EIGHT-STORY STUDENT HOUSING ON NORTH MAIN STREET APPROVED BY BLACKSBURG TOWN COUNCIL
Ayisha Surani | news editor
A real estate developer from Austin, Texas has been assigned with the development project.
The Blacksburg Town Council has approved construction of a housing development project tailored to Virginia Tech students in Blacksburg according to WDBJ7.
The development plan is expected to contain 759 bedrooms inside of an eightstory building. The building will be located outside of Virginia Tech’s campus on North Main Street, along Kabrich Street and Winston Avenue according to WSLS10.
The development is a part of the North Main Street Strategy for Redevelopment. The strategy plan claims that “the community is unsatisfied with the current state of North Main Street.” However, this
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statement contrasts the narrow vote from the town council at 4-3.
“We, not the developer, will deal with the long-term consequences,” said Blacksburg resident Leslie Harwood to WDBJ7. “This project will increase traffic congestion, reduce parking in existing neighborhoods, and fail to provide basic necessities for people who live here.”
A real estate developer in Austin, Texas named LV Collective will undertake the project according to The Roanoke Times. They have completed student housing projects within several large college towns across the country:
- The University of Georgia in Athens,
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Georgia
- The University of Texas at Austin in Austin, Texas
- The University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida
- Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Georgia
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- Arizona State University Tempe Campus in Tempe, Arizona
- The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan
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The apartment complex will be built with primary consideration of students who do not bring their cars to campus and instead walk, ride bikes or use the Blacksburg Transit bus transportation system according to The Roanoke Times. Planning on the project is set to progress following the decision made at the town council meeting March 11 according to WDBJ7.
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LIFESTYLES NEW RIVER CONSERVANCY BRINGS BIG PLANT BACK TO BLACKSBURG
Emelia Delaporte | lifestyles editor
This annual event enters its seventh year of protecting and improving water quality in Stroubles Creek.
Sometimes, putting down roots at Virginia Tech means planting a tree — or thousands. On March 22 and March 23, The Big Plant will be coming back to Blacksburg for the seventh time.
The Big Plant consists of planting thousands of trees over a period of two days. This year, the Blacksburg event will take place along Heth Farm Road, which leads to the Virginia Tech StREAM Lab. The road abuts Stroubles Creek, which has traditionally been the focal waterway of the event.
This annual event is being put on by several stakeholders, the most notable of which being the New River Conservancy (NRC), the Environmental Coalition at Virginia Tech (ECVT), the Stroubles Creek Coalition and Virginia Tech. The event receives its funding from some of its hosts as well as the Virginia Department of Forestry and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
The trees that survive will provide a
number of benefits to the area, contributing to both aesthetic value and environmental quality.The Big Plant is done with environmental quality in mind — especially as it pertains to water.
“First and foremost, it protects the river’s health,” said Andrew Downs, executive director of the New River Conservancy. “The Town of Blacksburg and Montgomery County get their drinking water from the New, so enhancing a protective riparian area preserves water quality. (It) helps manage runoff and nonpoint source pollution.”
A riparian area typically refers to the banks of a water source. By planting trees in those areas, new root systems help to prevent erosion that would threaten the waterways with detrimental sedimentation — essentially, dirt, nutrients and other materials falling into the water in undesirable quantities. These trees also have the potential to provide habitat for native species.
The New River provides economic benefits to the entire region for which it is named, through drinking water, recreation opportunities, agriculture and more.
A healthy river can lead to more bountiful economic opportunities.
“It’s just aesthetically a real benefit — people love trees and respond to natural environments really well,” Downs said. “I think opportunities to enjoy the natural world are getting slimmer and slimmer… we need to work not only to protect but to enhance.”
Community members and students are invited to register via a SignUpGenius that can be found on NRC’s website. According to the event’s Facebook page, the Big Plant started in 2019 and by 2023 had achieved the planting of more than 45,000 trees. In 2023 alone, 10,000 trees were planted.
There is another Big Plant happening in Radford on March 21 and March 22, hosted by NRC in conjunction with Nursery Natives.
This will be the first Big Plant in Radford. NRC also hosts other service events, such as Hurricane Helene recovery clean-ups at New River Trail State Park. Their mission is to preserve, protect and promote the New River as an environmental and cultural resource.
“We’re a tool in the hands of the public to protect the river that we love,” Downs said. “The New River Conservancy is a vehicle for people to get involved and take action around something that they love.”
For those interested in learning more about the main organizations leading the Big Plant and the other volunteer opportunities that they may have, check out the New River Conservancy at newriverconservancy. org and the Environmental Coalition on Instagram @environmental_coalition_vt.
“COLORADO’S ON FIRE AGAIN”: A RICHY MITCH & THE COAL MINERS ALBUM REVIEW
Emelia Delaporte | lifestyles editor
Lifestyles editor Emelia Delaporte shares an overview and interpretation of the new RMCM album.
Richy Mitch & The Coal Miners’ (RMCM) new album makes an impression without even needing to listen to it. “Colorado’s on Fire Again” is as much an eye-catching title as it is a sobering acknowledgement, a cry for help or of outrage. Gone are the days when relating an album title to current events makes a splash, but the lack of novelty makes it that much more impactful; there have been enough disaster events in recent years that this nomenclature has become common practice. An album drops with a title like this, and there is no need to look for deeper meaning. Colorado is on fire again.
RMCM, while currently based in Seattle, was born in a high school in Colorado Springs,
Colorado. “Colorado’s on Fire Again” is RMCM’s fourth album, after almost six years without one. The interim has seen some singles, collaborations and the band becoming famous due to their 2017 track “Evergreen” gaining popularity on TikTok in 2023.
The first and last track of the album, “Berry Herman” and “October Moon,” were released early as singles. “October Moon” was released on Oct. 11, 2024, and “Berry Herman” was released on Feb. 7, exactly a month before “Colorado’s on Fire Again.”
The opening line of “Berry Herman” is “Colorado’s on fire again,” giving the album its name.
Despite the gravity of that opener and its
respective stanza, the fire motif largely stays in that one song. It almost feels deceptive for the hard-hitting title to precede an album largely about a relationship. With the right listening ear, however, the relationship is more than just about love of a person — about a life lived and where it happened. The mellow, swelling sound of “Berry Herman,” with its simple instrumentation serves as a palate cleanser to refresh a listener’s mind before getting deeper into the album.
Track two, “Churchill,” is short-spoken. It is a one-sided conversation about coming and going, and whether or not a relationship is right. “Santiago” flows perfectly out of it, talking about returning to a place you traveled
once long ago. While there is plenty of backing, when Mitch Cutts sings, he becomes the focus of the songs. “For the Jets” is much less clear —perhaps about aging — but includes pleasing instrumentals that render a comprehensible storyline, while appreciated, unnecessary.
Track five, “Precursor,” transitions from the first part of the album to the next. Less than a minute long and instrumental for all but a stanza. There is silence on both ends of the track, unlike most of the other songs.
“Xrunk” starts the next part of the album with a dreamy, wistful energy in both sound
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and word choice. Cutts calls for grace from the unidentified love interest, declaring, “I want to sober up for you, I want to come clean.” Track seven, “Heywood,” starts as an unrequited love song and ends as though the protagonist no longer wants to feel that way.
“Henson’s Dream,” like “Precursor,” is an instrumental track — up until the last 40 seconds, where there is a chorus decreeing that Cutts’ character is done with the love
interest. “Talons” makes it sound as though he is not quite sure, going back to the often inevitable “if” of ending a relationship.
In “Sweet Summer,” the relationship takes a darker tone, of the singer having given up on getting on. He ends the short tune with the foreboding line, “If not yours I am nothing, all my worth has been severed.” This short tune continues the choral sound from “Talons,” and transitions into “El, Imponderable” so
smoothly that a listener may not realize that without looking at it. That twelfth track, however, takes a much more positive and loving note to the relationship. While “7052 Days” reads to be unrelated to the narrative of the album, the final song, “October Moon” could be read either way. There is an unnamed “you” in the song, but the lyrics surrounding it are not necessarily romantic.
While the storyline of the album is not particularly clear a lot of the time, the music itself is soothing. Overall, it varies enough to avoid an overly repetitive album but remains interconnected.
I give “Colorado’s on Fire Again” a 6.5/10.
A LOOK INTO JULIA SHAPIRO’S PHD EXPERIENCE
Bailey Miller | lifestyles contributor
Check out PhD student Julia Shapiro’s journey from math enthusiast to coding theory researcher with a future at the National Security Agency.
Julia Shapiro is a student at Virginia Tech pursuing a PhD in Mathematics. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the University of Buffalo in May 2022 then completed her Master of Science in Mathematics from Virginia Tech in May 2024. She is now in the first year of her PhD program, and her primary research lies in coding theory.
From August 2018 to May 2022, Shapiro attended the University of Buffalo from where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics. Shapiro was originally a computer science major but found that she enjoyed her math classes more than her computer science classes during her first year of undergraduate work.
“Even from a young age, I was good at math, and I was passionate about doing math homework and working with others on math, so I kind of knew that I would want my career to have some sort of math component to it,” Shapiro said.
Following her freshman year of college, she changed her major to mathematics, following the theoretical math track. “I was a little scared, because, you know, theoretical math can be difficult,” Shapiro said.“I had never experienced that, but I really enjoyed the classes, especially the intersection of applied math and theoretical math. So being able to, you know, do theory, but also have applicability, like do programming.”
Along with her pure and theoretical math classes, Shapiro took applied classes from the mathematics department, like cryptography and applied algebra courses, and from the computer science department, like coding theory.
“What draws me to math is mostly being able to engage in all these different fields of math,” Shapiro said. “It’s exciting.”
As an undergraduate student, Shapiro completed a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) through the University of Connecticut studying Markov chains. At the end of the eight-week research experience
working with other undergraduate students, graduate students and professors, a paper was published on their findings.
Shapiro shared that she was drawn to Virginia Tech because of her current advisor, Gretchen Matthews. “She’s very open to different projects and coding theory,” Shapiro said.
“Her main expertise is in algebraic geometry, but she does projects in quantum, she does projects in network coding, she does projects of building codes from certain,” Shapiro said. “For example, she studies a main code, which is called Reed-Solomon code, and she’s done a lot of work on that, and these other things called norm trace codes.”
Matthews is also involved with the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI), which is a cybersecurity research initiative across the state of Virginia. In 2024, Shapiro and partner Nathan Daly won the best poster award at the CCI Student Research Showcase.
Shapiro also shared that she enjoys the opportunities Virginia Tech provides to collaborate with industries and government to gain experience outside of her PhD research.
“One thing I was looking for in a graduate school was somewhere I’m not going to be stuck doing the same thing every day, and I’m going to have these other opportunities,” Shapiro said.
Shapiro works as a paid research assistant with the Virginia Tech Hume Center where she works with engineers and physicists on a quantum algorithms project. She shared that this research differs from her PhD research and pushes her out of her comfort zone, which she enjoys.
Following her PhD graduation, Shapiro intends to work for the National Security Agency (NSA). During the summer before starting graduate school at Virginia Tech, she completed an internship doing cryptography work with the NSA. She proceeded to intern with the NSA again during graduate school where she focused on cybersecurity. In September of 2024, Shapiro received a fellowship from the Department of Defense (DoD) called the DoD
Cyber Service Academy Fellowship.
“Through this fellowship, my sponsor is the National Security Agency,” Shapiro said.
“They pay for my for my PhD, the tuition and the stipend, so I can focus solely on research. And then after my PhD, I will go and work there, at least for the amount of years that they paid for the PhD.”
Shapiro shared that her tentative graduation date is May 2027, so she will be obligated to work for the NSA for three years, but she intends to work for the NSA as long as possible.
“I enjoy the work and I’m really interested in working in an environment of government and academia,” Shapiro said. “So, with the NSA, some of the work you can do is unclassified. You can collaborate with other universities. You can do academic research.I would like to do something like that.”
Shapiro shared that her undergraduate and graduate school experiences differed in many ways.
“In undergrad, I felt like I was always busy,” Shapiro said. “I was taking a lot of courses. I tried to do to get involved as much as possible.” She was the president of the math club, an ambassador for the University of Buffalo Department of Mathematics and partook in outreach activities with the university.
“When you go to graduate school, you take less classes, like less credits, but the classes are harder, and there’s more work involved with them.”
In Shapiro’s experience, graduate school required much more time management than undergraduate school. Between more time consuming and more difficult material, preliminary exams required to be awarded a PhD and research, Shapiro originally struggled to manage her time efficiently.
“I kind of fell hard on my face in the first semester because I wasn’t expecting how much work was involved with that and how much time
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management there was,” Shapiro said. Shapiro found that setting distinct times for each activity allowed her to be the most productive. For example, she does research in the mornings, because it’s her most difficult task and wants to work through it when she feels the freshest and most alert. She prefers to do administrative work, classwork and miscellaneous tasks in the afternoon.
Shapiro also emphasized the importance of camaraderie within the department. She had to find a group of peers to study with and work with problems on because of how difficult the coursework was.
“In undergrad, I didn’t really work with people that much on homework,” Shapiro said.
“Like, maybe I would say, ‘oh, did you get this answer? I got this answer.’ In grad school, it was like, ‘okay, we’re both stuck at the same point of the proof. Let’s figure out what we have to use. Let’s talk about it.’”
Outside of academia, Shapiro loves to be physically active. In the past, she’s played intramural sports, like volleyball, ultimate frisbee and kickball, with others in the mathematics department at Virginia Tech. The intramural sport she is currently involved with is wallyball. She also likes to go to the gym with other graduate students. Additionally, Shapiro shared that she simply enjoys spending time with other graduate students.
“Like playing board games, going to dinner
together, at least, having an event per week that we can do to hang out, or maybe we just go to McDonald’s,” Shapiro said. “Just having that support system and just being around people and talking to them is also helpful to increase your time management and to feel better about your work.”
Shapiro won the Outstanding Master’s Student Award for the 2023-2024 academic year. Currently, Shapiro is vice president of the Association for Women in Mathematics and the director of programs for the Graduate and Professional Student Senate at Virginia Tech. She shared that she finished her required classes during her first two years of graduate school and now solely focuses on research,
professional develop, networking and leadership.
“The main takeaway for future PhD students is apply to as many opportunities as possible,” Shapiro said.“Get involved, show your face like when you go to conferences, make sure you talk with people, network with people — those things lead to great things.My internship at NSA has led to a fellowship,I’ve been to many conferences which have led other collaborations. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
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460 WEST: MERCER COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
Emelia Delaporte | lifestyles editor
For folks looking to explore outside of the state, there is a lot to see and do in Mercer County.
Toddlers running circles in bookstores, retirees gathering in coffee shops, eager young adults working behind counters — Mercer County, West Virginia, is coming back to life.
“This whole idea that we have something for everybody, it’s cliché,” said Jamie Null, executive director of the Mercer County Convention and Visitors Bureau. “I try not to use it, because (Mercer is) not a one size fits everybody.”
Null does not mean that variety is absent in Mercer County. Instead, there is so much variety that not all of it appeals to each individual. There is something different for everyone. The county includes two cities, three towns and new possibilities every day.
According to Null, the historical appeal of Mercer County is one of the county’s biggest tourism selling points. The county is riddled with it, from 19th-century buildings to museums chronicling the history of the railroads and coal mines that spurred the county’s economic development.
“We always recommend they try to go several places in the county. One of them is Bramwell, and that is kind of where I like to take folks and travel writers and influencers because it is a Victorian village,” Null said. “I like to describe it as a cross between a Hallmark movie and the Gilmore Girls.”
Nicknamed the “town of millionaires” due to its record number of millionaires per capita in the early 20th century, Bramwell offers a self-guided walking tour to introduce visitors to the town. Bramwell was constructed to allow coal barons’ wives to live in their accustomed luxury. The small valley’s Main Street includes the Coal Heritage Trail Interpretive Center,
with a historic rail car and a small building, including rail artifacts and a variety of brochures advertising the area.
The Corner Shop, located in the building of the town’s original drugstore, is another notable stop in Bramwell. This soda fountain was rated by USA Today in 2019 as the best place in West Virginia to get a milkshake.
“(Bramwell) is a great place to see luxury and then understand some of the history as well,” Null said. “That’s always where I feel people get that wow and that’s what I want them to see first.”
Bluefield is another historical hotspot for the county. This city was once known as “little New York” due to its high-rise buildings that made it one of the first cities in the nation to have a distinguishable skyline. Today, many of those buildings stand empty. The city is ripe for opportunity for redevelopment and that process has made progress with the 2024 demolition of a block of the downtown area. For now, the buildings make for interesting sightseeing and research and a few small businesses are persevering.
On the other side of the train tracks from downtown Bluefield is a historically Black university, Bluefield State. The other university in the county is Concord University in the town of Athens.
In Princeton, history meets modernity in the Mercer Street Grassroots District. This walking strip of Princeton’s downtown creates an opportunity for folks to hit multiple local businesses in one place.
Full of colorful murals and refurbished storefront facades, the businesses in the Grassroots District invite a lively community. They include the Dream Bean
Coffeehouse, a project of the RiffRaff Arts Collective, the Hatter’s Bookstore and a few restaurants. With some look, the Princeton Renaissance Theatre may join the list of active businesses following the completion of ongoing renovations.
At the end of Mercer Street is the Princeton Railroad Museum at the town’s restored historic depot. This museum has two stories of Norfolk and Western Railway artifacts and an intricately crafted train table display representing the Pocahontas Coalfield region and its topography.
On the outskirts of Princeton, there is an abundance of chain restaurants and stores, accessible just off the intersection of Interstate 77 and U.S. Route 460.
These two highways lead to much of the county. To the northwest, I-77 heads out of the county and up to New River Gorge National Park, just an hour away from Princeton. With the youngest national park in the United States so close by, travelers may not think to look elsewhere in the surrounding area for outdoor recreation opportunities.
“I think we get a bit overshadowed but what people don’t realize is that (Mercer) is a great place for beginners,” Null said. “You’re probably not going to rock climb or do any of these high-level adventurous things like whitewater rafting that you might do a little further up the road but there’s a very much active outdoor community out here and it’s very peaceful.”
One recreation option in Mercer County is state-owned sites. There are two state parks in the county — Camp Creek and Pinnacle Rock. Camp Creek, which encompasses over 6,000 acres, allows camping. The park is designed to
cater to recreationists of all sorts, with stocked trout streams and trails suited for bikers,hikers and horses. Pinnacle Rock is significantly smaller than Camp Creek, coming in at fewer than 500 acres. What the park lacks in size, it makes up for in singularity, offering a 3,100-foot natural sandstone formation that visitors can hike to the top of or lunch beneath.
Another recreation option in Mercer County is the Hatfield-McCoy Trail system. This tourism draw feeds off-roading businesses like rentals and guides. The West Virginia Waterfall Trail, which lists waterfalls that explorers can check in at and potentially earn prizes from, also brings visitors to Mercer. Brush Creek Falls is the waterfall from the list in the county, near Princeton and Athens.
Both seasoned recreationists and folks just getting their legs in the outdoors will have a variety of options to choose from when exploring Mercer County. This variety extends past recreation — there does not seem to be a shortage of activities to do in the county.
“It’s a great place to create change,” Null said. “Because it’s smaller, we have a bigger impact than maybe other bigger cities.” With a well-planned visit, perhaps Mercer County could change a visitor, too.
SPORTS MEN’S BASKETBALL ENDS SEASON WITH DOUBLE OVERTIME LOSS IN ACC TOURNAMENT
CHARLOTTE — It is nearly impossible to summarize Virginia Tech’s 82-73 ACC Tournament first round loss to California in words. But let’s try anyway.
First, what happened: the game took two overtime periods to decide, filled with 10 ties and 13 lead changes. The Hokies (13-19) couldn’t hit a three-pointer; they shot 12% from behind the arc in regulation. Point guard Brandon Rechsteiner hit three treys to inject some life; his corner three with 26 seconds remaining gave his team a lead and a chance to win in regulation.
Rechsteiner’s efforts, however, were the exception. Though Tech shot a respectable 41% from the floor, they missed 88% of their shots from deep. In a nine-point game, one which was tied after 40 and 45 minutes, that made all the difference.
Then, everything else.
Center Mylyjael Poteat floated a hook shot with 1:10 remaining to cut the Golden Bears’ (14-18) lead to two. After another 43 seconds, Rechsteiner hit his aforementioned three, giving the Hokies a one-point lead. They regained possession with 8.8 seconds left, but forward Ben Burnham’s pass to forward Tobi Lawal instead went to Cal guard DJ Campbell. Campbell drove into the lane, but Burnham fouled him. Campbell drained one of his two free throw attempts, forcing overtime.
The teams combined to commit six fouls in the five-minute first overtime period. Tech led by three and again had the chance to take the last shot with the game tied at 67, but guard Jaydon Young turned the ball over.
The second overtime period allowed the Golden Bears to pull away. Center Mady Sissoko and guard Andrej Stojakovic each hit two shots to pull away, building an insurmountable lead.
“It’s truly heartbreaking to know that we had a chance right there and we lost, because we were definitely planning on being here for a minute,” Rechsteiner said.
sam mostow | sports editor
The Hokies fell in the first round to No. 15 seed Cal.
“We liked how our schedule was, and we were very confident, felt prepared as a team. We were all confident. It hurts.”
The Hokies’ 3-for-25 clip from deep was their worst percentage of the season. Previously, they had converted 36% of their attempted triples during the 2024-25 campaign.
“You can draw that thing up, and somebody had got to step to the plate and get the thing to the bottom of the barrel,” said Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young. “... I’ll tell you what, didn’t deter us from continuing to put it up there. Twenty-five (shots) is not a bad number … You’ve got to step to the plate and you’ve got to get that thing home. That’s just the bottom line. Need to do better.”
Rechsteiner led Tech with 19 points and shot 6-for-14 from the floor. He drained all three of the Hokies’ three-pointers on Tuesday afternoon.
“I know how good of a shooter I am,” Rechsteiner said. “I’ve kind of been struggling, percentage-wise, from behind the three, but just trusting my work and holding my follow-through.”
Lawal followed with 17 points, Poteat notched 13 and Young finished with 12. Young shot 0-for-11 from behind the arc, though he shot 5-of-8 in front of it.
“I’m going to tell Jaydon to keep shooting,” Lawal said. “Those are the shots he takes. You’ve seen games where he’s taking the same type of shots … that’s what he does. You can never tell a shooter to stop shooting, because that’s what he does. You just have to find other ways to contribute when he’s not making any other shots — that’s it. But if he’s wide open, he has to shoot it.”
Stojakovic totaled a game-high 29 points on 11-for-20 shooting for the Golden Bears.
“We don’t have a great matchup for him, to be frank,” Mike Young said. “We need one 6-foot-6, 6-foot-7 (player) that can
bully his neck and guard him. He’s a pretty physical kid. He’s got good size like his dad (NBA champion Peja Stojaković). But 29 is inexcusable. He had some success early on and got on a bit of a roll.”
Tech flipped most of its roster entering the season, grabbing seven newcomers — five transfers and two freshmen — to complement four returners. The roster contained four freshmen and six sophomores — and showed its youth at times.
“I just knew it from the moment we stepped in this season with what we had — with the growing pains, young team, a lot of new guys, nobody had really played the role they were going to play in,” Poteat said. “So it took time. I think we improved every game. As the season went on, we got better and better — which is all you can really ask for.”
Despite the growing pains, the Hokies
improved. Before the season, ACC media members expected them to finish 14th in the conference. They dropped a buy game in Cassell Coliseum to Jacksonville in November, then rebounded to finish 10th in the league with an 8-12 record — far from a failure.
“I’m proud of how far we came,” Lawal said. “What did they have us in the preseason? … They thought we were going to be ass. I mean, we were still ass but, you know, we weren’t that bad. You know what I’m saying? We beat expectations.”
THOMAS BRAY / COLLEGIATE TIMES
Virginia Tech’s Jaydon Young (3) attempts a layup over Cal’s DeJaun Campbell (3), Mar. 11 2025
THOMAS BRAY / COLLEGIATE TIMES
Virginia Tech’s Ben Burnham (13) inbounds the ball late in the game against Cal, Mar. 11 2025
THOMAS BRAY / COLLEGIATE TIMES
Virginia Tech’s Mylyjael Poteat (34) boxes out Cal’s Mady Sissoko (12), Mar. 11 2025
THOMAS BRAY / COLLEGIATE TIMES
Virginia Tech’s Tyler Johnson (10) drives the ball again Cal’s Andrej Stojaković (2), Mar. 11 2025
THOMAS BRAY / COLLEGIATE TIMES
Virginia Tech’s Brandon Rechsteiner (7) smiles after hitting a go-ahead 3-pointer late against Cal, Mar. 11 2025
THOMAS BRAY / COLLEGIATE TIMES
Virginia Tech’s Tobi Lawal (1) passes out of a layup attempt, Mar. 11 2025
AS MYLYJAEL POTEAT MOVES ON, HOKIES BASKETBALL LOSES MORE THAN A STAT LINE
Dylan Tefft | sports editor
Virginia Tech basketball is better off because of its fifth-year leader.
CHARLOTTE — In his fifth year of college basketball, Mylyjael Poteat was finally the guy.
In four previous seasons split between Rice and Virginia Tech, the Reidsville, North Carolina native always had someone ahead of him, starting just four games before his final year.
It used to be Rice forward Max Fiedler — now the Owls’ all-time leader in rebounds, field goal percentage and games started — that stood in his way, warranting a transfer to Virginia Tech. The center sat behind a slew of Hokies until Lynn Kidd transferred to Miami ahead of the 2024-25 season. At long last, Poteat’s shot came.
Unfortunately for him, it was Tech’s worst season by record (13-19) since 2014-15. But that didn’t matter to Poteat. Put in a difficult situation, this year was about more than winning. He’s known that since 2024’s portal window.
The same mass-transfer cataclysm that gave Poteat a lucrative NIL deal and the biggest role of his career thinned the Hokies into a rag-tag group riddled with new faces and inexperience.
That season came to a fitting end in the first round of the ACC Tournament on Tuesday as Tech fell to Cal in double overtime, 82-73. It saw a heart-wrenching finish as the Hokies literally threw a late lead away — Ben Burnham’s errant inbound led to Cal tying the game within the last 10 seconds— along with their season.
But it made sense considering the untrained nature of the team. Nobody besides Poteat had ever played under the burning-bright lights of the ACC Tournament.
But Poteat knew what he was getting into. He entered the transfer portal late last March but ultimately opted to return to Tech. Before he made his final decision, redshirt sophomore Patrick Wessler was the oldest player on the roster. Maybe Poteat was offered a number he couldn’t refuse, maybe he was ultra-close to the coaching staff or perhaps he just couldn’t imagine leaving Blacksburg. Either way, he was in for one last ride with the Hokies — and he knew it might not be pretty.
“We knew there would be growing pains,” Poteat said after a loss to Vanderbilt
on Dec. 4. “I knew it wasn’t always going to be easy.”
And it wasn’t.Tech finished the season with its worst record in a decade. So why did Poteat have this to say after his last game?
“I’ll remember a lot about this team. We worked our asses off, and it was a lot of fun being part of this group. I think this is my favorite year of college basketball.”
Fun? Favorite? That’s what he had to say about the losingest collegiate season he’d ever been a part of?
Yes, because for Poteat, Tech’s 2024-25 campaign wasn’t about hoisting a trophy. It was about ushering in a future that he could look back on and be proud of. It was about being the glue that held together a group who had never met, lived in Blacksburg or seen a system as detail-oriented as Tech coach Mike Young’s.
“(Poteat) is my guy, man,” said Hokies forward Tobi Lawal. “He actually welcomed us in, like he wasn’t standoffish. When you get (a lot of transfers) sometimes they’re like, why are you here? But he was great, man. He brought us into the community and introduced us to the area. He really helped us grow so much and understand what coach wants to happen on the court. There’s so many plays in our playbook, so he was helping a lot.”
It’s not like Poteat didn’t believe Tech could win — he just knew there would be a wealth of growing pains in the process. No matter where the season, and the program at large went, he wanted it to be better off because he was a part of it.
“I hope I leave behind a great mentality,” Poteat said.“How people can approach the game, and it’s a really young team. I think they’re even better at this point next year.”
His influence especially touched Tech’s duo of freshman starters: Tyler Johnson and Ben Hammond, who earned a wealth of minutes on a thin Tech team. As young as they are, highs and lows are plentiful, but Poteat has been a guiding voice through it all.
“Man, I’ll miss everything (about Poteat),” Johnson said. “He does everything on the court, just a force down low, screens. Just an automatic bucket when we throw it to him. That’s what I’ll miss about
him. Just being around him, being under him has taught me a lot. Everything, giving us the ropes about Mike Young and things like that, just leading the team in general. Man, just a great leader.”
Hammond was Poteat’s point guard for the bulk of the season. His senior’s advice went beyond plays or film.
“Embrace every moment that you have to play this game,” Hammond said when asked what he learned from Poteat. “It can all be taken away from you in a blink of an eye, for sure. Him playing his last game, it definitely hurts losing a guy like that... That’s just something I wanna take away.”
If it all comes together for Hokies basketball, it will take time, and players like Johnson and Hammond will be essential. For them, or any other current player that might eventually become Tech’s “guy,” they’ll owe some portion of their success to what Poteat showed them. He was that kind of player.
“I’m really excited,” Poteat said of the future of Tech basketball. “I knew it from the moment we stepped into the season with what we had. (There were) growing
pains with a young team, a lot of new guys. Nobody had really played in the role they were going to play here. So it took time, and I think we improved every game. As the season went on, we got better and better, which is really all you can ask for.”
After that, Poteat answered a few more questions from reporters — the last ones he would take as the leader of the program. His tone wasn’t one of despondence, but of satisfaction. And why shouldn’t it be?
You might not think this season was a success, but he did exactly what he set out do to.
THOMAS BRAY / COLLEGIATE TIMES
Mylyjael Poteat (34) elevates to finish a layup, Jan. 25 2025.