Virginia Tech basketball: Hokies add Rice transfer Mylyjael Poteat

Virginia Tech basketball coach Mike Young received more good news via the NCAA transfer portal Tuesday when Rice forward Mylyjael Poteat announced he was coming to Blacksburg.

Poteat is a 6-foot-9, 260-pound forward/center who averaged a total of 6.8 points and 3.7 rebounds per game over two seasons. Poteat was listed as a redshirt freshman last season but should have three seasons of eligibility remaining with the Hokies due to the COVID-19 free year of eligibility.

After playing sparingly as a freshman in 2020-21, Poteat played in all 33 games last season, averaging almost 14 minutes per game. He averaged 7.7 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. Considering the lack of minutes, those are impressive numbers from Poteat.

Poteat is also somewhat local, playing his high school basketball at The Burlington School in Burlington, North Carolina. He chose the Hokies over Pitt and UMass.

Poteat spoke to Dushawn London of 247Sports about why he chose Virginia Tech.

“I thought I could become successful at each of those schools and really connected with each staff,” Poteat said.

“I really appreciated every time but I really felt like Virginia Tech was the best option for me. I saw the opportunity to make an impact at a program that has an established winning culture, and the opportunity to play for an ACC coach of the year in Mike Young who I already connected with when he was recruiting me at Wofford. I love the whole staff and on top of that the community they have in Blacksburg is great.”

Poteat follows John Camden and Grant Basile as new Hokies via the transfer portal this offseason. All three are expected to play significant minutes next season, with Basile as likely the top frontcourt scoring option. Poteat will likely play center in Young’s offense.

Forward David N’Guessan entered the transfer portal last week and leading scorer Keve Aluma declared for the NBA draft, bypassing his final season of eligibility. Justyn Mutts also declared for the draft but has left open the option of returning next season.

It’s been a busy offseason already for the defending ACC champions. Storm Murphy ran out of eligibility, while Nahiem Alleyne entered the transfer portal. Add in Aluma’s departure and that means there will be at least three new starters next season — four if Mutts decides not to return.

The good news for Tech is the Hokies do return Hunter Cattoor, Darius Maddox and Sean Pedulla, in addition to adding elite freshman guard Rodney Rice and two other freshmen in guard M.J. Collins and center Patrick Wessler.

Next season should be an exciting one for the Hokies, but it will all come down to how quickly the new Hokies assimilate to Young’s offense.

Welcome to Virginia Tech, Mylyjael.