• 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.

Popularity: 19% [?]

• Virginia Tech’s lack of a sense of urgency on the defensive end to start the second half, the fact that they lost focus at times in their zone, and poor transition defense were the major contributing factors in unc’s second half comeback Sunday night, according to Coach Greenberg.

• The Hokies need to get more touches in the post, especially Jeff Allen. Allen needs to be more aggressive rebounding on both ends of the floor.

• The Hokies need to stay positive and learn from the unc loss. They need to realize it was just a five point game with 5:38 remaining in the game and were at the line with a chance to cut the lead to three. Tech had six defensive stops in a row in the second half but could not take advantage. J.T. Thompson and Ben Boggs both missed big free throws.

• Victor Davila can score on the inside. We need to get him the ball more in the post as well. Davila left the game with his eye lacerated in two different areas. He should be fine for the miami game.

• The reason Greenberg got to select the substitute free throw shooter when Davila left the game (he selected Ben Boggs) was because there was blood involved in the injury. If there is no blood involved, then the opposing coach gets to select the shooter. Greenberg said he keeps a sharp pin close by just in case it’s needed!

• Seth thought the heels did a good job guarding Tech’s inbounds plays under the basket. He wishes unc had played more man to man on the inbounds plays instead of zone.

• Dorenzo Hudson took 22 shots in the unc game but Greenberg thought only one was a bad, rushed shot – a three pointer from the corner. Zo posted up Larry Drew III several times and took good shots but they just didn’t go in.

• At air time about 100 tickets remained available for the miami game Wednesday night. A capacity crowd at Cassell will be huge, with the students still out on break, coming off the unc loss. You can go to www.HokieTickets.com or call 1-800-VATECH4 for tickets. Any student with a valid ID will be admitted free of charge to the miami game. About 50 tickets remain for both the wake forest and n.c. state games.

• miami’s Durand Scott is a matchup problem for the Hokies. As is Dwayne Collins inside. Defending Collins early will be one of the biggest challenges, in addition to how the Hokies are going to guard the hurricanes’ pick and pops with their bigger guards.

• Malcolm Grant, a transfer from villanova, is a great shooter and reminds Greenberg of former cane Jack McClinton.

• miami is even bigger and bulkier than unc. Collins is the best Greenberg has seen at rebounding his own misses. He is a very physical player.

• There is no rule preventing the Hokies from wearing orange jerseys at home similar to georgia tech wearing gold in their home victory over duke and maryland wearing yellow jerseys at home against fsu.

• The Hokies will open ACC play in 2010-11 at home against uva on December 5, 2010. The game will be televised on Sunday Night Hoops as they requested this as one of their tip-off games. This game will follow the Hokies return from playing in Los Angeles. Tech played at duke on December 4, 2005, its earliest conference opener to date.

• Malcolm Delaney practiced today. He is very sore and still has lots of ice and compressions in his future before the miami game. The decision of whether or not Malcolm would play against unc was left up to Malcolm, who wanted to play. The team doctors were comfortable with the decision. Malcolm’s dad was consulted on the decision and agreed with the decision.

• Delaney is “just a guard”, and not defined as either a point or shooting guard. As Erick Green comes along and develops he’ll play more with Malcolm, and with Zo moving down low to a shooting forward.

• florida state hasn’t allowed a team to shoot over 50% field goals in over two years. fsu leads the nation in FG% defense. They are just as big up front as unc and miami. Cadarian Raines will be key to defending the noles’ post players. Raines brings a physical presence.

• Greenberg doesn’t agree with the NBA’s “one and done” rule concerning freshman. He thinks the NBA is just using the year as an evaluation and development period for its own benefit. It’s ironic that an 18 year old European player is free to sign with an NBA team but an American 18 year old cannot, even in their own country. In Europe kids can play professionally at age 16.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Boxscore

The north carolina tar heels used a stifling second half defense to outscore Virginia Tech 44-26 in the second stanza en route to a 78-64 victory in Chapel Hill, NC. The #9 heels used their tremendous size advantage up front, led by All-American candidate Ed Davis with his 20 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocks, his ninth double-double of the season. Deon Thompson added 13 points up front before fouling out. For the Hokies, Jeff Allen was held to only 4 points and shut out in the second half. Seth Greenberg stated before this game that the Hokies would have to improve their transition defense to compete with unc; that did not happen as Tech gave up way too many easy baskets, especially in the second half.

In a game that could have been billed as “the battle of bad ankles” going into it, Tech’s Malcolm Delaney started the game and gutted out a 26 point performance, but was held to only 6 after halftime and was held scoreless for the first 10 minutes of the second half as the heels seized control of the game. Will Graves and Marcus Ginyard both missed carolina’s loss last Monday at the college of charleston with injured ankles, but both returned to action against the Hokies. Graves and Larry Drew III combined to go a perfect 5-5 on three pointers to close the second half, leading a team that was not known for their outside shooting.  The heels had started 0 of 11 from behind the arc.

Plainly put, the game was a tale of two halves. The Hokies came out looking great on the defensive end and seemed inspired by the return of the ACC’s leading scorer Malcolm Delaney. unc came out in a 2-3 zone and Malcolm responded by nailing his first three-pointer. Dorenzo Hudson, coming off a career high 41 points against seton hall, came out ice cold in this one, with no sign of the urgency of his scoring that was there when Delaney was out.

While no one other than Delaney could connect cosistently from the outside, the Hokies seemed to get to every loose ball in the first half, outrebounded, and seemed to be outplaying the much larger tar heels. J.T. Thompson had some great hustle plays in the first half and had 6 early points. The game appeared to be taking the shape of the Hokies’ games against unc in the previous two ACC Tournaments, with Tech leading by as many as nine, 25-16 about half way through the first half. Freshman guard Dexter Strickland was a big spark for unc and kept the tar heels close with his quickness to the hoop and good penetration. The Hokies used a zone defense very successfully and held the tar heels to 0-7 three-point shooting in the first half. They carried a 38-34 lead into the locker room.

carolina came out in the second half again in a 2-3 zone but were intent on making any Hokie other than Delaney beat them from the outside. The tar heels picked up the pace offensively with the Hokies apparently forgetting that the transition game was a huge advantage for the heels. Davis and Thompson took over inside early in the second half and suddenly unc was getting all the loose balls. As the tar heels were holding Delaney scoreless over the first 10 minutes of the second half, freshman Manny Atkins had two huge turnovers, the rim seemed to have a lid on it, and carolina started to pull away. The heels quickly turned a 5 point advantage with under 8:00 remaining into a 12 point edge with 4:00 to go.

From there Will Graves and Larry Drew III took turns bombing threes down the stretch as the Hokies got lazy on defense and this one turned out like most every other time the Hokies open up ACC play on “Sunday Night Hoops” (recall the past buzzer beaters at duke and wake or last year’s debacle at duke).

The Hokies fall to 12-2 (0-1 ACC) and return to play on Wednesday night when they host the 15-1 miami hurricanes in Cassell Coliseum at 7:00 PM.

Niemo’s Notes:

• To me this game swung on two plays in the second half – Zo’s missed three with 12:50 to go that would have put the Hokies back up 2 and helped them regain momentum and the non-call on Raines’s layup with 6:35 to go.  The latter was a real dagger.  Tech trailed 60-55 and had they called goaltending as they should have (Ed Davis swatted the ball AFTER it had hit the backboard), the Hokies would have been within 3.  Instead, the heels went up the court and Graves hit a 3 to put the heels up 8.  Another 3 followed on the next unc possession and Tech never got the game under single digits after that.
• The freshmen looked like freshmen tonight.  As Rob mentioned, Atkins had two critical turnovers in the second half.  Boggs missed the front end of a one-and-one and then committed a dumb foul 80 feet from the hoop.  Green still struggles to be able to advance the ball far enough in the half court set to get Tech into their offense.  Raines looked solid inside but his stat line doesn’t show it.  The freshmen had just 3 points, and that was on a meaningless 3-ball by Green in the final minute.
• Another key in the second half was the heels did a much better job with the ball.  After committing 12 turnovers in the first half, they had just 6 in the second 20 minutes.  And most of those were deadball turnovers, in other words, Tech couldn’t turn them into transition opportunities.
• Expect to see more teams go zone against the Hokies, who only have one outside threat – Delaney.  Hudson was 0 for 6 from behind the arc tonight.
• The good news it VT looked good in their 2-3 zone tonight in the second half.  They really limited the heels’ points in the paint in it.  This should help against the bigs other ACC teams have.  The problem is Graves and Drew suddenly got hot from the outside.  That’s the breaks.  Tech dared the heels to hit outside shots and that is the lesser of unc’s evils, and considering they started 0 of 11 from deep, it was the way to go.
• unc seemed to have a power play against VT with Delaney in there on defense.  You have to love Malcolm for gutting it out when his ankle clearly was not 100%, but he simply could not guard guys one-on-one tonight.  His ability to back-peddle or move laterally was limited, and unc guards were blowing by him and Tech did not do a good job of helping and rotating.  The result was some easy buckets by Strickland or dishes to Davis when Tech did help but didn’t rotate elsewhere.  The zone seemed to Malcolm by limiting what he had to do on defense.
• Delaney had more than half of the VT first half points (20 of 38).
• Superstars can step up in big games, even when facing bigger guys.  Jeff Allen did not step up on offense tonight.  I’d say he did a very good job on defense for the most part, and committed just two fouls, but Tech needed more of him on offense, especially when the heels took Delaney away in the second half.
• All in all, Tech played hard and were in this game for 34 minutes tonight.  Considering Delaney wasn’t 100% and VT was on the road playing the defending champs, there are positives to take from this win.  It was sad to see the offense go backwards tonight and become way too dependent on Malcolm again, but that happens.  The Hokies know they can play with the heels, and therefore anyone else in the league after this.  They just need to do it for 40 minutes next time.  Wednesday is a HUGE game for the Hokies, who cannot afford to drop home games, especially against teams on par with them.  Let’s make the Cassell rock!
• Finally, we had a great turnout at Hard Times Cafe in Clarendon (Arlington) last night!  Thanks to everyone that came and took advantage of the wing and drink deals!

Popularity: 15% [?]

• Dorenzo Hudson’s most impressive accomplishment in the seton hall game was not his 41 points, but his great leadership both during the game and in the huddles during time outs. Making sure the young guys kept their focus on winning each four minute stretch of the game. Zo played great defense on pirate high scorer Jeremy Hazell and basically did all the intangibles necessary to make up for the loss of Malcolm Delaney. He also guarded Hazell man to man when the Hokies went to a box and one defense.

• Hudson has been practicing very hard recently and the light bulb is finally going on for him according to Coach Greenberg. Zo was named ACC Player of the Week.

• The seton hall game was Tech’s first ever played in a foreign country. Games like that one in Cancun are great for keeping the team occupied over Christmas break when not much is going on in Blacksburg.

• Greenberg thinks the key to winning tight ball games away from home is getting 50-50 balls. The Hokies have been doing a great job of this recently. Jeff Allen got some important loose balls in the seton hall game.

• One of the team’s mottos is O.T. = Our Time. The Hokies are very comfortable when the game goes into an extra session. Tech’s 23 overtime points Saturday versus seton hall were a school record.

• Zo’s 20 made free throws against seton hall were the third most in ACC history and the most since ga tech’s Tom Hammonds in 1988.

• Malcolm Delaney will shoot with his boot on during practice Tuesday. The team is off on Wednesday. Hopefully Malcolm can play some defense in practice on Thursday. That will go a long way to determining if he can go against unc Sunday night. Delaney will remain at the point for the long term. Seth thinks his NBA future is at point guard.

• The team did a great job of “just getting to the next play” against seton hall, and not letting great plays, especially be Hazell get to them.

• Allan Chaney is coming along well after his shoulder surgery in October. He is really talented, has a good work ethic and has great rebounding skills. He is overall a really good kid. He can shoot almost out to the 3-point line. Chaney is over 6’10” and the team really misses having him in practice, especially to bang around Jeff Allen.

• Cadarian Raines had a great practice on Monday. He is getting better every day. He is still learning all the sets, which is keeping him from playing more right now.

• The team needs to get through screens better on defense and guard better in transition. This is especially important against north carolina.

• Erick Green is a really good shooter and hit two big three’s against seton hall. He got a little passive at times but made two huge defensive plays. The pirates were really going at him.

• The Hokies will play future games in Cancun, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico in addition to other ESPN “made for television” games. These games are great for national exposure and are a great way to brand your program. Greenberg likes smaller sized areas like the one in Cancun, especially compared to Puerto Rico’s 19,000 seat arena.

• Dorenzo made a special guest appearance. His goal going into the seton hall game was to hold Hazell under 20 points (a major accomplishment considering he’d taken 67 shots the previous two games). He knew leadership would be important with Delaney out; sometimes he had 2 or 3 freshman on the court with him at key points of the game. His high basketball IQ helped him move to the point position when Erick Green had four fouls. Zo became very popular among the Mexican crowd and autographed several pesos after the game.

• Manny Atkins is not shy about shooting the ball. He also hit some big shots against seton hall. Greenberg thinks he will find his shots as the season goes on.

• The Hokies will be playing three games in six days next week, an extremely tough challenge. They will be getting to Chapel Hill on Saturday, in time to get used to the Dean Dome with all the banners, retired jerseys, etc. This is a great opportunity to play their way into the NCAA Tournament. Jeff Allen continuing to play at a high level will be the key to the unc game according to Greenberg.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Virginia Tech received a huge verbal commitment over the weekend when 6-7 George Washington-Danville junior forward C.J. Barksdale committed to the Hokies. Barksdale is rated a 4-star recruit by both Rivals (#78) and Scout.com (#28), thus making Barksdale the highest rated prep star to pick Virginia Tech since McDonalds All-American Dell Curry in the early 80′s.

He chose the Hokies over offers from alabama, florida, maryland and wake forest. Barksdale can officially sign with the Hokies in November 2010 and joins Florida shooting guard Robert Brown as the second member of the 2011-12 recruiting class. Stay tuned to Techhoops.com for more news on this exciting commitment.

Popularity: 49% [?]

• The Hokies 9-1 start is their best since starting 12-1 to open the 1995-96 season.

• Dorenzo Hudson is playing much more aggressively now. J.T. Thompson has a lot more bounce in his game. Remember he had major ankle surgery over the summer. Malcolm Delaney is starting to shoot with much more confidence and he is starting to see the bigger picture for the team. He realizes the team is better when more people contribute.

• Expect to see opposing teams play zone against the Hokies. Especially until they prove they can consistently hit the outside shot. A big focus of recent practices has been running the offense against the zone.

• Cadarian Raines’ most recent x-rays are due tomorrow. Seth thinks Raines’ most recent setback may simply have been aggravated due to the recent cold weather. Raines can play in nine games this season and still take a medical redshirt.

• Greenberg talked about 2010-11 signees Jarrell Eddie and Tyrone Garland. He called Eddie a world class student who has already qualified and been admitted to Tech. Eddie’s relationship with Greenberg dates back to when he used to attend Seth’s camps at south florida. Garland is your typical “Philly” guard. He’s a gym rat, a great passer who puts the ball where you can catch it and do something with it. He spent a lot of time with the team recently when they were in Philadelphia for the Philly Hoops Classic.

• Seth recently spent time in Atlanta, Orlando, and Charlotte recruiting.

• Taking an early look around the ACC, florida state has NBA size up front and have been very impressive thus far. georgia tech has a lot of impressive young talent. unc has played a very difficult schedule and will shorten their bench once ACC play starts. Expect to see the heels play two point guards on the floor and Ed Davis more than his current 25 minutes per game.

• Don’t expect to see an ACC-Big East Challenge similar to the current Big Ten(11) challenge. Basically because ESPN pays a lot of money for the ACC-Big Ten(11) Challenge and doesn’t want to change it. These games are much better if played on campus as opposed to neutral sites, Seth feels. He also feels the current ACC-Big Ten(11) Challenge is “ahead of the curve”. Also a team can play road games in no more than two straight seasons in the challenge but Greenberg hopes and expects the Hokies to have a home match up next season.

• Seth was not really willing to take sides in the recent Bob Knight vs. John Calipari controversy. He is friends with both. Seth called Knight the best analyst out there. Greenberg said Knight was one of the smartest people he’s ever been around and must have been trying to send a message by calling out the tactics of Calipari.

• umbc had started slowly this year but have lost a lot of close games. They have a great point guard named de la Rosa. umbc was in the NCAA Tournament just two years ago.

• There was a great atmosphere at the charlston southern game despite big snow storm. There appeared to be a lot of “first timers” at the game.

Popularity: 15% [?]

• The Virginia Tech Hokies head into their week long break for final exams with an 8-1 record, following Saturday’s thrilling 66-64 win at penn state. It’s their best start under Seth Greenberg. While the Hokies haven’t exactly beaten any teams currently anywhere near the top 25, thus far they have avoided any heart breaking, gut wrenching half-court buzzer beaters, and have avoided any embarrassing, head scratching losses. Some of their wins have potential to look decent on the resume come March.

While the Hokies lost to the best team they’ve played to this point, at temple, that loss doesn’t seem nearly as bad after the owls knocked off #3 villanova last weekend. Look at it this way, if the Hokies were in the Big Ten (11) (and let’s all count our blessings that we’re not) they would now be 2-0 in conference with two road wins. Not bad, especially considering the ACC lost to Big Ten (11) for the first time in the 11 year history of the ACC-Big Ten (11) challenge.

• Taking a look at this year’s freshmen, it’s becoming obvious that Erick Green is going to play a big role simply because of the lack of depth at the point position. Green did play a nice game against the nittany lions, hitting a three and getting good experience guarding psu star Talor Battle. But to me, the most impressive newcomer to this point has been Ben Boggs. Boggs has shown good court savvy, the likes of which have been missing from some past teams, and has demonstrated the ability to hit the open three and feed the big men in the post.

Think back two weeks ago. Tech was coming off a lackluster performance in the Philly Hoop Classic and heading to face iowa in Iowa City. The Hokies appeared to be dead in the water in the heartland, trailing the 2-4 hawkeyes 12-3 less then 5 minutes into the contest. That’s where Boggs stepped in by hitting two huge three-pointers that seemed to light a fire under this Hokie team and shake off the sluggishness. From there the Hokies used their superior inside game to separate themselves from the hawkeyes, but Boggs’ contribution was huge. As the Hokies continue to try to find a shooter to fill the void left by A.D. Vassallo’s graduation, future performances like this by Boggs will be key as Tech closes out its non-conference schedule and begins ACC play.

Popularity: 21% [?]

• This week Seth was on remote location from Atlanta on a recruiting trip. Greenberg borrowed an old saying from former kentucky head man Joe B. Hall; “recruiting is like shaving, if you miss a day you look like a bum”.

• The team had today off due to final exams, with the exception of the freshman, who did some weight lifting.

• Hokies did a better job guarding ball screens in the second half against penn state.

• Erick Green played some quality minutes against psu, he hit a big three and played good defense against Talor Battle.

• J.T. Thompson played one of his most productive games of the season. He played with more bounce in his step against psu.

• Jeff Allen was named ACC player of the week for the first time in his career. Obviously Allen will be pivotal to the Hokies’ success the rest of the season.

• Malcolm Delaney was huge down the stretch on Saturday night. He’s playing great but still needs to do better in transition with finding open teammates.

• Delaney and Ben Boggs are the best post feeders on the team this season.

• The team is taking baby steps. They are building and getting better. Another thing they must work on is blocking out especially on the perimeter.

• Virginia Tech is 2-0 versus the Big Ten(11) this season.

Popularity: 11% [?]

The 2008-09 ACC basketball regular season has come and gone. Don’t forget tickets are still available for the 56th annual ACC Tournament at the Georgia Dome in Hotlanta (assuming you have 20/10 vision and a very nice pair of binoculars). Anyway, it’s time once again for the Balla’s postseason awards. And the winners are………

All ACC First Team (in order)

Ty Lawson unc
Toney Douglas fsu
Jeff Teague wake
Tyler Hansbrough unc
Gerald Henderson duke

Reserves / 2nd Team

Tyrese Rice bc
Jack McClinton miami
Trevor Booker clemson
K.C. Rivers clemson
A.D. Vassallo Virginia Tech

Water boys / 3rd Team

Greivis Vasquez maryland
Jon Scheyer duke
Malcolm Delaney Virginia Tech
Kyle Singler duke
Gani Lawal ga tech

PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Lawson. The unc point guard edges out fsu’s Douglas and last year’s winner, Hansbrough. Even though Douglas scored 75 more points than the next closest player (McClinton), Lawson’s numbers are better across the board. He emerged as the leader of the top ranked heels. Always lightning quick, his ability to drive to the hoop and distribute the ball was the difference in several unc wins. Any time a guard shoots better than 50% from the field, that’s a helluva year.

COACH OF THE YEAR – Al Skinner, boston college. By a nose over fsu’s Leonard Hamilton. Skinner did more with less in my opinion. The lightly regarded eagles beat both unc and duke, and were the only team to win in the Dean Dome this season.

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR – Sylvan Landesberg, uva. One of the few bright spots in an otherwise long season for the wahoos. If the name of this award was changed to “Newcomer of the Year” the award would have gone to bc’s Joe Trapani, the vermont transfer.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Douglas. I’m going with Douglas over freshman teammate Solomon Alabi. With all the great guards in the conference this season, it was Douglas who usually had to shut down a high scoring opponent, leading the ACC’s top defensive team along the way. Plus, he didn’t have the benefit of Alabi’s condor-like wing span.

Looking for a job? Facing foreclosure? Need some quick cash? Here’s how this year’s tourney will play out:

Round 1: miami over VT, clemson over ga tech, nc state over maryland, bc over uva

Quarters: unc over miami, fsu over clemson, wake over nc state, duke over bc

Semis: fsu over unc, wake over duke

Finals: wake over fsu

You heard it here first. Hell, what do I have to lose? Before the season I predicted the Hokies would be a sweet sixteen team this year.

Let’s just hope the only tornado that comes near the Georgia Dome this year is an improbable run by Delaney, Vassallo, and company. Remember, in last year’s SEC tournament which started at the Georgia Dome and ended at Alexander Coliseum, the georgia bulldogs pulled off an even bigger shocker to make the NCAA’s.

Popularity: 20% [?]

The duke blue devils used their famous sixth man (seventh and eighth too for that matter) to escape Cassell Coliseum with a 72-65 victory over the Hokies on Saturday. And no, we’re not talking about anyone off the duke bench. This time it was the three man officiating crew of Gary Maxwell, Tony Greene and Bob Donato who decided to buy into this flop fest. Now, anyone who follows ACC basketball knows that duke gets more than their fair share of close calls – pretty much any call that could be perceived to go either way with the exception of maybe when they’re playing carolina. Sometimes however, this gets down right ridiculous.

Let’s make one thing clear, I’m not saying the Hokies lost the game because of the referees. No, the Hokies lost the game because they turned the ball over 19 times (while only forcing duke into 9 turnovers). They lost because they forgot that Gerald Henderson can’t go left but he can go right as well as anyone in the league. And they lost because they simply weren’t able to hit the big shots down the stretch when given the opportunity.

But, man, what an advantage it would be to know that any time a quicker, more athletic player drove past you and to the hole you were likely going to be bailed out by a charge call. Makes playing defense a lot easier. Or, it’d be great to have a guy like Kyle Singler be able to use not one but two hands to push off on his defender (like he did on A.D. with 1:23 to go) then cut wide open for an easy layup. And who could forget Jon Scheyer’s lovely pirouette as he was trapped in the back court with 0:14 seconds to go and the devils clinging to a three point lead – in which he lifted his pivot foot three times by my count. Nice to have that get overlooked.

Quick memo to whoever is planning the white outs and black outs in Cassell: Virginia Tech basketball is two hours of heart pounding excitement on its own. The Atlantic Coast Conference is the most competitive conference year in and year out. We don’t really need any other gimmicks. Not to mention they haven’t worked – loss to clemson in the black out and loss to duke in the white out. Our school colors are Chicago maroon and burnt orange. No black, no white. Orange and maroon effects work well in Lane Stadium for football, why not go with those in the Cassell for hoops as well?

Next up for the Hokies are the unc tar heels Wednesday night. If nothing else, the Hokies should at least be used to the questionable officiating mentioned earlier, because they’re going to see it again against the heels.

It’s Senior night for A.D. Vassallo and Cheick Diakite. Most considered big Cheick as nothing more than a project coming out of Bamako, Mali by way of prep school in Massachusetts. Diakite has become a valuable contributor with his defense and shot blocking abilities, and has shown the ability to hit a jumper out to about 15 feet.

Vassallo has transformed his game from that of simply a stand still shooter as a freshman to that of an all around, complete player. I used to cringe whenever A.D. would try to put the ball on the floor. Now, not only is A.D. a world class shooter, but he’s an adequate ball handler who can drive to the hoop, he’s got an array of nice floaters and jump hooks in the lane, and he’s become one of the team’s better rebounders. I think A.D. definitely has a chance to play in the NBA. Let’s hope A.D. can find the “zone” one last time in the Cassell Wednesday night and get that elusive 8th conference win at the hands of the top 5 heels. Plans for mid March could depend on it.

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The Heartbreak Kids, otherwise known as the Virginia Tech Hokies men’s hoops team, were back in action on Saturday night, and wouldn’t you know it, yet another gut wrenching, rip your heart out and stomp it defeat. This time 67-65 at the hands of the florida state seminoles. And this one really hurt. The game of basketball is a game of inches and they say everything evens out eventually. That being said, with the Hokies down by two on the final possession, I’ve never in my life had more confidence in one shot going in than when A.D. Vassallo launched that three from the top of the key. Reality struck when the ball hit nothing but the back of the rim as the final horn sounded. Another game, another heartbreaking loss. Though this one seemed a bit more cruel than the others. This was a must win and the Hokies appeared to have put themselves in perfect position to bring home the all important W.

To say that the ball just doesn’t seem to be bouncing our way this season would be the understatement of the year. Kind of like saying the economy is not very good right now. With the roles reversed, give any other player on any other team on Tech’s schedule the open look at the buzzer that A.D. had and you just KNOW that sucker is going in, much to the dismay of Hokies everywhere. Give credit to Greenberg for drawing up the play to get an open look. The execution was flawless, with the one obvious exception.

The amazing thing is that this team continues to battle. The second half against fsu was a very gutsy performance just to get back into the contest. With 25 points, including 5-8 from 3-point land, Malcolm Delaney showed that he is out of his recent shooting slump, which is certainly somewhat of a silver lining in an otherwise devastating defeat.

For the first time in his coaching career, a team coached by Seth Greenberg opened up in a zone. Interesting move, but to say this move backfired would be yet another humongous understatement. As usual, a team that had been a statistically poor shooting team coming in, shot lights out. Before you knew it, the Hokies were down 25-11 and clearly looked like they hadn’t yet recovered from back to back road losses to maryland and uva.

Zones have worked throughout this season when used from time to time during games to stem opponents’ runs. For some reason though, the Hokies didn’t show the fire defensively that they did after they eventually settled back into their man to man. My guess is that this will be the one and only time that you see the Hokies open in a zone under Greenberg.

Outside of back to back wins over duke and unc and stealing a win on the road in rematches versus clemson or fsu, the Hokies are the longest of long shots now for the NCAA Tournament. The good news is that it’s right there in front of them. If they want to get in, they can certainly go out and earn it, however much the odds are stacked against it. Three games in a row against top 10 teams is a golden opportunity for a team searching to show they belong in the field. But how can they possibly muster up the mojo to have a shot at any of these games?

Anything besides a blowout loss at clemson on Wednesday night would be a total shock to me at this point. But on the other hand, if there is one team that is all too experienced at recovering from these types of losses, it’s the Hokies. If there is one thing that’s been shown this season, it’s when the Hokies are at full strength they can compete with any other team. Will things finally start to even out for the Hokies and their much distraught fans? Or will this team continue to be snake bitten? The season’s not over and there is still a chance, however small that chance may be.

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In the ACC, if you don’t come ready to play when you hit the road, then you can usually expect to head home with a loss. Teams in this league are just too good to just show up and beat, whether they be teams at the bottom of the standings or a middle of the pack team like the maryland terrapins. Look no further than yesterday in College Park. With the exception of reserve Lewis Witcher (8 points), no member of the Hokies showed up at the Comcast Center with anything remotely resembling their “A” game. The terps, on the other hand, were clearly inspired by the presence of the old Lefthander and the rest of the 1984 ACC championship maryland team, who were honored at halftime. The result was an 83-73 loss to the turtles.

The Hokies continue to struggle on the boards and are giving up way too many second and third opportunities. The terrapins came into yesterday’s game last in the league in rebounding margin (getting out-rebounded by an average of 3.9 a game), but kept alive several key possessions yesterday when the Hokies missed blocking out assignments or simply couldn’t secure the rebound. Tech is having a particularly difficult time keeping opposing guards off the offensive boards. 6-4 guard Sean Mosley had 3 offensive rebounds alone for the terps. In other recent games, state’s Courtney Fells, and clemson’s three-guard trio of K.C. Rivers, Demontez Stitt, and David Potter killed the Hokies on the offensive glass, and I don’t have to mention b.c. guard Rakim Sanders.

This trend has got to be corrected fast. There is nothing more frustrating in basketball than playing 35 seconds of good, tough defense only to give the opponent a mulligan because the rebound could not be secured. Granted, sometimes the ball is just going to bounce the wrong way, but if you do a good job of blocking out, getting a body on a body, then the odds of the ball bouncing your way is greatly increased.

The Hokies did manage to battle their way back into yesterday’s game by mixing up their defenses. About five minutes into the second half, Tech switched from their usual man to man to a 2-3 and then a 1-3-1 zone. The Hokies may have to rely on more zones down the stretch because they continue to struggle to get through opponents’ high ball screens. That was evident again yesterday as Greivis Vasquez and Eric Hayes had way too many wide open looks most of which they converted on.

Memo to Jeff Allen. Please remember that when you play in the ACC, most games are on television and there are cameras everywhere. So, next time you get the urge to flip off the maryland student section (not to say it wasn’t deserved) please keep this in mind.

Big Jeff also needs to distinguish, when he has the ball posted up down low, whether he has a pathway to drive to the basket or if he is just dribbling into traffic inviting either a turnover or offensive foul. Allen is a much greater weapon when he stays under control with his post up moves.

The Hokies get another chance to get back into the win column with a very important matchup with the uva cavaliers Wednesday night in Charlottesville. Tech can ill afford a loss if they want to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive. The wahoos are struggling, at 2-8 in conference, but will be coming into this game with great confidence following an overtime win over #12 clemson earlier today. This figures to be another tightly contested game despite the records.

This is a key week for the Hokies, in addition to Wednesday’s rivalry game with the hoos, Tech returns to the Cassell Saturday night with a pivotal game with the fsu seminoles who are currently sitting just out of the top 20 in the all important RPI. Tech needs to stay out of the “bad loss” category against uva and needs to get another “key win” against the noles. The Hokies have some things to work on in practice leading up to these games. Hopefully the Hokies come focused and ready to take care of business.

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It’s gut check time now ladies and gentlemen. We’ve talked all season about it being way too early to make any conclusions on this 2008-09 season. Well, now that bright red light on the camera (not to be confused with the bright red jacket on Sidney Lowe) is on for good. It’s February now, which is to college basketball what September is to the baseball pennant races. Time to separate the contenders from the pretenders. At 4-3 in the ACC, and coming off back to back tough losses to clemson and boston college, the week off couldn’t have come at a better time for the Hokies. Hopefully this time has been used wisely because now it’s go time.

Starting with tomorrow’s game against old nemesis n.c. state, the Hokies play four straight games they are likely to be favorites (home against improving georgia tech, then at reeling uva and at inconsistent maryland). It is an absolute MUST that the Hokies sweep through this four game set. With home showdowns with duke and carolina sandwiched in between road trips to clemson and fsu to conclude the season, the ACC schedule makers have set the Hokies up with a murderers’ row type finish. The pivotal game in the season could come down to the February 21 game in Cassell againt fsu. So as you can see, it would certainly behoove the Hokies to be sitting at 8-3 in conference going into the final five-game stretch. It’s not just about distinguishing yourself as to whether or not you are an NCAA Tournament team, but putting yourself in position to make some noise once you’re in the big dance.

But, first things first, the key to this finishing stretch will be that overused cliché “to take each game one at a time”. Tech’s recent track record versus the wolfpack should be motivation enough to get the Hokies’ full attention going into tomorrow’s game. It better be, because now, it’s money time.

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The Hokies scored their most impressive victory of the season to date on Wednesday night with their 78-71 victory at #1 wake forest. One thing we learned very quickly after the results were final was that a victory over a #1 ranked deacon team scored nowhere near the publicity points with the media machine known as ESPN as a victory over unc or duke. In the aftermath we heard it all: wake, who maybe wasn’t that good after all, was playing their fourth game in 11 days, so there was no way they possibly could have been up for this game against the Hokies. Not to mention the poor deacs had to play at bc and clemson in the same week. How could they be expected to hang with the unranked Hokies?

Why is it that everyone was unwilling to come out and just say Tech stepped up and simply played a better game and beat wake, in their own building, the team who was the best team I’d personally seen play this year so far going into this game? How about some credit to the Hokies physical defense , especially the inside game led by Cheick Diakite, who played his best game of the season and helped get the wake interior defenders in foul trouble early and often. Credit is also due to little man Hank Thorns — his ball handling and ability to bring the ball up allowed player of the game Malcolm Delaney to grab a quick breather or two on the court and free up for his all important outside J.

Props also go out to Seth for his use of the 2-3 zone which effectively slowed down wake’s high octane transition game. The zone is a work in progress with Greenberg, who has almost exclusively used man to man D as his signature throughout his coaching tenure. It’s no coincidence that our use of the zone coincides with the hiring of former syracuse guard Adrian Autry — who played under zone proprietor Jim Boeheim at the cuse — to the Tech staff. The Hokies ability to mix up their defenses will certainly be key down the stretch this season.

The Hokies get another shot at a quality, resume’-building victory when they take on the miami hurricanes tonight in Coral Gables. The canes currently sit at 28 in the latest RPI and are led by sharp shooting guard Jack McClinton. This will be another stern test for Malcolm Delaney, who’s coming off impressive performances on both ends of the floor against backcourt studs Tyrese Rice and Jeff Teague. Greenberg has consistently preached since the final horn in Winston-Salem that he doesn’t want the Hokies to follow in the footsteps of the bc eagles, who promptly followed up their victory at then #1 unc with four consecutive losses.

Even though the canes have won seven of their previous eight games, don’t expect the crowd in BankUnited Center to be much of a factor. miami is averaging just over 3,500 fans per home game. We’ll see if the fact that students are back on campus and a Sunday night ACC hoops television game will draw more fannies to the seats.

This is by no means a must win game for the Hokies, but it would certainly look like a nice notch in the belt come the second week of March. Let’s hope the Hokies come to play with the same intensity that they showed up with at wake.

Finally, you’ve got to give it up to the clemson tigers, who on Wednesday night continued the most amazing losing streak in all of sports. The tigers are now a perfect 0-54 in Chapel Hill against the unc tar heels following this year’s 94-70 loss. If the economy doesn’t pick up I think the Balla will be trying to make up all his recent losses to his retirement account by betting the house the next time clemson suits it up in the Dean Dome. There’s got to be no surer bet, right? In fact, maybe the Obama administration should take a good hard look at betting a solid portion of the national debt on this baby. Bailouts galore!

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The Hokies took game one of this pivotal three game home stand with their 78-75 victory over the uva cavaliers on Saturday. There is no denying that A.D. Vassallo – 29 points, including the decisive turn around baseline jumper with 18.3 seconds to go – and Malcolm Delaney – 24 points to go with savvy ball handling and leadership – carried the Hokies to the must-win victory in Cassell. But there were some other positive signs that came from this game. One would have to include the play of Terrell Bell. Bell hit a three-pointer from the wing in the first half and played with confidence the entire game. His defense on uva freshman phenom sylvan landesberg in the second half was commendable and he had a huge steal off a uva baseline inbound attempt that led to a break away dunk by Delaney. Bell’s continued development will be key to whether the Hokies can make a run this season in the ACC.

Cheick Diakite and Lewis Witcher also gave the Hokies quality minutes, but they along with Victor Davila continued to miss way too many point blank shots. Every game from here out figures to be tightly contested so converting on these will be a must for the Hokies.

Jeff Allen continues to struggle, going 0 for 7 on field goal attempts againt virginia. He looked especially tentative against cavalier freshman assane sene. However Frank Beamer has to be taking note of Big Jeff, who is in the mold of current NFL star tight ends Tony Gonzales (cal) and Antonio Gates (kent st.) who were both college basketball stars before moving on to their prolific football careers. Will we ever see Allen line up at tight end in the fall for the Hokies? Who knows, but regardless, opposing teams who attempt to full court press the Hokies had better have their heads on a swivel. Just ask cavalier guards sammy zeglinski and calvin baker, both of whom were tko’d by Allen’s solid screens, much to the delight of the Cassell crowd.

Allen did seem to respond to his mid second half benching by Seth Greenberg and played better inside down the stretch, finishing with six rebounds to go along with a steal and blocked shot. Let’s hope the Dunking Donut can quickly regain his form starting Wednesday night against the richmond spiders.

The quote of the week this week came from ESPN broadcaster and former st. john’s and New York Knick star Mark Jackson, who was taking a break from his normal NBA duties to broadcast last Wednesday’s davidson – duke contest. Jackson described blue devil backup guard greg paulus as “A true professional…on the college level.”

Finally, the Mr. Inconsistency award has to go to the boston college eagles, who followed up their shocking win at #1 north carolina with home losses to harvard (the crimson’s first win against a ranked team, that’s right, EVER) and miami. It will be interesting to see which bc team shows up next Saturday in Cassell.

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Well, no one ever said it was easy to be a Virginia Tech hoops fan. Just when the pain of feeling like you had been kicked in the nuts was beginning to ease – i.e. the xavier game – the wisconsin badgers came to town. No sooner did the badgers’ Trevon Hughes connect on his double clutch, off balance one hander in the lane with 0.9 seconds remaining, Hokie fans everywhere had to be wondering what we had done to tick off the basketball gods to this point. I’m now hearing rumblings within the Hokie Nation that this basketball season is a lost cause. This is utterly ridiculous.

Let’s all take a deep breath and lighten up here. While wins over sharp-shooting Big Ten power wisconsin and a xavier squad one year removed from an elite 8 appearance would certainly look nice on the resume’, there are no – repeat no – must win games in November or December. As Coach Greenberg said after Monday’s game, “No one gets eliminated December 1, and no one makes the tournament December 1.” Greenberg figures to get plenty of cracks at top-50 wins during ACC play alone this season. Look at it this way, even with all of the Hokies’ futility last season against out of conference and top-50 teams, if Tech could have squeaked out one more league win (such as reversing the loss to last place n.c. state for example) and with a 10-6 ACC record, compared to 9-7, there is no damn way we wouldn’t have gotten a bid.

The Hokies have seven non- conference games left this season (six before the ACC opener at duke). With the exception of the georgia game, Tech will be favored in each of the six. Win them all, and the Hokies will be at 10-3, their best mark going into conference play since 1995-96, when the A-10 member Hokies were in the top-25 virtually all season. Not bad position to be in. The key is to remain focused, avoid losses to bottom-150 RPI teams, get J.T. Thompson back into the rotation, then let’s take some more cracks at those marquee wins.

I have to give a shout out to A.D. for his remarkable career-high 30 point effort Monday night, which included 6 of 9 shooting from three point range. His clutch shooting down the stretch was nothing short of astounding and pretty much single-handedly got the Hokies back into the game, with Jeff Allen saddled with foul trouble the entire game.

Speaking of Allen, there were some very curious calls against the Dunking Donut, starting with a touch foul just seconds after the opening tip. I have to say that I was very impressed with Big Jeff’s ability to keep his cool after each of these calls, especially considering last season’s ref-bumping incident at georgia tech. Expect to see Allen on the other end of these calls, and on the free throw line even more, as he continues to mature.

Another encouraging note from the wisconsin game had to be the continued fast paced development of freshman Victor “Don’t Call Me V.D.” Davila. The Hokies’ other Puerto Rico native scored 13 points in 25 minutes and continued to impress with his footwork and quick moves around the rim. Victor is showing an ability to get the ball up on the glass quickly around the opposing big men. Personally, I can’t wait to see Coach Greenberg go with a front line of Thompson, Allen, and Davila.

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