Look…if you’re Va.Tech, unless you’re say Duke or UNC or most of the other schools (MD, Clem, BC or even Ga.Tech, WF) you ABSOLUTELY CANNOT get swept by UVa, BC & lose to Clem & have that abismal of an RPI against top 50s & expect to make the big dance. I’m sorry, but that’s just the way it goes. Yes, you have to win at least 23-25 games in the season & not get swept by ANYONE in your conference & have a better RPI than that. Just look at the record of the last Tech team to be selected for the dance back in ’06-’07. Look at that teams’ RPI. Tell me it wasn’t higher & better than this squads RPI. I’m sorry, but that’s just the reality for Tech. See, the committee is thinking “Tech, football school, NOT hoops. So, unless they have something that stands out, no tourney.”

Terrible snub. Georgia in, VCU in, Penn State in, almost the entire Big East in, Tech (once again) out. I’m a UVa. alum/diehard. You guys got totally screwed!

Seriously, what was the record & RPI of the ’06-’07 squad (Dowdell & Gordon)? What was it? Because THAT’S what we need to do EVERY year as minimum to make the dance. Anything less than what we did in ’06-’07 isn’t going to cut it. That’s reality. Anything less, no tourney. Only NIT. Delaney (& maybe even Allen) should have left for the draft instead of returning this year. It would have been better for them. Then they wouldn’t have had to deal with the reality of playing hoops @ tech. The realiity being: NO tourney, only NIT with 23 wins or less & a pathetic RPI against top 50.

BLAH BLAH f’ing blah! OH we shouldn’t have loss this game or that game, UVA or BC. FINE! That’s what makes a friggin bubble team, A BUBBLE TEAM! They got some good wins, and some bad losses.

USC?! They lost to TCU AND BRADLEY, two teams that finished LAST in their conferences, TCU going 4-26. 4-26! That’s not a UVA loss folks, that’s if we had loss to friggin LONGWOOD!

Weaker conference, worse record, not a big of a sig win, worse losses.

Seriously, USC. You’ve got to being shitting me. This is nonsense and the committee has CLEARLY gone out of their way this time to leave us out. UN-BE-LIEV-ABLE

This is the complete list of members on the men’s selection committee:

Gene Smith† Ohio State University Athletic Director
Mike Bobinski Xavier University Athletic Director
Ron Wellman Wake Forest University Athletic Director
Jeff Hathaway University of Connecticut Athletic Director
Lynn Hickey University of Texas at San Antonio Athletic Director
Doug Fullerton Big Sky Conference Commissioner
Scott Barnes Utah State University Athletic Director
Stan Morrison University of California, Riverside Athletic Director
Dan Beebe Big 12 Conference Commissioner
Steve Orsini Southern Methodist University Athletic Director

Wake Forest AD is still on the selection committee. I wonder Seth was talking about him. Tech and Wake recruited many of the same players, some of whom are currently on the Tech roster and some more on the way.

At this point you have to wonder if there is not something seriously personal going on here. When you get down to the last few teams each year, they are all flawed none of them great. The committee has to be looking for reasons not to take VT, as really this year when it came down to the last couple and it came down to Col, UAB VCU and VT, the committee could have easily said, you know, VT has been among the last out for 4 years, let’s just include them and see if they show up. But instead they opt to leave them out. Whether UAB or VCU are not as good, really doesn’t matter to me at this point. There seems to be something political going on and I think it sucks. I will probably not watch much of the NCAA tourney this year, right now I really do not care who wins. BTW if you look at kenpom which many have as better than RPI from a who is better, VT is 30th. Just saying.

Here’s the thing it won’t ever matter if we have 20 wins or 200 wins, what the selection comitee wants to see is whether or not we can compete on the grand stage and make an exiting game…no…that’s not it cause such weak teams made it. It must be because our fans don’t travel well and they can’t fill the stands…no that’s not it either cause tech fans travel better than most schools. All I can wonder about is why does the media hang on the balls of players like singler and hansborough, but not delaney(even when he was the leading scorer in the acc or Allen). I’ll tell u why, it’s the same reason va tech doesn’t get in to the big dance… We don’t have a white guy starter and as long as we are on the bubble without one those racist fucks will never let us in!

Makes me sick. You guys have pretty much said it all. This year we have added some things to our resume that we thought kept us from making last year. I do wonder if the committee decided that if they picked us they couldn’t really leave BC out. So, maybe it was both of us or neither of us.

I hate blaming politics but I am now considering it. While Seth’s “certifiably insane” remark has been laughed about over the years this snub makes me wonder if the committee didn’t appreciate it. I was thinking that happened Delaney’s freshman year but maybe sophomore. Little did Seth know there would be even more confusing snubs to follow.

I think a trip to MSG would be a great achievement for this group. After all they’ve missed in 3 previous tries. The only way you can prove you belonged in NCAA is to make a big splash in the NIT. 2 more wins and this group becomes tops all time, right? They still have that goal.

To the guy that said we needed to beat Duke yesterday (was it NYC?) I have to say, YOU WERE RIGHT!

I feel for you about having total wins. But really I think the bottom line is who did u win against. Look at USC’s schedule and u see that they beat 3 top 25 teams. Don’t think it’s a matter of the quality of the team u lost to vs the amount u have won against quality teams which would mean duke.
Also it’s funny when people pull the race card. Hansbrough took a team who wasn’t expected to be a factor to placing second on one of the toughest conferences that has beat pretty much beat most teams out of conference. Unfortunately for ur star guard to get some spotlight the rest of the team has to win in tough situations. Putting big numbers on teams u lose to or bad teams doesnt help the stats. Either way what is done is done sucks that some of the sketch conference teams with mediocre records getting in because they feel the need to throw in some chew toys for the big dogs but it’s how things go.

Penn St bothers me the most. If they had lost Saturday, or Friday, we’d be in. We beat them head to head.

They got in because the strength of their losses never hurt them. They lost to Maine, Maryland, Mississippi. And they never beat anyone decent until their tourney. But the rest of their losses were to top 15s like Wisconsin, Ohio St, Purdue and tourney teams like Michigan and Michigan State.

Our quality of losses was fairly good until the last 12, and the last 12 and RPI are really what get weighed the most, it’s just the committee will never admit it, because it would cheapen their “process”.

Us beating FSU was a Catch-22 situation. Beating them knocked them from 44 to 53, while only moving us up a commensurate 9 to 56 from 65. It was no-win. We suffered a worse top 50 record against them, with one less win.

The ACC once again did us no favors. The league has taken a huge step backwards from the beginning of 2009-2010, which saw Wake at #1, and 3 others in the top 10. At the end of the past several years the league has flagged, and it no longer commands the respect it once did.

MD didn’t even get an NIT bid. Probably because people knew if Gary had to go on the road, he’d probably decline it anyway, like a couple years back. We play at home, and Weaver will opt for 2-3 potential home dates over the ignominy of the same class being a #1 seed in the VT Invitational for 3rd time in 4 years.

I am sad to say, that although i hold affinity for several of the individuals in this class, i never want to see them play together as a group again. Or see Seth coach them…i want to see if he has any game management chops with this next group before i condemn him, but i have some severe misgivings.

How can a group have quite possibly a top 5 all-time player at VT in Delaney, and over 80 wins together (maybe close to 90) and leave you feeling completely hollow?

Just like football, Just like football (it’s a breezy night and that’s what i am hearing against my window…faint though it may be)

Enjoy the tournament…get into your brackets…and: Opening Day is in just two weeks! Spring is here…

(I know, just thought I’d try and cheer you all up)

/beer on the curb

I feel bad for the Hokie players, but I cannot say that I’m surprised. Let’s go back to last year (yes, I’m still bitter). A Hokie team finishes 3rd in the ACC. Five teams get into the tourney – yes – teams that finished 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th. Granted, 5/6 finished 9-7 in the conference. But a Tech team that finished 25-9 was left out because they “didn’t play a difficult schedule, even within the ACC.” But yet the 6th place team got in – a team that Tech had beaten 10 days earlier. On that team’s home floor. That team? Wake Forest. Hmmm. And Ron Wellman, AD of WF sits on the committee.
Given that, I’m not truly surprised we didn’t get in. Perhaps Wellman doesn’t like Jim Weaver (former AD at Wake). Perhaps Delaney has popped all three of Wellman’s daughters? Perhaps Wellman has a side relationship with one or more of the ACC referees and they just didn’t want Jeff Allen in the tournament? Honestly, I really don’t know. What I do know is that the evidence says that Tech must be a “no-brainer” to get into the tourney – where politics can’t keep them out. This team didn’t accomplish that. Too many losses to poor and mediocre teams. I truly feel bad for the seniors. They deserved better.

Yes this really stinks. But sour grapes doesn’t cut it. I’m not trying to be cold – there is enough of that already in the NCAA selection process. With 7 scholarship players available we’re probably not competitive in the NCAA tourney.

So, how do you let the selection committe know they goofed? You BEAT THE SNOT OUT OF the NIT competition all the way to the end!!! If our team has any leadership in it at all, that is what you do. If we just fold our tent and say whoa is me, we are the bubble team whiners. There are other teams that got snubbed as well.

Go through the NIT process, FILL CASSELL everytime to the rafters!, and win every game by 15+!! Don’t disresepect the competition, just beat them at basketball. The leadership of our seniors and coach is now being severely tested. If we have the gumption, we do this and show the incoming recruits how we handle adversity.

We did this well in an April a few years ago, and this is NOTHING compared to that……

Go Hokies!! Forever………

Anyone think that a) Greenburg’s “certifiably insane” comment or b) Our team’s lack of sportsmanship, specifically the Allen antics in the Duke game, play a role in all this? And did danyone notice that Delaney shoved Nolan Smith and Smith didn’t react? Our top two players seem to lack maturity in those situations. That’s something I really like about Erick Green. He seems to be above all that.

Interesting comment Chuck on the Maryland situation. I was scratching my head trying to figure out how Miami could be a #2 seed in the NIT and Maryland not even get in. It does go to show you that things that have happened in the past can lead to a payback snub in the future.

I am going to be over this and excited about seeing some more games even if it’s in the NIT. Maybe we can beat this BC team on Wednesday night. Go Hokies!

Smitty, you’re right on.
But hip hop, you must be wrong. Can’t be uva, as his call name says he likes chix…..

Niemo

Thanks for the post of rules on posting….it was needed.

You do a great job man….i absolutely love this web site. Its my number one source for my Hokie Basketball fix.

Lets just go win the NIT and prove a point. Yes we have been snubbed four years in a row. Im just as upset as anyone else, but lets take advantage of the fact that there is another post season tournament for teams like the Hokies who get screwed every year.

Im sorry, but if you dont win or even make the final four in the NIT after being a top seed four years in a row then there is something wrong with our post season play. Lets do this….GO HOKIES

chrishokie – The first thing I thought of when we were snubbed was Allen throwing the ball at the Duke player’s head. However, I can’t imagine they would use that as an excuse. Look at Tennessee’s and USC’s NCAA violations, but they still got in. That was the NCAA’s chance to snub someone. I do wish Jeff could eliminate those bone-headed, heat of the moment plays, because he has so much potential. I think he is the most talented player on our team, but he holds himself back!

Well at least a great team like VCU was able to get in the dance. We should face the fact that we would have to win every game to warrant consideration from those basketball gurus.