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 Adam Smith, who was a freshman guard at UNC Wilmington last season,  told he made a verbal commitment to the Hokies today and will transfer to Virginia Tech.

“It’s very exciting,” Smith said after he visited Tech today. “I’ve always wanted to play at the high major level and the ACC, that’s about as good as it gets.”

Smith averaged 13.7 points last season, earning a spot on the Colonial Athletic Association all-rookie team. He was the second-leading scorer for a UNCW squad that went 10-21, 6-14. He was the leading scorer among the conference’s freshmen.

“I’m bringing a burst of offense,” he said. “I can really score the ball. I can handle the ball as well. I’m very explosive on the offensive end in all aspects.”

He shot 37.9 percent from the field, including 33.1 percent from 3-point range.

In nonleague games against two ACC teams, he scored 23 points at Maryland and 32 points at Wake Forest.

“I’m not worried at all [about jumping from the CAA to the ACC],” he said. “We played two ACC teams this year in Wake and Maryland and I fared pretty well against them.”

Smith was an off-guard at UNCW but said he will be a combo guard at Tech, just like he was in high school.

“Really what they need is scoring, and that’s what I do,” he said. “I feel comfortable at both [guard] positions. It really just depends on who’s on the court with me. If there’s a straight point guard on the court distributing the ball, I’ll be at the 2. If there’s another shooter, I’ll play the 1.”

The Joneboro, Ga., native said he will have to sit out next season, so he won’t provide immediate help to a team that is down to just eight scholarship players for coach James Johnson’s first season. Smith will have three years of eligibility beginning in 2013-14.

Tech will need some scoring after this upcoming season to replace senior-to-be Erick Green.

The 6-foot-1, 161-pound Smith was one of three UNCW players who asked for their release after the season.

He averaged 26.2 points and 5 assists as a high school senior, when he was one of 10 players named a second-team All-American by Parade magazine.

“I was overlooked by a lot of high major schools” when he was in high school, Smith said. “I signed early my senior year, and later a few ACC teams came — Florida State, Georgia Tech came to a few games. I had a really good senior year.”

When Smith picked UNCW in the fall of his senior year, The College of Charleston was one of his other finalists (along with ETSU, George Mason and Chattanooga). Mark Byington was the recruiter for The College of Charleston back then. He recently joined Johnson’s staff, and that is when Tech began courting Smith. He had talked to Byington “a bit” about transferring from UNCW to Charleston before Byington switched colleges.

Another new assistant, Kurt Kanaskie, had recruited him for Penn State back when Smith was in high school (but he had already picked UNCW).

“I just felt really comfortable with everyone on the [VT] coaching staff,” Smith said. “Coach Johnson’s a really cool dude.  … Coach Byington, Coach Kanaskie and Coach Williams, I’ve built a relationship with them all.”

Smith did not want to say what other schools he considered in the transfer process. He also did not want to say why he is leaving UNCW. He said he could have stayed if he wanted.

Courtesy of our sister paper in Norfolk, here is an update on Dorian Finney-Smith’s search for a new school:

By Larry Rubama

The Virginian-Pilot

Former Norcom High basketball star Dorian Finney-Smith has received interest from more than 20 colleges since he announced last week that he planned to transfer from Virginia Tech, his mother said.

Finney-Smith, a 6-foot-9 forward, has narrowed his list to Florida, Marquette, Georgetown, Iowa State, Villanova, Texas and Alabama.

His mother, Desiree Finney-Smith, said he hopes to make two visits soon, then decide by mid-June.

“There’s a dead period coming up so we have to wait until after the dead period is over,” Finney said, referring to the time from May 17-26 in which coaches cannot meet in person with prospective athletes. “So we’ll probably have to wait until the end of May and then take some visits.”

They won’t visit Florida.

“We’ve already been there before, and we know the staff and coach (Billy) Donovan,” she said

They also want to make a decision soon so Finney-Smith can enroll in summer school.

Until then Finney-Smith will continue working out. He also has plans to attend the Kevin Durant Nike Skills Academy Camp next month.

The matchups have been announced for this year’s ACC-Big Ten Challenge.

James Johnson’s team will host Iowa. The Hawkeyes are 2-9 in the Challenge, including losses to the Hokies in 2006 and 2009.

Fran McCaffrey’s team went 18-17 this year, losing in the second round of the NIT.

Just talked to William Fleming and VMI graduate Ramon Williams, one of the new assistants at Virginia Tech. Here is the story:

For Ramon Williams, joining the Virginia Tech staff was a “no-brainer.”

The William Fleming and VMI graduate returned to Southwest Virginia this week as an assistant men’s basketball coach for the Hokies.

“I’m really excited — glad to be back in familiar territory,” Williams said Friday, one day after Tech announced his hiring. “Any time you can get back toward your roots or close to home, it’s a special time.

“My family’s excited.”

Williams’ wife is from Lexington. His mother still lives in Roanoke, as do two of his brothers, including his twin, Damon, who played with him at Fleming and VMI. His late father used to coach at schools in Montgomery County.

Williams, 44, has coached in the Midwest the past seven years.

“The chance to come back to Virginia, to the East Coast, was certainly very, very appealing — and the ACC,” he said. “It was a no-brainer for me to make that move.”

He was an assistant coach at VMI and Richmond before leaving the state in 2005 to join the DePaul staff when his boss, Jerry Wainwright, left the Spiders to take over at the Big East school in Chicago.

Williams spent the past three seasons as an Ohio University assistant coach, helping the Bobcats reach the round of 32 in the 2010 NCAA tournament and the Sweet 16 in this year’s tournament.

Coach John Groce left Ohio University in late March to take the Illinois job. He brought Williams with him, but not as one of his three assistant coaches. Williams was given an office job as “assistant to the head coach,” a position that would have involved scouting and breaking down game tape but not coaching in practices or recruiting off campus.

So Tech is his third school in as many months.

“This business can be crazy some times,” he said with a laugh.

He was one of three assistants hired by new Hokies coach James Johnson, who got to know Williams on the recruiting trail over the years.

Johnson and Williams once squared off on the court. When Johnson was a Ferrum player, the Panthers played a preseason exhibition against a team of former college standouts that included Williams.

“I remember going against James,” said Williams, a former All-Southern Conference pick who is in VMI’s hall of fame. “He was a good defender, I’ll tell you that. I think I still had about 35 points on him — I’m just kidding.”

Williams scored 1,630 points in his VMI career — 1,238 more than Johnson did at Ferrum.

“I was a defensive stopper, so I probably would’ve been able to shut him down,” Johnsons said with a laugh.

Williams will recruit Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., for Tech. He recruited the region during his nine years on the VMI staff and his three years at Richmond, as well as during his time in the Midwest.

“I’ve always recruited back this way,” he said. “I’ve always kept some ties back this way and tried to expand our recruiting base even at Ohio, at Illinois, at DePaul.”

Williams said that as a VMI assistant, he recruited standout Jason Conley to the Keydets. Conley led Division I in scoring in the 2001-02 season as a VMI freshman. He later transferred to Missouri.

As a Richmond assistant, said Williams, he recruited A.D. Vassallo for the Spiders. Vassallo signed with Richmond but was not admitted to the school. He wound up becoming a Hokies star.

Williams’ first coaching job was as a part-time assistant, along with his twin, to Charlie Morgan at Salem High School for a season. One of the team’s players that year was Mark Byington, another one of the new Tech assistants.

Byington, 36 and Williams both played AAU basketball in Roanoke for Joe Gaither, although they were never teammates.

“When [the twins] were finishing college, they used to come back and play against our AAU team and I used to struggle, trying to guard them,” Byington said.

Virginia Tech men’s basketball coach James Johnson has gained three assistants but has lost a prized recruit.

The Hokies’ new coach announced his staff Thursday, and it includes two familiar names. Salem graduate Mark Byington is leaving The College of Charleston to return to Southwest Virginia. William Fleming and VMI graduate Ramon Williams, who was an assistant at NCAA tournament participant Ohio University this year, is leaving his new job at Illinois to return to the area.

“I realize how special Virginia Tech is,” said Byington, who lived in Roanoke and Blacksburg before his family moved to Salem when he was 5 years old. “Going to games when I was little, watching Dell Curry and Bimbo Coles and even going to the football side, watching Bruce Smith, it was something I cherished.

“I have a 4-year-old son, and he’s going to be able to experience the same things.”

Johnson also has hired Navy assistant Kurt Kanaskie, once the head coach at Drake.

But Johnson’s program also suffered its second loss of the week. Johnson said signee Montrezl Harrell of Hargrave Military Academy no longer intends to attend Virginia Tech.

Johnson said the power forward’s father met with him Thursday and asked that his son be released from his letter of intent so he could “look at some other schools.”

Harrell signed with then-Tech coach Seth Greenberg last fall. Since the firing of Greenberg two weeks ago, Harrell had been debating whether to stick with Tech.

The 6-foot-8 Harrell averaged 25.6 points, 13.8 rebounds and 2.3 blocks as a senior for Hargrave’s postgraduate team this year.

He had 24 points and 12 rebounds to help the U.S. all-stars beat the Capital all-stars in last month’s Capital Classic in Alexandria, earning most valuable player honors. The Tarboro, N.C., native had 22 points, 12 rebounds and seven blocks to help the East beat the West in the North Carolina regional edition of the Jordan Brand Classic last month in Charlotte, earning East MVP honors.

“He had a great year, but … he would’ve had to compete for some playing time [at Tech],” Johnson said. “Guys that have great years in high school, this level is different.”

Harrell is the second player to decide not to suit up for the new coach. Johnson said Tuesday that Dorian Finney-Smith, who averaged 6.3 points as the starting small forward this year, intends to transfer.

Tech is down to just eight scholarship players for next season

“I would’ve liked to have had [Harrell] with us, but I still think this is a good group of guys,” said Johnson, who was a Tech assistant the past five seasons. “We’re going to be fine. … I’m not concerned. We’ve got a good group.

“We’re losing six points a game in Dorian Finney-Smith. Montrezl Harrell never scored a basket, never got a rebound for Virginia Tech.”

C.J. Barksdale, who was a freshman backup this year, will likely start at power forward. Jarell Eddie, one of two returning starters, will move from power forward to small forward. Signee Marshall Wood can play both forward spots. Off-guard Robert Brown will also see time at small forward.

The Hokies also return All-ACC second-team point guard Erick Green, centers Cadarian Raines and Joey Van Zegeren, and guard Marquis Rankin.

Now that Johnson has assembled a staff, he hopes to sign a player or two this spring.

Byington, 36, was the Group AA boys basketball player of the year and the Timesland male athlete of the year as a high school senior, when he helped Salem win state titles in basketball and tennis. He was a UNC Wilmington standout.

Tech “was the place I wanted to play basketball when I was in high school, and I just wasn’t good enough,” he said.

Byington was an assistant at The College of Charleston from 2002 to 2004. He served as director of basketball operations for Pete Gillen’s final season at Virginia before returning to The College of Charleston in 2005.

This year, he served as the Southern Conference school’s interim head coach from late January through the end of the season after Bobby Cremins took a medical leave of absence. New coach Doug Wojcik had retained him as an assistant.

Byington and Johnson shared an office when they were fellow assistants at The College of Charleston in the 2002-03 season. They have remained good friends.

“I know what kind of person he is,” Byington said. “I know what kind of coach he’s going to be. I really believe in him. To be a part of his staff is really exciting.”

Byington will recruit North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida for Tech.

“He recruited some very good players at The College of Charleston — [Andrew] Goudelock is sitting on an NBA roster [with the Lakers],” Johnson said.

Williams, 44, was an assistant coach at Ohio the past three seasons. Ohio reached the round of 32 in the 2010 NCAA tournament and the Sweet 16 in the 2012 NCAA tournament.

His boss, John Groce, left the Mid-American Conference school in late March to become the coach at Illinois. Groce did not choose Williams to be one of his three assistant coaches with the Illini, but he did hire Williams for an administrative position.

Williams has also been an assistant coach at VMI, Richmond and DePaul.

He earned All-SoCon honors at VMI, where he played with his twin, Damon.

Williams will recruit Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and the Midwest for Tech.

Kanaskie was the associate head coach for Ed DeChellis at Navy this year after serving the previous eight seasons on DeChellis’ staff at Penn State. Kanaskie and Johnson were fellow Penn State assistants for two seasons.

Kanaskie, 54, was the head coach at Missouri Valley Conference member Drake for seven seasons after spending eight years as the head coach at Division II Indiana University of Pennsylvania and three years as head coach at Division II Lock Haven.

He will recruit Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York for Tech.

“He recruited Talor Battle. He recruited Jeff Brooks. Those two guys were very successful players at Penn State,” Johnson said.

The three assistants will be paid a total of $474,750 next season, up from the $406,651 that Greenberg’s three assistants made this year. The salary breakdown was not available Thursday, but Kanaskie will be the highest-paid assistant. No one will have the title of associate head coach.

Finney-Smith’s mother told the (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot on Thursday that her son has already been contacted by Florida, Memphis, Georgetown and Virginia Commonwealth.

James Johnson told me that signee Montrezl Harrell’s father asked for Harrell’s release today from his letter of intent. Harrell, a power forward from Hargrave Military Academy, signed with Tech last fall. He will not attend Tech as planned, said Johnson.

“The longer it took [for him to decide whether he'd stick with VT after the coaching change], you think maybe it was going to happen,” Johnson said. “He just wanted to look at some other schools.”

His decision will leave Tech with just eight scholarship players, although Johnson hopes to add a recruit this spring.

“He had a great year [at Hargrave], but you’ve got Barksdale, you’ve got Eddie. … He would’ve had to compete for some playing time.” Johnson said. “We’ve got good guys. We’ve got a good group of guys. I would’ve liked to have had him with us, but I still think this is a good group of guys.

“Not really worried [about having just 8]. We might try to bring a kid or two in. …. You’ve still got your second-team all-conference point guard back. You’ve still got Robert Brown, who scored 16 points and [had] six rebounds in his last game as a Hokie. You’ve still got Jarell Eddie. You’ve still got Cadarian Raines, who could be an all-conference player. You’ve still got C.J. Barksdale. You’ve still got Marquis Rankin and Marshall Wood and 6-10 Joey Van Zegeren. I’m not concerned. We’ve got a good group.

“You’ve got Eddie at the 3. You’ve got Barksdale and Wood at the 4. You’ve got Brown you can bump to the 3. You can play Rankin and Green together. Marshall Wood can play the 3. Eddie will probably play more 3, Wood can play 3 and 4.

“We’re losing six points a game in Dorian Finney-Smith. Montrezl Harrell never scored a basket, never got a rebound for Virginia Tech.”

More from Johnson dicussing his new staff coming to the blog later …

Virginia Tech has announced the assistant coaches for James Johnson, and it includes two former Timesland standouts. Salem High School grad Mark Byington is leaving The College of Charleston, while William Fleming and VMI grad Ramon Williams is leaving his new administrative post at Illinois. Navy assistant Kurt Kanaskie is the other new assistant.

Here is the story I did on Ramon this year when he was an Ohio U assistant during the NCAA tournament, followed by the lead story  for my college basketball notebook that I did on Byington this year when he was the interim coach for The College of Charleston:

Fleming grad has helped coach Ohio to the Sweet 16 

Dorian Finney-Smith, a highly touted recruit who had an uneven freshman season, will be leaving the Virginia Tech men’s basketball team after just one year.

Hokies coach James Johnson said today that Finney-Smith and his mother informed him in a meeting last weekend that he intends to leave Tech.

“He wants to transfer,” Johnson said. “We’re willing to let him go.”

Johnson said he was “totally” surprised by the news.

Seth Greenberg was fired as Tech’s coach two weeks ago and replaced by Johnson, who had been a Tech assistant.

Finney-Smith “said that this [decision] was brewing for months,” Johnson said. “He just wanted to wait until he was done with exams and just finish school out strong. He didn’t want the distraction on his mind.

“He said, ‘Coach, we’ve been thinking about this for months, it has nothing to do with the [coaching] change.’ .. The way they sounded, it may have happened regardless [of the change].”

Finney-Smith’s mother, Desiree Finney, told the (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot that her son was not happy at Tech.

“If he’s not happy then he can’t give it his all,” she said.

The firing of Greenberg did not help matters.

“I had issues before they even did that,” she told the Virginian-Pilot. “[Finney-Smith] said after Seth left he almost knew he wanted to leave. There was just stuff going on.”

Finney-Smith was a USA Today third-team All-American as a high school senior in Portsmouth, when he averaged 18 points and led I.C. Norcom to a second straight Group AAA crown.

The 6-foot-8 forward made the ACC all-freshman team this year, when he averaged 6.3 points and a team-high 7 rebounds. But he shot just 33.2 percent from the field. He went six straight games in January and early February without scoring a basket. In ACC play, he averaged just 5.5 points. Greenberg worked with him to change his shot.

Finney-Smith started at small forward but also saw action at power forward for the undersized Hokies.

Finney said her son has not been happy since a Feb. 21 loss to Virginia. He had a costly turnover in the final seconds of the game.

“He hasn’t been happy since the UVa game,” Finney told the Virginian-Pilot. “One of the things was he played out of position at [power forward], which is not the position they recruited him to play.”

Finney-Smith’s exit leaves Tech with seven returning players and at least one signee. C.J. Barksdale could become the starting power forward, with Jarell Eddie moving from power forward to small forward. Signee Marshall Wood of Rustburg High School can play both forward spots.

“We’ve got enough pieces that we’ll be okay, not to take anything from Dorian,” Johnson said. “He was a heck of a player, had a good freshman year, was a big rebounder for us.”

The team’s other fall signee, power forward Montrezl Harrell of Hargrave Military Academy, has not yet decided if he will attend Tech as planned in the wake of the coaching change. Johnson said there is still a chance Harrell could stick with Tech.

Finney-Smith, one of the most highly touted recruits to ever sign with the Hokies, picked Tech over Florida and Old Dominion in the fall of his senior year of high school.

John Richardson, the assistant who helped Greenberg woo Finney-Smith to Tech, left last month to rejoin the ODU staff. But Finney-Smith’s mother said her son does not want to transfer to ODU.

Salem graduate Mark Byington, an assistant coach at The College of Charleston, said today he was in Blacksburg a few days ago  to interview for an assistant coaching job with his good friend and former colleague, new Virginia Tech coach James Johnson.

Byington said he would be very interested if Johnson makes him an offer.

Byington was the interim head coach at The College of Charleston for the final few months of the season after Bobby Cremins took a leave of absence. He did not get the permanent job, but the new coach, Doug Wojcik, kept him on the staff.

Byington and Johnson shared an office when they were both College of Charleston assistants in 2002-03.

Byington, a former UNC Wilmington standout, was once the director of basketball operations at UVa.

As for former Tech great Dell Curry, don’t expect him to be on Johnson’s staff.

Some Tech fans would love to see Curry back in Blacksburg, but when I texted him to see if he was interested in being a Hokies assistant, he replied Friday that it is “Bad timing for me to coach.”

I talked today with Rustburg standout Marshall Wood, who said he will play for Virginia Tech as planned.

Wood, who signed with the Hokies last fall, had asked for his release after Tech fired coach Seth Greenberg last week, and had been promised the release. But he met with new coach James Johnson on Wednesday afternoon at a Rustburg restaurant and recommitted to Tech. Johnson had been the lead recruiter when Wood first chose to play for the Hokies.

“It kind of was an easy decision,” he said. “Me and him just talked and I felt really comfortable with him and it was easy to recommit.

“I had known him since the fall of my junior year, when he first came down to the school and came to an open gym and watched me play. So me and him had a really good relationship. .. He was always down at the school, always the one calling me, so he was definitely the most instrumental in my [original] recruitment.

“I was really excited when he got the [head coaching] job. I told my parents, ‘I think I’m going back now,’ because I really like Coach Johnson and I have a great relationship with him and I’m really comfortable with him.”

Wo0d said he would probably have gone the prep school route next season if he didn’t like the new Tech coach, and would have gone through the recruiting process all over again. That would have given him plenty of months to pick a new college for the fall of 2013, rather than making a rushed choice this spring in time for the upcoming fall semester. He said he wouldn’t have felt comfortable signing with a new college this spring after just a few weeks of recruiting.

He said he had already talked to Hargrave Military Academy about playing there next season “but it wasn’t too serious” because he wanted to see who Tech would hire.

“I’m defnitely relieved,” Wood said. “I wanted to go to Virginia Tech from the very beginning when I signed in the fall and I’m relieved I’m going still. Coach Greenberg being fired, all the assistant coaches leaving, I was definitely kind of nervous.”

He is looking forward to playing for Johnson.

“He’s going to be really big on defense and he said we’re going to get out and run on offense, so that plays exactly into my playing style,” Wood said. “He’s going to be a great leader and a great coach.

“We definitely have a really good core coming back and I think we have a chance to be really good.

“He just told me (yesterday), ‘Marshall, like I said when I was an assistant coach, I have the utmost confidence in you.’ I just knew then that it was the right place to be.

“I have the utmost confidence in him that he’ll be a great coach.”

The other fall signee, Montrezl Harrell, has not yet asked for his release. Johnson hopes he will also stick with Tech.