During Victor Davila’s playing days at Starmount High School, there were some who doubted whether the 6-foot-8 forward was ACC caliber.

As Davila closes in on his first complete season at Virginia Tech, those doubts should be pretty well put to rest by now.

Davila isn’ the star of the Hokies’ hoops show — those roles are reserved for senior A.D. Vassallo and sophomores Malcolm Delaney and Jeff Allen right now — but he has earned quality minutes and even spent time in the starting lineup.

Not a bad beginning for a big man in one of college basketball’s most competitive conferences.

Davila played nine minutes Wednesday night in the Hokies’86-78 loss to No. 2 ranked North Carolina — all in the first half. You could argue that Davila should have played more after intermission. While he missed his only shot attempt, he proved stout on the defensive end, boxing out well and even swatting away a shot by reigning national player of the year Tyler Hansbrough. Davila finished with two rebounds.

Virginia Tech could have used some muscle in the lane coming down the stretch to clog out Hansbrough (22 points, 15 rebounds) and slashing point guard Ty Lawson (22 points, five assists). The Hokies tied the game twice in the second half but never could overtake the Heels.

Davila is one of only four players on the Tech roster to play in all 29 games thus far. He has started 10 times, averaging 12.8 minutes of action as well as 3.2 points and 2.1 rebounds per game. He has eight blocked shots (fourth-best on the team) and had two steals.

His best offensive contest came against Elon early in the season when he scored 16 points and grabbed four boards. He also had 13 points against Wisconsin. Davila started when Virginia Tech visited Wake Forest in January and handed the then-top ranked Deacons their first loss.

Davila’s offensive game is still raw, and he needs to work on his free-throw shooting (he’s 21 of 39, 53.8 percent through Wednesday night). But a lot of people close to Tech basketball, including standout senior Vassallo, believe Davila has the potential to be the potent scorer and inside threat that he was at Starmount.

“Victor Davila is going to be really good,” Greenberg himself told Hokies fans during a recent radio call-in program. “He’s got good footwork and he can score.”

Greenberg said he has challenged Davila’s older teammates, Hank Thomas and Delaney, to “empower” the freshman, and to work to get him the ball more in the low block. Greenberg also challenged Davila himself about a month ago during an interview with the media.

“I’d like to see him be a little more assertive and aggressive on the defensive end,” the coach said during a weekly teleconference. “He’s a freshman in this league and it’s going to be a roller coaster. We need more from him ... I want to see him more physical and stick his nose in more, get his chest out at people on block outs. There is a big difference between playing at Starmount High School and this conference.”

Davila has heeded those words since, even though he is now coming off the bench. Davila more than held his own going against Hansbrough and UNC forward Deon Thompson on Wednesday night. Hansbrough had one dunk with Davila nearby but otherwise didn’t get off another good shot attempt while Davila was guarding him.

Davila came to Yadkin County before his freshman year of high school. He’s a native of Puerto Rico and spent much of his eighth grade year in Florida with his older brother, Felix, before being connected with Starmount coaches

Donnie and Pam Livengood of Hamptonville became Davila’s guardians during his high school years. And Davila quickly became like a Yadkin County native in the minds of hoops fans in the western side of the county as he rewrote the Rams’ record books and led his team to a state championship game appearance.

Davila still has a strong following among Yadkin fans even as he wears a different shade of orange (mixed with Virginia Tech maroon). A number of Starmount fans have gone to Blacksburg to see him play, including the school’s athletic director, Scott Carter, who was in attendance Wednesday night with others from Yadkin County.

The Livengoods attend most home games and get to spend a few minutes with Davila afterwards, doing what most parents of college kids do — pass along home-made snacks and encouragement.

The Livengoods plans to attend the ACC Tournament in Atlanta in a few weeks. Whether they get to go to an NCAA Tournament game this season remains to be seen.

Davila and the Hokies sit firmly on the tournament bubble with a 17-12 record. Had Tech been able to knock off Carolina or Duke in the past week — they were close in each game — a tournament berth would have been more sure.

If not this year, there is strong reason to believe Virginia Tech can be a tournament team over the next few years. And if Davila continues his improvement curve as expected, he could be in the center of the action.

“He’s been playing extremely well for us,” senior center Cheick Diakite told The Tribune and Yadkin Ripple earlier this season. “He is a great kid. He comes and practices hard and he comes to the court and plays hard. He is a very good player. Definitely, he is definitely going to have a very good career here.”

So much for the doubters.