raging. Tech held a small scrimmage on Wednesday afternoon, and some of the positions began to shake themselves out. Saturday's scrimmage will continue to iron out the depth chart.
more
 
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