Collegiate Times

Dorenzo Hudson takes the ball around a Campbell player.

Dorenzo Hudson’s return for a fifth year has been self-described as bittersweet.

With a nagging foot injury that continued to worsen throughout the 2010-11 season, Hudson elected to undergo surgery and redshirt to ensure he could play one more season.

Thus, Hudson has voiced the pain of not leaving with fellow classmates Malcolm Delaney and Jeff Allen, but is excited for the team’s chances to finally reach the NCAA Tournament.

“Our goal is to make the NCAA Tournament this year,” Hudson said. “We have the players to do it this year. I feel like we really need that to put the program on the map.”

Before his season-ending injury, Hudson averaged 10.4 points per game as starting shooting guard, which was a substantial decline from his junior campaign in which he averaged 15.2 ppg and was named 3rd-team All-ACC. However, Hudson insists he is fully healthy now and has put last season’s health issues to bed.

If the intersquad scrimmage at the start of the preseason was any indication, Hudson is correct and back to the player he was as a junior. With 18 points, Hudson knocked down several jumpers, but he also showed he is still very capable of getting to the rim and has the explosiveness that will remind fans more of the 2009-10 season than the 2010-11 season.

With Hudson and junior Erick Green figuring to comprise the Virginia Tech backcourt, Hudson has echoed the sentiments from Greenberg that scoring will be by committee.

“Everybody will need to come in and score,” Hudson said. “We will have five guys on the court this year that can score the ball, and I think we will have a very balanced team.”

As a player in his fifth year on the team, Hudson has now taken Paul Debnam’s spot as the oldest member of the team. That veteran leadership should be a critical factor in helping a younger Hokies squad mature by the time ACC play comes around.

Still, Greenberg has no qualms about poking fun at the team’s elder statesman, who once scored 41 points against Seton Hall in 2010.

“(Hudson) is an old man,” Greenberg said jokingly. “That guy’s like 100 years old.”

With that experience, No. 5 is guaranteed to play a vital role in the main goal of ending the five-year NCAA Tournament drought.

A version of this article appeared in the Nov 4 issue of the Collegiate Times.