…just wanted to point out a few more things.

CARDIAC KIDS:

Remember all those close games VT lost last year in ACC play (and byu)?  The Hokies were 5-10 in games decided by 5 points or less in ACC play+byu last year.

Well, now Tech has won two close ones in a row.  The losses were all blowouts other than wvu and georgia southern.  The Hokies are 3-2 in games decided by 5 points or less this year, but winners of 3 in a row (bradley, gt, and wake).

I think part of our success is that it isn’t just Green milking the clock and shooting a tough shot at the buzzer lately.  Brown had the key shots late against georgia tech in overtime, and Rankin and Brown each had big buckets in the final minute yesterday.  That shows they have trust in themselves, and gets them to play harder knowing coach has confidence in them.

I’d describe our wins as piss-and-vinegar, as in we are still playing piss poor, and our wins don’t smell very good, but heck, I’ll take them.  I like the way we have been scrappy and come from behind two games in a row to win late.

WELCOME BACK, MR. EDDIE:

• Since the start of overtime at georgia tech, Jarell Eddie is 4/6 on 3-pointers (67%)
• From the start of the wvu game up until OT at gt, Eddie had been 11/49 from behind the arc (22%)

The difference to me has been Jarell is getting the ball facing the basket, able to step into his shot in rhythm.  A lot of those previous misses were curling off screens where he was sliding away from the basket and/or catching the ball with his back to the hoop, a much tougher shot.

SECOND HALF MAN:

Your NCAA scoring leader, Erick Green, has been dominant in 2nd halves the last two games.  He scored 38 combined points in the 2nd half and overtime of the georgia tech and wake forest games.  And he’s done it on 13/19 shooting from the field (68%).  Considering he’s averaging 38.3 minutes per game in the four ACC games, it is amazing he has that much left in the tank in 2nd halves.

EASY STRETCH:

I mentioned before the bc game that Tech was entering a 5 game stretch against the other 5 teams picked to finish in the lower half of the league.  They are now 2-1 in that stretch after the bad loss at home to bc (their only ACC win in 4 games) with home against uva and at clemson to go.  Those two teams appear to the best of those five teams, so this will be a good test to see how the Hokies compare in the ACC.  If they want to finish in the middle third of the ACC or around .500 (around 7th or 8th), they need to at least win one of these.  If they lose both, then expect Tech to finish somewhere near the bottom (somewhere from 9th to 12th).

AROUND THE ACC:

How tough is it to watch this conference right now?  I had a post earlier this week about how bad the games have been offensively of late.

• In 8 games this calendar week, the wake/VT game was the only game where both teams reached the 30-point mark in the first half.
• Only 4 teams made it to 30 points in the first half this week.
• 7 teams failed to even make it past 22 points in the first half this week and 3 went into the break in the teens.
• maryland scored 56 total first half points in THREE games this calendar week (they had 53 in the first half against Virginia Tech two weeks ago).
• The terps were held to 47, 51, and 52 points this week — i.e. they didn’t score as many points in their 3 full games this week as they did in one half against the Hokies.
• florida state scored a whopping 36 points at uva yesterday – 15 points in the first half, 21 in the 2nd.