From the sidelines
By Marty Gordon
Hmmm, the transfer portal? A lot of Hokies fans are scratching their heads on what is happening in Blacksburg.
Last week, Virginia Tech lost all five of its men’s basketball starters and two others to either graduation or the portal. National media have called Tech’s situation as a “mass exodus”.
There has been no indication to the reason, but Coach Mike Yount is going to be diving deep into the portal to find a whole new group for the court.
Robbie Beran and Hunter Cattoor are simply out of eligibility, but Sean Pedula, MJ Collins, Lynn Kidd, Mylyiel Poteat and Tyler Nickel, all started looking for a new home. Poteet did return to the fold, but the others are already packing their bags. Kidd is bound for ACC-foe Miami.
A lot of the eyes are on the women’s program where the Hokies are looking for a new coach after Kenny Brooks moved to the University of Kentucky. So far, only one player has placed their name into the portal.
But quietly, the Radford University women are the ones needing players to fill out the roster. A total of five RU players entered their names into the portal. The list included Ashlyn Traylor-walker, sister of former VT player Kayana Traylor. The 5-8 sophomore averaged 16 points and six rebounds per game this past season as she was named first-team All-Big South. There has been speculation she will transfer to Blacksburg.
Meanwhile, the other RU players included 5-11 guard Bria Beverly, 6-4 center Emma Fox, 5-11 wing Maci Rhodes and 5-7 guard Olivia Walker.
The current landscape of college sports has become like free agency of professional sports. Every fan will need a scorecard every year to figure out who is on the court. Loyalty and a sense of team is no longer in the athletes’ dictionary.
While we are centering this week on basketball, the portal is affecting every sport. Players are going to come and go with a revolving door at the front of the line.
The portal has become a bad thing for college athletics, and for now, we can’t do nothing about it.
On a side note from this past weekend’s women’s March Madness, the NCAA screwed up on the three-point line.
The NCAA 3-point line is at 22 feet, 1 3/4 inches for both women and men. But not this weekend in Portland, Oregon.
Coaches discovered the difference before the game, and the NCAA confirmed the problem.
The error or the difference was discovered before Sunday’s games. It had been used for four semi games on Friday and Sunday.
Coaches agreed to play on instead of facing a delay to realign the court. One side was much shorter.
How could this happen? The NCAA needs to step up and eliminate the difference between women’s and men’s basketball. This was just another example of people not caring.
The NCAA must do better job of making the women’s and men’s game more equal.