If there was one recruit we lost before next season, I would have guessed it would have been Gus Gilchrist or Terrell Bell (from Georgia).  I had the chance to meet Gus, Malcolm Delaney, Jeff Allen, and Dorenzo Hudson at the Capital Classic in college park, maryland in early April.  Gus just did not seem to be as tight with the other three recruits in the game as they were with each other.  Granted, the other three practiced and played together that week, and Hudson and Allen played together at Hargrave this past season.  But still, Gus just did not seem to have the same connection they had.

If I was to rank the player we could LEAST afford to lose from this class, it would have been Gilchrist due to the Hokies lack of inside game this past season.  I think Malcolm Delaney is the best player in the class, but Gus was the tallest of the incoming recruits and had the most “ACC ready” body of them.  Jeff Allen is thick at 235 lbs., but was not the 6′9″ he was advertised as on some recruiting sites.  I would put him more in the 6′6″ to 6′7″ range at best.  Tall, but short to play power forward on the college level.  Gus, on the other hand, I believe was closer to 6′10″ and had plenty of strength and size.  He would have garnered heavy minutes for us next year. 

With the loss of Robert Krabbendam, Chris Tucker, Coleman Collins, and now it looks like Gilchrist, too, Tech will be very thin in terms of depth and size inside once again.  Cheick Diakite and Lewis Witcher will be the only true low post players VT will return that have seen any significant time.  Look for Deron to once again have to play out of position next year at the power forward spot, instead of his natural “wing” or small forward slot.  Hopefully, Terrance Vinson will step up his game, but I am not sure he is ACC talent.  Let’s see if he proves me wrong.  Either way, he’s going to have to play due to shear lack of numbers.  And Jeff Allen will have to play power forward for us, likely seeing lots of minutes next year.

VT has enough of a guard presence next year, even though they will be inexperienced.  I still see low post play as much more of a weakness, especially now, than perimeter play.  Plus, Greenberg and his staff has not shown that they can develop low post players.  None of the guys seem to have low post moves.

Look for Tech to get dominated inside once again next year by teams with talented low post players like nc state.  The only difference is VT will no longer have two awesome guards to counter that mismatch.  Next year could be interesting (by that, I mean a serious rebuilding year).  But I think we all expected that losing three senior starters.

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It should be noted that Niemo did NOT arm curl, or even attempt to arm curl, Gus Gilchrist.  So those of you in the “arm curl jinx” camp cannot blame Niemo for this one.