5 Places Virginia Tech's Dorian Finney-Smith Could Land

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Dorian Finney-Smith is transferring from Virginia Tech after playing at the Blacksburg school just one year, ESPN.com's Eamonn Brennan reported on Tuesday.

Finney-Smith led the Hokies in rebounding (seven rpg) during the 2011-12 season and was selected as a member of the 2012 ACC All-Freshman Team (via ACC.com)

Tom Gabbard, Virginia Tech's associate athletic director in charge of basketball, told the Hampton Roads Daily Press that Finney-Smith will be released from his scholarship to any school "not in direct competition" with the Hokies.

Translated: Don't expect DF-S to end up at any other ACC school.

Here are five places that the former 5-star shooting forward could land next.

5. Kentucky Wildcats

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I don't know if Dorian Finney-Smith has any interest in going to Kentucky.

But, since John Calipari seems to have a "5-star magnet" that he uses on elite-level recruits, don't you think that the most recent NCAA Champion coach will reach out to a player like Finney-Smith?

Yeah, me too.

4. Virginia Commonwealth

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Dorian Finney-Smith grew up in Portsmouth, VA, a mere 97 miles from Richmond VA, home of Virginia Commonwealth.

The Rams are 84-27 since Shaka Smart was hired three years ago.

In those three seasons, VCU won the CBI Championship, advanced to the 2011 Final Four as well as the Round of 32 in 2012.

Finney-Smith may want to hang relatively close to home and play for one of the best young coaches in college hoops.

3. Richmond Spiders

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Another Tidewater-area school that Finney-Smith might consider is Richmond.

Chris Mooney (pictured) has done a good job as the Spiders head coach.

While Mooney's men went 16-16 this last season, they were 29-8 and made it to the Sweet Sixteen in 2011 after going 26-9 in 2009-2010.

2. Florida Gators

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One of the programs that Dorian Finney-Smith strongly considered out of high school was Florida.

DF-S is the kind of player that the Gators head coach Billy Donovan (pictured) loves to develop: one that has a good enough handle to beat his man off the dribble and is willing to crash the boards on both ends of the court.

Florida has been one of the most successful programs over the last few years. Donovan has stacked up 14 straight 20 win seasons.

Billy's Boys have won back-to-back NCAA Championships (2006, 2007), were the 2000 NCAA runners-Up and made back-to-back trips to the Elite 8 in 2011 and 2012.

If Finney-Smith re-connects with his high school recruitment, don't be surprised to hear that he ends up in Gainesville.

1. Old Dominion Monarchs

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You might be thinking, "Why would a player as talented as Dorian Finney-Smith go to a place like Old Dominion?"

It might just come down to some relationships that DF-S has with ODU.

Mike Barber of the Richmond Times-Dispatch connects the dots this way:

Finney-Smith's older brother, Ben, played basketball at Old Dominion. ODU was heavily involved in recruiting Finney-Smith out of high school. His relationship with Tech assistant John Richardson, who had left ODU to join Seth Greenberg's staff, was a key factor in the Hokies landing Finney-Smith.

Richardson rejoined Blaine Taylor's (pictured) staff this offseason, shortly before Greenberg was fired.

Since Finney-Smith chose to play at Tech initially, we know that he is open to play at schools that are outside of the mainstream of college hoops.

If Barber is right about DF-S's bond with Richardson, that could weigh heavily on his ultimate decision of where to go next.