But that’s a ways off. In the here and now, the ‘Hoos and Hokies are set to match up for the first time in the 2023-2024 season on Wednesday night at JPJ (7 p.m. ET, ESPNU).
Virginia, which has lost three of its last four, all by double-digits, is a slight (2.7-point) favorite.
Tech has also lost three of its last four, its most recent loss a 75-71 setback to Miami in Blacksburg on Saturday.
Virginia Tech rotation
It shocked me to hear UVA coach Tony Bennett talk about Sean Pedulla (16.1 ppg, 4.1 rebounds/g, 4.1 assists/g, 43.1% FG, 38.9% 3FG) in his Monday ACC teleconference as being just a junior.
Seriously, Pedulla has been around forever.
Lynn Kidd, a 6’10” senior, has been, too, but you’re forgiven if you didn’t notice. Kidd (14.8 ppg, 7.1 rebounds/g, 67.2% FG) didn’t play much until this year – 2.5 minutes per game as a sophomore, 12.6 minutes per game last season.
Kidd has gone for double-digits in 12 of his 16 games, though his numbers have been down over his past three – he’s averaging 8.0 points and 4.7 boards in that stretch.
The status of the other guard who has been around forever, senior Hunter Cattoor (13.5 ppg, 46.8% FG, 41.1% 3FG), is uncertain for Wednesday.
Cattoor was injured in the first half of the win over Clemson last week, getting inadvertently kicked in the head by a Clemson player while diving for a loose ball.
Cattoor had to miss the Miami game with the head injury, and as for Wednesday:
“He’s got some tests and some markers he’s got to achieve before he’s clear to play on Wednesday. I don’t know any more than that. Time will tell if he’s in uniform on Wednesday,” Tech coach Mike Young said on Monday.
6’7” UNC transfer Tyler Nickel (9.1 ppg, 42.3% FG, 38.2% 3FG) has been the team’s sixth man, but he started the Miami game in place of Cattoor.
Nickel is a former four-star recruit from East Rock just up the road from us in Rockingham County.
The other regular starters are 6’4” sophomore MJ Collins (5.3 ppg, 27.6% FG, 22.6% 3FG) and 6’9” Northwestern grad transfer Robbie Beran (4.7 ppg, 3.3 rebounds/g, 40.3% FG, 29.7% 3FG).
Two other regular rotation guys to mention here: 6’9” senior Mylyjael Poteat (4.9 ppg, 66.0% FG) and 6’7” ODU transfer Mekhi Long (4.1 ppg, 5.2 rebounds/g, 43.9% FG).
And finally, we may or may not see 6’1” freshman guard Brandon Rechsteiner (2.6 ppg, 1.9 assists/g, 12.3 minutes/g), who has been getting limited minutes in Tech’s ACC and P5 games.
Rechsteiner is the son of the guy that wrestling fans know as Scott Steiner, the former WCW, WWE and TNA Impact star known as “Big Poppa Pump.”
Rechsteiner is also the cousin of the WWE wrestler known as Bron Breakker, real name: Bronson Rechsteiner, whose father is former WCW star Rick Steiner.
Holla if you hear me, indeed.
How Virginia matches up
I’ll be curious to see how Bennett matches up lineup- and rotation-wise here. Young starts Beran at 6’9” and Kidd at 6’10”, but those two, plus Poteat at 6’9”, are getting in the range of 60 minutes per game total, meaning there is roughly 15-20 minutes per game where he will go what we call small – four guards around one of his bigs.
That would allow Bennett to go to his favored starting lineup, with four guards around 6’9” stretch-four Jake Groves (7.3 ppg. 47.2% FG, 41.9% 3FG).
I’d expect to see Jordan Minor (2.5 ppg, 8.0 minutes/g) to get double-digit minutes off the bench just to try to body up to Kidd in the post.
Minor is coming off his most extensive usage of the season – 22 minutes in the 66-47 loss at Wake Forest on Saturday, in which he scored nine points and pulled down five rebounds, and didn’t allow a basket in one-on-one situations.
It will be incumbent upon Reece Beekman (12.7 ppg, 5.9 assists/g, 46.4% FG, 28.9% 3FG) to stay out of early foul trouble. Beekman’s minutes were limited in the loss at Wake with two first-half fouls, and a third foul that he picked up early in the second half, as the Deacs opened the game up with a 10-2 run that basically put the game away.
In serious need of having bounceback games on Wednesday: Isaac McKneely (11.6 ppg, 41.7% FG, 48.1% 3FG), who had eight points on 2-of-10 shooting in the loss at Wake, and Ryan Dunn (9.8 ppg, 6.6 rebounds/g, 2.1 blocks/g, 2.1 steals/g, 54.5% FG, 21.7% 3FG), who had four points and, somehow, one (1!) rebound in the loss.
Postseason implications
It’s early, but this one is a clear must-win for both programs in terms of their postseason aspirations.
Virginia is 63rd in today’s updated NET rankings, with just one Quad 1 win to date, the 73-70 win over Florida in Charlotte on Nov. 10.
Tech is 52nd in the NET, with three Q1 wins – Boise State (82-75, Nov. 23), Iowa State (71-62, Nov. 24) and Clemson (87-72, Jan. 10).
A win for the Hokies would be a fourth Q1 win.
For Virginia, this one is a Q2 game.
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Chris Graham
