Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 10 No. 2

nlike a lot of society today, Buzz

Williams places a lot of value in

the written word, and he devotes

an extraordinary amount of time sending

handwritten notes to former players, colleagues

in the profession, friends and others.

But after watching his Virginia Tech men’s

basketball players fight, scrap, claw, sweat and

work their way to 22 wins, a 10-8 ACC record,

and an NCAA Tournament at-large berth last

season, Williams felt a simple thank-you note

to his players and their parents wasn’t quite

enough. So he and his full-time staff members

embarked on a “thank-you tour,” traveling to

the hometowns of each of the Hokies’ returning

players to say “thank you” in person to them

and their families.

“The ‘thank-you tour’ wasn’t for publicity,”

Williams said. “It wasn’t that anyone in

America hadn’t done this. It wasn’t for Twitter.

“It was important to me that Jeff

Reynolds [Tech’s director of scouting/game

management] said ‘thank you’ to that mom,

and it was important tome that Cara [Jacobson,

director of administration] said,

‘I love you’ to

that mom who she was leaving tickets for every

game, and none of that stuff ever occurs to me.

“I could talk about it all day. There were

so many lessons from it. There was so

much thankfulness that derived from it.

The combination of the wisdom and the

thankfulness has helped me mature as a person

and a leader.”

Sitting in his office roughly three weeks

before the team’s first practice in preparation

for the upcoming 2017-18 season, Williams

reflected both on last year and his brief three-

year tenure in Blacksburg. He took over a

program that had finished in last place in the

ACC on three straight occasions, and in his first

year, extended that to four.

But two years later, the Hokies were playing

in the NCAA Tournament. They overcame

injuries (Kerry Blackshear Jr., Chris Clarke),

a rugged schedule and a midseason change

in philosophy to make their third NCAA

appearance since 1986.

Of course, now comes the hard

part—sustaining the success. And three weeks

before practice started, Williams admitted he

wasn’t quite ready.

“I think we have so much work that we have

to do between now and then,” Williams said.

“I don’t think we’ve established any level of

functionality, any level of identity. I think we

have too many guys who think what we were

last year is what we’ll be this year. We need all

of the time to get up to speed.”

The program’s first order of business is

replacing Zach LeDay and Seth Allen, who

combined for nearly 30 points, 10 rebounds

and 4.5 assists per game last season. Both came

off the bench—a testament of their willingness

to do whatever it took to win games.

They each played a distinct role, though

LeDay probably will be the harder of the duo to

replace. The 6-foot-7 post player served as the

heart and soul of the team in addition to being

a producer, as he averaged 16.5 points and 7.3

rebounds per game. He averaged 25.3 points

per game in the postseason.

“You can’t argue that Zach was tough,

emotional—90 percent of the time in the right

way—only cared about winning, wanted to

do what it took to win,” Williams said. “His

production in comparison to what it looked like

… you would think it wasn’t the same person.

Part of it is that I’m getting old, and part of it

is those guys who have no choice left in their

career, I seem to connect with the best, but

he had such a drive to prove that, ‘I know I’m

undersized, but I’mway better than you think.’”

WABISSA

BEDE

6-1, G, Fr.

Cushing Academy

North Andover, Massachusetts

•

Named the NEPSAC Class AA Player of the

Year as a senior

•

Listed as the No. 66 prospect nationally by

Rivals and No. 73 by ESPN

•

Chose the Hokies over Butler, Minnesota,

UMass and La Salle

•

Averaged 26.3 points, 11.3 rebounds and 6.3

assists per game as a junior

•

Averaged more than 20 points per game as

a senior

NICKEIL

ALEXANDER-WALKER

6-5, F, Fr.

Hamilton Heights Christian

Toronto, Canada

•

Listed as the No. 21 prospect nationally by

ESPN

•

Played for Canada’s U-18 Americas team

•

Chose Tech over Maryland, Southern Cal,

Baylor and Auburn

•

Averaged 14.9 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.6

assists and 3.2 steals per game as a junior

•

Averaged 20 points and 4 rebounds per game

as a senior

P.J.

HORNE

6-6, F, Fr.

Tift County High School

Tifton, Georgia

•

Led Tift County to the Class 7A Georgia state

championship as a senior

•

An all-state choice by the Atlanta Journal-

Constitution

•

Named to the GACA all-star team and was the

MVP of the all-star game with 28 points and 14

rebounds

•

Averaged 25.3 points and 11 rebounds per

game as a senior

•

Averaged 16.2 points and 7.5 rebounds per

game for his career

Continued on page 16

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