WATCH: Virginia Tech basketball unveils 2022 ACC Tournament Championship rings
The Virginia Tech men’s basketball team had a historic run to the 2022 ACC Tournament crown last season, putting on a clinic in the ACC Tournament final against the Duke Blue Devils with a resounding 82-67 victory. The Hokies historic march to the ACC Tournament championship not only was the first in program history, but it also punched their tickets to the 2022 NCAA Tournament. They won four games in four days, becoming the lowest seed (seventh) to ever win the storied crown. Virginia Tech finally received their rings from the 2022 ACC Tournament Championship this week, and they are beauties, as you might expect.
There is an impressive amount of detail in these rings. Check out the video released by Virginia Tech basketball.
It’s really impressive what head coach Mike Young has accomplished in Blacksburg. He’s taken the program to the next level and a place that it couldn’t quite reach under Buzz Williams. That’s not to say the program was in a bad spot when Williams was there. He did great things for the Hokie basketball program as well.
Hunter Cattoor was blistering hot in the ACC Tournament Championship against Duke, pouring in a career-high 31 points on 11-of-16 shooting from the field. He torched the nets from deep, connecting on 7-of-9 three pointers. He simply could not be stopped all night long. Cattoor scored eight points in the first 10 minutes of the game. The funny part is he might have scored more, but he had to leave the game due to picking up two fouls with 4:13 remaining in the first half. Keve Aluma also had a double-double for the Hokies, pumping in 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field. He also corralled 10 rebounds on the night.
Not surprisingly, Catoor took home MVP honors for the 2022 ACC Tournament. It was well deserved after his masterful performance against the Blue Devils. Virginia Tech’s Keve Aluma was also named to the first team All-Tournament team.
2022-2023 college basketball season outlook for Virginia Tech
The good news for Virginia Tech fans is they return Hunter Cattoor and Justyn Mutts for the 2022-2023 season. The bad news is they lose plenty of talent from last year’s ACC Tournament title run–Keve Aluma, Storm Murphy, Naheim Alleyne, and other key pieces.
Virginia Tech reeled in a big addition from the transfer portal in Wright State’s Grant Basile, who averaged 18.4 points per game, 8.5 rebounds per game, and 1.6 blocks per game. He was named a 2021 All-Horizon League selection and helped lead the Raiders to a NCAA Tournament berth. On3’s Jamie Shaw noted at the time of his transfer that Basile could be one of the most productive players in the country from the portal.
In Blue Ribbon’s College Basketball 2022-2023 season preview, head coach Mike Young said this year’s team is the deepest he’s had at Virginia Tech. He’s one of the best coaches in college basketball today and it’ll be interesting to see what he does in Blacksburg in the coming years.