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Heading into this basketball season, some fans wondered whether Virginia Tech's sophomore class would have a dreaded sophomore slump. While it can be argued that the Hokies haven't played as well as they are capable, you can't argue against the idea that Malcolm Delaney is developing into one of the finest scoring guards in Virginia Tech history.

Seth Greenberg has coached a few top-notch scorers in his Virginia Tech coaching career, namely Bryant Matthews, Zabian Dowdell and A.D. Vassallo. Let's compare what these three players did as sophomores to what Malcolm Delaney is doing this year.

Dowdell and Matthews went on to develop into First Team All-Conference players, and A.D. Vassallo could end up doing the same thing this year. Yet Delaney is further along from a scoring standpoint as a sophomore than any of those outstanding players.

Of the players on that list, Delaney is obviously the most similar to Dowdell. They play the same position and they can both knock down the outside jumper. Delaney probably has a smoother stroke, but Dowdell could penetrate and score around the basket like no other player in the ACC as a senior.

To reach the level that Dowdell played at as a senior, Delaney is going to have to expand his game a bit. He needs to pack on muscle mass so he can get to the basket easier and finish better. That was the big difference we saw in Dowdell between his junior and senior seasons. He bulked up in his upper body and outmuscled weaker guards. He got to the basket, finished, and drew fouls. He went to the free throw line 191 times during his senior season.

Delaney is already very good at getting to the free throw line. However, he could get there even more if he could get to the rim more often. As a career 83.1% free throw shooter, Delaney has tremendous potential if his offensive game improves like Zabian Dowdell's.

Dowdell finished his career sixth in Virginia Tech history in scoring with 1,785 points. Only Bimbo Coles, Dell Curry, Dale Solomon, Perry Young and Allan Bristow scored more points. If Delaney stays at the same pace for the rest of his career, he'll be right up there as well.

Tech played 35 games last year. If they played 35 games in each of Delaney's four seasons, and he averages 16.6 points per game, he will finish his career with 2,078 points. That would put him fourth in school history in scoring, just behind Solomon, who finished with 2,136 points.

Of course, the Hokies might not play 35 games in each of Delaney's remaining seasons. That would cut into the final numbers. However, if he improves at the rate of A.D. Vassallo or Zabian Dowdell over his final two seasons, he could end up averaging a lot more than 16.6 points per game.

Here is a list of Tech's Top 10 scorers of all-time, with Delaney's projected numbers. It assumes he continues to average 16.6 points per game, and the Hokies play 35 games each year for the remainder of his career. Just for fun, we assumed that A.D. Vassallo will average 18.1 points per game for the rest of this season. That would put him in the Top 10 as well.

Those numbers won't necessarily be accurate, but it's safe to say at this point that the Hokies have two of the best scorers in school history on the same roster. That's a luxury Tech has rarely had in the past. Perry Young and Dale Solomon played together for one year, and Young and Curry played most of their career together. It's probably not a coincidence that the best era of Virginia Tech basketball took place from 1978-1986. The Hokies went to four NCAA tournaments and three NITs during that time period.

The Hokies will lose Vassallo at the end of this season, but it appears that they are on track to at least reach the NIT. Next year Delaney will assume the scoring load, and Tech will need another player to step up and complement him, just like he has done for Vassallo over his first two seasons. If the Hokies can find another major scorer to go along with Delaney next season, the Seth Greenberg era should continue with success.