chuck – Chris Smith has to be on that top 10 list.

Goodraisin – I echo your comments about our senior leaders. In the last 4 years, in 10 home NIT games (I am pretty sure we were favored in all of them) we were 6-4. Let’s face it, the first round is a near gimmie (except Duquesne I guess). So, then we are 2-4 in games after the first round. Something is wrong there. You would expect at worse a 4-2 record which would have probably gotten us to MSG at least once in the last 4 years. I don’t know if it’s a player character issue or a coaching issue (we get outcoached against teams we are not as familiar with) but the pattern is too hard to ignore. I’d be interested to hear the thoughts of others. While Erick Green is not as talented as Delaney his court demeanor and lack of turnovers tells me he may have a better head for leading a team. I see Hudson and JT in the same light as Green.

Along that same line, I was watching the NCAA and the plethora of upsets. I cannot recall a time in the history of VT basketball where we have ever upset a higher seeded team or won in an underdog role in a national tournament. Hokiesports.com has our history in tournament play (may have happened in the 60s NCAA). NIT seeding is a more recent thing I realize. We have either held serve or been the upset victim. And then you see what Richmond, VCU, Butler and FSU did this weekend and you go, “damn!” how come that has never happened to us? Am I wrong about this?

@chuck DeCarlos Anderson – Norcom’s silky smooth 2G – still doesn’t have a college home yet. I’m not sure if it’s a grades issue or what, but my guess is that he’s either going to have to go the prep school or community college route.

@Zack yep that’s Lamont “MoMo” Jones. He only gave us what I would call a “soft” verbal before committing to Southern Cal, before Tim Floyd was let go as their coach. He was then able to back out of that committment and landed in the Arizona Wildcats program. While Zona has obviously had a bit better success than we have NCAA tournament-wise (though our team would certainly be ripping up the Pac-10), I definitely agree that we got at least a player that’s as good as – if not better than – MoMo in Erick Green. Throwing out their freshman-year stats since Erick didn’t get to play as much as MoMo, look at what they have done this year. MoMo = 9.5ppg, 1.6rpg, 2.4apg (1.21 assist-to-turnover ratio) … Erick = 11.6ppg, 2.3rpg, 2.7apg (2.26 a/to ratio). More points… more boards… better numbers in the most crucial stat of a PG (a/to)… yeah I’m happy with Erick.

@Niemo well another year in the books. I, too, loudly echo all of the sentiments that others have written about how great the site is. You know from my posts that I stay pretty much glued to it. I just wrote my long diatribe regarding this senior bunch on the previous post, and like I said there… I have never been more excited about VT basketball than I am for this fall. Be ready.

Erick Green is deceivingly big…he’s 6’4 but he hunches over some, and he has real long arms….which he’s shredded significantly since coming to Blacksburg.

To think he might have transferred at the end of next season if he didn’t get the opportunity to play is frightening. Odds are had Hudson stayed healthy, he’d have never gotten minutes this year; and it would have been a crapshoot with Rankin/Brown already having established chemistry at Hargrave…he might’ve started next year on the bench also.

Love checking this site for recruiting news in the offseason. That said, last weekend at the ACIT tournament in Frostburg, MD I got a glimpse of two potential 2013 class Virginia Tech recruits. 6’1″, 160, PG Nate Britt and 6’6″, 245, SF Kris Jenkins both out of Gonzaga College High School in Washington, DC. The local paper in Frostburg reported that both have offers from Virginia Tech among a handful of other top schools. Jenkins was inactive due to an injury the night before, but looked huge on the bench (and he’s only a sophomore)! Britt fed the ball to his teammates with nice precision. He didn’t show much in attacking the basket, but he had a smooth outside shot.

Also in the tournament was #28 ESPNU, 6’6″, 194, SF Michael Gbinije out of Benedictine High School (Richmond, VA). He’s committed to Duke next year, and he fits the Duke stereotype. Very smart on the basketball court, excellent shooter, and plays stronger than his weight suggests. It was his unlucky job to guard 6’8″, 265, PF Beejay Anya (sophomore) out of Dematha High School, and he showed some strength in boxing out to get a few rebounds that most would not gave gotten considering the mismatch. The only negative I saw in his game was that he tends to go in spurts with his aggressiveness. At times he’d take the game over and at times you wouldn’t even know he was on the court. Coach K is the type of coach that won’t let that demeanor continue. Duke is getting another very solid player.

This is a fun tournament to attend, and if you all are every in the western Maryland area, I’d encourage you to check it out (link below). Over the years, I’ve gotten a chance to watch Carmelo Anthony, Rudy Gay, Malcolm Delaney, Keith Boggins, Joe Forte, etc. Out of all of those players, Rudy Gay was the most amazing as a high school player. His dunking ability at that early age literally brought down the house in the dunk contest.

http://www.alhambratournament.org/