The Gophers start a new phase of the season tonight against Virginia Tech. Trevor Mbakwe is done for the year, Ralph Sampson III is probably not playing with an ankle injury, Austin Hollins is dinged up and the best player on the court is now … Rodney Williams? Julian Welch? Freshman Andre Hollins?

Changes need to be made and players need to find new roles, but with the ACC Challenge just hours away, there's not much time. While I think coach Tubby Smith and the Gophers are going out with a winning mentality, tonight should be something of an experiment. What will this team look like for the rest of the season? Meanwhile, there will be plenty of hurdles to cross. "We watched them play Syracuse," Elliott Eliason said of the Hokies. "They're a very talented team. They're going to come down in here, where we've obviously lost our captain and they're going to try to beat us pretty badly. So we just really have to be prepared and ready to play tomorrow." Virginia Tech at a glance:

  • The Hokies haven't exactly been injury-free themselves. Senior forward JT Thompson, who missed the entire 2010-11 season with ACL surgery on his left knee, reinjured the same knee in a Nov. 2 practice, effectively ending another season.
  • This year the 5-1 Hokies are relying on 6-3 junior guard Erick Green -- who is leading the team with 14.8 points and 2.6 rebounds per game and has gone 11-for-18 (61.1 percent) from behind the arc in five games – and 6-5 senior guard Dorenzo Hudson (14.3 ppg, 3.2 rpg).
  • Freshman Dorian Finney-Smith has proven to be a inside force early, averaging eight points a game while averaging 10.3 rebounds.