Jarell Eddie suspended for remainder of 2010-11 season

Posted on10 March 2011.

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse for the Hokies, it did. Yesterday, Virginia Tech men’s head basketball coach Seth Greenberg announced that freshman forward Jarell Eddie will not dress or play for the Hokies for the remainder of the 2010-11 season.

According to a news release on HokieSports.com, the freshman Charlotte, N.C., was suspended as a result of his marijuana incident that occurred on Feb. 15 in Blacksburg, Va.

“Jarell Eddie is a excellent student, a fine young man and a great teammate,” said Greenberg in the release. “He made a mistake in judgment and is paying the price for that mistake.”

Losing Eddie is a huge blow to the Hokies as they enter the ACC tournament today. Senior forward Jeff Allen is hobbled by a bad ankle that severely limited him in practice this week, so that leaves sophomore Manny Atkins as the only scholarship forward on the bench.

Essentially, the Hokies will be playing with only seven players against georgia tech, assuming Allen can go. Freshman Tyrone Garland, who was recently named to the ACC all-academic team, and Atkins are the only scholarship players on the bench to relieve the starting five: Malcolm Delaney, Jeff Allen, Terrell Bell, Victor Davila and Erick Green.

Tech lost its last two regular season games and is firmly on the NCAA tournament bubble heading into the ACC tourney. Realistically, they need at least two wins this week to make it into the dance. That is a challenge unto itself, never mind the fact they must do so with seven players.

If you’re looking for more details on this developing situation, you won’t get it from Greenberg, his staff or anyone in the basketball office. The official word in the release went something like this:

“This release will serve as the sole statement by the Virginia Tech Athletics Administration, Coach Greenberg and members of the basketball program on this matter. No further comments will be made on this matter during the remainder of the season and Coach Greenberg will not address this issue during press conferences at the ACC Tournament.”

This post was written by:

- who has written 220 posts on Tech Hoops.

Gary is a Virginia Tech graduate and veteran sports journalist with a career spanning on-air work in television and radio, and as a writer, editor and columnist in newspapers. He has covered the Hokies since 1993.

Contact the author | Visit the author's website | Follow Cope on Twitter


  • http://www.heyhokie.com Goodraisin

    Legitimate question: Why can’t Paul Debnam see some significant minutes? I know he can’t play the 4 or 5, but he can play the 2 and 3, and he surely knows how to play in Greenberg’s defenses and you know he’s going to give you everything he’s got. Isn’t that enough to warrant playing a guy for four or five minutes?

  • RK in Roanoke

    At least 1 reporter at the times thinks Debnam is really important to this week. See link. http://www.roanoke.com/sports/mcfarling/wb/279506
    for and article about Paul.

  • King

    I think playing Debnam would be great for a number of reasons: he is the unequivocal emotional leader of the team, he has an infectious energy, he is a senior who should be rewarded for his commitment to the team at a time when the team needs him most, and, perhaps most importantly, I don’t think he has played half-bad the times he has gotten in games. Hasn’t he EARNED the coaching staff’s trust at this point? I, personally, trust him to give the team 5 high energy minutes a game. Unfortunately, the greatest need for subs is in the post. Can’t we throw Parker in for a few minutes, let him body up the opposing team’s big men, be physical, commit a few hard fouls, & work the glass? Why not?

  • chrishokie

    I’m with you GR. What’s the matter with Debnam? All you need is someone to hold the fort while key guys get some rest. He can’t be any worse than Garland on offense. All I can assume is that he is afraid Debnam would get pressed and be a TO risk. So, why not put him in and see what happens? Run a slow-down offense. Greenberg has no qualms pulling other guys out when they screw up.

  • http://www.vthokiefans.com Cope-acabana

    With regards to Prince Parker playing, I’m not sure what his status is. At senior night, he didn’t dress for the game and had a huge boot on one foot. Perhaps he’s completely healed at this point, but one week ago, he didn’t even dress.

  • http://stores.ebay.com/hip-hop-heads-vinyl-crates HipHop_Hokie

    I heard a rumor that after Dorian finishes wrapping up his back-to-back VA state titles on Friday night, he is going to immediately come down to Greensboro with C.J. Barksdale and they are going to start their freshman years 1 season early and lead us to a national championship THIS YEAR!!

    Oh crap… I just woke up.

  • Andrew

    Cope-acabana,

    I disagree with your statement that the Hokies need at least two more wins to dance. Two wins would lock it up, but I think one win still puts in pretty good shape. The way these other bubble teams are falling apart, the Hokies aren’t looking too bad. Still, the Hokies MUST win tonight!

    • http://www.vthokiefans.com Cope-acabana

      That’s the great thing about this country, we can peacefully disagree! And I respectfully disagree with your disagreement. Sorry, couldn’t resist. Look, even if we win tonight, which is looking more and more unlikely giving the injury to Jeff Allen and the loss of 10 minutes per game from Jarell Eddie, we’d still only be beating georgia tech, which is a terrible, terrible team (which has already beaten us once this season). Not exactly a big resume boost.

      That would put Tech at 20-10 on the season – which is actually worse than their record last year when they finished 10-6 in the ACC and 23-6 overall, and STILL didn’t get in. And with their only “signature win” this season coming against then-No. 1 ranked duke, which was promptly followed by two miserable beatdowns to average ACC teams, the shine of that big win over the blue devils is greatly dulled.

      I hope you’re right. I hope they only need one win, but I just don’t see it happening, even with three extra spots in the dance this year.

  • RK in Roanoke

    Cope- how badly is Jeff hurt? Is there a chance he does not play? That would be horribly bad and make a potential loss a large possibility.

  • ryan

    I was on Andrew’s side until this week. The thing is, the other bubble teams are NOT failing apart. It’s true that it looks like we’ll have very little, if any, bid stealers but Colorado avoiding their bubble being popped by Iowa State and then beat K-State today, Mich St is obviously going to be Iowa, we’ll see what Michigan does…and of course Clemson and BC are probably ahead of us. We have veeeeery little room for error and I think 2 wins gives us a 80% chance, 1 win a 20% chance…whatever those numbers mean

  • ryan

    Yeh and btw, UAB got beat today by ECU meaning the Conference USA winner will be a bid stealer. Likely Memphis I guess. So that’s one less spot…

  • King

    Cope, thnx for the info on Parker. Scratch that idea. Time to run the clock and aim for a Big Ten score in the 40s/50s. Can’t let this become a track meet.

  • chrishokie

    I do agree with you, Copa, that our resume is not even as good as last year’s. But I keep hearing the bubble is weaker this year and with the additional 3 teams we are currently viewed as one of the last 4 in. While a win tonight doesn’t enhance our standing it’s avoiding the loss to a bad team that should allow us to hold serve and remain in the field regardless of what happens against FSU. So, I tend to agree more with Andrew’s assessment. However, without the win against FSU, we lose control of our own destiny. And depending on what happens to other teams I would not be totally shocked if we got left out again.

  • NYC Hokie

    King- great prediction on the score! The zone really seemed to bother GT.

  • http://www.heyhokie.com Goodraisin

    ryan, that’s supposedly not correct (at least according to Joe Lunardi)… UAB is sitting out of the bubble right now, so C-USA looks to still be only a 1 bid league. You never know how today will shake out, but I think VT will need to win today to stay in the picture. That’s my gut feeling.

  • http://www.heyhokie.com Goodraisin

    I would disagree that our resume is weaker than last year. Our out-of-conference strength of schedule is much higher, and we also have better wins out of conference than we did last year in Penn State and OK State. We have a win over Duke… which is much better than any win we had last year and still has potential of being a top 5 RPI win. We are about the same as far as wins over other tournament teams. So yeah, our RPI is lower, but I would say that’s really about it. Everything else on our resume is stronger.

  • chrishokie

    And around we go …. I wouldn’t understate the importance of the RPI. Any number of teams could have better big wins than last year and a tougher schedule and be totally out of NCAA contention because of their W-L record and RPI. If our RPI ranking was 90 all the other resume items you mentioned would likely be moot. Unfortunatey, the RPI incorporates (correctly or incorrectly) the improved stregnth of schedule and our big wins. And yet, it is still lower because we have a worse overall record. And we have a worse record and place in conference play this year and in a year where the ACC is down. If you could run simulations I don’t think this year’s team is quite as good as good as last year’s because of the depth issue. I do agree that the Duke win is an important item that differentiates us from last year. Hopefully that, along with the extra 3 tournament slots and a weaker bubble slate is going to get us in even if we lose tonight.

    The RPI is bothering me a bit. I follow Sagarin and our rating is much higher there. Why can’t the NCAA do in basketball what they do in football and that is take an average of several math polls and use that as the rating input into the process. Why can they only look at RPI. In Niemo’s interview with Bilas, Jay said “the RPI is a joke … I look at Sagarin”. Does the NCAA look at Sagarin? Does anyone know?


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