Doug Doughty

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If you’re a Virginia Tech or a Virginia Tech or a Clemson, part of the challenge in basketball recruiting is to identify a talented player before he “blows up” and attracts the attention of a North Carolina or Duke.

It appears that is what Tech has accomplished with its 2007-2008 entering class, based on reports from recent all-star games in Baltimore and College Park, Md.

Hokies’ signee Augustus “Gus” Gilchrist was named most valuable player Thursday night at the Capital Classic, notching 24 points and nine rebounds as the Capital All-Stars defeated the U.S. All-Stars 149-145 at Comcast Center in College Park, Md.

The leading scorer for the Capital All-Stars was Gilchrist’s future Hokies’ teammate, Malcom Delaney, who had game highs with 31 points and seven steals. A third Tech recruit, Jeff Allen, had a game-high 15 rebounds.

Allen played on the U.S. All-Star team with his Hargrave Military Academy teammate and fellow future Hokie, Dorenzo Hudson, who had a game-high six turnovers but contributed 14 points.

Delaney is rated the nation’s ninth-best point guard by scout.com, but you look at his offensive numbers, including a game-high 27 points Sunday in Baltimore’s Charm City Classic, and it’s easy to see him joining current freshman Nigel Munson in the Hokies’ 2007-2008 starting backcourt.

Delaney was named MVP of the Charm City Classic, in which he also had six assists.

“Remember, we’ve also got two double-figure scorers coming back,” Tech coach Seth Greenberg.

That would be 6-foot-7 power forward Deron Washington, who will be a senior, and 6-6 small forward A.D. Vassallo, who will be a junior.

If Washington were a better shooter, he would be a small forward. If Vassallo were quicker, he would be a big guard. Maybe that’s why they’re averaging in double figures at Tech and not coming off the bench at Duke or UNC.

So, if Munson and Delaney join the two double-figure returnees, who’s going to take Coleman Collins’ spot in the post?

With all due respect to Cheick Diakite and Robert Krabbendam, Gilchrist’s performance on the all-star circuit may have turned him into the player to beat.

“We evaluated him early and felt he really had a chance to be a difference-maker,” Greenberg said Friday. “He’s filled our prophecy, I guess.

“He’s worked extremely hard. He’s very dedicated. He really has a great work ethic [and] works out every single morning at 5:30. You know, he’s just 17 years old. He doesn’t turn 18 till October.”

Greenberg estimated that Gilchrist is 6 foot 9 or 6-10 and bigger than Collins, who was listed this morning at 6-9, 240.

“He can step out and shoot it,” Greenberg said of Gilchrist. “He’s skilled. He knocked down some threes yesterday [1-for-1], from what I was told. He’s got good footwork. He’s quick. He’s grown. He’s much more explosive than he was.”

Greenberg stopped short of describing Gilchrist as a center.

“He’s just a forward, which is perfect for us, because that’s the way we play,” Greenberg said. “He’s a forward with a low-post game.”

Gilchrist committed to Tech on Feb. 20, 2006, when he was a junior at Friendly High School in Oxon Hill, Md. Delaney visited Tech on the first weekend in September and committed before he left.

Of the six players who have signed or committed to the Hokies for 2007-2008, none took an official visit to another school. Few had taken an official visit to Tech before they committed.

“That’s what we get paid for,” said Greenberg, referring to the early evaluations and offers. “Delaney’s had a great year. He reminds me a lot of Zabe [Dowdell]. He can really shoot the ball.

“He really sees the floor. The thing I like most about our recruits is they can really pass the ball. And, they’re all gym rats. Obviously, we’re going to be really inexperienced, but I really like our basketball team.”

REVIEWS FOR THE Virginia signees in the Capital Classic were a little more mixed, but if Cavalier fans could have asked for one thing, it was the performance the U.S. All-Stars got from Mike Scott.

Scott, a 6-8 forward, hit 11 of 18 shots from the field and scored 25 points in 21 minutes.

“He scored inside and out,” said Kevin Keatts, who coached Scott at Hargrave Military Academy and was coaching the U.S. All-Stars. “He knocked down a couple of jumpers, scored on some post moves and had a few dunks sprinkled in. He definitely fills a [Virginia] need.”

(Keatts also had Hudson and Allen on his team at Hargrave and said of Hudson’s six turnovers, “There’s no way that’s accurate.”).

Scott made only three of six free throws, but Keatts said he is better than a 75-percent free-throw shooter and will make ample trips to the free-throw line. No Virginia post player attempted more than three (!!!) free throws per game in 2006-2007.

The second Virginia signee in the Capital Classic, 6-4 Jeff Jones from Philadelphia was 3-for-9 from the floor and finished with seven points in 21 minutes. Jones, the highest-rated of Virginia’s four early signees, was 1-for-4 on 3-pointers. Jones had six points in the Charm City Classic.

“Jeff’s going to be a good player,” Keatts said. “I’ve seen him play a lot of times. He can really put the ball in the hole. It was kind of a rough night for him, getting booed every time he touched the ball.”

Jones had committed to Maryland last year before changing his mind and choosing Virginia as his final destination. That did not sit well with Maryland fans in Baltimore and at the Capital Classic, staged in the Terps’ home arena.

Jones was the all-time leading scorer in Philadelphia’s Catholic League but, while the Cavaliers lose J.R. Reynolds, the Cavaliers have many options at the 2-guard spot, from returnee Mamadi Diane to Jones to fellow recruit Mustapha Farrakhan and even transfer Calvin Baker.

WITH THE DEPARTURE of brother and assistant coach Brad Greenberg, who wants to take Tech director of basketball operations Rick Hall with him, Seth Greenberg is now certain to go outside to fill the vacancy.

The Hokies are expected to bring DePaul assistant Ramon Williams to campus to discuss the vacancy. Williams, a former VMI star from Roanoke, has been an assistant to Jerry Wainwright at Richmond and DePaul.