Over the last 10 days (July 11-20), three Hokies participated in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.  Deron Washington, a 2nd-round pick of Detroit, represented the Pistons while free agents Coleman Collins and Jamon Gordon played for the Toronto Raptors and Denver Nuggets respectively.  Zabian Dowdell, who was supposed to be playing for the Sacramento Kings, did not participate.

Of the Hokies that did play, Deron Washington and Coleman Collins had the best showings.  Deron, who looked very tentative in his first game, got better with each subsequent contest.  His point total went up in all but one of his five games, scoring 1 - 5 - 7 - 4 - 14.  In his final game, he scored those 14 points on six-of-nine shooting.  Deron also tied his Summer League high of four rebounds, although he also committed four turnovers.  He averaged 22 minutes per game for Detroit.

Coleman Collins started two of the three games he played in for Toronto, but did not participate in their final two games.  In the three games he did play, he averaged 7.3 points and 3.7 rebounds in 17 minutes per game.  He had 11 points against Jamon Gordon and Denver on July 14th on 5/6 shooting.

Jamon Gordon played in all five Denver contests but scored just eight total points on 3/12 shooting from the floor in 13 minutes per game.  He did a decent job of rebounding and had four steals, but was foul prone.  Although that can be misleading in the Summer League as the officials appear to be paid per whistle.  Guys are allowed up to 10 fouls and I saw a couple of guys use up each one in a matter of minutes on the court.

It is not expected that any of these Hokies will make a NBA roster this year, although Deron may have shown enough promise to stay on Detroit’s radar as they own his rights.

Friday proved to be a big day not only for the Virginia Tech football team, but also the basketball team.  The Hokies received verbal pledges from two roundball recruits: 6′8″ PF/C Cadarian Raines (Class of ‘09) and 6′7″ SF Jarell Eddie (Class of ‘10).

Eddie is the more prized of the two recruits.  He is a 4-star on both Rivals.com and Scout.com.  Rivals has him as the #99 overall player in the Class of 2010 and the #21 Small Forward.  Jarell is from Concord, NC (just NE of Charlotte) and plays for the Cannon School.  He averaged 14 points per game this past season.  Eddie is the first member of the Tech Class of 2010 recruiting class.  It will likely be a small class depending on whether or not guys leave the program early.

Raines is from Petersburg, VA and is a bit of a late bloomer.  He averaged a double-double this past season at Petersburg High School, pouring in 14 points and 10 rebounds per game.  Cadarian is also a big time shot blocker and should play in the low post for Tech.  He was a 3-star on Scout but is not currently rated on Rivals.

The Hokies now have a PG, SG, SF, and PF in their 2009 class, giving them a nice balance.  However, none of the recruits are ranked higher than 3-stars on Rivals or Scout.  2009 Recruiting Class

With Raines’s pledge, the Hokies are one scholarship over for the 2009-10 season, but based on past history, it can be expected that there will be at least one victim of attrition by then (possibly Terrance Vinson who will be a redshirt-senior).

The Roanoke Times reported today that the Hokies got two verbal commitments today; Jarrell Eddie, a 6-6, 210 pound swingman from Charlotte, N.C., and Cadarian Raines, a 6-8, 233-pound post player. Eddie is a rising junior and a 2010 target, while Raines is a rising senior and figures to join the 2009 class.

Read the Roanoke Times article for more info.

I found the ACC’s three year conference game model on their web site: ACC Conference Schedule

Virginia Tech’s primary partners are boston college and uva.  In other words, VT will play them twice (home and away) every season.  Each season, the Hokies will have three rotating partners that they also play twice.  Tech will play the remaining six teams once.

Here’s how it breaks down in terms of who Virginia Tech will play each season in conference and where.  Dates have not been set.

2008-09:

• Play Twice: bc, clemson, duke, fsu, and uva
• Play at the Cassell: ga tech, nc state, and unc (they will be the ACC’s preseason #1 and likely #1 overall)
• Play Away: maryland, miami, and wake

2009-10:

• Play Twice: bc, miami, nc state, unc, and uva
• Play at the Cassell: clemson, maryland, and wake
• Play Away: duke, fsu, and ga tech

2010-11:

• Play Twice: bc, ga tech, maryland, uva, and wake
• Play at the Cassell: duke, fsu, and miami
• Play Away: clemson, nc state, and unc

Update: Deron was not in the starting lineup.  He also appears to be growing his hair back out.

Post-Game Update: Deron scored just 1 point in 15 minutes.  He was, to be blunt, invisible on offense.  Deron seemed content to just stand still on the perimeter and often was as far from the ball as possible.  He must be more aggressive.  He did work hard on defense.  DW committed 3 fouls in his first 4 minutes of play, but did a decent job after that and had a steal, but promptly threw the ball into a defender’s foot.

Deron Washington (#8) and the Detroit Pistons will be on NBA TV tonight (7/11) at 8 PM EDT, taking on the LA Lakers in Las Vegas, NV.  So for the half dozen of you or so that get NBA TV, enjoy!

The league runs from July 11th through July 20th.  Detroit will play five games total between today and July 18th.

Zabian Dowdell (#16) is playing with sean singletary for the Sacramento Kings (or “Queens” if you are talking to Shaq).  They open their summer slate with a game at 4 PM on Saturday, July 12th, against the Toronto Raptors.

Jamon Gordon (#7) is on the Denver Nuggets and Coleman Collins (#34) is on the Toronto Raptors.

Head-to-head match-ups include:

• Sacramento (Dowdell) vs. Toronto (Collins) on Saturday, July 12th
• Toronto (Collins) vs. Denver (Gordon) on Monday, July 14th

C.J. Harris, a combo guard from Winston-Salem, NC, has decided to stay home and play his college ball at wake forest beginning with the 2009-10 season.  The Hokies were considered a major player for Harris, but were unable to land the 2009 prospect.

Scout.com rated C.J. as a 4-star recruit while Rivals.com had him as a 3-star.

The Hokies still have two guards on-board as part of the 2009 Recruiting Class with Erick Green and Ben Boggs.  Manny Atkins joined the class last week, and will likely be a wing player at small forward for Tech.