Let’s just say it’s good times in Blacksburg these days.
Here’s what the Hokies have accomplished in Kenny Brooks’ fourth season at the helm.
They’re 19-6 overall and nine of those wins are ACC ones — the most victories for the Hokies in the league ever. Tech joined the ACC in 2004 and has never had a winning record in the league.
The Hokies have beaten Miami, Virginia and North Carolina, with near misses against Syracuse and Duke. They’ll travel to Notre Dame on Thursday and likely break a seven-game losing streak to the rebuilding Irish.
Would Brooks like Tech to have a couple more wins? The Hokies fell in OT at Duke and squandered a 16-point lead versus the Orange.
Those were games, he said, when the Hokies hadn’t quite figured out how all the pieces he assembled fit together. “They had to find their identity. Who’s going to take the last shot? We didn’t know,” he said. “When we lost those games, I think those were valuable lessons. We’ve actually won some games since then when the same scenarios popped up, and we’ve handled them a lot better.”
Transfers Taja Cole and Lydia Rivers have been huge. Cole, a Richmonder who played at Louisville and Georgia, checks in at fifth nationally in assists. “I don’t know if there’s anyone faster in the country,” Brooks said.
Her presence has freed up sophomore guard Dara Mabrey to focus on what she does best. Mabrey and Aisha Sheppard are Nos. 2 and 3 in the ACC in 3-point percentage.
Last year Mabrey found herself essentially forced into point-guard duty, “a daunting task in this league,” Brooks noted. “It took away from the elements she’s really good at. With the addition of Taj, it allows us to play the way we want to play.”
Transition is where Tech does the most damage.
Rivers from Radford is a rebounding machine and ranks sixth in the league in blocked shots. Brooks touts her defensive IQ, noting, “She’s the type of kid who can guard anybody.”
She collects loose rebounds like spare change. “She brings a toughness to us.”
Sheppard, of course, has blossomed into one of the top players in the state, averaging a team-best 15.4 ppg; she buried eight triples at N.C. State on Jan. 2. A year ago the 5-9 guard averaged 7.4 ppg.
“Aisha came in as a highly touted player,” Brooks said. “We knew she was going to be a good player, but it’s almost like a throwback. She just needed to come in and see it and experience it. Some kids are ready to come in and be a go-to person or somebody who’s going to play extensive minutes. She really had to sit back and watch it.”
“Now she’s ready for the responsibility of being the focal point.”
Meanwhile, there’s Elizabeth Kitley, just 18; the freshman from North Carolina has started every game. She was ranked 33rd nationally — the five-star recruit is the most touted Brooks has signed at Tech. But he said her exposure was limited. The 6-5 center tore her ACL in high school senior. Let’s just say she’s rounding into form.
The wanna-be doc (she came into Tech with 39 credits) shoots .551 from the field and is second in the ACC in blocked shots. She’s even working on a 3-pointer and drained her first-ever beyond the arc against Boston College.
Brooks touts her work ethic that includes a one-on-one film session with him for an hour on Wednesdays.
“Before it’s all said and done, there’s no doubt in my mind she’ll be the best post player I’ve ever coached,” he said.”She a coach’s dream.”
Junior Trinity Baptiste (our favorite name in the game) averages 9.4 ppg and 6.9 rpg.
Brooks got a good vibe from this bunch during a 12-day summer tour to Italy and France. He likes the lack of cliques. It’s isn’t unusual for him to come home from practice and see several Hokies sitting in his living room alongside daughters Kendyl and Chloe (Kendyl is redshirting this year; Chloe is a freshman). You’ll find the Hokies in the stands for Gaby Brooks’ AAU games (she’s Kenny youngest at 14).
“The team comes to my house a lot,” he said. “Any day I come home, there can be six or seven of them there.”
Brooks has coached nearly two decades. He calls this season among his most enjoyable.
“We really feel like we can accomplish whatever we want to accomplish.”
Photo courtesy of Virginia Tech Athletic Communications