The Hokies on Fire picked what they thought were the top 10 slogans for this year’s Hokies on Fire Blackout shirt. They are now available to choose from at www.hokiesonfire.com.

The winner will be announced on November 5th at the Hokies on Fire Pep Rally! He/she will receive $150 and we have an amazing surprise for them as well. Come to the pep rally and you might find out. The facebook event is: www.tinyurl.com/hofpeprally.

Look for the shirts to be on sale starting November 13th for a relatively cheap price.

Here is the list of the top 10 slogan ideas to choose from.
1) Welcome to BlackOUTsburg
2) If you can’t take the heat get out of the Cassell
3) Lights out in BLACKsburg
4) Hokie Triple Threat: The Cassell, The Soldiers, The Guards
5) Hope you’ve got Night Vision
6) Are you afraid of the dark
7) A blackout to remember
8 ) Cross our moat and step into the dark
9) Lets rock the Cassell with a knight full of Hokies
10) Blackout or Backout

Once the students decide on the “best slogan,” we will quickly start the design process to ensure that the shirts hit the stores on November 13th.

Also, we might combine two slogans depending on how well some are received by the students. If you’d like to assist us with the design process, please e-mail hokiesonfire@vt.edu.

Lastly, we are starting a “Cheers of the game” section at Tech Hoops. This is where we all will be able to coordinate cheers and unite as fans to better the atmosphere. Be sure to check here before each game to see what cheers are going to take place!

We are one step closer to making VT home of the best home-court advantage in the country. We still need your help! Make sure you tell your friends to vote at www.hokiesonfire.com!
Let’s Go!!!

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That puts the Hokies 35th in the country. Other ACC teams in the Top 25 are unc at #1, duke at #5, miami at #16, and wake at #24. ACC/Big Ten Challenge foe wisconsin is at #21.

Click here for the complete poll.

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I did an interview for the blog GobblerCountry.com about the upcoming season. Click HERE if you want to read it.

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The Student Government is proud to announce the continuation of their Hokies on Fire program. The game this year will be a blackout against clemson on January 29^th, 2009.

I am calling out to the student body to help transform Cassell Coliseum into the best home-court arena in the country.

On December 1st, Virginia Tech plays wisconsin. This is the only televised (ESPN2) college basketball game scheduled that day, which means that everyone will be watching. The student section is expected to come out stronger than ever and truly “Protect the Cassell”. Coach Greenberg wants Cassell Coliseum to be covered in Orange, so make sure you wear your favorite orange shirt to the game!

We have gathered slogan and cheer ideas from students. The best slogan will win $150 plus other prizes to be named later. I’m working on getting a basketball signed by Coach Greenberg and the players. On top of that, I’m trying to get the winner a dinner with the team.

Currently, Virginia Tech is known as a football school – we need to unite to prove that VT is much more than just a one sport school. Our basketball team is on the rise; Seth Greenberg is building something special here in Blacksburg. He can’t do it alone – he needs your help.

With your help, we will transform Cassell into the best arena in the country, and clemson will soon be afraid of the dark.

Before anything, you have to go to www.hokiesonfire.com and enter slogan ideas. Who knows, you must just be the lucky winner and be featured at our pep rally on November 5^th!

Lets GO!!!

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Last year the Hokies finished alone in fourth place and earned their third ACC Tournament First Round bye in four seasons. The Hokies’ only key player loss off last year’s squad was Deron Washington. Yet the ACC media has predicted a sixth place finish for Tech this season. Apparently some people never learn. No one ever said the media was that bright. “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, write about it.” At least Greenberg can milk the “no respect” bit for another year! Tech seems to be at their best in that role.

It is no surprise that unc was a unanimous pick for the #1 spot. duke came in at #2 (shocker). And the two “hot picks” to challenge for the ACC title are wake and miami, and they were bunched closely at #3 and #4. No one seems to want to pick VT as a hot pick for whatever reason. All the buzz is about the huge (literally) recruiting class the deacons brought in and the canes, who have one scorer and the equivalent of a hockey goon line. clemson edged out Tech for sixth.

Here’s how the standings turned out with points:

1. unc (all 40 first place votes) – 480
2. duke – 436
3. wake – 354
4. miami – 344
5. clemson – 306
6. VT – 298
7. maryland – 192
8. ga tech – 186
9. nc state – 179
10. fsu – 145
11. bc – 123
12. uva – 79

Notice the huge drop-off from sixth to seventh. VT is actually closer to #3 in points than #7, which goes to show you the media really has no idea how 3-6 will shake out. There really are six legit teams in the ACC this year (though I’m not sold on clemson), and six schools that are a crap-shoot. I think fsu has a shot to be better than predicted and be the big riser of this bunch, but their young team will have to grow fast like the Baby Hokies did last year. And then there’s uva at the bottom of the pile.

Compare this to my Super-Terrific-ACC-Predictornator where I used a formula to rank the teams.

Note: A.D. Vassallo was not picked to be on the All-Conference Team. You-know-who was picked to be the player of the year… again.

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This weekend the Weekend Warrior headed down to seminole country to watch the Hokies meet the noles in football, and to check out the Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center (pictured), where the Hokies will conclude their basketball regular season slate with a game against the noles on Sunday, March 8th.

If you have seen the movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, you basically have the story of my trip to florida state this weekend. And it didn’t get much better after I got there. I would rank it down there with the 1994 Gator Bowl trip as “worst… trip… ever!” Here’s the rundown…

Thursday

Severe head cold starts setting in during the afternoon. This is great since I have a 7 AM flight on Friday.

Friday

5:30 AM – Adios, VA, sunny Florida here we come!

6:10 AM – Through the security line in record time and at my gate, nothing is stopping me now! Also, nothing is stopping my sinuses from getting worse.

7:00 AM – On the plane and pulling back from the gate! I should be at the pool all oiled up sipping bourbon-coladas by noon!

—and here marks the end of the fun part of my weekend—

7:01 AM – The pilot informs us that Atlanta has shut down all incoming traffic due to low visibility and light rain. We will be sitting on the tarmac for at least a half hour until the tower updates us. Considering we are supposed to land at 9 and my connection to Tallahassee leaves at 10, I’m concerned but not panicking yet.

7:35 AM – The pilot updates us by telling us that we will have to sit for another hour with 8:30 as the likely take off time. Considering this puts us in the ATL after my connection is supposed to leave, this seems to be a problem. But, being the optimist I am, I assume my next flight is being delayed also by this “low visibility and light rain”.

7:50 AM – I have now blown through (pun intended) the three Kleenex I brought with me with no end in sight. This is not good.

8:20 AM – I have begun using the air sick bag as a tissue. Not sure if I’m bleeding from my sinuses or paper cuts.

8:35 AM – Finally we are off the ground and headed to the Dirty South!

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Here’s some unconfirmed notes from my Tallahassee-mate and former Super Fan about the “practice” tonight…

• Jeff Allen was raining threes/jumpers all over the place.  Hit 5 by his count.  Also had some good inside moves including a coast-to-coast dunk.  Looks very athletic.
• Terrell Bell also looked good from behind the arc and hit a couple.  Both Allen and Bell were not missing.  The whole team actually was shooting well from 3-point range.
• Malcolm Delaney was the best player on the court, making sick passes and hitting his outside shots, too.
• Victor Davila had some good low post moves.
• A.D. Vassallo was in a walking boot and did not participate.
• Hank Thorns beat a frat boy in a 3-point shooting contest.  [Hmm. I guess that's a positive sign... and a fair match-up]
• Lewis Witcher won the dunk contest against Terrell Bell and J.T. Thompson with a pass to himself (not off the backboard, a half pass), a 180, then a reverse slam.  Bell did an up-and-under dunk off a partial windmill.  J.T. missed his dunk off a pass from Delaney.
• Allen and Cooke beat Delaney and his female partner in the 2-ball contest.
• Quote of the Night: Greenberg talking to J.T. before his dunk attempt, “No jumping over people, greg paulus [of duke and the Deron Washington teabag] isn’t here.”

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The Team

• Returning Starters (4): Malcolm Delaney, A.D. Vassallo, Lewis Witcher, Jeff Allen
• Starters Lost (1): Deron Washington
• Key Reserves Returning: Hank Thorns, Dorenzo Hudson, Terrell Bell, J.T. Thompson, Cheick Diakite
• Key Reserves Lost: None
• New Freshmen: Victor Davila (6’8″ F, will play), Gene Swindle (6’11″ C, will likely redshirt)

Outlook

This time last year almost everyone, including this web site, picked the Hokies to finish in the bottom third of the league. This year, almost everyone (Dick Vitale, Athlon Sports, Lindy’s, the Super-Terrific-ACC-Predictornator) is picking Tech to make the Big Dance and challenge for their fourth ACC Tournament First Round bye in five seasons in the league. Anything less than a NCAA Tournament appearance (regardless of the seed), will be a disappointment. Wow, think about that. Tech has come quite a long way since the ricky stokes era, which ended just five years ago.

Tech may still be a year or two away from really making some noise on the national scene, but they have plenty of talent to challenge for anywhere from 2nd to 6th place in the ACC (no one is touching unc this season). Tech lost just one significant player, Deron Washington, off last year’s squad. A.D. Vassallo (pictured) returns after a 2nd-Team All ACC junior year, and Jeff Allen and Malcolm Delaney should challenge for All ACC honors, too.

It will be interesting to see how the Hokies, who traditionally have finished near the bottom in the ACC in three pointers made (8th last season) and percentage (11th), do with the three point line moving back a foot this year. Will Tech continue to struggle? Or will everyone else’s percentage come back more towards where the Hokies are? VT shot the three very well at the end of the season, finally, with Vassallo and Delaney both shooting lights out. Will that carry over? Time will tell.

The Hokies really focused on conditioning this off-season and everyone appears to be in amazing shape going into the start of official practices. Tech, which has often recruited great athletes in recent years, is now looking at using that athleticism more on offense. Expect VT to push the ball more this year in transition and really go at teams.

Dump the Sophomore Slump

Remember, the Hokies are still very young. Instead of the “Baby Hokies”, they are now in adolescence. They only have two seniors (A.D. Vassallo and Cheick Diakite) and one junior (Lewis Withcher) that see significant minutes. The good news is they have five sophomores that played 12 minutes per game or more and another sophomore, Terrell Bell, who saw plenty of game action. The Sophomore Six-Pack must lead the way on this team and play like upperclassmen. They have to provide leadership (Vassallo is more of a leader-by-example guy). Bell needs to contribute to help fill the void left by Deron Washington. With that, the Hokies will meet expectations.

Recent History

• 2007-08: 21-14 (9-7 – 4th); Made ACC Semi-Finals; Made NIT Quarterfinals
• 2006-07: 22-12 (10-6 – 3rd); Made ACC Semi-Finals; Made NCAA 2nd Round
• 2005-06: 14-16 (4-12 – 10th); Lost in ACC First Round
• 2004-05: 15-13 (8-8 – 4th); Lost in ACC Quarterfinals; Made NIT 2nd Round

Click ‘Read more‘ below to see the Hokies’ frontcourt and backcourt broken down in detail, as well as some final thoughts on the season.
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“That’s alright, that’s OK, you will work for us some day!”  That used to be the rallying cry of wahoos as the Hokies would pummel them once again in some sort of sporting activity.  Well now the hoos can’t even claim their athletes are more intelligent and blame their sports losses on that.

In the latest Graduation Success Rate (GSR) data from the NCAA, Tech’s basketball program had a GSR of 67% while uva was at 55%.  The Division I average was 62%.  maryland checked in with a mighty 10% (congrats to the one guy that graduated!!!).

The GSR looked at players who entered college from 1998-2001 and graduated within six years.  Transfers don’t count against you if they were in good standing when they left.

The Hokies also beat uva in GSR in football by a 75% to 66% margin (the average was 67%).

Source: Roanoke Times Article

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Nice article on Jeff Allen’s off-season conditioning and some tidbits about what the guys did during the Summer: Roanoke Times Article

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***** Collins Waived *****
Coleman Collins’ dream of playing for the Suns became a nightmare on Thursday, as Phoenix waived the former Hokie. Collins played in just one preseason game before getting the axe, a move done to cut the roster to 15.

***** Game 1 – 10/8/08 *****
Coleman Collins’ dream of making the Phoenix Suns began Wednesday night in the Suns’ preseason opener. Collins did not score and was 0/2 from the floor in 9 minutes. He did pull down 3 rebounds.

Phoenix dropped the contest by a 100-96 score to the Atlanta Hawks.

Deron Washington has already been shipped overseas by the Detroit Pistons for a sports car to be named later.

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Virginia Tech lost one of the greatest rebounders in Hokie basketball history and one of the greatest lovers of everything VT on Monday when Bill Matthews died peacefully in his sleep at the age of 73.

Bill played at VT in the mid-1950′s, captaining the team his final three years. He finished his career with an eye-popping average of 13.8 rebounds per game. He still ranks second in rebounds all-time at Virginia Tech with 1379, behind Chris Smith. Matthews also averaged 16.5 points per game for his career and is 11th on Tech’s all-time scoring list. Zabian Dowdell bumped Bill from the top-10 two years ago.

Unfortunately, the Hokies were not good back then, going 14-63 over Bill’s first three seasons. But in 1955-56, his senior year, he led Tech to a 14-11 record. In Bill’s junior season, he averaged 18.8 rebounds per game!

After his playing days were over, Bill later became the Virginia Tech basketball head coach from 1962-1964. He then served in the Athletic Department until 1986.

Matthews was inducted into the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 1993. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Helen, four children, and six grandchildren.

Sources: Roanoke Times Article and Virginia Tech Basketball Media Guide

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I took a break from my tailgating and Cornhole domination to watch the Hokies practice on Saturday.  Here were my observations:

Quote of the Day: After Terrell Bell missed a dunk on a fast break (which the Hokies were really emphasizing in this workout), Seth Greenberg said, “What do we say?  If you can’t dunk, DON’T dunk.” 

Best I can tell, the first unit is:

• PG – Malcolm Delaney
• SG – Dorenzo Hudson
• SF – A.D. Vassallo
• F – Lewis Witcher
• F – Jeff Allen

The second unit is:

• PG – Hank Thorns
• SG – Terrell Bell
• SF – J.T. Thompson (he was working with the guards/wings, not the low post players)
• F – Victor Davila
• C – Cheick Diakite

Other observations:

• Intensity was through the roof in this practice.  Up tempo, crisp.  The guys were playing hard.  Greenberg set the tone, really pushing everyone.
• I was happy to see the Hokies working on driving the lane from the perimeter and kicking it out for a three.  This play is the main part of duke’s offense and allows shooters to get the ball in rhythm moving towards the basket, as opposed to shooting flat-footed, off the dribble, or on a perimeter pass.
• Everyone looks to be in great shape.  Seth said on his blog that the team was doing intense conditioning and it shows.  Only Hank Thorns and Terrell Bell have put on weight (and they needed it) between last year’s and this year’s official roster page, while Jeff Allen and J.T. Thompson (they are playing him on the perimeter, hence the lost weight) have lost a bunch of pounds.
• Terrell Bell looked very good shooting the three from the corner.  Liked to spot up there.
• A.D. can hit any shot from anywhere.  On the run, pulling up, falling away.  He will be tough to stop.  Struggled a bit from behind the arc and his rotation didn’t look great but it was just one practice.
• Jeff Allen has lost weight and he looks like he is going to be even better this year.  Not afraid to shoot from the perimeter (you could say that’s a good thing and a bad thing), and can use pump fakes out there to set up driving to the rack.
• Gene Swindle gets up and down the court very well for a 6’11″ kid.  His speed/mobility impressed me.  But in the half court, he doesn’t have the intensity yet.  He wasn’t challenging shots inside.  Gene needs to disrupt other teams and change their thinking, making them afraid to go in the lane.  He’s not there yet.
• Victor Davila doesn’t move quite as well as Swindle but he is aggressive.  He will go hard at the rim or the boards.  Didn’t see enough of him to make a full judgment but I’m not sure about Victor yet and how much he will help VT this season.
• Ben Boggs (2009 verbal) and Jarell Eddie (2010 verbal) were in attendence and scrimmaged with the team after the practice was over.
• Several recruits were on hand, including Jordan Latham from Baltimore, MD.  Jordan is a 6’8″ low post player that is a 4-star recruit and #44 overall in the Class of 2010 according to Rivals.com.  Scout.com also ranks him as a 4-star and the #8 Center in the Class of 2010. 
• Update: Chris Braswell, a former georgetown commit and 4-star forward in the Class of 2009, committed to unc-charlotte.  He was supposed to visit VT this past weekend but I did not see him there.  I believe he had already made up his mind and may have cancelled the trip.

Click ‘Read more’ for a look at the new three point line. Keep in mind the women’s line has not moved so it will still be on the court.
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Virginia Tech basketball is just a little over a month away from tipping off.  Before we start breaking down the Hokies prospects (thumbs up!) for this season, let’s look at the ACC as a whole.  It’s prediction time, baby!

Over the next month every media gadfly in the college hoops business will hit you with their ”expert opinion”.  What do they really know?  Nothing.  A mountaineer could make these picks. 

Here’s how the powers-that-be make their cookie cutter ACC predictions:

• Pick unc or duke to win the conference (this year unc).
• Pick the one you didn’t pick to win to finish 2nd.
• Hype up one other team as a “serious contender” to win the conference, but don’t actually pick them ahead of unc or duke.  [Note: this year, the buzz seems to be around miami but wake is my darkhorse... whoops, I'm violating my own rule]
• Draw the other teams out of a hat and place them 4th through 12th.
• Tell everyone how smart you are, which isn’t tough to claim since duke or unc has won the regular season title 10 of the last 12 years and has won the ACC Tournament 11 of the last 12 years.
• Lather, rinse, repeat formula next year.

Well, I’m taking their precious formula and shoving it where the ecu girls like it.  I’ve come up with my own, super-scientific, mega-smart, hyper-perfect mathmatical formula.  Numbers never lie!  That’s right, number nerds, we are going technical on you. 

In the Super-Terrific-ACC-Predictornator, the higher the number the better.  It is based on four parts:

• Returning Players – points calculated on past playing time
• Experience/Win Factor – multiply ACC wins last season by Returning Players Total – this rewards teams that have experience AND won a lot, since crappy but experienced players likely will still stink worse than that leftover fish someone microwaved at work the other day
• Awards – Points are given for players that finished on the various All-ACC teams (overall, freshman, defense) last year
• Recruiting Total – points calculated based on each recruit’s Scout.com and Rivals.com star rating (1-5 stars) then taking the average of the two totals

So that’s the parts, let’s see the results [drum roll]…
ACC Regular Season Standings for 2008-09:

1. unc – 22.2 points
2. wake – 16.4
3. duke – 15.8
4. VT – 14.0
5. miami - 13.9
6. clemson – 13.3
7. fsu – 12.1
8. nc state – 10.8
9. ga tech – 10.6
10. bc – 10.5
11. md – 10.5
12. uva – 9.6

Pow!  Right in the kisser.  unc gets a woodshed beat-down victory but wake jumps all the way up to #2.  If VT can pull off that fourth place finish, that would be a fourth first round bye in the ACC Tournament in five seasons for the burnt orange and Chicago maroon according to the Super-Terrific-Never-Wrong-ACC-Predictornator. 

You also have to love maryland and virginia at the bottom.  Looks like the hoos are going to get used to pulling up the rear this year.  When does lacrosse season start?

Now, for those of you wondering how I came up with those numbers, here’s the parts broken down in more detail.  Click ‘Read more’ below to see the ingredients…

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It’s almost basketball season. Practice starts later this month, and the TechHoops.com staff is gearing up for one of the most highly anticipated basketball seasons in Virginia Tech basketball history. If you are a new to TechHoops.com, welcome. This is the home for Hardcore Hokie Basketball Fans. The Team at TechHoops.com is a group of passionate Hokie basketball fans who are committed to providing coverage of Tech basketball well beyond the games.

TechHoops.com offers you everything that is Hokie basketball:

• Game Previews of EVERY Game
• Game Recaps of Every Game
• Video Highlights of Key Games
• Player and Game Stats Beyond the Box Score
• Recruiting News and Profiles
• Opinionated Editorials
• And All-You-Can-Eat Arm Curl Photos!

Now ask yourself: How much would you pay for all this? $100? $200? Guess what – it is FREE (no free steak knives though). Always has been, and (probably) always will be. We are Hokie bball fans just like you (only maybe a tad stronger). If you like what you see, bookmark this site now and get ready for six months of Hokie basketball!

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