The Opposing View is written by guest columnists who are alums, or at worst, Super Fans of Virginia Tech’s upcoming opponent.Enjoy the perspective from the other side, and don’t be afraid to post your rebuttal in the Comments section at the bottom of the article.
- TechHoops.com

This edition of the Opposing View is written by:
Go Hoos, uva-c c/o ’97

My beloved friends from VPI: It is an honor and a pleasure to write this week’s opposing view. I am a lifelong fan of UVa sports and a 1997 graduate of Mr. Jefferson’s University. For the past two+ years I’ve watched the ACC from Boston where I moved to see the Red Sox do the unthinkable in 2004 (shout out to you Wick). In the past few years, I’ve enjoyed your team’s “performance” up close and personal at BC (although I watched last week’s wood-shedding on television). Best of all, I’ve suffered through way too many games at Lame stadium in the past 10 years (although I did enjoy our visit in 1998) so I am happy to provide the very opposing view this week.

But enough about me, onto the game.

To state the obvious, we’re hotter than Olden Polynice’s stereo. After 7 games in a row, it’s hard to ignore what Dave Leitao has done this year. Here’s a quick version of what has transpired:

-Open new arena (the best house in the country, by the way) and spank 10th ranked Arizona on national television (despite an obnoxious WWF, flame-ridden team intro). Cascading chants of “o-ver-ra-ted” (see UNC at Arizona).

-Coast through Thanksgiving playing trashy schedule.

-Drop close game at Purdue, expose lack of frontcourt and prompt this writer to consult Jack Daniels for direction and to lament “not another coach who can’t win on the road”.

-Beat NCst in a squeaker that would have been a loss if Sendek was still coaching.

-Go to San Juan, Puerto Rico and party. Stay out all night kicking it in the PR and forget to show up against App. St (coming off a tough loss at the hands of VPI and led by former Cavalier, Donte Minter). Party. Lose to Utah. Party. Slip by division IIa Puerto Rico-Mayaguez to take 7th place in the San Juan shootout. Hangover.

-Spend holidays sobering up and practicing hard. Welcome Jeff Jones back to Charlottesville with a 90-71 shellacking. Note- this game was played while the co-eds were home.

-Destroy Gonzaga at aforementioned new arena raising eyebrows and setting off countless calls from Charlottesville that begin with “when was the last time we did that?”.

-Drop first game in new arena to Stanford. Stanford? Re-expose frontcourt vulnerability to two 7-footers prompting this writer to wonder how Stanford gets the inside track on all tall, twin nerds.

-Lose two games at Carolina and BC respectively to drop to 1-2 in ACC play. Depression ensues, especially in Boston where this Cavalier fan takes some painful medicine from supercilious Eagle fans.

-Bounce back with 2 wins at home over Maryland (where we blow two huge leads faster than Valerie Plame’s cover) and Wake Forest (where JR Reynolds does Richard “Mr. Excitement” Morgan impression and goes for 40)

-Crush Sidney Lowe and his undermanned pack of wild puppies at Raleigh marking the first ACC road win since 1.15.06 (which was in Bleaksburg, I believe)

-Comeback to score the final 15 points of the game at Clemson to send an already reeling team over the edge. IPTAY goes on suicide watch. At press time, they still haven’t won a game since the double Duke/Virginia heartbreakers. Stick a fork in them.

-Get off 9 game schneid against El Huron and his merry band of dorks. All the world rejoices (outside of Durham) since no one likes to see those suckas win. Sean Singletary gets a signature win with two signature shots (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUXLiiiBgMY) but it was a team effort. Trailing for most of the game, the Hoos weather two last chance possessions from the dorks to prevail prompting Cavalier fans to remember the word “character”.

-Hoos defeat Miami less than 48 hours after crushing the Dookies. Don’t look now, Virginia is on a 6 game winning streak.

-Virginia travels to Murryland and beats them at Comcast. Even the profane Twerps exclaim “Virginia is for real”. The Hoos leave College Park in sole possession of first place). Gary Williams gets hungry after the game (http://www.scrumdiddly.com/index.cfm?commentID=13). Ok, that’s an old picture but it’s quality.

Which brings us to Saturday’s installation of the Commonwealth Challenge. For the first time in my life, I find myself respecting VPI’s basketball program. For the first time in a very long time, I find myself genuinely believing the UVa can win any game.

Sadly, this is a vintage trap game for the Hoos. We’re riding our first 7 game winning streak in the ACC since 1981-82 (Hoos Captain, Jeff Jones incidentally). VPI is struggling, prompting the most ardent of Hokie fans to say “We know the Cassell will be packed and ready to go, but will this team be?” Personally, I think you guys will be licking your chops like Marcus Vick at prom so I think we’re in for a very entertaining basketball game.

If you like guard play, this game features the top backcourts in the ACC and two of the best in the country. The guard match-up is a hard one to call. Gordon/Dowdell get an advantage for playing at home but Singletary/Reynolds are hotter (even though Singletary is coming off a mediocre performance and Maryland). I give the nod to the Hoos because I’m biased. Secondly, I think you need to put length on Singletary and Reynolds to stop them and I can’t see Greenberg moving Washington over. I’m guessing the Virginia backcourt will combine for 40+ and outscore Dowdell and Gordon. But backcourt scoring is only part of the battle.

Up front, it’s a toss up. Jason “house of” Cain has played well as of late. Despite 7 turnovers at Maryland, he had several blocks and hit the boards hard. We’re deeper up front will Lars “Lurch” Mikalauskas, Tunji Soroye, who is playing much improved on both ends, and Ryan Pettinella. Collins is streaky and a head case as well so I’d give Virginia a slight inside.

For some reason, I’m really worried about Vasallo and Washington. Vasallo’s range is well documented, so UVa should extend the defense, but that opens lanes to attack the basket for Washington and Dowdell. And yes, I did see what Washington did to Blair up here in Boston. That was, to quote Double Eagle, “filthy”. We’ll run several guard/forward types off the bench but we need one of them to get hot (Joseph, Harris or Tat). Ultimately, I think our starter, Mamadi Diane (Mo) is the X-factor in the game. He’s the most improved player on the team but has been prone to disappearing on the road. If he can get involved on the defensive end and hit some early 3s, it could be a long day for the home team. If not, Virginia may struggle to find a third scorer, which is a recipe for disaster.

VPI has a chance to win due to the home court advantage (NASCAR season hasn’t started yet) and the law of averages. After dropping all 3 match-ups to UVa last year and 11 of the last 13, something has got to give. This is clearly the best VPI team since the Bimbo days. Greenberg has done an excellent job with the key pieces Ricky Stokes left (did Stokes recruit Dowdell and Gordon, I’m not really sure but it sounds good). It’s a must win for the Hokies, so the flat starts that plagued them last week shouldn’t be a factor.

However, I’m going with the Cavaliers in this match-up. There are some laws more powerful than that of averages and VPI simply doesn’t beat Virginia in basketball. The good guys always win. Leitao has instilled heart and a winning attitude in Charlottesville, restoring balance to the force. So, sorry sportsfans, there’s going to be more sadness up and down the dirt roads.

Hoos 79/Hokies 72.

Go Hoos!

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