It’s a well-known fact that transfers have been on the rise in college basketball. According to annual tracking lists compiled by ESPN‘s Jeff Goodman, there were fewer than 300 NCAA Division-I transfers in 2011 (roughly one per school), but that number has climbed to around 700 (roughly two per school) in each of the last two years. Considering that teams in the power conferences are already losing seniors and underclassmen who turn pro, rosters are turning over at an alarmingly high rate. When it comes to newcomers, freshmen, rather than transfers, have traditionally received most of the attention. So to get more familiar with the transfers debuting in the ACC this season, we have provided a list broken into four groupings of the non-freshmen newcomers to the league (traditional transfers; graduate transfers; JuCo transfers; sitting out this year). Players within each category are ordered according to the anticipated impact that they will have this season.

The first group represents what we know as the traditional transfers — those who are moving from one four-year school to another and, as a result, forced to sit out a season. The most interesting name on this list is Virginia Tech’s Seth Allen, who will have the advantage of having already spent two years in the ACC while at former league member Maryland. Allen’s aggressive style should fit in well with what Buzz Williams is building in Blacksburg. The top five on this list figure to be significant players right away, and some as starters. Terry Henderson will be counted on for wing scoring for N.C. State, and Kamari Murphy should be an athletic defender that compliments Miami’s veteran group.

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This team preview is part of the RTC ACC microsite’s preseason coverage.

Burning Question: How close are the Hokies to becoming ACC contenders?

In just two offseasons, Buzz Williams has almost completely turned over the entire Virginia Tech roster. Junior guard Devin Wilson is the only scholarship holdover from the previous regime, as Williams has more or less weeded out all the players who he felt didn’t share his goals for the program. He has replaced them with a mixture of talented freshmen and transfers, as seven newcomers join the Hokies this season. And while the talent level has certainly improved in Williams’ second campaign in Blacksburg, it may still be asking too much of the fiery coach to blend his players into an ACC contender just yet.

Buzz Williams continues to clean house as he turns around Virginia Tech’s basketball program. (Photo by Michael Shrayer – USA TODAY Sports)

With an undersized group, Virginia Tech had to rely on three-point shooting as its primary offensive weapon last season, shooting an outstanding 38.9 percent from distance as a team. However, two of their four deep shooting threats, Adam Smith (81 three-pointers made) and Malik Mueller (41 threes) have transferred out of the program, while another, Ahmed Hill (32 threes) may miss most, if not all, of the season due to injury. Hill was part of a solid threesome of freshmen wings who joined the program last year. Another, Justin Bibbs, was the team’s leading scorer in the season’s first two months before suffering a concussion in January that led to both missed games and decreased production. Jalen Hudson, the low scorer of the trio, notched several inspired late season performances that offered evidence that he may possess more potential than any other Hokie on the roster. In Virginia Tech’s February overtime home loss to eventual national champion Duke, Hudson finished with 23 points and six boards for the contest. He would top that output in his team’s ACC Tournament first round win over Wake Forest, exploding on the Demon Deacons for 32 points.

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