Random thoughts on bc and more:
- Jeff Allen’s 30 points against bc mark the highest total ever scored by a Hokie in a home ACC game. The previous high was 29 set by A.D. Vassallo in the uva game the week before. The 30 points are tied for the second-most scored by a Hokie in ACC play home or away. Zabian Dowdell had 33 at unc two years ago, and 30 at miami the same season.
- Allen finally displayed his deadly drop-step yesterday. A lot of his points came when he’d get the ball in the low post (usually to the left side of the hoop) with his back to the basket. Jeff would then drop-step towards the baseline with his right leg, seal the defender with his right shoulder/arm, and then shoot a reverse layup up-and-under the basket. bc had no answer for this all day. Against other teams with bigger men guarding him, he has been forced too far to the baseline, causing him to drift out of bounds or too far under the hoop. Or he hasn’t even been able to make the move as heavier opponents push him out and don’t let him make the move. We shall see if this was just because of bc’s defenders or if Jeff can consistently do this.
- Jeff hit his first three of the game and that seemed to give him a lot of confidence. The Hokies kept feeding him the ball every possession early on. Finally! When you get Allen involved early in the game, he’s a totally different player. Yesterday showed the results.
- Tech used a 15-2 run in the middle of the first half to turn a 21-13 deficit into a 28-23 lead. During the run, four different players drained threes – Delaney, Vassallo, Hudson, and Thorns. It was awesome.
- Malcolm Delaney continues to aggressively go to the hoop and that is a good thing. He wasn’t afraid to get out and run or drive at the hoop and go hard to the tin. 10 of his 12 free throws were from playing aggressively, not from getting fouled at the end of the game. That is certainly a good thing for Tech. Good things happen when Malcolm drives. It didn’t always work out, but it is better than when he sits out on the perimeter. He is a good slasher.
- Delaney has scored in double digits in 22 straight games and is the only Hokie to do so in every game this year.
- Tech was losing bc’s Trapani on the perimeter yesterday on the pick-and-pop play. The Hokies haven’t faced a lot of bigs that can shoot. He’d set a high screen for Rice, then drift to an open spot. The man guarding Trapani would flash to Rice to help, leaving Trapani wide open. He killed VT in the first half with this, including two three-pointers in the final minute. But in the second half VT did a better job defending this, limiting Trapani to just five points in the final 19 minutes of the game. The Hokies need to do a better job of stopping the guard after a high screen while also defending the picker, if he can shoot. VT will face some bigs that can shoot coming up so this will be key again.
- Virginia Tech was 1 for 4 on the front end of one-and-ones yesterday. That is pathetic. That means six points were wasted on those three missed on front ends. Vassallo missed one and I believe Allen missed the other two. He could have had even more points if Jeff had hit those free throws! He was 7 for 12 from the charity stripe, and threw two more attempts in the trash by missing those front ends.
- Tech, who had trouble inbounding the ball under the basket on the offensive end against uva, did a much better job yesterday. Their screen and flash to the hoop play led to a couple of easy buckets.
- The Hokies clinched at least a .500 record at home this season. They are 7-1 at the Cassell with six to go. That means that Tech still has only had one losing season ever at home in the history of the Cassell (back to ’62). If you read this site regularly, you don’t even need me to tell you who the coach was for that losing season. Ah, I can’t resist – ricky stokes!!!
- Tech has won 14 of their last 18 ACC games at home. Amazing!
- Congrats to Seth on his 100th win at Virginia Tech. You really can’t say enough about what he has done for this program. The wins are never pretty, and rarely easy, but they keep on coming – 100 times in fact.
- Six of VT’s last 10 ACC regular season wins have come against bc or uva over the last two seasons. Those two teams were picked 11th and 12th in the ACC preseason poll this year, and finished near the bottom last year. What’s that tell you? The Hokies are great at beating the teams they should, but until they start beating the teams they shouldn’t, no NCAA Tournament for you! Wednesday night VT plays a team they shouldn’t beat. On the road. The last remaining undefeated team, who may be #1 in the polls, and likely will be. The [blank blank] wake forest demon deacons. [blank] those jerks. Let’s do it!
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It seems to me that Lewis Witcher might be usurping some of Diakite’s minutes for the next couple games. What is up with Lewis’ shot though? I started to pay more attention to him shooting the ball last year when he just couldnt get anything to go down and he gets essentially no rotation on the ball. Im surprises the coaches just let him push the ball at the rim like that, letting it hover with no spin on the release. Has anyone asked Lewis or the coaches about this?
Good breakdown but you’ve gotta mention the 5+ points that Dorenzo bricked off the rim and subsequent missed FT’s. I would guess that he’s now behind Bell and Thorns as far as coming off the bench.
JEWILSO2 – Cope mentioned the Hudson sequence in his recap of the game, and to be honest, I am at the point where I don’t know what to say about him anymore. I want him to succeed, but he seems to take 2 steps back for every step forward. DUNK WITH 2 HANDS! (and that goes for everyone, not picking on him) VT just can’t seem to get easy buckets on the break consistently, even when they are all alone!
HokieChamp – Cheick really seems to be in Seth’s doghouse so I think you are right about Lewis’ minutes. And you are right that his ball has no rotation – his shot is almost like a lurch, not a stroke! That said, Vassallo’s ball has very little rotation, too. So you can be successful with it. But that’s why Seth says Malcolm has a better stroke because of his rotation. At this point, there isn’t much Lewis can do other than settle for dunks.
I’ve said this all season that I want Malcolm to drive to the hoop… and he did that on Saturday… he’s a great player and we haven’t see the best out of him yet… I want Seth to give him the green light like Jeff Teague has at Wake Forest… I think Delaney did a pretty good defensive job on Tyrese Rice in the first half of the game… for Rice (a player some say is the best at his position in the ACC, although, Jeff Teague from Wake Forest might have something to say about that) to have only 8 points at the end of the first half says something. Of course, I can always find something to improve on… we need to be better than 60.7% from the line. But this was a good ACC home game and the atmosphere was much better because many of the students were back from break.
Nice recap…
the donut: i still don’t trust him. yeah, he is just a sophomore…but he disappears a lot when things don’t go his way….lets see how he does this year in the conference..it does seem mental with him…we will need him
perimeter D: ouch…not a good weakness to have in the ACC
thorns: i love the kid. i wish he was better at basketball….either way, we need him this year
stokes: I still say he was a double agent sent by uva to send vt basketball back a decade….my limited discussions with carlos dixon confirm this
hudson: if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all
greenberg: i’m pretty hard on him and his “motion” offense, but he has 100 wins here….and he is 61-10 when he leads at the half….that means he has 39 wins when trailing at the half…..scrappy teams….we are going to need that this year if we still harbor post season hopes.
we should have blown out uva and bc. lets hope we put it all together down the stretch and shock the world. To be completely honest, we blew out wake last year….I’m not sure they can hang with us.
“To be completely honest, we blew out wake last year….I’m not sure they can hang with us.” –
I like the confidence, Tone
Good to hear… we must have shot 50-60% in the first half of that game last year at home vs. Wake, but we also lost the game on the road to Wake, Tone. When the polls come out Monday, Wake will likely be #1… this is a much better Wake team than last year.
I was going to say the same thing as VT50… this Wake team is not the same team that we played last year. The addition of Aminu is huge and they are getting good production from another freshman, Tony Woods. Not to mention that Teague and James Johnson are both a year improved from their freshman seasons. This Wake team is as good as any in the country, so if we manage to snag a win on the road against them, I will immediately rip my shirt off and sprint through the streets of my neighborhood yelling the “hokie hokie hokie hi” chant.
lol… good one GR.
For some reason now I kind of hope we lose. Just kidding. If we pull this one off, I’m going to turn my townhouse into a Greek wedding. Let’s just say I have a special hatred of wake, and this win would mean a lot on several levels.
Neimo I don’t know if you noticed but since Jeremy Thompson has been injected into the starting lineup he is 0-3 in ACC Play. I do realize that he is just getting back into the swing of things.
The problem isn’t J.T. or whoever else is in that other guard spot. The problem is the offense is not set for more than three guys to shoot. I don’t think Bell, Hudson, Thompson are afraid to shoot they just aren’t getting any shots.
Coach – I hadn’t noticed that. To be honest, I don’t notice much about that trio anymore. I agree with your three-pronged (and no more) offense. And with J.T. playing more on the perimeter at times, that takes away some of his chances at scoring via offensive rebounds like he did last year. He’d be great on the break… if we ever did it.
Niemo: Hudson broke a record at the Boo Williams tournament when he was in high school scoring 49 points on what arguably is the toughest AAU circuit out there. Most of the players are recruited too play for that division. I think some time the he is given unfair criticism for not producing. Imagine if A.D. was only given 4 shots a game how productive do you think he would be as a scorer. Scorers need to get in a rythm in order too score they might miss their first 4 shots but they will make their next 3 then they will miss one and make their next two. By my math that is 5 for 10 50% from the floor. You have to get shots to perform.
That’s a good point, FC.
RPI changes so quickly… we are now #53.
I am not on board with FC’s assumption… it all evens out given enough games regardless of whether his shooting streak would have potentially started early or late. 30% shooting for the season speaks for itself. Now he obviously has the ability to score, but I think he’s facing some sort of mental block right now. He just can’t reproduce in the games like he did at the AAU level or in practice. However, I think he is certainly capable of getting over that hump and I am rooting for him to do so, but I don’t think the number of shots he gets has to do with why he is not producing on the shots that he does take.
That’s also a good point, GR.
I think I might be a bad boy and skip my academic class tomorrow night and watch the game… problem is, uncle sam is paying for it… maybe I can slip out on several occasions.
goodraisin:
Because the shot attempts are limited I am sure it starts getting in his head and the pressure to perform mounts. It isn’t just Hudson the same goes for Bell and Thompson for that matter. Go back and look at Delaney’s shooting percentage last year at the beginning of the season he had fewer shots thus his performance was not there. But what he did have last year was a lot of court time and latitude from his coach. That is what helps build confidence in a player. When you watch the games I also want you to watch the coaches reaction on the sidelines when everyone not named the ‘BIG 3″ make a mistake. Have you ever seen Greenberg curse at the Big 3 for mistakes? You know AD will turn that ball over or miss a defensive assignment but he gets the opportunity too play through it. That is how you get and keep confidence. 40% of it comes from the player the other 60% comes from the coach. Be open minded and look at the sidelines.