• The 57th annual Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament gets under way tomorrow from Greensboro, its natural home I feel. With no truly dominant team in the conference, this season’s tournament figures to be a wide open affair, with many teams – including the Virginia Tech Hokies – figuring they have a legitimate shot at taking home the banner and the trophy. Here’s how the Balla thinks things will shake down –

1st Round – bc over uva, miami over wake, gt over unc, clemson over n.c. state

Quarterfinals – duke over bc, VT over miami, maryland over gt, clemson over fsu.

Semis – duke over VT, maryland over clemson

Final – duke over maryland

• Congratulations go out to Malcolm Delaney for being a unanimous selection to the All ACC first team. For the record, the Balla’s All ACC selections for 2009-10 would be as follows –

First team – Greivis Vasquez – maryland, Malcolm Delaney – VT, Jon Scheyer – duke, Al-Farouq Aminu – wake, Kyle Singler – duke

2nd team – Trevor Booker – clemson, Gani Lawal – ga tech, Nolan Smith – duke, Ish Smith – wake, Dorenzo Hudson – VT

3rd team – Tracy Smith – n.c. state, Sylvan Landesberg – uva, Joe Tripani – bc, Chris Singleton – fsu, Deon Thompson – unc.

Vasquez – the player everyone outside of College Park loves to hate – takes home Player of the Year honors, edging out Malcolm Delaney who should be pre season selection for 2010-11 ACC P.O.Y.

Gary Williams gets the nod for Coach of theYear, beating out Seth Greenberg and Coach K.

ga tech’s Derrick Favors is the Freshman of the Year. Hokie fans may have gotten their only look at Favors last Saturday as he likely will be one and done for the jackets.

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• The team has worked hard, has great character and has given great effort and commitment to playing hard and winning. There has been great leadership in the locker room all season.

• Malcolm Delaney was named ACC player of the week on Monday and was named a unanimous selection to the First Team All ACC. Malcolm becomes the second Hokie to be named as a first team selection, joining Zabian Dowdell. A new display will now go up recognizing Malcolm in the basketball facility.

• Dorenzo Hudson went from averaging 4 points per game last season to being named Third Team All ACC this season. A great accomplishment.

• Zo is still in a boot and will remain shut down until at least Wednesday. They are not going to take any chances but are confident he should be ready to go by game time on Friday. Jeff Allen’s shoulder is doing better. Tomorrow’s practice may not even have contact. If it does, Allen may be held out.

• Cadarian Raines had an MRI on his shoulder and it showed no torn labrum which had been feared. There is only a bruise and Cadarian should also be ready to go on Friday.

• The Hokies had a great walk-thru in the ballroom of the team hotel before the georgia tech game. Coach Greenberg had a feeling something special was in store because it was the team’s best walk-thru of the season so far. The team was very focused.

• Seth indicated he got a call from the ACC office after the georgia tech game saying it was the most physical conference game of the season. He did not elaborate further.

• A great example of the team’s focus was Malcolm coming back from being knocked to the floor by Gani Lawal to his a long three pointer the next time he had the ball. He did not lose his composure despite the hard hit by Lawal.

• Hudson did a great job coaching Manny Atkins during the game. Zo was instrumental in Manny having a great game in his first career start.

• Seth will likely continue to take Allen out of the game after he gets his first foul to let him take a second to catch his breath and get re-focused.

• The team will work on improving their game for the next two practices, not on one particular team. They will not deviate from how they have approached games all season.

• The Hokies are now 4-1 at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. There was great crowd of Hokies on hand in Atlanta on Saturday.

• Ben Boggs’ great work ethic allowed him to play this season and not redshirt as he recovered from his badly broken leg. It’s not surprising he made the ACC All-Academic team.

• Greenberg’s Top 5 wins of the season were 5) The overtime win over delaware that would have been a very bad loss to a team that’s over 200 in the RPI. The Hokies won despite the fact they didn’t play well. 4) At n.c. state – Tech’s first win in Raleigh since 1917. 3) At uva – great comeback from down 11 points. 2) wake forest 1) Saturday’s win at georgia tech.

• Bill Roth’s Top 5 wins were 5) at n.c. state 4) at uva 3) at penn state 2) seton hall 1) at georgia tech

• Seth knew if Virginia Tech played hard for 40 minutes they would beat georgia tech who has a habit of not playing a full 40 minutes.

• There will be no more orange jerseys this season. There could be throwback VPI jerseys at some point next season if approved by Nike.

• Friday’s game will start around 2:30 against the winner of miami and wake forest. The canes will play a 2-3 zone versus wake and try to control Ish Smith and keep Aminu off the glass. They will try to get McFarland and Aminu in ball screens. The deacons want an up tempo. Greenberg thinks wake is more difficult to defend when they play a smaller lineup despite their tremendous height up front.

• Inbounding the ball is a very important job that’s often taken for granted. There is a lot of pressure on the inbounder. It’s usually a 5 on 4 situation. It’s also a specialty the Seth compared to a long snapper in football. Zo is the team’s best inbounder.

• This is a good year for Hokie fans to get good tickets to the ACC Tournament at a good price. Greensboro is an easy location to get to and several teams, such as miami and bc, did not come close to selling out their ticket allotment.

• The Hokies will have a light practice and walk-thru on Thursday night after they know who they will be playing.

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Malcolm Delaney’s 32 points and 9 assists led Virginia Tech to a huge 88-82 victory over the georgia tech yellow jackets in a very physical game in Atlanta. The win clinches fourth place in the ACC and guarantees the Hokies a first round bye in the ACC Tournament which gets under way Thursday in Greensboro. The win also almost assuredly will mean an at large bid to the NCAA Tournament for the Hokies when bids go out a week from tomorrow.

With second leading scorer Dorenzo Hudson unable to go due to a bad bone bruise in his right foot, the Hokies got a balanced scoring effort and actually outrebounded the much larger yellow jackets, who feature future NBA stars Gani Lawal and Derrick Favors, 38-36. Jeff Allen had 17 points and 10 rebounds while Terrell Bell came up huge with 14 points and 13 boards playing in his home state of Georgia. Victor Davila also had a nice game with 10 big inside points.

Freshman and Georgia native Manny Atkins, seldom used this season, got his first career start in place of Zo and had a solid 5 point, 5 assist, and 7 rebound performance. Manny also cut down on the turnovers that had plagued him earlier in the season.

Unlike the previous two seasons when the Hokies faced must win games on the road to close the regular season – at clemson in ’07-08 and at florida state in ’08-09 – this time the Hokies took control of the game early on. Virginia Tech trailed 8-7 at the first television timeout, but from there went on an 11-0 run to seize control of this game. The Hokies hit 8 three-point bombs in the first half, led by four from Delaney. The Hokies led by as many as 11 in the first half and led 45-39 at the half.

The second half started with very rough and physical play on both ends. Lawal was whistled for a flagrant foul on Manny Atkins as he went for a layup with just over 12 minutes to go and it turned out to be a four point possession for the Hokies after Atkins sank both free throws and JT Thompson nailed a baseline jumper. The Hokies extended their lead to 73-56 with just over nine minutes left, before the jackets started to chip away at the lead.

The lead was 80-74 after a three by Iman Shumpert (16 points before fouling out) at the 2:10 mark, but the jackets never got closer than three points, 83-80 after a Favors (18 points) lay in with 36 seconds left. However Delaney (14-17 at the line) and the rest of the Hokies were clutch with their free throws and the Hokies held on for the all important win.

For the third straight game Jeff Allen stayed out of foul trouble and had a huge presence against georgia tech’s inside players and also connected on two threes. However Jeff did sustain a shoulder injury during this game and the severity is not known as of right now, though it didn’t appear to be too serious. Hudson’s status for the ACC Tournament won’t be known until at least Wednesday or Thursday.

The Hokies are assured of the fourth seed in the ACC Tournament no matter what happens in tonight’s or tomorrow’s ACC action. The pairings will not be known until games are completed tomorrow. Stay tuned to Techhoops.com for more!

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• There has been a lot of talk recently about expanding the NCAA Tournament from 65 teams to a field of 96. Expect to hear a lot more talk about this subject over the next few weeks as we prepare for this year’s version of the Big Dance. To put this as plainly as possible, a 96 team NCAA Tourney is a bad, bad, bad idea. The folks who favor this expansion cite giving more teams a shot at the title as the biggest benefit of this plan, but we all know this is being driven by the almighty dollar. More teams in the field means more games on television for advertisers to spend beau coups of money on. More games also means the possibility of bringing in more networks – like ESPN – into the mix so they can get a piece of the pie. Also, keep in mind that many coaches who support expanding the field have bonus clauses in their contracts for making the NCAA Tournament.

For the third season in a row the Virginia Tech Hokies find themselves squarely on the bubble of making the NCAA field. The last two seasons the Hokies were unquestionably one of the last teams to be left out, or one of the infamous “first four out”. They certainly would have been included in an expanded 96 team field. But to what benefit? 31 additional teams will without question water down what has become one of the biggest events in all of sports.

Look at the college football bowl season where new bowls are added each and every year which now allow for every mediocre and sometimes downright bad 6-6 team to make the post season. Do you watch the Eagle Bank, International, Papa John’s or GMAC Bowls? Is this what we want to happen in college basketball? We already have an event – and a pretty good one at that – that allows teams that weren’t quite good enough or didn’t quite win enough games to make the NCAA field to participate in the post season. It’s called the NIT.

Proponents of the expanded field also cite giving each and every team – from maryland – baltimore county to kansas – a shot at the national championship. Well hello…every conference with the exception of the Ivy League has a conference tournament with the winner getting an automatic bid to the Big Dance. Thus, every team has the opportunity – no matter how remote the chances are – of making the NCAA Tournament and winning the national championship. Certainly not every sport can say that every team does in fact have a chance to win it all.

Don’t get me wrong, I want nothing more than the Hokies to get an NCAA bid. But I want it to be an earned reward for a great season, not just a ho-hum reward for a mediocre season. To me, part of the excitement and anticipation of these late season games – like tomorrow’s 4:00 showdown against georgia tech – is seeing if the Hokies can knock off one more quality opponent in order to impress the selection committee and earn their way into the field. These games sometimes become elimination games – just like the tournament.

If there must be expansion, then how about expanding from 65 to 68 teams, with the eight lowest seeds playing in the infamous “play-in” games for the right to get slaughtered by the #1 seed a couple of nights later? This would allow three more teams who would currently be snubbed and who may have quite a case for making the tournament – like the Hokies in each of the past two seasons – a chance to play under the big lights.

Finally, and maybe most importantly, could someone please explain to me how you would fit 96 teams onto one pool sheet? Enough said!

Popularity: 22% [?]

• Hopefully this won’t prove to be a bad omen, but tonight’s show was opened with an appearance by David Lowe, chairman of the Pete Dye River Course at Virginia Tech. The new $5.5 million, 18,000 square foot clubhouse is now completed and the course has been rated 4 ½ stars by Golf Digest magazine. Virginia Tech’s commitment to this facility – home of the Hokie golf team – shows the school’s overall commitment to improving facilities. Look no further than the Lane Stadium expansion and the new basketball facility.

• Back to hoops, the team is a little beat up after the maryland game. They worked with the Special Olympics on Sunday, which put things in perspective for the team according to Coach Greenberg.

• The terps made plays at the end of the game and Virginia Tech did not do the things necessary to win. Otherwise the team played great.

• The Hokies ran a set play called “elevator” at the end of regulation in which JT Thompson tied the game with a three pointer. On the play, two guys went with Malcolm Delaney leaving JT open and Dorenzo Hudson made a great inbounds pass, and JT made a great shot.

• Pam from Culpeper, a regular emailer to the show, asked Seth if he could do over, would he play a bigger lineup in the second overtime after Terrell Bell fouled out? Basically would he play Lewis Witcher instead of Erick Green. Coach became very irritated and refused to answer the question.

• The electric atmosphere in the Cassell in addition to the Tech players’ familiarity with sight lines and surroundings are the biggest contributing factors to the Hokies’ success at home this season.

• Cadarian Raines did not play versus maryland due to a shoulder injury that will require surgery after the season. It is very difficult to defend against the terps’ flex offense with a bum shoulder due to all the banging. Cadarian should be ready to go Wednesday against n.c. state.

• Playing 50 minutes and guarding Greivis Vasquez the entire game could have played into Delaney missing two free throws at the end of the second overtime. Malcolm is human though and is going to miss free throws occasionally.

• Jeff Allen set a great screen on Malcolm’s game tying drive to the hoop at the end of regulation.

• Tech’s goal was to go inside to Jeff Allen from the start and attack Landon Milbourne and try to get him in foul trouble. The team asks a lot from Allen on defense – defend ball screens up top and then get back inside to block out and get rebounds.

• Vasquez is Seth’s pick for ACC player of the year this season. He played great on Saturday but did take 33 shots. A lot more shots probably became available due to Milbourne being in foul trouble.

• Malcolm is the team’s best on ball defender while Zo is the best off ball defender. T Bell is best at defending shots but must be in position to rebound, preventing him from guarding most perimeter players.

• n.c. state is playing much better over the last week. Gonzales has over 30 points over the past two games and Horner is really rebounding well. The pack is playing more flex offense recently. They also use a lot of ball screens to free Horner for three’s. You can’t switch off Tracey Smith on screens.

• georgia tech’s Derrick Favors and Gani Lawal will likely both be lottery picks after this season. Iman Shumpert could be leaving early for the NBA as well. Greenberg has not decided how he will defend the yellow jackets as of yet.

• Favors shot an astounding 65% from the floor in February.

• The 204 points the Hokies and terps put up on the Cassell scoreboard on Saturday were the most in an ACC game since wake beat unc 119-114 in 2003.

• Concerning next season’s non conference schedule, the Hokies will play in the Disney Classic in Anaheim, CA, with all teams involved being NCAA Tournament teams this season. penn state will visit Blacksburg and should be much improved. The Hokies should play a higher level Big 10 team in the ACC-Big 10 Challenge and the game should be at home. Greenberg is also working to get the Hokies included in the Jimmy V Classic. The coaching staff will investigate opposing team’s rosters more carefully in the future before scheduling games.

• A great environment will be needed Wednesday for n.c. state and as a final send off for Lewis Witcher.

• The Hokies have won 82 games over the last four years and are continuing to build their program while at the same time teams like unc, ucla, and arizona are struggling through bad seasons.

• The Hokies will focus on winning games and not who is on the bubble and who isn’t.

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• The team had a good one hour practice Monday to go along with a 40 minute film session. The practice was live, but not full court. The Hokies got back from Durham around 2:00 AM Monday.

• Virginia Tech had too many empty possessions to win a game at duke. They also gave up too many offensive rebounds (23).

• boston college is the most physical team in the ACC according to Seth Greenberg. Reggie Jackson is now in the starting lineup. He was the first man off the bench in the earlier meeting in Blacksburg.

• Greenberg thinks that it’s insane that only one ACC team is currently ranked in the Top 25. He thinks this is mostly due to carolina having a down year and the overall parity of the conference. There are a lot of mid-major teams currently in the Top 25 that wouldn’t want to play an ACC schedule.

• The NCAA Tournament is about matchups, seedings, and locations, more so than which conference is better.

• JT Thompson has embraced his role of coming off the bench and is giving great energy when he comes in the game. Greenberg thinks Jeff Allen is playing great right now and is not considering starting JT and bringing Allen off the bench in order to try to keep Allen out of foul trouble. Seth wished Allen had attacked Zoubek more off of isolations.

• The Hokies did a better job fighting through screens on defense in the second half of the duke game and did a better job attacking off ball screens on offense. The goal versus the blue devils was to get Zoubek and duke’s other big men to switch onto Tech’s guards. This would have worked better if fouls had been called when Malcolm Delaney got mugged.

• Virginia Tech is playing more flex offense, but not as tight as bc’s flex. The eagles are more physical with their cutting. maryland also runs variations of the flex offense.

• Positions 2 through 7 are wide open in the ACC right now. A lot will play out this week. The key is to hold serve at home and try to steal as many games as possible on the road.

• During the post game handshake Coach K told Greenberg that he liked what he had done with the team.

• Gene Swindle is still a long way from being ready to play. It will take another 2-3 months until it’s determined whether he’ll need another surgery. Gene would not have helped much against Zoubek at this point. People forget Zoubek was a McDonald’s All-American.

• Cadarian Raines is playing well right now but the 10 weeks he missed during the pre-season would have been invaluable to his development.

• There were a good number of Hokie fans on hand at Cameron Sunday night.

• A little known fact: Cameron Indoor Stadium only has two feet along the sideline of the student side between the scorer’s table and the sideline when a minimum of three feet is required. A rule has been grandfathered in for years that the player guarding the inbounds pass along the sideline must back up at least one foot.

• Terrell Bell has 22 rebounds in the last two games. He is one of the unsung heroes of the team this year. He is really embracing his role on the team.

• Malcolm has a big challenge over the next two games in guarding Reggie Jackson and Greivis Vasquez. Vasquez will not guard Delaney, but Jackson will because he is basically the only player on bc who can check Malcolm.

• With good team chemistry the team can grow and improve much easier. It is important to continue to empower and encourage the younger guys because you never know when that light bulb is going to go on. Seth used the example of US Olympic skier Bode Miller as to why he doesn’t give up on players to soon.

• A VT – wvu hoops matchup has been discussed by Greenberg and mountaineer coach Bob Huggins. Unfortunately Huggins refuses to play in Blacksburg. The teams had agreed to a game in Washington, DC but Huggins wanted a return game in Charleston, WV. Greenberg is not on board with playing in Charleston. Looks like the game will not happen any time soon.

• Virginia Tech will not wear orange jerseys at home this year. The team is 14-0 at home this year, all in white jerseys. Look for maroon jerseys in Chestnut Hill on Wednesday night.

• The Hokies have previously beaten duke when they were ranked #4, #5, and #7.

• maryland’s Landon Milbourne is tough matchup. Hayes and Vasquez are a great back court. The terps are extending well on defense and are playing at a very high level right now. The terps are coming off an incredible home win over georgia tech in which they hit not one but two buzzer beaters.

• This is a stressful but exciting time of year for coaches. The coaches hear the post season chatter but don’t focus on it. The team needs to enjoy the next four games and not be burdened by them.

Popularity: 26% [?]

• Seth Greenberg has preached for the past several weeks about the Hokies needing to “define the way” they win ballgames. Simply put, do the little things. Some examples: 1) Dorenzo Hudson made all the Sports Center highlights with his spectacular fast break jam over two wake players, but it wouldn’t have been possible if freshman Cadarian Raines hadn’t blocked David Weaver’s layup attempt at the other end which led to the fast break. 2) Midway through the second half with Tech trailing by five and the shot clock running down, JT Thompson kept alive a key Hokie possession with a nice save of an errant pass from Malcolm Delaney just as the ball was headed out of bounds. JT somehow got the ball to Zo who drove the middle of the lane and connected on a scoop shot which cut the wake lead to 63-60. 3) Terrell Bell atoned for turning the ball over by chasing down wake’s C.J. Harris to swat away his transition shot. This led to Malcolm’s twisting and-one at the other end, which cut the wake lead to one and eliminated deac big man Chas McFarland in the process with his fifth foul.

• How did the Hokies outrebound the much larger deacons, who go 7-0, 6-11, 6-11 and 6-9 along their frontline, 47-38 you wonder? Greenberg knew Tech’s big men – Allen, Thompson, Davila and Raines – would have to get a body on each wake tree and hope that the guards and wings could get some boards. I’d say they succeeded as Delaney grabbed 9, matching his career high, to go along with his sensational 31 points, Hudson had 7 rebounds from his guard position, and Bell was simply huge with his 14 rebounds which included 7 on the offensive end alone.

• Speaking of T Bell, the Hokies new rebounding machine as of late with his 14 boards against wake which followed recent 9 and 11 rebound efforts versus uva and unc respectively. With his length on defense and nose for the ball off the rim, does Bell remind anyone of a young Dennis Rodman, just without the bleached do, piercings and tattoos (to this point)?

• The key moment of this season could very well turn out to be the opening minutes of the December 30 game against longwood. This is where the season took a dramatic turn for Dorenzo Hudson as Delaney left the game with a sprained ankle. Zo finished the longwood game with 11 points but then took his game to a whole new level with 41 against seton hall three nights later with Malcolm unable to go. Hudson hasn’t looked back since and has become the second go to scorer the Hokies desperately needed, now averaging 14 ppg and 16.6 in ACC play. Would Zo have had the break through season he’s had if he weren’t forced into the scorer role with Delaney out of the lineup? Who knows. But I do know this – you can go ahead and start engraving Dorenzo’s name on the trophy for the ACC’s most improved player.

• Jeff Allen and JT Thompson played much of the second half against wake forest with four fouls and Malcolm Delaney actually fouled out of a game for the first time since his freshman season. JT’s defense on wake future lottery pick Al-Farouq Aminu, even after being saddled with his fourth foul, was vital to the Hokies comeback. Experience playing effectively while in foul trouble could be huge going into Cameron Indoor, where as we all know, duke tends to get the nod from the refs on anything resembling a close call. How the Hokies react when certain call don’t go their way, which inevitably they all won’t, could be a key factor in this Sunday night’s battle for first place in the ACC.

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Boxscore

Dorenzo Hudson’s 23 points, on 9-13 shooting, led Virginia Tech to a solid 72-52 win over north carolina state at the RBC Center in Raleigh. It was the Hokies first win in the North Carolina state capital since 1917. It was also Tech’s largest winning margin in a conference road game since they joined the ACC in 2004. Malcolm Delaney was held under his season average, but had 15 points and 5 assists. Jeff Allen added an energetic and impressive 14 point 8 rebound performance. JT Thompson had a strong 12 point effort off the bench.

In stark contrast to last Saturday’s win over clemson, and every game at n.c. state in recent memory, the Hokies came out smoking hot in this one, hitting on their first 10 field goal attempts. Dorenzo nailed his first two three pointers to get Tech off to the all important fast start on the road. In fact, the Hokies didn’t miss a shot until freshman Erick Green missed a long pull up jumper at the 9:45 mark of the first half. The Hokies led by 17 points several times in the first half and carried a 34-23 lead to the locker room.

Seth Greenberg told the team before the game to “remember who we are and how we win”. That is, do the little things and the big things will take care of themselves. Of those big things, the Hokies were determined not to let the wolfpack’s leading scorer Tracy Smith beat them and not to let the pack get open looks at three pointers. State had seemed to rain in threes from all over the court in Tech’s previous visits to RBC.

The Hokies held Smith to four first half points and only 12 for the game. Even more amazingly, for the first time since 1989 the wolfpack were held without a single three pointer. n.c. state tried to use a full court press on the Hokies, but Tech relied on valuable experience of the previous two games in which the Hokies faced the stronger presses of the tar heels and tigers. Tech passed right over top the wolfpack press early and often, and led to several layups in transition by Hudson.

This one was never in doubt, as the pack never got closer than eight points in the second half. Every player on the Hokies’ active roster got into the action. With the win Tech improves to 19-4 on the season and 6-3 in the ACC. state drops to 14-11 and 2-8.

The Hokies return to action Saturday night with an important 8:00 PM contest against the uva cavaliers at the Cassell. Tech will be going for the regular season sweep of the cavs and it will be the annual black out game. The hoos will be coming off a week long rest as their game Wednesday night at maryland was moved to next Monday due to the heavy snow(s) in the D.C. area.

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• The crowd for the clemson game, which featured mostly students due to the heavy snow, was great. They carried the team through a bad shooting first half against the tigers and were a big part of the win.

• The team worked on both unc’s and clemson’s different types of presses during practice last Monday and Tuesday due to the short turnaround time between the games.

• Making free throws is making a huge difference this season, especially with the many close games. Extra goals are now available this season with the new practice facility. They allow each player on the team more opportunities to work on their free throw shooting and are available to the team 24 hours a day.

• Each Hokie must make 100 free throws per day and each player is responsible for keeping track of how many shots it takes to get there.

• Dorenzo Hudson is still playing at a high level right now, but has started to wear down recently. Zo never takes a play off during a game or practice. Coach Greenberg is holding him back some in recent practices in order for him to get his legs back.

• Former Hokie footballer, and current world champion New Orleans Saint, Pierson Prioleau checked in from The Big Easy, where he still hasn’t been to bed yet since the Super Bowl. Prioleau now lives on the Pete Dye River Course near Radford and will be in attendance Saturday night for the uva game where he will be honored before the game.

• JT Thompson is bringing great toughness off the bench. He is attacking the basket offensively and is playing physical defense. JT is giving great energy and good minutes.

• Terrell Bell is really doing a great job replacing A.D. Vassallo’s rebounding which was lost from last year’s squad. Bell is a good complement to Hudson on defense. He hit some huge three’s against clemson and made an unbelievable block in transition off a turnover.

• Jeff Allen is playing focused and is playing with a smile on his face. He is very excited about this team. Jeff had a great practice Monday, along with the whole team.

• The team is focusing on “getting better today”, which should lead to success in March. Doing the little things is key to winning games for the Hokies.

• Erick Green is playing much better and his feeling more comfortable when he’s in the game. He’s keeping his man in front of him on defense. Green is not shooting well in games right now but is a very good shooter.

• clemson coach Oliver Purnell didn’t press as much because Virginia Tech did such a good job handling the press last season. The tigers chose instead to try to get stops in the half court. Seth was a little surprised by the lack of full court pressing by the tigers.

• Allan Chaney is not practicing full speed with the rest of the team right now but is working hard on conditioning with assistant David Jackson and is doing a lot of shooting.

• The new practice facility and the fact that the Cassell is packed and rocking even during snow storms is helping in recruiting.

• The Hokies are leading the ACC in turnover margin. This is a huge reason why the team is winning without gaudy offensive stats.

• This week’s “Seth’s Top 5” category was the top 5 states for college basketball in 2009-10. 5) Kansas – with #1 ku, kansas state, and wichita state 4) New York – syracuse, cornell, and siena 3) Ohio – cincy, ohio state, dayton, and kent state 2) Pennsylvania – pitt, villanova, temple, and robert morris and 1) Virginia – with the most good teams by far – Virginia Tech, uva, odu, william & mary, richmond, vcu, and george mason.

• n.c. state is 15-0 when they shoot better than 40% on three pointers. Tracy Smith is a matchup problem and really took it to duke in the pack’s win over the devils. The Hokies can’t afford to let Scott Wood get going. Seth expects the pack to try some different things against Tech including playing zone. This is a big game for them as well as the Hokies.

• The uva game Saturday night is the “black out” game in Cassell. The Hokies must play very well defensively against the hoos, like they did in Charlottesville. The hoos are spacing Mike Scott out more now in order to make it harder for teams to double Sylvan Landesberg.

• AC 21 bracelets in honor of Allen Calloway are now available at both bookstores. A check will be presented to the American Cancer Society prior to the wake forest game.

Popularity: 23% [?]

• For those of you who haven’t gotten around to flipping over your calendar yet, it is now February. And as any fan of college basketball knows, it is now crunch time, time to put up or shut up. And for the Virginia Tech Hokies, what better way to tip off this all important month than a home date with the defending, yet recently downtrodden, national champion north carolina tar heels? Furthermore what better way to start the key stretch of this season with four of the next five games in the friendly confines of Cassell Coliseum? A win over unc certainly gets the ball rolling on the final push of the Hokies ’09-10 campaign to end up on the right side of the bubble line. It also gives them great confidence going into Saturday’s next big game against clemson.

One slight problem, coming off last Sunday’s 75-60 home loss to the uva cavaliers, the struggling but still very talented tar heels will be looking at this game as a “must win game in order to salvage their season”. With the tar heels sitting at 2-4 in the ACC with a trip to maryland looming Sunday before returning home to face duke next Wednesday, unc could be staring straight at an almost unheard of 2-7 conference start as well as dwindling chances of even making the big dance, unless they can pull out a win in Blacksburg. They’ll be circling the wagons for sure.

Recent history shows the Hokies do not fare well when facing teams in this situation. The most recent example of this came last Sunday as Tech dropped an 82-75 contest to a miami team that had been reeling with four straight losses, and had to have a home win over the Hokies to have any chance of making any kind of noise this season. Knowing this full well going in, Virginia Tech still came out lacking the sense of urgency needed to win any road game in the ACC much less to win a road game against a desperate team like the canes.

Hopefully an inspired and raucous crowd in the Cassell can help the Hokies get off to the fast start they will need in order to make an early statement in this game and not let carolina gain any confidence and remind them that they were just blown out at home by uva. This will be extremely important because if Tech comes out slow and unable to knock down shots, the tar heel team that blew past n.c. state last week in Raleigh or knocked off #5 michigan state in December could make an unwanted appearance.

Virginia Tech can make great strides to a NCAA bid by winning four out of five over this next stretch, and a win over the defending national champions does nothing but strengthen your resume.

• I’ve heard a lot of talk recently that Virginia Tech’s biggest rival was becoming more and more the miami hurricanes and less and less the uva cavaliers. This talk is stirred on mostly because of the struggles of the wahoo football team and the fact that the Hokies dominated the series over the last 10 years with many of those games blow outs. Now don’t get me wrong, I love a win over “the u” as much as the next guy, but a win over the arrogant and elitist wahoos in any sport still has that extra oompth and still gives me great sense of pride as an alumni.

While the football rivalry between the Hokies and canes may have been much more competitive over recent years, I firmly believe that any school’s main rival should encompass all sports, whether that sport be football, basketball, debating or bass fishing. That being said, take a look back at last week when the Hokies hoops team faced back to back road contests against uva and miami. Ask any Hokie fan if they would trade Tech’s gritty come from behind overtime win over uva for a win at miami, and I think you would get a resounding NO across the board. Therein lies the answer to who the Hokies main rival is. And as for me, I can’t wait to knock off those hated wahoos again in the Cassell come February 13.

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• The Hokies were both resilient and tough in last Thursday’s win at uva. Coach Greenberg felt they were trying too hard offensively early on and once they got past that thing went well. The defense on Sylvan Landesberg down the stretch was also key. Virginia Tech stayed the course and got the win.

• Seth allowed a crew from TheACC.com into the Virginia Tech locker room both before and after the uva game. You can watch Greenberg’s pregame and postgame speeches on the site under “Hot Ticket”.

• The type of “chin tuck” clearing of the ball the Jeff Allen was ejected for against uva is a technique that is taught from early on in basketball.

• Bill Roth, who was sitting pretty much right next to Seth at the scorer’s table, thinks the technical foul called on Greenberg at miami was completely undeserved. That tech was called after another controversial elbowing foul, or alleged elbowing, this time against Erick Green.

• Virginia Tech needs to define the way they win games. This can be done doubling better in the post, defending better in transition, getting to 50-50 balls, etc. These things were not done in the first half versus miami.

• The Hokies’ zone press was good against the canes. It forced 20 turnovers. But there were too many mistakes such as fouling three point shooters and too many unforced turnovers on offense to cancel out the turnovers they were forcing.

• Greenberg is not concerned about Malcolm Delaney’s recent shooting slump. He is a world class shooter. The Hokies need to get him the ball on time and on target coming off of screens, and get him the ball quicker in transition. Malcolm spent extra time shooting today.

• Seth thinks 10 seconds remaining is too much time to foul when up by three points, like Tech was in Charlottesville. The Hokies played good defense but Zeglinski made a great shot. Could have been a worst case scenario if the Hokies had been fouling and the ball went in. With under five seconds on the clock as the ball is being inbounded, Greenberg would have fouled and targeted to do so on the third dribble.

• Virginia Tech will be collecting donations for victims of the earthquake in Haiti Thursday night before the unc game. Fans should look for “Hokies United” buckets held by various Hokie student athletes.

• Bracelets honoring the late Allen Calloway are being made and will be sold prior to the uva game on February 13 with all proceeds going to cancer research. It has been almost a year since Calloway’s passing.

• Getting back on defense and defending in the post are keys to playing north carolina.

• Victor Davila was great defensively against uva and he hit some big shots as well. Greenberg feels if the team keeps getting Davila the ball on a consistent basis he will score more and more. Victor’s minutes were limited against miami because the team was forced to play from behind.

• Malcolm Delaney is due for a break out game very soon. Seth has a feeling he will be seeing a big basket on Thursday night against carolina.

• Good ball movement, dribble penetration, and getting the ball to the middle of the zone are the keys to playing against the zone. Getting to the glass is also very important.

• This week’s installment of Seth’s Top 5 category was the five best Super Bowl quarterbacks of all time. 5) Tom Brady 4) Troy Aikman 3) John Elway 2) Joe Montana 1) Terry Bradshaw, who got the nod from Greenberg because he’s an “everyday guy” and also folically challenged.

• The team had a no contact, one hour practice today, with 15 minutes of that devoted to working on attacking the press, which both unc and clemson will use, just in a different manner. carolina uses a “scramble” press in which they alternate whether they attack in the back court or at half court. The Hokies will work more segments of practice live versus the press Tuesday and Wednesday.

• A big key to beating clemson is keeping Booker and Grant off the glass. Grant is playing at a very high level right now.

• The Hokies have won six straight overtime games. Malcolm Delaney is leading the ACC in free throws attempted.

• Seth felt there was no need to boost team morale after the miami loss. Tech is still a good team with a 16-4 record and is still capable of having a special season.

• Greenberg likes the great energy that J.T. Thompson has been providing off the bench, and plans on continuing to bring J.T. off the bench. Thompson is playing at a high level right now.

• unc coach Roy Williams said after Sunday night’s home loss to uva that he’d never felt lower as a coach. It’s Virginia Tech’s job to keep the heels feeling low and not letting them regain their confidence.

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• The Hokies played very hard versus boston college but were “offensively challenged”. In the second half they didn’t cut as hard as they did in the first half, didn’t screen as hard, or wait on screens long enough.

• Dorenzo Hudson and Terrell Bell are really finding their niches. Zo is averaging 19 points and 3 rebounds a game over the last six games. He had been very verbal in practice and in the locker room, and has been very encouraging towards the younger guys, all a product of his recent good play.

• The team had a great practice on Monday. They worked on improving both offensively and defensively.

• Malcolm Delaney was held out of Monday’s practice. He’s been getting treatment for both his shoulder and ankle. He will practice lightly on Tuesday and hopefully full tilt on Wednesday.

• Both Malcolm and Jeff Allen were presented with 1,000 point game balls before the bc game.

• Seth Greenberg loves Baltimore kids, especially guards, because of their toughness. He referenced former nole and NBA star Sam Cassell. Both Delaney and Allan Chaney are from Baltimore and have played together before.

• Malcolm is great at using screens, changing speeds, and drawing fouls. Seth thinks he really needs to work on his mid range and pull up game. He’s a fierce competitor and is getting to the free throw line more than anyone in the ACC this season. Delaney is still leading the conference in scoring and is top 10 in several categories.

• Allan Chaney is a big time rebounder and also has perimeter skills. He is explosive to the basket and his shoulder is doing just fine. Greenberg compared Chaney’s game to fsu’s Chris Singleton.

• Greenberg does not worry about polls or rankings and not being in them. They are just someone’s opinion. They are good for recruiting but other than that it’s more important to be in the Top 65 come March. The team does not talk about rankings. Seth pointed out that last Monday texas was #1 and has lost twice since, to kansas state and uconn.

• Team confidence is really improving after early season road wins at iowa and penn state, and after coming back from three down with 29 seconds left against bc. This confidence is leading to better energy and a sense of purpose with the team.

• This week’s “Seth Greenberg’s Top 5” category was Top 5 ACC guards of all time. Seth’s list…5) unc’s Charlie Scott – a long and rangy 6’7” guard from the late 60’s. 4) wake’s Chris Paul, whom Greenberg called a “one man fast break”. 3) unc’s Phil Ford – a great leader on heel team’s of the mid 70’s who ran the four corners to perfection. 2) n.c. state’s David Thompson – a great leaper and defender who led the pack to the national title in ’74. And, no surprise here, 1) Michael Jordan – Seth would probably have had to of done more explaining if he’d selected someone else. Honorable mention went out to John Lucas (maryland), Sam Cassell (fsu), Mark Price (gt), and dookies Jim Spanarkel, Johnny Dawkins, and J.J. Redick.

• Single game tickets remain for wake forest game (less than 20) February 16 and n.c. state game (less than 50) on March 3.

• The uva game on February 13 will be the “black out” game.

• Seth pointed out that the 75 seats behind the opposing bench must always be given to the opposing team and will not be filled unless those seats are sold by the opposing team. Do not email Seth or Jim Weaver about why these seats are often not filled!

• uva is good at using help defense and has good shooters in Mike Scott, Sylvan Landesberg, and Sammy Zeglinski. New coach Tony Bennett does a good job of teaching the defense he learned from his dad, former wisconsin coach Dick Bennett. The cavs are good at doubling in the post.

• Remember Jeff Allen did not play in last season’s game in Charlottesville. Jeff has been practicing very well and is really looking forward to this game.

• boston college’s flex offense was very unique and the freshmen were not doing a very good job of defending it in practice, especially switching on down screens. They only had three days to learn it and this is why none of the freshman logged many minutes against the eagles. Seth feels they would have been fine offensively.

• Lewis Witcher is practicing well and is working hard. He needs to be more aggressive but is a great kid. Situations and matchups weren’t right for him to get minutes against bc. Greenberg sees matchups that will work for Lewis against uva.

• Seth thinks maryland is playing the best of any team in the ACC right now. The terps present matchup problems all over the floor for their opponents.

• The bc game was “déjà vu in reverse” from the game in Chestnut Hill last season. It’s not the shot that usually beats you but the follow shot. Zo was in the right place this time around.

• Virginia Tech and uva have played in hoops every year since 1935. The cavs are 10-1 at home this season with their only loss coming to penn state. uva leads the league in 3-point shooting but are last in the league in field goal percentage defense.

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Dorenzo Hudson scored on a put back of a Victor Davila mishandled shot attempt with 5.0 seconds remaining to lead Virginia Tech to a thrilling 63-62 victory over boston college in the Cassell. Dorenzo led the Hokies with 18 points and 4 rebounds including the game winner.

Malcolm Delaney struggled offensively but toughed out a 13 point and 4 assist effort, including two huge free throws with 0:22.8 remaining to cut bc’s lead to one, 62-61. Perhaps the unsung hero of this game was Terrell Bell, who scored 11 points, but used his long arms to his advantage and was seemingly in the passing lanes defensively all day. Bell spent a lot of time guarding the eagles leading scorer Joe Trapani and held him to just 6 points.

Virginia Tech came out strong in this one and as Seth Greenberg would say afterwards, they were “seeing a big basket” early on. Malcolm hit his first two 3-pointers and had a nifty pass in transition to Bell for a two handed rim rocker that juiced up the capacity Cassell crowd.

This was a very physical game from the outset. The Hokies came out in a man defense and, led by T. Bell and Jeff Allen, the Hokies quick hands frustrated the eagles for much of the first half. Tech scored 16 points off 11 bc turnovers in the first half, en route to a 38-29 lead at the break, and for the game they forced the eagles into a season high 20 giveaways.

The Hokies led by as many as 14 points in the first half, 38-24 with around 3:00 to go before halftime, and seemed to be cruising to an easy win to the delight of the home crowd. But from there, bc used a 5-0 run over the rest of half, much of it with Delaney resting on the bench, to cut the Hokie lead to nine at the break.

Tech came out ice cold to start the second half, as boston college outscored the Hokies 14-4 coming out of the locker room and took their first lead 43-42 with just under 13:00 to go. The eagles were led during this stretch by reserve Dallas Elmore – who came into to game averaging only 3.3 points in 14 minutes – who had 10 points and frustrated Delaney on the defensive end.

The game was back and forth the rest of the way with neither team leading by more than four points, that being when the Hokies’ Allen connected on a jump hook in the lane off a deflection to take a 55-51 lead with just over four minutes to go. bc sixth man Reggie Jackson hit a step back 3-pointer just before the under four media timeout to cut Tech’s lead to 55-54. After the timeout, the eagles edged back in front with a Trapani follow, as the Hokies did a poor job blocking out. The Hokie D continued their momentary lapse as they allowed Jackson to drive down the lane for a layup and a turnaround off a post up by Rakim Sanders, allowing bc to take a two point lead.

Things weren’t looking too good for the Hokies after Hudson missed an open three point attempt and Reggie Jackson, who led the eagles with 15 points, followed by hitting both ends of the one and one, giving the eagles a 62-59 lead at the 0:29.4 mark. Delaney drove to the hoop and was fouled hard by Elmore. Malcolm hit both shots to cut the lead to one with 22 tics on the clock. This is where the key play in the game occurred.

On the ensuing inbounds pass three Hokies – Allen, Hudson, and Bell – trapped bc’s Biko Paris along the baseline, tying him up before he could call timeout. The possession arrow favored Virginia Tech, and the Hokies were back in business. After a Tech timeout, Delaney ran about 10 seconds off the clocked before feeding Davila who then drove to the basket along the baseline. Victor lost the handle and after a brief scramble for the ball Hudson put the ball in off the window with the clock showing 0:9.2. The officials correctly noticed the clock had stopped during the possession and reset it to 0:5.0. Jackson took the inbounds pass but was cut off by Delaney before he could get a shot off, Allen picked up the loose ball as time expired, and the Hokies had secured the all important win.

Now at an even 2-2 in conference (and a perfect 10-0 in the Cassell), Virginia Tech travels to Charlottesville to face uva , who will still hold on to the top spot in the ACC even with a loss at wake, for a 7:00 contest Thursday night at the jpj arena. The entire Techhoops team will be in the house rooting on the Hokies!

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• The Swing Game – Every season there are one or two games on the schedule that go a long, long way towards determining a team’s post season fate and in general how it will be remembered in the future. Saturday’s 1:30 contest in the Cassell against the boston college eagles is one such game for the Virginia Tech Hokies. Not that a win over bc will lock up any sort of post season bid by any means, or impress anyone in the national media, but a loss could be devastating.

A loss to the eagles, who come in at 11-8 and 2-3 in the ACC, would have the Hokies staring straight down the barrel of a 1-5 start in conference, with road games looming next week at first place uva and a miami team that will be looking to avenge the beat down they took in Blacksburg last week. And that’s before starting a two game home stand with unc and clemson, certainly no pushovers. This is a good Hokie basketball team who’s off to its best start in over 10 years, but that could be a hole they just couldn’t dig their way out of.

Anyone who looks at the bc game as a blow off guaranteed win should look no further than last Tuesday when the eagles came from behind to beat miami 79-75 in Coral Gables, FL. Reggie Jackson scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half to lead the comeback and Seth Greenberg has warned that he’s the kind of player who’s capable of taking over a game by himself. Hopefully a well rested Hokie team will come out, inspired by the home crowd, and take it to bc much like they did to the canes. A win will brighten Virginia Tech’s prospects come March, or definitely keep the light burning.

• With their 72-30 mauling of north carolina central on Monday night, the Hokies closed their non conference portion of the regular season at 13-1. While none of these wins would be anything close to a stop the presses or lead story on Sports Center type of win, none were the type head scratching and down right humiliating losses that have plagued Hokie fans in past seasons. Before Greenberg took the reigns for the 2003-04 season, the Hokies would routinely and out of nowhere drop games to supposedly overmatched teams like radford, VMI, liberty, east tennessee state, and william & mary to name a few.

Even with Seth at the helm there have been some dubious out of conference misadventures. Recall losses to east carolina and old dominion in 03-04, VMI and western michigan in 04-05, bowling green and odu again in 05-06. Heck, even the Hokies last NCAA Tournament season of 06-07 included stunning losses to those pesky western michiganers and even the thundering herd of marshall. With “bad” losses like that on the resume, the talking heads on ESPN always seemed to follow up commentary of wins over the likes of unc or duke with “yeah, but remember this team lost to marshall or VMI”. That won’t be an issue this season.

This season the Hokies have also managed to avoid the types of heart breaking and gut wrenching losses early on that plagued last season’s squad. There have been none of half court miracles (xavier) or games that came down to the last half second either to see the opposition sink a buzzer beater (wisconsin) or the Hokies unable to convert when they had the opportunity to do so (georgia). Those kinds of losses can make you feel snake bitten and haunt the team to the point that they have a “what can go wrong now” attitude whenever there is a close game down the stretch, like pretty much every ACC game.

So, hopefully in upcoming seasons, the Hokies can score some bigger name out of conference wins, and Seth is committed to continuing to upgrade the schedule, but for now 13-1 o.o.c. looks pretty good all things considered, have allowed guys like Dorenzo Hudson and Terrell Bell to really develop their games further, and have put the Hokies in a position for success the rest of this season.

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• There was no practice today. It was the first day of class for the spring semester, so the team was able to get a jump on their classes. They did shoot free throws, since this has been a major weakness recently. Each player on the team must make 200 free throws a day (Seth did not indicate how many attempts each guy needs to get the 200).

• “Turnaround” games – that is games that have less that 48 hours between tipoffs such as between the fsu game on Saturday and the nccu game Monday – are very difficult. Practice time is limited to basically walk- throughs and shoot arounds. Another turnaround game is coming up between the unc (Feb. 4) and Clemson (Feb. 6) games, with an even shorter turnaround time. Fortunately both games are at home, but they’ll be a challenge nonetheless.

• Virginia Tech approached each non-conference game very well this season, no matter who the opponent was. The Hokies took care of business and won the games they were supposed to win. Greenberg feels the approach the team takes is the key to winning these games.

• Greenberg schedules games that will help the Hokies get an NCAA Tournament bid, not just to pad wins. Seth likes to play at least two non-conference games against “BCS” conference teams, one at home and one on the road. In addition, the Hokies will play in the ACC-Big 10 challenge, and will look to play in made for television tournaments or single games – like seton hall this season. Next season penn state will come to Cassell and the Hokies will play in a six team event in Anaheim, CA.

• Seth noted the Jeff Allen is “not the only guy in the world” who gets in foul trouble. Greenberg is very frustrated with Allen being singled out when things don’t go right for the team. He thinks this is very unfair and people outside the program need to cut him some slack. Allen is just one of eight players in the ACC averaging over 12 points and 8 rebounds.

• Erick Green thrilled the crowd with his highlight reel dunk against n.c. central. Green can’t be afraid to shoot. He is a very good shooter and has to stay aggressive. Erick did well when faced with the box and one defense and should expect to see it again in the future. Green is the top 3 point percentage shooter on the team, at 39% (9 for 23 on the season).

• An emailer pointed out an RPI oddity. If the Hokies had played traditional state rivals richmond and william & mary instead of georgia, penn state and iowa, their RPI would be much stronger. Those non conference foes looked much better on paper going into the season. penn state was coming off the NIT championship and iowa and uga always field strong teams and are NCAA Tournament contenders. Greenberg feels Tech will still benefit with their RPI from Big 10 and SEC schedule strength down the stretch.

• Paul Debnam is a very bright guy. He keeps the team loose. The way the starters and regulars were into the entire nccu game from the bench and rooted on the back-ups shows how good the team chemistry is on the squad this year.

• New to the show is “Seth Greenberg’s Top 5”. This week’s top 5 was….vacation spots. 5) Treviso, Italy (near Venice) 4) Palm Desert, CA 3) Maui, Hawaii 2) (we have a tie) London and Paris, and drum role please….. 1) The Hamptons (Long Island, NY). According to Seth is very peaceful but if you go bring plenty of money.

• Monday was Martin Luther King Day. Greenberg pointed out that as recently as 1968 there was only one black player in the entire Atlantic Coast Conference. That player was unc’s Charlie Scott.

• boston college is a “system team”. They want to keep the game in the 60’s. Tripani is a matchup issue as is Rakim Sanders. Reggie Jackson is capable of taking over a game. The eagles like to push you under the back board in their flex offense. The flex is a form of a motion offense, they run several sets and post ups out of it.

• Virginia Tech’s guards have to be physical blocking out against bc’s flex offense. Their inability to do this is how they lost last season at bc at the buzzer on a stick back.

• Victor Davila needs to play with more confidence. He needs to realize you’re going to have your shot blocked from time to time when you play in the ACC. Greenberg thinks Victor will eventually be an all-ACC player.

• Allan Chaney is starting to practice and has been very impressive. He is a highly skilled player. Chaney will only be an 18 year old sophomore next season when he suits up for the Hokies. He will be in Blacksburg all summer getting stronger and better. Erick Green, Ben Boggs, Manny Atkins, and Jarrell Eddie have all committed to staying in Blacksburg for both summer sessions to improve their games.

• The team will have a hard practice on Wednesday of at least two hours. They will work on different matchups and things the Hokies need to improve on overall the rest of the season. Thursday’s practice will focus on boston college and Friday’s practice will be light so everyone will be fresh and ready to go at 1:30 on Saturday.

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• Protect This House!…During every season of Atlantic Coast Conference basketball it is paramount to win your home games and “hold serve” so to speak. This season it has never been more important to defend the home turf. With clemson’s 83-64 victory over unc Wednesday night every single team in the ACC has won at least one conference game. Eleven of the twelve teams have also lost at least one game. Surprisingly, the uva cavaliers sit atop the conference with a 2-0 record following their home win over georgia tech. (For any wahoo fan who may be getting a bit overconfident, remember back to football season when uva sat atop the ACC standings with a 2-0 mark)

The point here is that there is a lot of parity in the ACC this year. Unlike previous seasons there is no one or two truly great teams to dominate the league. carolina is rebuilding and still trying to find their identity. duke looks beatable especially away from Cameron. It’s not likely anyone will separate themselves from the pack. Conversely, there don’t seem to be any really awful teams either. With so many evenly matched teams, you can expect a lot of games to come down to the wire. As Seth Greenberg has described the ACC season, “16 root canals”. Road wins will be very hard to come by this season, as the heels and devils can already attest.

With parity like this, teams can ill afford to drop games at home. The team that defends its home court the best and can go out on the road and steal a couple of wins will be the team walking away with the regular season conference championship. This year it looks like everyone, and I mean everyone, has a shot. Should be an exciting race over the next two months!

• The Hokies did their part in defending the Cassell by whipping miami 81-66, showing no ill effects from the second half collapse at unc. Malcolm Delaney appears to be recovering well from his sprained ankle with another typically brilliant 28 point, 9 assist performance against the canes. The Hokies this time benefited from a much more balanced scoring attack. Jeff Allen had a double-double with 14 points and 10 boards. Terrell Bell played his best game since the iowa win with a 13 point performance on 5 of 6 shooting and a perfect 3 for 3 from long distance. Dorenzo Hudson chipped in with 11 and played with much more confidence than he displayed in Chapel Hill, which included a nice one handed dunk right down the lane. J.T. Thompson had a nice 8 and 8 effort and seems to be the poster child of Greenberg’s “junk yard dog” mentality.

With the canes outscoring Tech 43-31 in the second half, the Hokies still need to focus on playing a 40 minute game. Both halves, not just the first. Maybe the team can benefit from the second straight lackluster second half by focusing more on playing a complete game going into Tallahassee on Saturday to face fsu.

The balanced scoring attack the Hokies displayed at home Wednesday night would also go an awful long way towards helping Tech grab one of those elusive aforementioned road wins against the noles.

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