The Hokies find themselves with a disappointing 5-4 record so far. This has tended to be a common occurrence under Coach Seth Greenberg in his now sixth season leading the orange and maroon. Let’s break down his record in November and December each season against how VT did after the turn of the new year.
|
Year |
Nov/Dec |
Jan-Mar |
| 2003-04 |
 7-4 |
8-10Â |
| 2004-05 |
 6-5 |
10-9Â |
| 2005-06 |
 9-4 |
5-12Â |
| 2006-07 |
 9-4 |
13-8Â |
| 2007-08 |
 8-5 |
13-9Â |
| 2008-09 |
 5-4 |
- |
| TOTALS |
 44-26 |
49-48 |
This table shows that VT has lost at least four games, but no more than five each year. That tells you that each season the Hokies have been consistently average, no matter what the make-up of the team. This puts Virginia Tech in a big hole. Instead of stockpiling wins early and having some wiggle room in conference play, the Hokies have finish over .500 with a couple of big wins each year. For whatever reason, the team seems to gel after the new year.Â
There have also been some either bad or disappointing losses before January 1st each season such as:
- 2003 – odu, ecu
- 2004 – vmi, western michigan
- 2005 – bowling green, odu
- 2006 – western michigan, marshall
- 2007 – penn state, odu (richmond was on 1/3)
- 2008 – None -Â though I would say georgia is a bad loss – they will be near the bottom of the SEC similar to what penn state was last year
Obviously the winning percentage is much better in the November and December timeframe but that has to do with the quality of the opponents. The fact that Tech is 38-42 in Big East and ACC play under Greenberg is pretty darn amazing. Taking it a step further, VT is 37-39 in conference play over the last five years after January 1st.  VT failed to finish above .500 in conference play from 1997-2003 before Seth arrived. The Hokies did finish at .500 once, in ricky stokes’s first season when VT was still in the Atlantic 10.
Apparently Greenberg’s New Year’s Resolution each year is to start beating quality opponents. And in every season but 2005-06, it has worked. Let’s hope he has another wish available this season, and the Hokies can have a strong second half of the season.
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We have not lost to the mid-majors of the world, thank heavens. Need some massively quality wins in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Hokies definitely need to take care of business and win out the rest of their non-conference slate. That loss to Georgia is going to be a real negative on our NCAA tourney resume, but at least it didn’t happen in Blacksburg… that’d be even worse. I think there are some positives to take away from the UGA game, including the continued good form of Hank Thorns. If we’re going to be successful this year, we need him to play well… he plays too many minutes to shoot as badly as he was shooting. I remember watching his high school videos on YouTube and wondering what happened to his ability to drive to the hoop and hit the open 3… I know the defenses he faces are much better, but he still looked like a completely different player once he was on the VT team. The opposing defenses seemed to rattle him easily. The last two games, he has looked confident and has finished his drives… I hope to see more of that.
Ed Lupien’s take on the Virginia Tech Men’s Basketball team…
http://collegehoopsnet.com/acc-basketball-report-vt-already-nit-bound-160586
He writes for the Collegiate Times… he also interviewed me (the Hokie Guru at Fire Bryan Stinespring) for a story on Stiney. I think they have lost hope on campus.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3764575&name=katz_andy
Andy Katz’s latest blog… primarily on Hokie Men’s Hoops:
“No team this season has been hit with more bad luck late in games than the Hokies. Xavier beat Virginia Tech in Puerto Rico on a halfcourt shot. Wisconsin buried the Hokies on a floater with less than a second remaining and Georgia scored in the final 28 seconds Tuesday in Athens for a one-point win over the Hokies.”
http://www.dailypress.com/sports/dp-spt_accpowerpoll_1212dec12,0,3267787.story
ACC Hoops Power Poll from Newport News Daily Press – Virginia Tech comes in at #10.