For Virginia Tech men’s basketball, the 2026-27 season is still around five months away — the roster itself, though, looks like a recipe that is nearly done cooking. Here’s a look at what I think is one strength and one weakness of the 2026-27 roster:

Strength: In the aggregate, there’s a lot of depth.

Last year’s Virginia Tech unit struggled to find much stability, in large part because of injuries that chipped away at its depth for extended stretches.

Forward Tobi Lawal missed nine games with an ankle injury, while guard Tyler Johnson was sidelined for the first 15 ACC games with a lower-body injury. German big Antonio Dorn also dealt with a nagging back injury that limited his effectiveness in the latter two-thirds of the season. Those injuries forced the Hokies to shuffle roles, lean heavily on a smaller group of contributors and operate with a rotation that felt further from a true nine- or 10-man group than desired.

That lack of depth made it difficult for Virginia Tech to sustain consistency over the course of ACC play. When injuries mounted, the Hokies didn’t always have enough proven options to absorb those losses without noticeable drop-off.

Virginia Tech, though, should have more depth at its disposal this coming season. The Hokies should be able to run a nine-man lineup this season — returning guards Ben Hammond and Tyler Johnson, forwards Amani Hansberry and Sin’Cere Jones, transfer guards Ethan Copeland (Stetson), Isaiah Elohim (Florida Atlantic) and Jaylen Curry (Oklahoma State), transfer forward Kuol Atak (Oklahoma) and transfer big Miles Heide (San Diego State).

Weakness: Virginia Tech may not have a takeover option.

The biggest question with Virginia Tech’s roster may not be whether the Hokies have enough capable scorers, but whether they have a clear-cut player who can consistently take over games when the offense stalls.

Hammond averaged a team-high 14.9 points per game in league play last season, which is certainly strong enough to suggest he can be Virginia Tech’s primary offensive option. The next step is whether he can ascend from productive ACC scorer to legitimate All-ACC caliber guard. I think that jump is within reach, but for now, it remains more of a projection than a certainty.

At the moment, Virginia Tech does not have a definitively proven player who feels like a nightly threat to pour in 25 or so points. The Hokies have players who can score, and they should have more balance than they did last season, but balance is different from having a go-to takeover scorer.

Then again, that has been true for Virginia Tech for several years. Outside of streaky stretches from Avdalas, the Hokies have not consistently had that kind of explosive offensive centerpiece. If Hammond reaches another level, this weakness could soften quickly.

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