Regardless of what you think of George Steinbrenner and the New York Yankees, their decision to donate $1,000,000 to the Hokie Memorial Fund and come play an exhibition game at English Field in Blacksburg, VA is one of the classiest moves ever. The Yankees have to be considered one of the two most famous sports teams in the USA along with the Dallas Cowboys. They could have stopped with the donation, which was impressive enough in its own right. They could have stopped at wearing VT logos on their hats in a regular season game against the red sox. But they didn’t. They came to Blacksburg.

Hard to believe it, but Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez were at Virginia Tech today. Jorge Posada and Jason Giambi also played. Most of the starters went three innings and two at-bats. Manager Joe Girardi hung out in the stands with Frank Beamer. The team toured the memorial dedicated to the victims over by Burruss Hall. At one point during the game, A-Rod hung out in the VT dugout. Everyone associated with the Yankees said they were honored to be there, but I think the honor was all ours.

While visiting the memorial, Alex Rodriguez was quoted as saying, “There are certain things that happen that are so devastating that time stops,” he said. “For me, this is one of them. This is probably the proudest day I’ve ever (had) to wear a Yankee uniform.”

During the game, Yankees play-by-play announcer Michael Kay mentioned to President Steger that he thought they could have gotten double the attendance of 5,000. Steger, and I, sort of laughed that off and said he thought they could have filled the football stadium. I certainly think this game could have drawn 66,000 at Lane, especially if on a weekend.

Thank you again, Yankees.

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By Kartik Krishnaiyer

Our good buddy, Kartik Krishnaiyer from miami’s canesrising.com, was nice enough to write an article about his thoughts on the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee and Virginia Tech’s snub. He also participated in an Opposing View column back in February. TechHoops.com would like to thank him for taking the time to do this and offer his kind thoughts. And to show our gratitude, in an unprecedented move, we have left other schools’ names capitalized.

Hokie fans, I feel your pain. Everyone in ACC Country feels your pain. Talking to many around the country in the last 24 hours, those who understand the culture around ACC Basketball agree with me. Those who don’t understand ACC Basketball have little use for my arguments. But here is how I see what I consider a completely unjustified and unconscionable decision by the committee to take essentially mediocre teams like Villanova, Kansas State and Oregon over a battle tested winning ACC team like Virginia Tech.

• The committee needs to watch more basketball

Had any member of the selection committee watched Virginia Tech’s heartbreaking loss at Littlejohn Coliseum to Clemson last Sunday, they no doubt would have decided that the Hokies are not only a tournament team but probably a top eight seed somewhere. The odd call by an official to call a foul with three seconds remaining and put Clemson on the line for two free throws when the Hokies were up one and had shown the grit to make what appeared to be a game winning shot just seconds earlier was inexcusable. Following this heartbreak, Virginia Tech beat Miami, already considered an NCAA lock and team that secured a #7 seed in the tournament. Finally, the Hokies got unlucky not to at least get to overtime against the committee’s favorite team, #1 overall seed North Carolina. How can a team that beat one tournament team and took two other top seeds to the brink in a one week period and who had a winning record in a league which the RPI rated as the toughest in the nation by a wide margin be left out for a team like, say Kansas State or Oregon?

• Road games in the ACC are not equal to road games in other leagues

Much like the SEC in football, the ACC in basketball features home arenas where the passion is greater night in and night out than in any other league in America. The committee’s failure to understand that Virginia Tech’s road games are more hostile than Villanova’s show they have a fundamental misunderstanding of college basketball. Going 9-7 in the ACC is not like going 8-8 in the SEC or Big 12. It’s a whole lot tougher.

As a Miami fan, I recall we had a team that went 15-2 over a two season period on the road in the Big East. (December 1998 thru March 2000) In this period, Miami had exceptional talent, but not overwhelming talent by any stretch of the imagination. But it was fairly easy for a talented team to go into a large, half empty arena in a city center and steal a road game than to a loud partisan arena jam packed with students near the floor. The SEC in basketball resembles the ACC in football. Students come to games and cheer for their team but the passion the ACC has for basketball is lacking in SEC arenas while the passion the SEC has for football is generally lacking in ACC stadiums.

• The NCAA should understand traditional in-state rivalries

Early in his tenure as Miami Head Coach, Leonard Hamilton made the decision to discontinue Miami’s series with Florida, Florida State, and South Florida. Why? Coach Hamilton was of the belief that you don’t schedule games against in-state opponents that could lead to defeats that kill your program’s profile both locally and nationally. As Miami improved, Hamilton gradually got aggressive about placing Kentucky, North Carolina, and Indiana on UM’s schedule, but the in-state teams never returned until Perry Clark was the coach. Virginia Tech had three losses held against them by the committee: two were to in-state rivals Richmond and Old Dominion (both on the road): for this the Hokies should have been congratulated for playing these teams, not punished for losing. Miami was for years unwilling to play these games. More and more schools now follow Hamilton’s example. The committee must realize that losing to an in-state rival from a smaller league is not like losing to a team from a smaller league from another region.

• The NCAA needs to realize that some teams without returning stars need time to gel

Jeff Allen, Deron Washington, and A.D. Vassalo are now all household names in ACC country. But they weren’t in November when the Hokies lost to Penn State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. As the season went on, as was always the case with Seth Greenberg’s teams at South Florida and now at Virginia Tech, the Hokies played better and better. The team game really began to work and as is always the case with Greenberg’s teams the Hokies played great defense. So at season’s end Virginia Tech wasn’t just one of the 65 best teams in the nation, it was probably one of the 30 best. But Arizona’s early season victories with several returning stars were emphasized in picking a team with a losing conference record for the dance, but Virginia Tech’s early struggles with a group of young players was held against them, even though the Hokies finished with a winning record in the nation’s toughest conference. Go figure.

In summary, I feel Virginia Tech’s exclusion from this tournament is one of the gravest at-large oversights by the committee in recent years. For me it is probably the biggest oversight since Vanderbilt was dropped from the bracket in 2000 right before the selection show because Arkansas had surprisingly won the SEC Tournament and the committee needed to make room for them so lazily they dropped a team from the same league. I have no doubt that Seth Greenberg, one of the finest people in the game, will bring Virginia Tech back to the NCAAs next year, but the Hokies ought to be preparing now for a NCAA game, not a NIT one.

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Check out Coach Greenberg on Mike & the Mad Dog earlier today, courtesy of WFAN in NYC.

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Tickets for Wednesday’s NIT first round game against morgan state are now on sale through the Virginia Tech Ticket Office. Tickets are $15 for the general public and $5 for students. Seating is General Admission.

Click here to order your tickets online.

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Virginia Tech is a #1 seed in the 2008 NIT. The Hokies face #8 seed morgan state (22-10, 14-2 MEAC) on Wednesday night at Cassell Coliseum. It will be on ESPN Classic at 7:00 PM.

If the Hokies win on Wednesday, there could be a very intriguing match-up in the Second Round. VT would play the winner of #5 uab and #4 vcu. Both of those teams are very good. uab finished second in Conference USA behind memphis, and vcu won the Colonial regular season crown by three games before losing in the semi-finals to william and mary.

Rounding out Tech’s bracket is #3 nebraska against #6 charlotte, and #2 ole miss battling #7 uc santa barbara. The other #1 seeds are ohio state, syracuse, and arizona state. Two-time defending National Champion florida is a #2 seed.

But first things first. The Hokies must put their disappointment about not being in the Big Dance behind them and TCB against morgan state. The two teams are actually more familiar with each other than you might think. They have played six times since 1985, all at VT and all won by the Hokies. They played every year from 2002-2005, so Deron Washington has played them twice (2 points in 2004 and 16 points in 2005), and A.D. Vassallo (12 points) and Cheick Diakite (2 points) have each played morgan state once.

Note: Don Devoe was a part of the NIT Committee. Devoe coached Virginia Tech to the 1973 NIT Championship.

Note #2: As the #1 seed in their bracket, Tech will not have to play a road game in the NIT. The best seeded team hosts, so Tech could host 3 games before going to MSG for the NIT Final Four.

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With the news that Tech will not be making a return trip to the Big Dance, we are all disappointed right now. Let’s take a look at who got in over VT and why.

• #12 seed villanova (20-12, 9-9 Big East) – nova is the last at-large in the tournament. In fact, they are the only at-large with a #12 seed or lower. The Hokies and the cats have almost identical resumes. nova had one more win, 9 wins in conference play, a big conference tourney win (syracuse), and neighboring RPIs (low 50s). Also, they got screwed by officials in losses to nc state and georgetown, so they have a similar gripe as VT does in their close losses. The difference is nova went 4-7 against RPI Top 50, and this is what gave them the nod over Tech.
• #11 baylor (20-10, 9-7 Big 12) – The Big 12 was #2 in conference RPI. baylor beat three NCAA teams: notre dame, texas a&m, and kansas state. Their RPI was also about 10 spots higher than the Hokies. The bears did lose to a poor colorado team in the Big 12 Tourney, but their body of work was apparently enough. I think you could flip a coin on them or VT.
• #11 kentucky (18-12, 12-4 SEC) – Left for dead back in December, the cats came rolling back with a 12-4 SEC record. But their loss to georgia in the SEC quarterfinals put them back on the bubble and their RPI was close to VT’s. However, they were 4-6 against RPI Top 50 and 8 of their 12 losses were to tourney teams. They also beat #2 seed tennessee. 12 wins in the SEC has to get you in, plain and simple.

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The NIT brackets will be announced on ESPN2 and ESPNU at 9:00 pm eastern time.

http://www.nit.org/sports/m-nit/spec-rel/031608aaa.html

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Both A.D. Vassallo and Malcolm Delaney made the 2008 ACC All-Tournament Second Team.  This is a great honor for both, especially for the freshman, Delaney.  Malcolm was the only freshman on the first or second team.

Vassallo averaged 16 points in the two Hokie games while Delaney averaged 15.  Delaney shot 67% for the tournament from the field and 75% on threes.  Malcolm also had an assist-to-turnover ratio of better than 2:1 with 9 assists and just 4 turnovers.

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With unc’s title on Sunday, they now have the most ACC Basketball Championships, moving ahead of duke.  Amazingly, clemson still has not won one and has only played for the title twice including Sunday. 

Here’s the totals by school.

• duke won 7 of 8 titles between 1999 and 2006
• unc or duke has won 11 of the last 12 ACC titles 
• maryland is the only school not in NC to win the title since 1993
• As you may have noticed above, the top four schools in terms of titles are the four NC schools and they have won 47 of the 55 championships (85%)

FYI: The tournament is scheduled to be at the Georgia Dome next year.  The dome was hit by a tornado this week during the SEC Tournament.

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As I sit here watching the ESPN Classic Game of the Week (the VT/unc game), I figured I would take a look back at how the Hokies did in Charlotte.

MVP: This is a no-brainer. It is Malcolm Delaney. He scored 15 in both games and hit 10/15 (67%) from the floor and 6/8 (75%) on threes. He also had 9 assists to just 4 turnovers. Anything over 2 in that ratio is incredible. I predicted before the season he would be VT’s best recruit in this class. I was wrong, at least for this year, but he showed he can be a star in this league. Delaney scored 35 combined points in the two games against unc this year.

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Time will tell, but Coach Greenberg believes that anyone who “does not think that Virginia Tech is not one of the Top 65 teams is certifiably insane”. I agree with him, but unfortunately that doesn’t mean that the Hokies will get in. Here is a look at Tech’s resume: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, along with some other factors that could impact their selection status.

The Good

• 4th place finish in the ACC, with a winning conference record at 9-7. Only twice in the history of the ACC has a team with a winning record not made the Big Dance: uva in 2000, and fsu in 2006. Both those squads were 9-7, but lost their opening round game in the ACC Tournament. 21 of 23 teams that have gone 9-7 or 8-6 have made the tournament. Therefore, there is a 91% chance that the Hokies will make the dance based on this stat alone.
• A win in the ACC Tournament against miami, who was ranked in the top 30 of the RPI.
• maryland’s bubble burst on Thursday. Tech is the only bubble team from the ACC. There is no other competition.
• Tech is 5-2 in their last 7 games, with their only 2 losses coming at the buzzer against the two teams playing for the ACC Championship. The Hokies are playing their best basketball of the season at the right time and could be a tough test for any opponent in the first round of the Big Dance.
• Even though a loss is a loss, the Hokies’ performance against #1 unc in the ACC semis was viewed very positively by the so-called experts. Dickie V changed his tone after the game. He was calling Tech out of the tourney before the game, and in after it.
• The ACC is the highest RPI-rated conference.
• I doubt this really matters, but I bet Coach Greenberg will be on every sports talk radio and TV show imaginable on Selection Sunday, lobbying for the Hokies. As we all know, he is a media darling and not afraid to speak his mind. Either way, the Hokies will get a lot of good press.

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Erick Green and the #1 Millbrook (Winchester, VA) Pioneers rolled to the Virginia AA state championship tonight at vcu’s Siegel Center.  The Pioneers defeated Brunswick County by a 53-43 score.  Brunswick was coached by uva legend bryant stith.  Green had a game-high 18 points, including 14 of Millbrook’s first 25 points to help them establish control of the game.

Brunswick was actually held without a point for the entire 2nd quarter.

This was my first opportunity to see Green play live and I have to tell you I was very impressed.  Almost all his points were mid-range jumpers or three-pointers.  He is a terrific shooter who also is a good ball handler, and the Hokies definitely need more dribblers. 

On defense, Millbrook plays a 2-3 zone so it is hard to tell how Erick will stack up on that end.  He will obviously have to learn to be a strong man defender to fit into Seth Greenberg’s system.

Erick was clearly the best player on the floor, even on this stage.  He will be a terrific addition to the Hokie backcourt in 19 months.

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The Hokies played their hearts out but came up short as ACC POY Tyler Hansbrough hit a 12-foot baseline jumper with 0:00:8 left to break a tie and give unc the win. I honestly have never seen the Hokies fight harder in any game. I won’t say Tech played perfectly, but they did an amazing job and nearly avenged a 39-point loss exactly four weeks ago at unc.

Tech led almost the entire game, jumping out to eight point leads in the first and second halves. In fact, the heels’ biggest lead was three points at 5-2 early in the game. VT went up 59-52 with 6:18 to go on an incredible inbounds pass/alley-oop dunk by Deron Washington, but the Hokies struggled to score down the stretch. Deron fouled out with 1:29 to go.

Neither team shot very well, with both teams shooting 40%. Jeff Allen had 9 points and 11 rebounds but shot just 3/9 from the floor. Even A.D. Vassallo was 6/19 from the field, including 1/8 on threes. That’s one of the reasons I say Tech didn’t play a perfect game.

Hansbrough led unc with 26 points, but had just 10 in the second half. The Hokies did a much better job of frustrating him in the second stanza. Wayne Ellington also hurt the Hokies with 15 points, including three clutch three-pointers.

The Hokies, who were outrebounded by 30 in the first meeting, held their own in the first half, but got dominated on the glass in the second half. For the game, the heels outrebounded Tech 39-30. And had A.D. been able to grab Lawson’s miss with 3 seconds left, the game would have gone to overtime. Instead, the ball bounced right off Vassallo’s hands under the hoop to Hansbrough, who hit the 12-foot jumper over Hank Thorns.

Malcolm Delaney had another terrific game. After scoring 15 points on 4/5 three point shooting against miami yesterday, he had 15 again today on 2/3 long range shooting and 5/6 from the floor overall. He took great strides forward in this tournament. He could be the next Zabian Dowdell.

On defense, the Hokies got beat off the dribble too much. The heels were able to take it at the hoop way too much, and got most of their points this way.

This is a devastating loss for the Hokies, but may have been enough to propel them into the NCAA Tournament. They finished in the Top Four in the ACC regular season and in the ACC Tournament. They also proved they can play the #1 team in the country all the way to the buzzer. Now, we just have to sit back and wait for a day and see if the NCAA Tournament Committee agrees. Either way, the Hokies made us all proud today, showcasing how resilient this team is and what they are capable of.

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Spread: unc -11

THE SETUP 

1/30/2005 – duke 100, VT 65

2/17/2005 – VT 67, duke 65

2/16/2008 – unc 92, VT 53

3/15/2008 – VT ??, unc ??

Nuff said.  Let’s roll.

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Recap | Box Score

The Hokies advance to the ACC Tournament semi-finals with Friday’s win over miami.

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Box Score | Game Film

The 4th seeded Hokies used a 21-4 run during the second half to beat the 5th seeded miami hurricanes 63-49 in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinal. Today’s game was one of the best team efforts I’ve seen out of Virginia Tech this year on both sides of the court. The Hokies won today thanks to an aggressive defensive effort, domination on the boards, and exceptional shot selection, which led to 7 three-pointers.

From the onset, the Hokies were tenacious on D. miami shot only 31.6% from the field. Jack McClinton was just 4 of 17 from the field. Tech’s defense set the tone. If it weren’t for some foul trouble in the first half (Deron Washington picked up 2 fouls in the first 6 minutes) and the beginning of the second half (Jeff Allen picked up his 2nd and 3rd fouls within 10 seconds, early in the half), the Hokies might have broken away from the canes even earlier in the game.

On the offensive end, the Hokies shot 42.6% from the field including 7 of 15 from 3 point land and A.D. Vassallo only made 1 of those threes! Malcolm Delaney, my player of the game, stepped up BIG TIME today with 15 points, 4 boards, and 3 assists. Delaney was 4 of 5 from behind the arc. He nailed a couple daggers during the 21-4 run that virtually sealed the deal for Tech. Hank Thorns and Deron Washington made the other three pointers. Washington finished with 14 points and 12 boards. A.D. had 15 points, 5 boards, and 5 assists. Jeff Allen, who didn’t score his first basket until 11 seconds left in the first half, sparked the Hokies in the first few minutes of the second half, but then had to sit after his 3rd foul at the 16:36 mark. miami used that to their advantage and took a 40-38 lead with 11:11 to go. Coach Greenberg put Allen back in, and the Hokies took off on their 21-4 run to win the game. Allen finished with another double-double, 10 points and 10 boards.

Finally, the rebounding margin was Tech 47 miami 22. That’s insane. Gary Cope-acabana had a great line in our in game after a monster rebound by J.T. Thompson in the second half: “That was a tremendous individual effort by J.T. to stick with that offensive rebound – it’ll only count as one rebound, but it was more like three.” The Hokies crashed the boards, and that has to continue tomorrow in order for Tech to have a snowballs chance in hell to win.

The Hokies are now 2-3 all-time in ACC Tournament play with victories against miami today and wake forest (’07 quarters) and losses against n.c. state (’07 semis), uva (’06 1st round), and ga tech (’05 quarters).

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