Ugh, still hungover from last night on many levels.  Let’s take a look at where this team seems to be…

• First of all, Aaron McFarling of the Roanoke Times had a nice piece today about Jeff Allen and watching the game last night from the sidelines.  He talks about how VT could end up missing the tournament because of Allen’s bird on Saturday.  But let’s not put it all on Allen.  Let’s look at A.D. Vassallo, too.  Because of his on-court tirade at Seth Greenberg in the clemson game, Vassallo was benched for the beginning of both halves in the at bc game.  Think he might have made a difference in a one-point game Tech lost on a tip-in with under a second to go if A.D. had been out there more?  It is tough to think that an almost 23 year old senior and a 21 year old sophomore may have cost the Hokies two ACC games because of their immature actions, which may end up resulting in VT heading to the Junior Prom again this year.  They are both good guys who have been extremely nice to me when I’ve talked to them.  They just made some mistakes and I’m sure feel awful about it all, but enough is enough.  It is time for all this crap to stop.  I won’t talk about how I think a full game suspension for .5 seconds of a middle finger is unjust, because even if that is how I feel, it was still a dumb action and enough is enough (and not Jeff’s first on-court incident).  I used to call us the Baby Hokies because of our youth last year.  Maybe it is time to bring that name back but because of our actions.
• uva, who came into the game last in the ACC in Field Goal Percentage Defense by a wide margin at 44%, held the Hokies to 37% shooting.  Missing Jeff Allen, a 49% shooter (48% in ACC play) certainly hurt, but the biggest issue is Malcolm Delaney…
• Going into the nc state game, Delaney was 17/39 (44%) on threes in ACC play and 52/101 (51%) overall on field goals.  In the last four games, he is just 5/20 (25%) on threes (including 3/4 in garbage time against maryland) and 16/52 (31%) from the floor overall.  Delaney’s pull up jumper or runner seems to be missing (as in he’s not shooting it of late).  He tries to go hard at the rim and isn’t getting many foul calls.  So what should he do?  Keep shooting!  Shooters shoot their way out of slumps.  He got a lot of good looks last night but just couldn’t get them to go down.  In fact, many of them were well off.  Malcolm needs to put in some extra time in the gym, and still have that confidence in games that each one is going to go down.  VT will live by Delaney and die by Delaney.  He has to carry this team.  Shooting at home on Saturday should help with the familiar shooting background.
• Amazingly, the Hokies have had more offensive rebounds than their opponents in three of their last four games, and tied in the other.  Yet all we do is complain about VT’s defensive rebounding.  Why?  Because it is awful.   While the Hokies are a very good offensive rebounding team, for whatever reason that doesn’t carry over to the defensive end.  What is it?  Is it positioning?  Technique?  In parts, yes.  But to me the biggest thing lacking seems to be desire.  There’s no joy in getting a defensive rebound.  You can’t put it up and score on one.  All you get to do is outlet it to Delaney.  Tech seems to lack that want to get every 50/50 ball, every rebound, that the basketball is theirs and no one elses.  Heck, I’d take a traveling call because two VT guys were both fighting over the same rebound.  At least that would show some desire.  Someone needs to light a fire under these guys.
• Have you ever seen uva have more dunks that last night?  I thought I was watching the NBA All-Star Dunk Contest for a while.  Tech was getting lost on the high screens and leaving guys wide open that were rolling to the basket, or losing track of low post players.  VT is at their best when they make opponents earn every point.  Right now that isn’t happening between easy buckets and second chance points.
• Tech finished their “easy” stretch of five games at 2-3.  They went 4-2 during their “tough” stretch and have a “very tough” five game finish to the regular season.  Here’s a look at how Tech has done in stretches of the ACC schedule over the years, breaking the ACC games up into the first give, the middle six, and the final five.

No real pattern here, but if you look at the 2004-05 season when VT had a very sophomore-laden lineup (Dowdell, Gordon, Collins) with one senior star (Dixon), they finished strong after a rough stretch in the middle.  The middle seems to always produce a rough patch and some head stratching losses, but last year the Hokies kicked it into high gear in the home stretch.  After watching the last two games, I’m not sure if I see that happening this year.

If VT can go 3-2 over the final five, and get one win in the ACC Tournament, they are in the Big Dance.  Tough challenge, but do-able.  Tech has to win this fsu game Saturday, and steal either the duke or unc game.

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Box Score

The Hokies, sans leading rebounder Jeff Allen, fell on the road to in-state rival virginia, 61-75. Allen was suspended from the game after flipping his own version of the (Hokie) bird to Maryland fans last Saturday. As a result, the Hokies gave up some serious height in the middle and were subsequently outrebounded by the cavs, 37-38.

Although the absence of Allen handicapped the Hokies, it was their poor shooting that ultimately led to their demise. Tech shot just 36 percent from the field (22/60) and a paltry 4/19 from behind the arc (21 percent). A.D. Vassallo led the Hokies with 21 points, 8 boards and 3 blocks (tied a career high). Malcolm Delaney added 11 points, 10 from J.T. Thompson and 9 from Cheick Diakite, who had another solid performance including a team-high 9 rebounds. Thompson played 33 minutes and Diakite 28 minutes in Allen’s absence, but it wasn’t enough to fill his shoes.

The cavs were led by Sylven Landesberg with 19 points, but the Hokies managed to contain uva’s 7-foot freshman Assane Sene holding him to just 4 points and 4 rebounds, though he did have two blocks. Landesberg also led the hoos with 20 points in their Jan. 10, 78-75 loss to the Hokies in Blacksburg.

Tech hung tough early on, even without Allen and led 16-10 with 13:44 to play in the first half, but the wahoos came back to retake the lead. The Hokies kept it close and tied the game at 29 on a pair of Vassallo free throws with 3:45 to play. Then Tech went ice cold from the field and the hoos reeled off a 10-0 run to take a 29-39 halftime lead, which they would never give up. At one point in the second half, the cavs led by 19 points when they surged ahead 60-41.

The Hokies managed to whittle the lead down to eight with 2:33 to play in the game when Terrell Bell drained his only bucket, a trey, to cut the lead to 67-59. But that’s as close as Tech would get as the hoos snapped their three-game losing streak to the Hokies. Last weekend, the terps snapped their three-game losing streak to Tech as well.

Next up for the Hokies is a home game against fsu (20-6, 7-4), which spanked miami tonight, 80-67. The last time the Hokies and noles faced off, the Hokies won 89-80 in Blacksburg on Jan. 29, 2008.

The Hokies had an opportunity to put themselves in a good position for an NCAA Tournament bid, but with back-to-back losses to two of the worst teams in the ACC and playing their last five games against the top half of the conference, it will be an uphill battle for Seth Greenberg and company.

Tech stands at 6-5 in conference play. They need at least a 9-7 conference record to get even a sniff at a tourney bid. That means they need to win three of their final five games, beginning with fsu this weekend. Tech has Clemson on the road, which will be an extremely tough game to pull out, but not impossible. The Hokies return to the Cassell to host unc and then duke. The tar heels are virtually a lock for a No. 1 seed in the tournament and there’s a good chance that they might look past the Hokies, who have shown they are more than capable of knocking off the heels.

And of course Tech will have the revenge factor against dook which laid a serious beat down on the Hokies earlier this season. Tech closes the season with a road trip to fsu where the Hokies haven’t won since 1990 (five straight losses).

The way Tech has played the last two games doesn’t really provide Hokie fans with a great deal of enthusiasm heading down the stretch, but if they can pull it together, they have a shot to finish 9-7 and make a run in the ACC tournament.

Random Note:
There was a wahoo fan holding up a sign that read, “Hey A.D.! Can you spell unrated?” First, I believe the word for which he was looking is “overrated.” Second, A.D. dropped 21 points on virginia and led all scorers, so perhaps targeting A.D. wasn’t the wisest decision. Just sayin.

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VTuvaBball09 008, originally uploaded by techsports.

On The Wick’s birthday.

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Here’s a classic Brick of the Game: VT fans vs. uva fans from two years ago by our ole buddy Jay Adams…

Brick of the Game

The entire TechHoops.com team will be on hand tonight to hopefully watch the Hokies trash the hoos for a fourth time in a row.  TechHoops.com will be hitting up BW3′s before the game.  They are having a special if you mention us: if you buy a Miller Lite at regular price, you can get a second one also at regular price.  And all Happy Hour specials apply to us, too.  You’re welcome!

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THE SETUP

Spread: uva by 1 (thanks to the Allen suspension)

The Hokies will be without their third leading scorer, leading rebounder, leading shot blocker, and steals leader on Wednesday night.  Jeff Allen was suspended for one game after flipping the maryland student section the Hokie Bird on his way to the bench after fouling out Saturday. 

Big deal.  This is all but a must win for the Hokies and means nothing to uva other than for pride.  If the Hokies are truly a NCAA Tournament team, they will find a way to beat the 11th place ACC team, even on the road.  While uva did upset clemson on their home court Sunday, they had lost eight straight before that.  They are, not good.  Tech would have soundly beaten the hoos at home if it hadn’t been for Mustapha Farrakhan’s* out of body experience at the end.  Still, VT won 78-75. 

The Hokies can also draw some confidence in this situation from last season.  Tech headed to bc to face one of the bottom feeders in January of 2008 without a suspended Jeff Allen and came away with a victory in overtime.  VT needs to come out and take care of business before they start their challenging five game stretch to close the regular season.

* Farrakhan scored 15 points in the final five minutes of the game in Blacksburg.  In the eight games since then, he has only scored 14 total points in 79 minutes.  He hit four three-pointers and converted all three free throws after being fouled on a three in the first meeting.  He is 2/16 from long range since.

THE SERIES

• All-Time: 50-78
• At uva: 11-30 (had not won at uva since 1968 — 9 straight losses — until last year
• In ACC Play: 5-5
• Streaks: VT has won 3 in a row and 4 of 5
• VT has not won 4 in a row against uva since 1967-69

virginia

THE OPPONENT

uva does not shoot well and does not defend well.  Recipe for disaster, right?  That’s how you end up 2-8 in conference.  The cavs are 12th in the ACC in field goal percentage on defense and offense, and 11th in the ACC in three-point field goal percentage on offense or defense.  They are 10th in scoring offense and last in scoring defense in ACC play. 

uva does shoot free throws well.  So Tech must make uva hit contested shots instead of fouling them, especially Landesberg who is great at getting to the line.

All Landesberg has done, as a true freshman no less, is average 18.0 ppg, good for seventh in the league.  Like most of uva, Sylven is not a threat from deep.  He has hit just nine three-pointers.  Most of his damage comes from the foul line.  He will attack the lane and throw himself at a low post defender to draw contact.  Even as a freshman, he has been able to get the calls. Tech needs to do as Greenberg said earlier in the year: shut down driving lanes so Sylven can’t get to the low post guys and is forced to pass the ball.  At 6’6″, Sylven can shoot over smaller defenders, but Bell and Hudson should be able to match up with his size.

Just like under singletary, the wahoos want to force the tempo to try and get easy shots to compensate for their deficiencies in the half court and on defense.  uva has been able to jump out to early leads in some of their games as teams adjust to uva’s game speed.  Tech must be ready from the get-go, something that has been a problem the last two years, and Tech must get back on defense from the start.

Inside, Mike Scott is uva’s rebounding machine.  He is second in the ACC in offensive rebounds per game (3.6) and tied for ninth overall in the conference with 7.8 total rpg.  scott is third on the team in scoring at 11.3 ppg.

Calvin Baker is now starting over Zeglinski.  The former walk-on likes to penetrate.  He will settle for bad long range shots though if he is kept on the perimeter.

Off the bench, uva’s offense is led from the point by redshirt freshman Sammy Zeglinski.  sammy is very quick and loves to push the ball.  He averages almost 10 ppg, andleads the hoos in threes with 31.  His scoring has fallen way off in ACC play though.  Jamil Tucker averages around 8 ppg.  Tucker is a hot/cold shooter from deep and likes to pull the trigger.  The Hokies must find him in transition.

The biggest disappointment for uva this year has been mamadi diane.  The senior has fallen from 11.8 ppg last season, to 4.2 ppg this year, his lowest average of any season.  He missed his first 21 attempts of the season from long range!  He has not even played in uva’s last three games.

KEYS TO THE GAME:

The Dynamic Duo instead of the Big 3.  uva is not strong on defense.  Delaney and Vassallo combined for 53 points in the first meeting (Allen had just three points).  Their guards are not good at stopping penetration, and can be beaten on the break.  Tech needs to get out and run when they can and use J.T. Thompson’s athleticism to get some easy buckets.  Delaney can beat their guards off the dribble.  He needs to let the game come to him and use his ability to penetrate to later help set up open looks from long range for him and Vassallo. 

Replacing the Dunking Donut.  If Delaney and Vassallo can have another big game, Tech won’t need a lot of offense from the interior Hokies.  Davila is a talented post player on offense but has struggled on defense, letting opposing big men catch the ball too close to the hoop.  J.T. Thompson will be giving up size on the inside to Mike Scott.  Tech must find a way to limit Scott with the combination of Witcher, Thompson, and Davila.  Whomever gives VT the best effort on defense likely will see the most minutes.

Ten Eyes on Sylven.  Landesberg is very tough to guard one-on-one.  He loves to push the ball in transition and get to the rack before the other defenders have even turned around and knew what hit him.  Limit his run-outs and force him to pull the ball out.  In the half court, he is not a danger from behind the arc, so whoever is guarding him (likely Hudson or Bell since Thompson will have to be inside) can back off him.  Once he starts to drive, the other defenders have to be ready to help and cut off the lane for him.  Force him to pass.  If he does pass…

…Watch out for Scott.  Mike burned the Hokies for 16 points in the first meeting and had 18 against clemson on Sunday.  He is strong around the rack.  The Hokies need to do a better job of preventing him from setting up in the low post and getting the ball on the low block.  He’s tough to stop there.  Also, Mike is a good offensive rebounder.  Tech needs to get a body on him and be ready to shift to him if Landesberg drives.

Sene in Senegal means “can’t go right”.  Assane Sene is a left-handed low post player for uva.  In the first meeting, Tech kept letting him catch the ball in the low post and go to his left handed hook shot.  This is the ONLY move he has.  Don’t let him go left, and he’s useless.

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The Hokies leading rebounder, Jeff Allen, has been suspended for Wednesday night’s road game against the virginia cavaliers. The suspension is a result of Allen giving the maryland fans the finger after he fouled out of the Hokies 73-83 loss on Saturday. J.J. Thompson will start in Allen’s place.

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The Virginia Tech community has once again lost another proud member of its family.  Former Hokie forward Allen Calloway passed away on Sunday at the age of 25 after a four year battle with cancer. 

Since the diagnosis, Calloway has been an inspiration to many.  He kept an upbeat attitude at such a young age despite setback after setback.  His rare form of alveolar soft part carcinoma started in his left calf before spreading to his lungs and brain.  The cancer ravaged his body, forcing him to have surgery after surgery.  Most people would have quit on a lot of things, but Allen continued to work towards a degree and finished his course work in January of 2007 in Property Management. 

I saw him at the Hokie Celebration last year.  Despite all that was going wrong with his cancer, he spoke openly about it to me and attacked it head on.  I was amazed at his strength.

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Allen was originally from Danville, VA and finished his high school career at Coastal Christian Academy in the Virginia Beach area before becoming a member of the 2002 Virginia Tech recruiting class.  He played in 81 games his first three years at Tech before cancer cut his senior season short after just two games.  Fittingly, Allen made his only shot of the 2005-06 season. 

Allen had nine starts his first two years.  He scored 192 points and grabbed 189 rebounds in his career.  His best game may have been in the regular season finale of the 2004 season when he scored a career high nine points while grabbing four rebounds and blocking three shots.

The Hokies will wear a patch in memory of Calloway for the rest of the season. Allen will be sorely missed.  Rest in peace, AC.

Roanoke Times Article

Hokiesports.com – Roth Report

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In the ACC, if you don’t come ready to play when you hit the road, then you can usually expect to head home with a loss. Teams in this league are just too good to just show up and beat, whether they be teams at the bottom of the standings or a middle of the pack team like the maryland terrapins. Look no further than yesterday in College Park. With the exception of reserve Lewis Witcher (8 points), no member of the Hokies showed up at the Comcast Center with anything remotely resembling their “A” game. The terps, on the other hand, were clearly inspired by the presence of the old Lefthander and the rest of the 1984 ACC championship maryland team, who were honored at halftime. The result was an 83-73 loss to the turtles.

The Hokies continue to struggle on the boards and are giving up way too many second and third opportunities. The terrapins came into yesterday’s game last in the league in rebounding margin (getting out-rebounded by an average of 3.9 a game), but kept alive several key possessions yesterday when the Hokies missed blocking out assignments or simply couldn’t secure the rebound. Tech is having a particularly difficult time keeping opposing guards off the offensive boards. 6-4 guard Sean Mosley had 3 offensive rebounds alone for the terps. In other recent games, state’s Courtney Fells, and clemson’s three-guard trio of K.C. Rivers, Demontez Stitt, and David Potter killed the Hokies on the offensive glass, and I don’t have to mention b.c. guard Rakim Sanders.

This trend has got to be corrected fast. There is nothing more frustrating in basketball than playing 35 seconds of good, tough defense only to give the opponent a mulligan because the rebound could not be secured. Granted, sometimes the ball is just going to bounce the wrong way, but if you do a good job of blocking out, getting a body on a body, then the odds of the ball bouncing your way is greatly increased.

The Hokies did manage to battle their way back into yesterday’s game by mixing up their defenses. About five minutes into the second half, Tech switched from their usual man to man to a 2-3 and then a 1-3-1 zone. The Hokies may have to rely on more zones down the stretch because they continue to struggle to get through opponents’ high ball screens. That was evident again yesterday as Greivis Vasquez and Eric Hayes had way too many wide open looks most of which they converted on.

Memo to Jeff Allen. Please remember that when you play in the ACC, most games are on television and there are cameras everywhere. So, next time you get the urge to flip off the maryland student section (not to say it wasn’t deserved) please keep this in mind.

Big Jeff also needs to distinguish, when he has the ball posted up down low, whether he has a pathway to drive to the basket or if he is just dribbling into traffic inviting either a turnover or offensive foul. Allen is a much greater weapon when he stays under control with his post up moves.

The Hokies get another chance to get back into the win column with a very important matchup with the uva cavaliers Wednesday night in Charlottesville. Tech can ill afford a loss if they want to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive. The wahoos are struggling, at 2-8 in conference, but will be coming into this game with great confidence following an overtime win over #12 clemson earlier today. This figures to be another tightly contested game despite the records.

This is a key week for the Hokies, in addition to Wednesday’s rivalry game with the hoos, Tech returns to the Cassell Saturday night with a pivotal game with the fsu seminoles who are currently sitting just out of the top 20 in the all important RPI. Tech needs to stay out of the “bad loss” category against uva and needs to get another “key win” against the noles. The Hokies have some things to work on in practice leading up to these games. Hopefully the Hokies come focused and ready to take care of business.

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• I predicted Allen and Delaney would have big games — they had four points combined at the half (and for once it wasn’t because Jeff was in foul trouble).  Tech did not feed the ball inside to Allen at all in the first half.  Jeff had a mismatch against the slow Neal, or thin Milbourne, but VT didn’t take advantage of this.  You either have to say it was poor execution on VT’s part, or give maryland credit for denying him the ball.  I’d go with the first.  You can get the ball inside. 
• Delaney was a no-show in this game.  Yes, he had 16 points, but 11 of those points were scored in the final 3:03 of the game after it had been decided.  With this late burst, he did extend his double-digit scoring streak to 29 games, longest in the ACC.  Delaney and Jeff Teague of wake are the only ACC players to score in double digits in every game this season.
• The Hokies did a very good job of preventing the terrapins from feeding the ball into the low post in this game, something that has been an issue all year for the Hokies.  The problem is it didn’t matter.  maryland was getting open look after open look from 16-22 feet.  And they didn’t miss many.  Delaney was having trouble fighting through screens, leaving Vasquez wide open.  Milbourne was getting open look after open look from the free throw line extended.  And when maryland drove, they were able to get to the rim for either a layup or foul.  This was one of the laziest defensive efforts I’ve seen by the Hokies since duke.
• The pace of this game played into maryland’s favor.  It was very slow and controlled.  The terp press didn’t create many turnovers (VT had just 12), but it slowed the game down.  Tech shot 47% for the game but had just 55 attempts.  The Hokies are 4-0 in ACC play when getting at least 60 shot attempts, but 2-4 when held to under 60 shots, including three losses in a row.  In other words, the quicker the tempo, the more shots, the better for VT.  And when you hit just 13/21 from the line, you’d rather see VT shooting from the field. 
• I continue to be mystified by rebounding statistics.  If you watched this game, didn’t it seem like the terps dominated the glass?  maryland seemed to really outwork the Hokies in this one.  Yet VT won every rebounding stat:  VT had more offensive rebounds (12-10) and a better percentage of offensive rebounds on misses than the terps (36% to 34%), and had more second chance points (18-14).  But the Hokies seemed to be in poor position on the glass leading to key second chances for the terps.
• The Hokies just could not get key stops when they needed them.  In fact, in the final 10 minutes of this game, I’m not sure how many possessions maryland didn’t score on.  VT just could not get rebounds, or committed fouls (maryland was in the bonus by the mid-point of the second half and hit 22 of 23 second half free throws — meaning every foul equaled two points for maryland.
• There were a LOT of Hokies at this game.  I would guess somewhere around 1000-1500 Hokie fans were at the 17,000 seat arena.  Too bad they didn’t get an opportunity to make much noise in this one.
• Tech has seen a four game winning streak against bc and a three game winning streak against md snapped on the road in the last two weeks.  Let’s hope their three game winning streak against the hoos doesn’t also go by the boards on the road Wednesday.

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Box Score

The maryland terrapins jumped on the Hokies early and never looked back in an 83-73 home win over Virginia Tech. Only two Hokies scored in double figures; A.D. Vassallo led the way with 20 points and Malcolm Delaney added 16. Jeff Allen was held under double digits for just the fifth game this season – he had 8 points.

Tech did get some solid play from its bench, led by junior forward Lewis Witcher who had 8 points. The bench as a whole gave the Hokies 25 points and 12 rebounds. J.T. Thompson and Terrell Bell each added 7 points.

The terps are normally a poor three-point shooting team, but this afternoon they caught fire in the first half shooting 50 percent (4/8). At one point early in the second half, they were 6/10 from behind the arc. Their hot shooting, combined with hitting 24/26 free throws (92 percent), didn’t really give the Hokies much of a shot, especially considering Tech looked flat and was an abysmal 13/21 at the free throw line (61 percent).

It was clear the Hokies lacked focus and intensity and during Seth Greenberg’s post game comments, the coach was openly disappointed and critical of his team’s poor preparation saying that “we reap what we sow” and added that the team had two bad practices leading up to the maryland game. Greenberg also said that the team needs better on-court leadership.

As has been the theme throughout the past couple of seasons, a role player for the opposing team came out looking like a first-team All ACC candidate. This time it was Landon Milbourne, who usually averages about 12 points a game. He had 14 in the first half alone and finished with 23.

The Hokies got it to within three in the second half, but every time they got close, they would either get called for a travel, a foul or maryland would hit a ridiculous shot to steal the momentum. This was a must-win for the terps and their embattled coach, Gary Williams, who has been on the hot-seat most of the season. It would appear that his job is safe … for at least another week.

As for the Hokies, they return home for a couple of days of practice before heading up to Charlottesville on Wednesday to take on the cavaliers – the second worst team in the ACC. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. and as of right now, Wick, Niemo, BallaRob, Davey and Cope-acabana will all be in attendance at the game. We will be available for arm curls and autographs and will gladly accept free drinks.

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This is a good article on Malcolm Delaney in the Washington Post.

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THE SETUP

Spread: maryland by 4

Note: DC area Hokies — the game is on FOX.  Ignore your on-screen guides if they say something else, Fox5 is carrying the game.

Some games mean more than others.  To me, this game means as much as any.  Being a NOVA guy my whole life, I just plain hate maryland (posted two years ago), especially the crab-dribblin’ terps.  I may hate uva, but at least they are Virginians.  Any time we get the chance to stick it to the “crab cakes and football” state, despite the fact maryland is about as big a football powerhouse as Rhode Island, I enjoy it. 

Niemo arm-curling Greivis Vasquez like a little baby (that badly needs some Proactive).  Note that maryland has not beaten VT since this happened in April of 2006.

This is a very big game for both teams.  With a loss, maryland is staring the NIT right in the face again and the rumblings about Gary Williams and “what have you done for me lately” will grow even louder.  The Hokies, meanwhile, have two road games this week before finishing the season with five games against teams currently ranked.  Plain and simple, Tech must win one of these next two road games to have a good shot of making the NCAA Tournament, considering their very difficult stretch to the finish line.  A ‘W’ on Saturday would put VT in great shape heading to hooville and the eight-losses-in-a-row wahoos.

Expect a fairly dead crowd on Saturday in the communist center in college park, because its Valentine’s Day, and because the terps are having a down season.  If VT can get off to a good start and build a lead, the crowd will turn on the home team.

THE SERIES

Half of Virginia Tech’s all-time wins against maryland have come since joining the ACC.  After starting 4-24 against the crab-dribblin’ terps, the Hokies have been on fire!  Add a 3-0 record in football against maryland since joining the ACC, and I think we all know who needs to fear whom.

The last three meetings between VT and the twerps have been defensive battles, with each team scoring in the 60s, and with VT wins in all three games by a total of just eight combined points.

• All-Time: 8-25
• At maryland: 3-15
• In the ACC: 4-2
• Streak: VT 3 in a row and 4 of 5
• Last Year’s Meetings: The Hokies swept both games in dramatic fashion by a total of five points.  The win at maryland really turned VT’s season around.  After starting 5-3 in ACC play, the Hokies had lost three in a row and were behind by double-digits early in this game.  But with a spirited second half, the resulting victory launched Tech on a four-game winning streak that almost got them into the NCAA Tournament.
• @md: VT 69, md 65  |  Game Film
• @VT: VT 67, md 66  |  Game Film

LINEUPS

Virginia Tech

maryland

Hayes, a three-year starter from Woodbridge, VA, had been benched recently in favor of Adrian Bowie.  But Hayes got the nod in maryland’s last game, a one-point win at georgia tech.

THE OPPONENT AND KEYS TO THE GAME

• ACC Tournament Titles: 3
• Last Title: 2004 (only school other than duke or unc to win the ACC since 1996)

maryland’s Strengths:

• We Can’t Shoot, But We Can Pass: (see below about their shooting)  The maryland guards do a good job of distributing the ball and finding open men.  They are second in the ACC in assists, despite being 10th in points per game.  You would expect that with a veteran backcourt — Hayes and Vasquez are junior three-year starters, and Bowie is a sophomore.
• Little Turnover in the Back Court Equals Fewer Turnovers:  Similar to the above point, the maryland guards do a good job of protecting the ball.  They average just 13 turnovers per game, and are third in the ACC in Turnover Margin.

maryland’s Weaknesses:

• Lack of Identity: The terps seem to play at the pace of their opponent.  Against unc and duke, they got into track meets and the results were not good.  maryland lost those two games by a combined 58 points, giving up 193 points total.  In other games, they get sucked into a half court game and struggle to find points. 
• Can We Move the 3-Point Line Back?: maryland is 11th in ACC games in Field Goal Percentage (40%) and last in 3-Point Percentage (27%).  Sharp shooters Eric Hayes and Greivis “Proactiv” Vasquez have lost their stroke, especially GV.  He’s made just 30% on threes this year, and has gotten into arguments with his own fans, at one point talking about how much better VT fans were in terms of supporting their team.  The terps have been held to 60 or fewer points five times this season.  maryland is 10th in the ACC play in scoring as a result, and that includes 91 points in a 108-91 loss at unc.
• Lack of Size: Last year the terps had Bambale Osby (similar body type to Jeff Allen but even more intense) and the long and athletic James Gist inside dominating the glass and blocking shots.  Both those guys are gone, and no one has come in to replace them.   Dave Neal looks like a beer league softball player inside, and he likes to play on the perimeter on offense.  Landon Milbourne is very talented, but lacks bulk.  He plays the four for maryland, but is very undersized there similar to when Deron Washington had to play the four for VT.  With this, maryland is dead last in ACC games in Rebounding Margin at -3.9.  In fact, Vasquez — a guard — is tied for the team lead in rebounds per game.
• Lack of Athletes: Milbourne is a solid athlete and is becoming a Gist-like player, though not as much of a shot blocking force on defense.  Bowie is a good defender, too.  But Vasquez, Hayes, and Neal are average athletes at best.  That exposes a lot of weaknesses on the defensive end.  As a result, maryland allows ACC opponents to shoot 44% from the field (tied with VT for third worst in the ACC) and shoot 40% on threes, by far the worst in the ACC. 

#1 Key to the Game: Attack the maryland guards on offense.  As I mention just above this, Hayes and Vasquez are not good defenders.  Delaney can beat them off the dribble at will.  The terp guards will have to back off him, which will leave Malcolm or A.D. open for three-pointers, and maryland is the worst team in the ACC at defending the three.  The terps have to pack in the defense to help on the glass since they are thin inside.  If Delaney or Vassallo can hit some early threes, maryland will have to come out and defend them.  This will keep maryland from double-teaming Allen inside, and he should be able to beat Neal, or even the skinny Milbourne, inside.  Let’s just hope the threes are falling for Malcolm, who has been struggling from the floor over the last two games.

Expect Delaney to have a big game.  He’s from Baltimore and was not heavily recruited by the terps.  You know there is resentment there, and you know he will have lots of fans on hand.  I predict he will get out of his shooting slump and light it up.  Hopefully he will let the game come to him and not force things.  Since maryland is weak on defense, he needs to drive also, not just settle for the outside shot.

Jeff Allen should also have a big game.  None of the terp low post starters can defend him.  The Hokies need to get him the ball early.  If he gets doubled, the perimeter players need to slide to the open area and have Jeff kick it out for an open three.

On defense, Tech needs to get a hand in the face of Vasquez and Hayes.  Despite their struggles adjusting to the three-point line being a foot back, they can get hot.  If VT plays tight on Vasquez, he will start forcing bad shots.  Neal is a face-up player.  He likes to shoot threes, so the Hokie big-men must guard him on the perimeter, more so than inside.  Milbourne is maryland’s most versatile inside player, and Tech must keep him off the offensive glass.  He also has a good midrange game.

A concern for the Hokies could be the maryland pressure.  The terps like to use a full-court press.  It is similar to clemson’s, which VT shredded, but not as aggressive.  maryland is more worried about slowing you down and using clock to get you out of your offensive set.  Tech must not be content just making it over the timeline.  They have to attack the defense by throwing over the press like the Hokies did against clemson.  Against georgia tech’s press Wednesday, the Hokie guards were catching the ball with their backs to the front court, allowing the jackets to trap them, and they were picking up their dribble just over the timeline, allowing another trap to happen.  Tech needs to get the ball in quickly after made maryland buckets and get up court by pass or dribble.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Most of you probably know that I reside in hooville. Been here for 7+ years. My wife and I really like it, but I refuse to financially support the uva athletic program by buying any tickets, including games against the Hokies.

As we all know, the Hokies come to my town on the 18th. It’s my birthday, would make a nice gift to go to the game, but I ain’t buying tix. That’s my lead-in to last night.

I went to Wild Wing Cafe last night to watch the Tech-ga tech game. When I walked upstairs, there was uva basketball coach Dave Leitao doing his weekly call-in radio show. There was a sparse crowd watching it or maybe they were watching the Tech game since all three TV sets behind him were showing it. I immediately went back downstairs to watch the game because I sure as hell wasn’t going to have that distraction going on while I watched the Hokies. While downstairs, I heard the host of the show announce that they were giving away two tickets to the Tech-uva basketball game and a $25 gift certificate to Wild Wing in a drawing. Guess who won? The Hokie. Thanks Coach.

Popularity: 5% [?]

• VT did a great job as a team on the boards, outrebounding gt 40-35 overall and 14-9 on the offensive glass.  That was my key to the game and really did pay off for the Hokies.  Terrell Bell had seven rebounds in just 16 minutes of play.  Five Hokies chipped in at least six rebounds on the night.
• Hank Thorns, who had 26 assists to just three turnovers in ACC action coming into this game, committed 3 turnovers and had one of his worst nights since returning from injury in early January.  He struggled with the press during the game, putting himself in bad spots where he could be trapped.  To be fair, one of the turnovers was on a very questionable charge call.  Hank did not record any assists.
• Speaking of the press, georgia tech really caught the Hokies off guard with it.  You could tell VT had not prepared for the press, committing two turnovers immediately once georgia tech went to it.  All night the Hokies did a very poor job against the press, usually inbounding the ball to someone in a corner with their back to the VT basket.  That allowed the jackets to setup the trap and force VT into some tough passes.  As a result, the teams tied in terms of turnovers.  This had been a weakness of the jackets — they were last in the ACC in turnover margin coming in.  VT had looked good against the press against clemson when they were well prepared, attacking it frequently.  Last night the Hokies were happy just to make it across the timeline.
• This game was almost as ugly as last year’s contest at VT.  The Hokies were called for 10 fouls in the first 7:36 of the second half!  In other words, georgia tech was in the double bonus before the second media timeout!  Luckily, things calmed down after that and the Hokies were called for just 3 more fouls the rest of the way.  georgia tech was called for 26 fouls on the night compared to 18 for VT.  Last year, the jackets were called for 34 fouls, and VT for 26.  60 fouls!
• Speaking of fouls, Malcolm Delaney has shot 33 free throws in the last two VT/gt meetings in Blacksburg, hitting 27.
• Delaney is in a bit of a shooting slump his last two games — just 7/24 from the field, pulling his FG% down to under 43% under the season.  He had been over 50% in ACC play before these last two games (47% now).  Expect him to have a big game Saturday, though.  Being from Baltimore and not heavily recruited by the twerps, he will always have a chip on his shoulder and plenty of fans at the games in college park.
• VT’s 37% shooting effort on the night was their lowest since the duke game (36% — I would have thought it was 3.6%) and was their third lowest percentage of the season as Cope pointed out (mt. st. mary’s — 33%).  But, gt did have the #1 FG% defense in the ACC.
• Tech is technically in fifth place in the ACC right now — fsu would be in third and clemson in fourth due to tiebreakers.  But since VT has three games left against those two teams, the tiebreakers (and standings) will change quite a bit.
• Niemo’s 100th straight VT home football game attended will be September 26th against the c-a-n-e-s canes!  Expect a lot of VIPs to be on hand.
• The Weekend Warrior will be in full force at the communist center on Saturday for VT/md — be on the look-out for an 8′ Hokie Bird in the parking lots.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Box Score

It was another close one in the ACC tonight as the Hokies pulled out a 76-71 win over the yellow jackets. Malcolm Delaney once again led the way with 23 points, followed by A.D. Vassallo with 18, Jeff Allen with 15, and Cheick Diakite with a season-high 10 points.

Not to fuel Niemo’s ego, but he was dead on with his preview. Once again, the Hokies struggled mightily defending the low post as the other tech’s big men Gani Lawal and Alade Aminu combined for 36 points, which included a handful of uncontested dunks. The Hokies did a little better in the second half defending the paint after switching to a 2-3 zone, but it was pretty tough to watch in the first half.

On the other hand, the Hokies did a great job in forcing the jackets into some bad mid-range and perimeter shots in the first half. The jackets shot just 39% from the field, and a big fat goose egg from three range (0/6) in the first half. Tech scored 76 points despite their third-worst shooting outing of the season, just 37% for the game.

The Hokies never trailed in this game, though the jackets did keep it close. Tech took an early 17-10 lead, but ga tech kept pace throughout the first half until the final three minutes. The Hokies were clinging to slim one-point lead, 30-29, after a monster dunk by ga tech’s Aminu. But following a timeout, the Hokies closed the first half with an 11-2 run, capped by a buzzer-beating layup by Delaney that sent the Hokie faithful into a frenzy. Tech led 41-31 at the half.

The second half saw the Hokies pull ahead by 13 points before they pulled their trademark second-half scoreless drought, allowing the jackets to close the game to just 3 points with a 10-0 run. Tech led 50-37 before going without a point for 4 minutes, 33 seconds.

Diakite broke the scoreless stretch with an emphatic dunk that sparked the Hokies to another run to push their lead back to a dozen. The jackets got within three twice in the final 1:30, but Tech managed to hold them off thanks to Delaney and Hank Thorns, who went 6/6 from the free throw line.

Things did get a little too interesting in the final minute of the game when the Hokies had a difficult time inbounding the ball. At one point, Tech had to call back-to-back timeouts, and on a third attempt to inbound, got called for a five second violation.

Next up for the Hokies is a road trip to College Park on Saturday, Feb. 14, to take on the maryland terrapins (15-8, 5-6). The game is scheduled for a 4 p.m. tipoff and will be broadcast on Raycom Sports.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Lamont “Momo” Jones, a Virginia Tech verbal commitment as part of the Class of 2009, has received a huge and stunning honor and invitation.  He has been selected as one of 20 Jordan Brand All-Americans and was invited to participate in the Jordan Brand Classic All-American Game at the “most famous arena in the world”, Madison Square Garden. 

The game is on April 18th at 8 PM and will feature nine of Rivals.com‘s top 10 players in the Class of 2009, including #1 John Wall.  The other all-americans represent 18 of Rivals top 42 players.  Jones is the only participant in the game that is not ranked in Rivals’ top 70 players (he’s not even in the top 150).  Expect Jones’s stock to soar after this based on the way he’s played for Oak Hill and this selection.

Some may say Jones’s New York connection helped him make this list, but there is a regional game before the All-American game that Jones could have easily been selected for instead.  Like I said, this is a major honor and big “Momo”-ment in Virginia Tech recruiting history.

(Editor’s note: Since Jones decided not to sign during the early signing period, he now must wait until April to ink with the Hokies. The other four members of the 2009 Class have all given Tech their John Hancock.)

Roster

Official Site

Rivals.com Article

Popularity: 1% [?]