In a surprising move, rising sophomore guard Ben Emelogu has left the Virginia Tech basketball team according to a report from Mike Barber of The Richmond Time-Dispatch.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>SOURCES: Virginia Tech sophomore guard Ben Emelogu has left the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hokies?src=hash">#Hokies</a> basketball program.</p>— Mike Barber (@RTD_MikeBarber) <a href="https://twitter.com/RTD_MikeBarber/statuses/485039647823638528">July 4, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Emelogu was named team captain by former head coach James Johnson and showed flashes of tremendous ability during his first season of college basketball.
The 6-5 Grand Prairie, Texas native averaged 10.5 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game last season despite battling through injuries and illness that saw him miss nine games.
He was an underrated three star recruit who ended up being a tremendous get for Johnson. Emelogu was also recruited some by Buzz Williams at Marquette which makes this development all the more unexpected. This does explain the recent scholarship offer by the Hokies to a junior college shooting guard, something I'll detail in depth in the coming days,
Of the five high school recruits signed by James Johnson in his first and only full recruiting class, Devin Wilson is now the only player still remaining on Tech's roster. Marshall Wood was signed by Seth Greenberg but was persuaded to come to Tech by Johnson. He announced this week that he would transfer to Richmond.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>(From yesterday) ACC All Access-Former <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hokies?src=hash">#Hokies</a> forward Marshall Wood transfers to Richmond: <a href="http://t.co/0frbzoHlTm">http://t.co/0frbzoHlTm</a></p>— Norm Wood (@normwood) <a href="https://twitter.com/normwood/statuses/484318175472144385">July 2, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Not the start any of us were envisioning for our 4th of July celebrations but Gobbler Country will continue to stay on top of basketball developments as they happen. Have a safe holiday.