Tech only looking forward

By Nathan Warters

Published: March 31, 2008

BLACKSBURG — The game was over. So was Virginia Tech’s season. Hank Thorns and Deron Washington were in lockstep heading toward the Cassell Coliseum tunnel when Thorns, a 5-foot-9 freshman guard, reached up and cradled the back of the 6-7 Washington’s head.
Thorns was consoling the departing senior, who was walking off the court for good after a decorated career. His gesture was also symbolic of where the Hokies’ men’s basketball program is headed.
Tech, by all indications, is in good hands.
“I think the sky’s the limit for those guys,” Washington said.
With a cast of young players, the Hokies overachieved in 2007-08. They bucked outside expectations — in the preseason, the media picked them to finish 10th in the 12-team ACC — and finished fourth in the league with a 9-7 record.
They earned a first-round bye in the ACC tournament, just missed out on an NCAA tournament invitation and made a postseason run in the National Invitation Tournament that ended last Wednesday with an 81-72 quarterfinal loss to Mississippi.
“We accomplished a lot of our goals this year, so I’m not disappointed at all,” said freshman guard Malcolm Delaney. “I think it would’ve been good to win the (NIT) championship, but I’m proud of our team.”
The fans embraced Tech’s late-season run — it went 7-3 to end the season — by nearly selling out all three of its home NIT games. As the clock ran down on its season-ending loss, the fans were still chanting, “Let’s go Hokies.”
The anticipation for next season will no doubt be strong as Tech is expected to return all but one regular player from this season’s 21-14 team. Washington was a four-year starter. He often drew the toughest defensive assignment. He was the Hokies second-leading scorer (13.1) and second-leading rebounder (6.5).
“He did some wonderful things for our basketball program,” Tech coach Seth Greenberg said. “He came here when it wasn’t fashionable to come here.”
Tech returns leading scorer A.D. Vassallo (16.9) next season as well as a cast of talented sophomores-to-be.
The Hokies played six freshmen in their regular rotation, including Delaney (9.6 points, 2.9 rebounds), starting power forward Jeff Allen (11.8 points, 7.6 rebounds) and top reserves Thorns (4.6 points, 2 rebounds) and J.T. Thompson (5.6 points, 4.1 rebounds).
Incoming freshmen Victor Davila (6-foot-9, 240 pounds) and Gene Swindle (6-11, 260) should provide immediate help in the post for Tech, which was at a disadvantage at times up front with undersized forwards Allen and Thompson as well as inconsistent post players Cheick Diakite and Lewis Witcher banging inside.
The Hokies will also welcome 6-foot-3, 185-pound recruit Kendall Durant, who could play the point or shooting guard position.
“Just because we won some games this year doesn’t mean we’ll win games next year,” Greenberg said. “Everyone’s getting better (in the ACC). We’ve got to get better. We’ve got to work harder. We’ve got to improve some deficiencies. I like our team. I think we have a core group that’s pretty good.”