What a wild Thursday. We were within an eyelash of having the four lower seeds win to start the tourney, three without their leading scorers (uva – Landesberg, miami – Collins, and unc – Davis). But gt stepped up and saved Paul Hewitt’s job. Then nc state may have saved Sidney Lowe’s job by knocking out clemson as a heavy favorite for the second year in a row.

Instead of calling it the ACC Tournament they should start referring to it as the Department of Redundancy Department for the Hokies. Stop the presses – for the third year in a row Tech will face the hurricanes in Tech’s tourney opener.

The canes stunned everyone except our own Balla in beating the deacons by an 83-62 score. This is the second straight year the 12 beat the 5. The u led by 14 at the half and then used an 8-0 run to open the second stanza and buried wake. miami used their superior outside shooting, hitting 8 threes by my count.

But the shocker was miami’s inside game. Playing without their best low post player and leading scorer, senior Dwayne Collins, the u got a career high 22 points from redshirt freshman Reggie Johnson. He redshirted last year because of how fat he was/is. But Reggie made that blubber work today and he played well against the Hokies in miami. But the Staypuft man should struggle to play on consecutive days.

miami shot the three against wake almost as well as they did against VT in miami when they torched the Hokies at a 70% clip in the first half and a 17 point lead. Let’s hope the rims aren’t as kind and the shots are off tomorrow.

uva: The hoos took down the eagles 68-62 in the coveted noon “where is everyone” game without Landesberg or Baker.

With the win, uva plays duke in quarterfinal noon game. A major streak is on the line – the cavs haven’t made the ACC semifinals since 1995, a run of 14 straight tourneys. Not quite to the level of clemson at unc but it is getting there.

In the evening session, the yellow jackets actually won a critical game! I know! I’m stunned, too. This should make scalping a lot easier the rest of the way.

unc used a 19-4 run in the first half to quickly build a 12 point lead and led by 9 at the break. But that lead was gone quicker than you can say NIT.

Derrick Favors dominated the second half and georgia tech won by 4, much to the delight of everyone not in powder blue ( about half the crowd).

The pack got a huge game from stat Tracy Smith and survived to live another day. Is clemson now on the bubble?

Friday:
- Noon: #1 duke vs #9 uva
- 2:20ish: #4 VT vs #12 miami
- 7: #2 maryland vs #7 ga tech
- 9:20ish: #3 fsu vs #11 nc state

Popularity: 12% [?]

UPDATE: For the third year in a row the Hokies will face the c-a-n-e-s canes in their first ACC Tournament game. The u, playing without their leading scorer Dwayne Collins, absolutely took the deacs behind the woodshed to advance to the quarterfinals (props to Balla for picking the u). The Hokies and canes split their two games this year (more on that below), but Tech beat miami two years ago in the quarters and last year in the first round. In the early game, uva stunned bc even without Landesberg. What an odd start to the tourney.

THE SETUP:

Alright, ladies, play time is over. The clock has tolled and it is officially March Madness. The Hokies head to Greensberg-o to participate in the granddaddy of them all, the ACC Tournament. This will be the first ‘true’ tournament Tech has played in all season, but the Hokies have some great tournament mojo working. VT has won their first game in 10 consecutive tournaments, and the current junior class is 8-0 in tournament openers.

The Hokies, thanks to their victory over georgia tech last weekend, get to enjoy an extra day of rest as the #4 seed with a First Round bye. The Hokies will have to wait and see who their opponent is as the #5 seed wake forest battles the #12 seed miami hurricanes at approximately 2:20 PM on Thursday. The extra rest is huge for Tech, who have two starters (Jeff Allen – shoulder and Zo Hudson – foot) battling injuries, along with reserve Cadarian Raines. Both Allen and Hudson should be good to go for Friday but we will see how well they hold up, especially Hudson who has been battling the foot injury for a while and missed the georgia tech game to rest it. While these injuries may not be a factor on Friday, they certainly could come into play as the tournament goes on if VT survives. The Hokie starters play a lot of minutes and playing on consecutive days can take its toll. Again, that’s why the bye was so big. We’ll see if Head Coach Seth Greenberg uses a guy like Manny Atkins, who played more minutes against georgia tech than he had in all other ACC games combined, to rest Zo. Allen’s foul trouble usually insures him plenty of rest, and senior Lewis Witcher has played well off the bench of late.

Having a bye has other advantages, too. While you don’t know specifically who your opponent will be, you have a general idea. Especially in a 5/12 game where you figure wake will win (though the 12 seed beat the #5 last year). So while Greenberg spent part of this week focusing on just improving as a team, you know they’ve also prepared for both wake and miami to a degree. Both wake and miami, on the other hand, had had to focus on each other. Tech will also be rested on Friday. That can equal rust early on and give their opponent an early shooting advantage, but VT should have better legs as the game goes on once they get in the flow. Plus, you had the bye because you were better to begin with, which is always a nice advantage.

The Hokies haven’t had much luck in Greensberg-o before, Tech is just 3-7 in the Greensboro Coliseum, including 1-7 against ACC teams. Tech did win their last game there three years ago, but that was against unc-g’boro. VT lost at the Coliseum to uva in the 2006 ACC Tournament. I was there to watch VT play a great game but fall late to the #3 unc tar heels back in 1995, when the heels had Rasheed Wallace and Jerry Stackhouse. But this is a different Hokie team and they are all about breaking trends, so let’s see how they do in the Gate City this time around (I have no idea why it is called the Gate City).

Note: Dwayne Collins, miami’s leading scorer, is out for the entire ACC Tournament with an injury.

SIX PACK OF KEYS TO WINNING:

• Come out fast: Tech’s opponent will have played the day before and will have a game feel early. Tech needs to match that intensity. It will help that this game is the second game of the day. As Greenberg pointed out the other night, the noon game stinks. There is no intensity (or people) in the arena for the noon game. That picks up as the game gets late, but you can be done by that point if you fall asleep, too. The Hokies need to have a good start. If they are around even (or ahead) at the first and second media timeouts, that is a good sign.
• Ride the Inner Tube (#0): Jeff Allen, aka the Big Donut, has been riding the gravy train with biscuit wheels lately. He’s averaged 20 points and 11.3 rebounds in his last three games and has avoided foul trouble. Jeff has hit double-digits in points 9 of his last 11 games. He owned miami this year, averaging 16.5 points and 7 rebounds in the two games, but Allen had just 8 and 5 against wake, largely due to foul trouble. If the Hokies do face wake, Allen is vital to be in there to defend the wake bigs inside like Aminu, McFarland, and Woods.
• Call the M.D.: Malcolm Delaney, fresh off being named ACC Player of the Week and All-ACC First Team, has been red hot of late. He’s scored 19 or more points in six straight games (two of those he went over 30). He’s also 22/44 from the field and 8/17 on three-pointers in his last three games. If he can get hot like he was two years ago in the ACC Tourney, he could put on an absolute show and carry the Hokies to great heights, like Randolph Childress did about 15 years ago for the deacons in the ACC Tourney in Greensboro. Two years ago Malcolm went for 30 points on 10/15 shooting, including an amazing 6/8 on three-pointers in two games in the ACC Tourney. Let’s hope he can re-channel that magic.
• Shoot the Boot: Let’s hope All-ACC Third Team member, Dorenzo Hudson, can ditch his walking boot and be strong for the tourney. We know he’s tough, having played through the foot injury for a while. He’s reached double-digits in points in 18 of his last 20 games, including averaging 18.1 ppg over his last seven. Tech must have him to survive in this tournament, even if it is with some slightly reduced minutes. Tech got 37 minutes out of Zo against nc state last week and will need to him to battle as much as he can in this one.
• Don’t rest on your laurels: Everyone thinks the Hokies are in the Big Dance. They probably are. It would be easy to come out and play a ‘ho hum’ game because there’s nothing to prove. But THIS tournament is a big deal. Winning it would be simply awesome. It would mean more to me than anything the football team has accomplished since joining the ACC (I mean that). It would mean more to me than making the NCAA Tournament (heck, we could skip it and I wouldn’t care). uva has just one ACC Tournament title in over 50 years (and hasn’t even made it to the semifinals in 15 years). clemson has never won it. Heck, only duke, unc, and nc state have more than four. So this is a BIG deal. Play like this is do or die and give it everything you have. And a win in the quarters would surely lock up a NCAA bid as a nice safety clause.
• Stop [X]: For miami it is… well, to be honest, they don’t have anyone that scares me. You just have to hope they aren’t hot as a whole team like they were in miami or on Thursday against wake.

THE opponent:

• miami: Recap – at VT 81, miami 66 | Recap – at miami 82, VT 75

c-a-n-e-s canes: Wow, what a tale of two games it was versus miami. In the meeting in Blacksburg, VT jumped out to a 48-13 lead in the first half and led by 27 at the break. The Hokies hit 7 of 9 threes in the first half, topped only by their 8 against georgia tech last week. miami made a bit of a run in the second half but they simply had to far to go.

In miami, it was the exact opposite. miami hit 5/8 on threes in the first half and 14/20 total shots (70%)! The canes led by 17 at the half, a 44 -point turnaround. Hudson, Delaney, and Allen scored all 30 of the Hokie first half points. In the second half, JT Thompson led the Hokies back with 14 points, and VT cut the lead to 5 on eight occasions but could never get over that hump and lost by an 82-75 score.

miami’s top three scorers (without Collins) are all guards. They have three guys (Dews, Grant, and Thomas) with 50 or more made 3-pointers, so defending the perimeter is a must. And without Collins, the canes have no true scorer inside. But Reggie Johnson had a career high 22 in the first round and played well against VT in the second meeting. But with his weight (290) he has to be worn down playing on consecutive days.

The canes had lost 5 of 6 and 11 of 14, I didn’t expect to see them Friday (especially with Collins hurt) but stranger things have happened (like a 2-14 georgia tech team beating a ranked clemson team last year). Tech must take away the three-pointer from the canes and exploit their porous defense by getting out in transition, or making the extra pass on defense as lazy defenders get lost. miami will likely to slow this game down and play in the half court. The Hokies usually do well in games like that with their solid defense but VT must also fuel their transition game with steals an turnovers from the canes. And let’s hope miami is fat and happy won a game in the tourney.

STARTERS:

STATS:

* I excluded Collins from miami since he isn’t supposed to play.

HIGHLIGHTS:

@ VT 87, wake 83:
ESPN Highlights

Watch VT Plays of the Week | 02.21.10 in Sports | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

@ miami 82, VT 75:

@ VT 81, miami 66:

Popularity: 19% [?]

By Thursday morning I’ll have my preview of VT vs wake/miami up, but for now let’s look at the 2010 ACC Tournament and who has the best chances.

ACC TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE:

Thursday:

• Noon – #8 bc vs #9 uva
• ~2:20 PM – #5 wake vs #12 miami
• 7 PM – #7 georgia tech vs #10 unc
• ~9:20 PM – #6 clemson vs #11 nc state

Friday:

• Noon – #1 duke vs bc/uva winner
• ~2:20 PM – #4 VIRGINIA TECH vs wake/miami winner
• 7 PM – #2 maryland vs georgia tech/unc winner
• ~9:20 PM – #3 fsu vs clemson/nc state winner

Saturday:

• 1:30 PM – duke/bc/uva vs VT/wake/miami
• ~3:50 PM – md/gt/unc vs fsu/clemson/ncsu

Sunday: Championship Game at 1 PM

Let’s breakdown Thursday first:

• #8 bc vs #9 uva – I cannot even imagine what the spread will be in this game.  But if I were a gambler (I’m not), I wouldn’t touch this game.  Classic trap game.  The eagles won 3 of their final 5 games (including blowing out VT and beating uva by 13).  uva lost their final 9 games, including 6 in a row by double digits at one point.  The hoos have lost the services of Sylven Landesberg (academics) and Calvin Baker (family illness).  But the eagles were 1-7 on the road in the ACC, including a loss to lowly nc state in their regular season finale.  That’s why I wouldn’t touch this game as a gambler, but you have to pick the eagles to win.  After all, they just beat uva by 13 with Landesberg.  Pick: boston college
• #5 wake vs #12 miami – The game we all care about.  On paper, this seems like a slam dunk to pick wake – they finished 5 games ahead of miami in the standings; they are playing just a stone’s throw from their campus; they are the far superior team.  Not so fast, my friend!  Neither team is playing well right now – wake has lost 4 of 5 and miami has lost 5 of 6.  And last year the #12 seed, a 2-14 georgia tech team, upset the 18th ranked clemson tigers in the first round and lost to the 22nd ranked seminoles by just 2 points in the quarterfinals.  Plus, miami defeated wake by a point earlier in the season.  But that was at miami.  I just don’t see wake losing this game, especially since miami will have no fans there and wake should bring plenty.  Let’s just hope the c-a-n-e-s canes keep it close and wear down the deacons for Friday.  Pick: wake forest
• #7 georgia tech vs #10 unc – My buddy, vt1fan, has already predicted unc is going to the ACC Tournament Finals (he may have even said they win, I can’t remember).  unc, who always has about 40% of the seats at any tournament, should have a solid crowd since the game is in NC even with their terrible season (for the first time ever, no heels were named All-ACC).  Adding to the pressure on the jackets is the fact they must win this game (maybe even two) to have any shot at a NCAA Tournament bid.  Add georgia tech’s AD announced Tuesday he’ll decide on Head Coach Paul Hewitt’s future after the season.  So you have one team with every thing to play for, and a team with absolutely no pressure.  Hmm… I’m so torn here.  gt is 6-34 in ACC road games the last 5 seasons, but their one win on the road this year was at unc (whom they beat twice).  Plus, the heels are without Ed Davis, the one man that can match up with gt’s bigs.  But, whenever any chips are on the table, bet against the jackets.  Pick: tar heels (I’m with you so far, vt1fan)
• #6 clemson vs #11 nc state – I’m not wasting any typing, and risking Carpal Tunnel Syndrome writing about nc state.  They stink.  They will lose.  Sidney Lowe should be fired (and Hewitt if he loses to unc).  Pick: clemson

Friday – I’m not going to pick games after Thursday because I’m really uneasy about the Hokie game if they are playing wake.  The team that played the day before has the advantage of being in the flow and usually comes out shooting better than the team that has been off.  But they usually tire as the game goes on.  However, the Hokies will be playing with two starters nursing injuries – Dorenzo Hudson’s foot and Jeff Allen’s shoulder.  Both were limited in practice this week.  I’d be more worried about that but Hudson hasn’t been practicing much the last two months according to Greenberg.  And, VT has won their first game in 10 straight tournaments, so that’s some solid mojo.  So who knows.  Of course, Friday morning, I’ll be 100% sure the Hokies are going to win like I always am on game days.

Here’s my odds on the top four seeds winning the whole tournament:

• #1 duke – They won 10 of their final 11 ACC games, with their lone loss at maryland.  I still think they are the best team in the league and well better than maryland on a neutral court.  They will have a lot of fans there, though everyone not in royal blue will be rooting against duke.  They are my favorite to win.  Odds: 40%
• #2 maryland – The terps were 4-1 against the other three teams that got byes and have won 7 straight.  They are the hottest team heading to Greensboro.  They also boast the leagues Player of the Year in Greivis “Greasy Face-quez” Vasquez… and the Coach of the Year in Gary Williams.  If they can get by the gt/unc winner, they would face fsu or clemson in the semis.  clemson and maryland split on each other’s floors, which the terps swept fsu.  But honestly, I think the yellow jackets could give the terps fits if they beat unc.  The jackets should have won at maryland but lost on two shots at the buzzer.  The terps don’t have a lot of depth or bulk inside, and if Jordan Williams gets in foul trouble, they are in real trouble.  I think they’ll have a hard time making the finals unless they get unc and then fsu who simply can’t keep pace with the terps’ scoring.  Odds: 25%
• #3 florida state – clemson swept the noles this year.  And even if fsu beats clemson, they likely would have to face maryland who also swept them this year.  It’s not a good thing when your likely first two opponents went 4-0 against you (4 of their 6 losses).  They have a great defense, but they stink on offense, and you need good guards in tournaments.  Freshman Michael Snaer is playing better of late, but when you have to play on consecutive days, defense tends to suffer as you get tired.  Luckily, fsu’s players don’t average that many minutes, but I think their lack of offense will cost them dearly.  Odds: 12.5%
• #4 VIRGINIA TECH – I talked about us up above.  The pros for VT are this is a down year for the ACC and the Hokies can play with anyone.  A con is the Hokies’ starters play too many minutes and if they keep winning, may tire as the tournament goes on, especially guys like Hudson and Allen that are battling injuries.  Another pro is VT has one of the top three back courts in the league with Delaney and Hudson, who both made All-ACC teams – one of only two teams in the league to accomplish that with duke.  A con is VT’s struggles to rebound most of the second half of the season, especially when Jeff Allen was in foul trouble.  A pro is the way Manny Atkins and Terrell Bell stepped up with 20 combined rebounds at georgia tech and could provide additional minutes.  A con is VT will likely have to play duke in the semifinals if they are able to get past the quarters.  A pro is everyone in the arena will be pro-VT in that one except for the duke nerds.  And this may be the best opportunity the Hokies have at the title (especially if Delaney doesn’t return next year), with unc in a down year and no real dominant team.  Odds: 12.5%
• The Field (seeds 5-12): Hard to win 4 games in 4 days.  Very hard.  Odds: 10%

So there you have it.  Check back for my game preview on Thursday morning before I head out to Greensberg-o with the Weekend Warrior and DuffHokie!

Popularity: 23% [?]

This is Part 2 of our two-part interview with Hokie legend Chris Smith. Click here to read Part I.

This Saturday at halftime of the first ACC Tournament semifinal game, Chris Smith will be introduced as Virginia Tech’s 2010 ACC Tournament Legend.  Chris joins John Wetzel (2009), Glen Combs (2008), Bimbo Coles (2007), Dell Curry (2006), and Allan Bristow (2005) as ACC Tournament Legends from Virginia Tech.

Chris Smith was an absolute force inside for the Hokies from 1957-61.  He doesn’t just hold every Virginia Tech rebounding record, he has a padlock on them.  It has been almost 50 years since his playing days ended but no one has come even close to reaching his rebound numbers.  Chris had 1,508 career boards, 129 ahead of second place (Bill Matthews) and more than 300 ahead of anyone that has played since Smith.  Smith has three of the top four rebounding averages in a season for the Hokies.  He averaged 20.4 rebounds in 1958-59, his sophomore season.  Chris followed that up with a 19.0 average the next year and “slipped” to 16.5 rebounds per game his senior year.  He also holds the single game record with 36 rebounds in a game against washington & lee in 1959.  To put that in perspective, that’s more rebounds he had by himself than VT had as a team in 12 games this season!

Chris was more than just a rebounder.  He still ranks 13th on the VT career scoring list with 1635 points.  But that doesn’t do him justice, as Tech played fewer games back then.  Smith averaged 18.6 ppg for his career, 8th best in Virginia Tech history.  His junior year Smith averaged 22.2 points per game to go along with those 19.0 rebounds!  And Chris believes that had blocked shots been tracked back then, his numbers in that category would have been even more astronomical.

The Hokies went 62-26 during Smith’s career, including losing to wvu in the finals of the 1960 Southern Conference Tournament.  After his career in Blacksburg was over, Chris was selected in the second round of the NBA Draft.  Chris decided to take a job with Union Carbide as a Production Engineer in his home state of West Virginia over trying out for the NBA.  We asked him about that decision and more.

Chris was selected as a charter member of the VT Hall of Fame in 1982.  Chris now has a web site at ChrisSmithPublishing.com and has published two books – ‘It’s More Than Just Winning!’ – focuses on Chris’s basketball experiences, amusing stories at Charleston High School and Virginia Tech, and the importance of character. Chris’s second book, ‘From the Shenandoah to the Kanawha’, is a biography of his first Smith immigrant ancestor.

TechHoops.com interviewed Chris Smith as he prepares for his induction as an ACC Tournament Legend.  The interview has been split into two parts, the first part focused on Chris and his career, the second part looks into his thoughts on the game, Virginia Tech, and the rivalries.

Q: You missed playing in Cassell by a year – what was it like playing in War Memorial Gym?  How many did it seat?

Chris: War Memorial was a great place to play.  We would cram about 4,000 people into it and pack them everywhere, especially on the indoor elevated track.  The football players would sit behind the visiting team and the band would play from one end.  Often the crowd, mostly our students, would just yell to make noise. Sometimes they would stomp on the elevated track, and it was so loud sometimes that I would become slightly fearful that it might drop down. War Memorial was a great place for the students to “let off steam” after a few days of hard studying.  We only lost two games there during my freshman season and we won our last 26 straight homes game over a stretch of more than three years.  We were glad to see Cassell under construction, even though we did not get to play there, because we felt we were a big part of providing the enthusiasm to get it built. Consequently, we had pride in the construction of Cassell just like everyone else.

Q: What do you think of home court advantage VT has now in the Cassell?

Chris: I think it is great!  I feel it is because of the enthusiasm of Hokie fans, just as it was when we played in War Memorial.

Q: What are your impressions of the Hokie program today and Coach Greenberg?

Chris: I like and respect Seth Greenberg and his staff.  He is an extremely hard worker, and he strongly believes in character as I do.  The players also respect him.

Q: Who was Tech’s biggest rivals during your playing days?

Chris: Even though we only played twice, I would say WVU was our main rival since we were always competing for the Southern Conference Crown.  In 1957-1958, WVU was ranked #1 for more than half the season.  The next year, they went to the NCAA championship and lost the finals to California.  The following year in 1960, we won the regular season conference championship with a 12-1 record while WVU was second with a 10-2 record.  We played them in the finals of the Southern Conference Tournament that year and lost to them after Jerry West fouled out.  [Note: We will have more on the 1960 Tournament from Chris's perspective later in the week.]

Q: Who would you compare Jerry West (the wvu legend who played at the same time as Chris) to in terms of playing style and how good he was compared to everyone else?

Chris: Jerry West was a great competitor who was extremely quick, fast, and agile.  His defensive ability was second-to-none, and he continually worked hard to improve, year after year.  Several broken noses did not keep him from rebounding during his college years and for his fist couple of years in the NBA.  Some thought he was second best only to Oscar Robertson, but I thought Jerry was the best.  My book describes my opinion of Jerry in detail.  [Jerry West is the player in the NBA's logo, though some talk of changing it to Michael Jordan has been discussed lately.]

Q: How much of a rivalry was VT and uva?

Chris: VT and UVA had a State Rivalry since we had what was called the Big Six including VT, UVA, VMI, W&M, Richmond, and W&L.  We only played UVA once each year, and it was most intense my sophomore year.  After losing during our freshman year at Charlottesville, we opened with UVA at Blacksburg.  My book describes a personal rivalry I had with Herb Busch, the huge UVA center.  He had earlier broken jaws and knocked out many teeth of opposing ACC players.  I describe in detail how I coped with this, and I was finally able to dish out some of my own elbows in self-defense.  Anyhow, we beat UVA at Blacksburg in War Memorial Gymnasium with our sophomore-loaded team and received a lot of attention.  UVA then received considerable attention when they went to Charleston, played the first game in the Charleston Civic Center, and beat West Virginia’s team that had been led by Jerry West and ranked #1 most of the previous year.  During the next two years, we were able to beat UVA easily.

Q: What are the biggest differences between the game when you played and today?

Chris: The players have gotten bigger and I feel (I’m sure to your surprise) that the game seems slower due to less fast breaks.  On the other hand, our offenses were more deliberate with more plays, shuffles, etc.  This has been replaced with more perimeter passing ending with long three-point shots.  I think this style of offense has been caused by the 3-point shot and the offensive time clock.  Walking was a strictly enforced rule in my day and seems to be ignored today.  I not saying that these differences or bad or good for the game.  I’m just pointing them out as differences.  As far as the knowledge of the game and the offensive and defensive techniques, I don’t feel that has changed so much.  While I played, basketball innovations such as the zone press and the four-corner slowdown offense were developed.

Q: Which of your teams was the best?

Chris:

Our freshman year was our weakest, but when we were on, we were competitive with almost any team.  We were on when we were focusing on rebounding and defense because we had an excellent fast break when we defended and rebounded well.   People forget, but Bobby Ayersman led the Southern Conference in scoring his freshman year with a 20.7 ppg average.  Also, we often shot well, but not always.  Bobby, Jitterbug Gilbert, and I averaged 21, 15, and 13 ppg for a total of 49 ppg as freshmen.  Our weak spots were we sometimes did not shoot as well and I was often in foul trouble.  Consequently, these inconsistencies caused our freshman year to be our least effective.

Several people thought our sophomore year was our best because of our rebounding, our excellent ball handling, our relentless fast break, and our outstanding outside shooting.   Dean Blake, Duke Rice, and I provided the rebounding, Louie Mills and Terry Penn were outstanding ball handlers, and Jitterbug and Bobby were superb in filling the lanes on fast breaks.  With regard to outside shooting, I’m not sure anyone could match Jitterbug when he was hot and that was about 60 to 70 percent of the time.  He had a 30-foot push shot that was outstanding, and it was not unusual to see him make 6 or 7 of these long-shots in a row.  Even though he substituted behind our Captain Terry Penn, Jitterbug still averaged about 16 ppg.  During our sophomore year, Bobby, Jitterbug, and I averaged about 60 ppg.  At the end of our regular season we were 16-4 and we were ranked in the top 20.  After the tournament, we fell out of the top 20 due to our first game tournament loss to GW, whom we had beaten twice during the season.  That year we lost to Marshall @ Huntington, 85-80, and we avenged that loss later in Bluefield; we lost to VMI in Lexington, 81-78, and we also later avenged that loss by beating them in Blacksburg by 58 points; we lost to W&M in Williamsburg, 59-58, and again we later avenged that loss by beating them in Blacksburg 74-68.  Our only other loss during our season was in OT to a good Louisiana Tech team in the championship game of the Gulf South Classic.  One other factor was that we only played eight games in Blacksburg, and we won all eight. In my opinion, we were good when we were on!

I felt our junior year was “our best chance for excellence” even though we lost our outstanding outside shooting because both Jitterbug Gilbert and Terry Penn were gone.  On the positive side, we picked up Bucky Keller, Dave Demarest, and John Fleischman.  That year, we only had five games at Blacksburg, and we had 13 on the road including Dayton, Toledo, and Navy, who were all ranked in the top 20.  We started well, set a scoring record at Annapolis while beating Navy at home, had a 12-2 record, and were ranked 15th nationally.  Then we had a loss to Dayton, who was ranked and had not lost a game at home for several years.  The next night, we had a close OT loss to nationally-ranked Toledo, and a week later we had our third straight loss to GW in Washington.  A week later, however, GW beat WV who had gone to the NCAA championship the year before.  Then we regrouped and won our final six games and went to the Southern Conference Tournament as the top seed since we had a Southern Conference Record of 12-1 and WV had a record of 10-2.  Our first two tournament wins against Richmond and GW gave us a record of 20-5. I thought that year we were competitive with anyone on a neutral court, and I felt we could compete well against WV in the Championship Game.  We had great athletes.  Bobby Ayersman, Louie Mills, and Bucky Keller were each outstanding high school football quarterbacks.  Dean Blake and Duke Rice did a great job  during the game as they took turns guarding Jerry West.  They held him to 14 points.  When Jerry fouled out in the third quarter, we were tied 49 to 49. Unfortunately, the rest of the WV team responded well and they scored on several long shots during the final 10 minutes of the game.  That Southern Conference Tournament Championship loss to WV gave us a final record of 20-6.  During the Southern Conference Tournament, Chuck Taylor of Converse attended all of the games and he selected me for his second team All-American Team.  Jerry West and I were also selected unanimously on the First Team All-Southern Conference Team.  That year I led the team in scoring for the first time.

The next year I knew our team would be challenged because we didn’t have Louie Mills, who had been the best ball-handler in the Southern Conference for the past two years.  Often, he made it easy for Bobby and me to score with his accurate passing.  Also, Louie was an excellent defensive player due to his quickness and toughness.  During my last year in 1960-1961, I was captain of the team and our team was receiving some early positive publicity.  During the preseason, we were ranked 15th and I was selected as a Dell Preseason All-American.  Bobby, Bucky, and Dean Blake were still there, and we had a new sophomore Lee Malear on the team. Lee was an outstanding shooter, but we didn’t have anyone to replace Louie’s ball-handling skills.  Also, we were not effective against the zone press, and we lost three games because we couldn’t get the ball down the floor effectively.  These losses were against WV at Morgantown, Richmond at Richmond, and GW during our opening game in the Tournament.   If we would have had Louie or even Frankie Alvis who was a freshman at the time, we would have won those games and would have been in the top ten.   That year I was selected to be the Captain of the Southern Conference Team.  One accomplishment we did have as a team was we won all of our games at Blacksburg and that meant we had won our last 26 games at War Memorial Gymnasium over a three and one-half year period.

Consequently looking back, I would have to say our best team was doing my junior year in 1959-1960 with Louie Mills, Bobby Ayersman, Bucky Keller, Dean Blake, Duke Rice, Bill Shepherd, Dave Demarest, John Fleischman, Managers Bill Chrisman and Jimmy Graves, Assistant Coach Bill “Moose” Matthews, Coach Noe, and me.

Q: How would your teams have done against the Hokies of today?

Chris: We may have competed better than most of today’s fans would expect.  We would not have given up, and we would have scrapped to the end.  I am speaking as a person who competed against some of the best until I was 40 in 1979.  Our “old man” teams always competed well against the younger teams in independent competition.

Q: Do you like the addition of the shot clock and three-point line?  Would you have liked them during your playing days?

Chris: I think the shot clock took away some good coaching options such as some of the good shuffle and slowdown offenses.  I described several of these offenses in my book.  Being an inside player who fought hard for every goal, I don’t feel the long shot deserves anymore points that an inside shot, but I’m sure I would not get any long-ball shooters to agree.

Q: Any final thoughts for all your Hokie fans out there?

Chris: They have always been great fans!

TechHoops.com would like to thank Chris for taking the time to do this interview with us and congratulate him on being named Virginia Tech’s 2010 ACC Tournament Legend, a well deserved honor!  Last year at the ACC Legends ceremony, the florida state representative came out in a garnet and gold suit with matching hat.  Let’s hope Chris doesn’t show up in a maroon and orange suit!

Popularity: 19% [?]

This is Part 1 of our two part interview with Chris Smith, VT’s 2010 ACC Tournament Legend.  Click here to read Part 2.

This Saturday at halftime of the first ACC Tournament semifinal game, Chris Smith will be introduced as Virginia Tech’s 2010 ACC Tournament Legend.  Chris joins John Wetzel (2009), Glen Combs (2008), Bimbo Coles (2007), Dell Curry (2006), and Allan Bristow (2005) as ACC Tournament Legends from Virginia Tech.

Chris Smith was an absolute force inside for the Hokies from 1957-61.  He doesn’t just hold every Virginia Tech rebounding record, he has a padlock on them.  It has been almost 50 years since his playing days ended but no one has come even close to reaching his rebound numbers.  Chris had 1,508 career boards, 129 ahead of second place (Bill Matthews) and more than 300 ahead of anyone that has played since Smith.  Smith has three of the top four rebounding averages in a season for the Hokies.  He averaged 20.4 rebounds in 1958-59, his sophomore season.  Chris followed that up with a 19.0 average the next year and “slipped” to 16.5 rebounds per game his senior year.  He also holds the single game record with 36 rebounds in a game against washington & lee in 1959.  To put that in perspective, that’s more rebounds he had by himself than VT had as a team in 12 games this season!

Chris was more than just a rebounder.  He still ranks 13th on the VT career scoring list with 1635 points.  But that doesn’t do him justice, as Tech played fewer games back then.  Smith averaged 18.6 ppg for his career, 8th best in Virginia Tech history.  His junior year Smith averaged 22.2 points per game to go along with those 19.0 rebounds!  And Chris believes that had blocked shots been tracked back then, his numbers in that category would have been even more astronomical.

The Hokies went 62-26 during Smith’s career, including losing to wvu in the finals of the 1960 Southern Conference Tournament.  After his career in Blacksburg was over, Chris was selected in the second round of the NBA Draft.  Chris decided to take a job with Union Carbide as a Production Engineer in his home state of West Virginia over trying out for the NBA.  We asked him about that decision and more.

Chris was selected as a charter member of the VT Hall of Fame in 1982.  Chris now has a web site at ChrisSmithPublishing.com and has published two books – ‘It’s More Than Just Winning!’ – focuses on Chris’s basketball experiences, amusing stories at Charleston High School and Virginia Tech, and the importance of character. Chris’s second book, ‘From the Shenandoah to the Kanawha’, is a biography of his first Smith immigrant ancestor.

TechHoops.com interviewed Chris Smith as he prepares for his induction as an ACC Tournament Legend.  The interview has been split into two parts, the first part focusing on Chris and his career, the second part looking into his thoughts on the game, Virginia Tech, and the rivalries.

Q: How much of an honor was it for you to be named the 2010 ACC Basketball Legend for Virginia Tech?

Chris: It was very much an honor.  For one thing, it is the ACC.  I’ve always felt that the ACC was and is the best basketball conference.  We only played UVA, South Carolina, and Wake Forest while I played at VT.  We did scrimmage Maryland at College Park just before my junior season started and we did well.  I played head-to-head against Al Bunge, who was the star of the Maryland team that year and was an ACC legend selection last year.  Our team performed well on their home floor, and we won the scrimmage, 67 to 60.  I had 24 points and 28 rebounds.  I was able later to get a film of the scrimmage from Lefty Driesell.  After the game, Bud Milliken, who just passed away recently, asked me to test my jumping ability on a rebound machine he had just purchased.  I had gotten a couple of dunks during our scrimmage and he told me he was impressed with my jumping ability.  I told him about my jumping exercises that I had been doing since the start of my freshman year.  He was very interested, and we had mutual respect for each other.  When he tested me, he had also had a high school recruit there from one of the Washington City high schools. His name was John Thompson, who later became the Georgetown coach.  My other contact with the ACC was playing against players who were playing in the ACC.  We had several players in our Kanawha Valley Summer Leagues including Les Robinson and John Key from NC State, Howard Hurt and Buzzy Harrison from Duke, and others. My younger brother had a football scholarship from Duke.

Q: Describe yourself as a player.

Chris: I would describe myself as a team player whose best team skill was helping out on defense by positioning myself away from my man (sluffing off as we called it) toward the ball and the basket in order to help clog up the middle as much as possible.  Since I felt my best skill was blocking shots, I was able to start many fast breaks by blocking shots toward our point guard, Louie Mills, who could read and know where I was going to slap the ball.  Then my next best skill was rebounding due to my ability to jump successively with multiple jumps especially from a standing position (versus running), my long lateral and vertical reach, and my upper torso strength from lots of pushup and boat rowing that I had done since I was twelve.

About half of my scoring was a result of my offensive rebounding.  Short left or right-handed hook shots and turn around jump shots provided the rest of my scoring.

I did very limited ball-handling and never filled lanes on our fast breaks.  After getting rebounds and initiating a fast breaks, I often got my wind back by “holding back” on my return to the offensive end of the floor while hoping to see a successful fast break.  That provided time to reenergize myself.  The only problem was that when our fast break did not work, Louie would hold up our break until I ran the floor from end-to-end and that was sometimes embarrassing.

Q: You rank #1 on the Hokies’ rebounding list, with 1,508 rebounds, and you have three of the top four single season rebounding averages in VT history.  What made you such a great rebounder?

Chris: Jumping rope, performing the 300-jump routines [he'd jump 100 times and touch the backboard with one hand, then 100 more with the other, then 100 with both], off-season jumping on one leg, and trying to take care of my ankles as much as possible helped me to improve my jumping.  Also the one-on-one sessions for two hours after the regular practices with the 1956 Player of Virginia, Moose Matthews, provided an great opportunity for improvement during my freshman and sophomore years.

Q: Shot goes up, hits the back of the rim and pops way up in the air.  You’re underneath with Dennis Rodman and Charles Barkley.  Who gets the rebound of the three of you?

Chris: First, the better the competition, the more challenged I felt.  I would never be intimidated.  Second, I would try to get side by side to limit their movement so we would all be jumping from a standing versus a moving position.  At times, I might even check them away from the basket.  If the ball did not get retrieved initially, I would continue to jump toward the ball repeatedly until someone had possession of it.

Q: Do you think your Tech or Southern Conference rebound records will ever be broken?  Ace Custis came the closest and he was still over 300 short of you.

Chris: Teams play more games today.  If you look at rebounds per game and not total rebounds, I think the records will hold.  After all, it has been almost 50 years.  Also, if you look at my three year average by eliminating my freshman year when I was in foul trouble almost every game, my average rebounds per game would be 19 per game rather 17.

Q: What was your best game as a Hokie?

Chris: Mike Harris’s book, ’Game of my Life‘ (pages 177 to 184) describes my game against Marshall during my sophomore year when I had 30 points and 31 rebounds along with several blocked shots.  But I had several games where I felt I was able to often “control the game” with my rebounding and shot blocking.

During our 1958-1959 season, these games included our 85-73 win over UVA @ Blacksburg (18 points, 19 rebounds, and held big Herb Busch to 6 points), our 105-24 win over W&L @ Blacksburg (24 points, 36 rebounds) after leading 41-4 at halftime as a result of W&L slowdown offense and our full court zone press, our 93-80 win over Marshall @ Bluefield (31 points, 30 rebounds, and several blocked shots), our 74-68 win over William & Mary @ Blacksburg (14 points, 24 rebounds, and several blocked shots), our 104-66 win over Richmond @ Blacksburg (20 points, 27 rebounds, and “a dozen spectacular blocked shots” as reported by newspapers), and our 91-84 win over GW @ Washington (28 points, 23 rebounds, and several blocked shots).

Then during our 1959-1960 season, these games included our opening 75-62 win over GW (19 points, 21 rebounds, and “blocked a 12-15 shots” as reported by several sportswriters), our Watauga Invitational Tournament games with Tennessee Tech and host East Tennessee State when we won the Tournament and I was selected MVP, our 82-61 win over Mississippi State in Sugar Bowl Classic (set rebound record),  our 79-72 win over Marshall @ The Charleston Civic Center (26 points, 20 rebounds, and several blocked shots), our 95-93 OT win over VMI @ Lexington (41 points, 27 rebounds, and many blocked shots), our 89-78 win over Navy @ Annapolis (25 points, 16 rebounds, several blocked shots, and MVP of our only televised game), our 82-66 win over W&M @ Williamsburg (23 points, 14 rebounds, and several blocked shots to hold down Jeff Cohen of W&M under double figures until I fouled out), our 86-74 win over Citadel @ Charleston (31 points, 19 rebounds, and several blocked shots), our 100-71 win over VMI @ Blacksburg (32 points, 31 rebounds, and several blocked shots), and our Southern Conference Tournament games including our 78-58 win over Richmond (34 points, 27 rebounds which was a single game record for Tournament), and our 88-52 win over GW (25 points, 28 rebounds which broke my record set the day before). [Note: We'll have more from Chris and the 1960 Southern Conference Tournament later in the week.]

During my 1960-1961 final season, these games included our 76-54 opening win over Richmond (25 points, 25 rebounds), and our 106-75 win over South Carolina (28 points, 20 rebounds).  I also had two good games in the Birmingham Classic and was selected MVP even though we lost to Auburn.

Q: Off the court, what’s your favorite memory of Virginia Tech?

Chris: Crossing the drill field several times each day was my favorite thing to do and my favorite memory.   I spoke to everyone, and they spoke back to me in a very friendly way.  This mutual respect we had for each other taught me a lot about people.

Q: After your time at Virginia Tech ended, you were taken in the 2nd round of the NBA Draft by Syracuse.  You ultimately decided to go work for Union Carbide as an engineer instead.  What were the biggest factors on your decision?

Chris: First I had to decide if I could make it in the NBA and decide how well I could do.  What I needed to do was to play with and against some of the players drafted by the NBA and some of the players who were playing in the NBA.  So, after our senior season, our seniors played in several independent games and Tournaments.  First, Louie Mills, who was from Roanoke, organized a game with Lenny Rosenbluth’s All Americans in the Salem Civic Center.  Rosenbluth’s North Carolina team had won the National Championship against Kansas and Wilt Chamberlain in 1957 and we felt he was loaded with talent.   We had our VT players including Moose Matthews, Bobby Ayersman, Dean Blake, and Louie Mills.  We then recruited Bucky Bolyard, who was coaching at VMI and had played for WVU during the Hundley/West years.  During the game, we out-rebounded them badly, and Louie, Bobby, Dean, and Bucky ran the fast break perfectly as we won by 33 points, 104 to 71.

The following week we played in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, there were several teams with ACC players, mostly from Duke, N C State, and Maryland.  Many of the players had been drafted, and we were all trying to compete and measure our potential for making it in pro ball.  I felt pretty good about the experience because we won the tournament and I was selected as the Tournament MVP.

The next weekend was the Tournament of all Tournaments right in my hometown of Charleston, WV.  Jerry West had a team of West Virginians.  We had a Virginia Tech team with Bobby, Louie, Dean, and me along with Hal Geer and Wayne Embry. Also there was a group of Dayton players with Arlen Bockhorn and Elgin Baylor.  The fourth group was an ACC group.  We beat the WV group and the ACC team lost to Elgin Baylor’s group.  So we played in the championship game against the Elgin Baylor/Dayton team and we lost on a last second shot.  I was fortunate to make the All-Tournament team with West, Baylor, Cleo Hill (the number 1 pro draft choice my senior year) and Arlen Bockhorn, who made the last second shot against us.  I felt honored being the only one on our team who made the All-Tournament Team while playing with two NBA Hall-of-Famers, Hal Greer and Wayne Embry.  I’ve described this in detail in my book.  Based on these experiences, I concluded I could play professional basketball successfully.   So I had to choose between basketball and chemical engineering.  The money was not that great in the NBA at the time.  Also, I wasn’t certain about my ankles and knees after several 100-plus game seasons.

Q: Do you ever regret not giving the NBA a shot?

Chris: Intermittently, I wondered if I made the right decsision, but fortunately I played in that same Charleston Sportsman Tournament each year.  This was because Jerry West and Rod Hundley had the Tournament sponsors place me on their team.  This gave me an opportunity in 1962 to play against the great Ohio State team and later against a team with Oscar Robertson and Nate Thurmond.  That year, I was able to guard Jerry Lucas the second half and slow him down by blocking two of his shots, but John Havlicek made up the difference.  The next night I was able to block one of Oscar’s hook shots.  In 1963, we had Hot Rod Hundley, Jerry West, me, Bucky Bolyard, and Bill Russell.  Hot Rod, who played on several All Pro Teams said that was the best starting five he ever played with.  In 1964, I was able to play with Hot Rod, Jerry West, and Rod Thorn, the only time they ever played together.  Tom Lowry and I did the rebounding against two first team consensus All-American centers, Gary Bradds and Len Chappell and we out rebounded them.  After that in the summer of 1964, I received an invitation to tryout with LA.  Reluctantly, I turned it down but I felt it was quite an honor.

Click here to read Part 2.  It focuses on Chris’s thoughts of the Hokie program today, the rivalries, and the game in general.

Popularity: 36% [?]

Let’s take a look back at the regular season that was, including how teams’ did against their predictions, how the teams have done over the last six years, and look ahead to the ACC Tournament starting this Thursday.

The ACC seedings went right down to the wire.  clemson needed to beat wake Sunday night to get a bye and be the #3 seed.  But wake held serve at home and clemson falls all the way to the #6 seed and florida state gets the #3 seed and a bye.  By the way, can you tell it is March yet?  Sunday’s two ACC games featured two bloody eyes – one for nc state’s Dennis Horner (probably made him less ugly) and one to clemson’s Trevor Booker.  And Mike Gminski called the VT/gt game the most physical he’s seen all season.  But now the regular season is over and things really get cranked up.

Here are the final standings with seedings for the ACC Tournament.  The top four get a bye to Friday.

1. duke (13-3)
2. maryland (13-3)
3. fsu (10-6)
4. VIRGINIA TECH (10-6)
5. wake (9-7)
6. clemson (9-7)
7. georgia tech (7-9)
8. boston college (6-10)
9. uva (5-11)
10. unc (5-11)
11. nc state (5-11)
12. miami (4-12)

Note that VT was 0-3 against the top three teams, 3-0 against the teams in the fifth through seventh spots, and 7-3 against the bottom five.

So how did the media and I do at guessing these standings?  Let’s take a look.  Keep in mind that my preseason rankings were done before the start of the season and my pre-ACC rankings were done just before VT’s first ACC game against unc in early January.

_

Looks like Niemo took the media members to school!  In my preseason rankings (done at the same time as the media’s), I was closer to the actual finish on seven teams.  The media was closer on just two and had three of the same picks.  My preseason assessment that maryland’s experience would help them greatly was dead on.  I figured georgia tech was too young and had too tough of a schedule to finish near the top of the league and I was exactly right with them at 7th.  I also figured unc would struggle but I was too much of a wimp to put them lower than 2nd so no credit to me there.  I was wrong about florida state, having them at just 8th.

I was within two spots on every team in my preseason rankings except for two: unc and fsu.  I was right on with three teams, off by one on five teams, and off by two on two teams.  Not too shabby.

In my pre-ACC rankings I had a brain fart and dropped maryland way down.  I was closer on five teams in that ranking, compared to the media beating me on three.  So even with two months of game experience, it turned out my preseason guesses were a lot better.  Next year I’ll just stick with my gut from the preseason.

THE ACC’S LAST SIX SEASONS:

The Hokies have now received a bye in four of their six years in the league.  Tell me they aren’t the most unappreciated program in the league.  That number is third best in the ACC over that span.  In fact, Tech, unc, and duke are the only teams with more than two! Here is a look at regular season records over the last six years (five for bc) and first round byes:

Note: georgia tech’s bye in 2004-05 was as the #5 seed since there were only 11 teams then.

As you can see from that chart, the Hokies are tied with wake for the fourth most wins in ACC regular season games over the last six years, and are tied with wake and bc in winning percentage at 50%.  Just duke, unc, and maryland are over .500 in that stretch.

You can also see that every team has at least one bye except for miami.  As I pointed out above, VT, duke, and unc are at least doubling everyone else.

ACC TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE:

Thursday:

• Noon – #8 bc vs #9 uva
• ~2:20 PM – #5 wake vs #12 miami
• 7 PM – #7 georgia tech vs #10 unc
• ~9:20 PM – #6 clemson vs #11 nc state

Friday:

• Noon – #1 duke vs bc/uva winner
• ~2:20 PM – #4 VIRGINIA TECH vs wake/miami winner
• 7 PM – #2 maryland vs georgia tech/unc winner
• ~9:20 PM – #3 fsu vs clemson/nc state winner

Saturday:

• 1:30 PM – duke/bc/uva vs VT/wake/miami
• ~3:50 PM – md/gt/unc vs fsu/clemson/ncsu

Sunday: Championship Game at 1 PM

I said yesterday I’d rather face wake than fsu because I thought the Hokies matched up better with the deacs.  But upon further thinking, playing wake could have its issues, too.  Greensboro is only about the length of a marathon run away from wake forest, so the deacons could have a lot of fans there, especially if unc is eliminated on Thursday.  But I expect the Hokies will travel well too and can negate any near-hometown advantage.  And wake has been slumping, losing four in a row including to nc state and unc before beating clemson at home to close out the regular season.

Good omen: The Hokies have won their first tournament game in 10 straight tournaments, dating back to the 2006 Old Spice Classic in Orlando.  In fact, the current junior class has never lost their first game of a tournament.  Tech has not played in a tournament yet this year though.

Coaching Changes?  Will Sidney Lowe or Paul Hewitt get fired?  nc state is just 20-44 in ACC play under Lowe and haven’t won more than six games in any of his four seasons.  Herb Sendek, whom they ran out of town, finished with a winning ACC record in four of his final five seasons in Raleigh.  It is interesting to note though that state had a losing record in Sendek’s first five seasons though.  And Lowe has a killer class coming in.  But I’d fire him, he’s a terrible coach.

Paul Hewitt got georgia tech to the 2004 Final Four but things have been bleak ever since.  The jackets have not had a winning ACC record in the last six seasons, and have had a losing season four of the last five years (including 2-14 last year).  As I’ve noted all season, Hewitt has no idea how to win on the road.  georgia tech is just 6-34 away from the ATL the last five ACC seasons.  I’d probably give him one more year.  He sure can recruit but hasn’t been able to turn it into much of anything.  And if gt finished .500 or below next year, I’d axe him.

Rock Bottom for uva: The hoos have lost nine straight ACC games since starting 5-2.  Junior Mike Scott has been benched a lot lately due to lack of intensity.  And now star Sylven Landesberg has been suspended for the rest of the season for academic issues.  There’s a good chance he won’t be back next year.  It could get worse for the hoos.

Hokies Outlook in the ACC Tournament: VT could easily lose their quarterfinal match-up, especially if it is wake.  But you also have to like the Hokies chances of winning it all.  Tech showed they can play with duke and maryland, the co-regular season champs.  The Hokies would likely have to beat duke in the semi-finals to get to the title game, but getting duke at a neutral site, where the common fans would jump on the Hokie bandwagon, would help.  But first things first, Tech has to win their quarterfinal contest.  A key concern will also be how Zo Hudson’s foot holds up, especially if VT does advance and has to play on consecutive days.  But guards are key in tournaments and the Hokies are strong there, hence why they win in tournaments.

Popularity: 33% [?]

Popularity: 19% [?]

Randoms:

• THIS IS THE FOURTH TIME IN SIX YEARS IN THE ACC THE HOKIES HAVE EARNED A FIRST ROUND BYE. Think about that for a minute.  Top third in the league 67% of the time… in basketball.  Plus 3 football titles (50%).  Yep, VT owns the ACC.
• Key to the Game: I said VT had to hold gt to 33% of less on offensive rebounds.  The jackets got 13 offensive rebounds in 47 opportunities (just 28%).  That = win VT.  The Hokies were absolutely great on the glass and Manny Atkins was a big part of that with 7 boards.
• This is TechHoops.com, not techHoops.com (those of you that regularly read this site get the joke).
• Terrell Bell got his first career double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
• Jeff Allen got his second double-double in three games with 17 points and 10 rebounds (and 26th of his career).  He’s averaging 20 ppg and 11.3 rpg over the last three games.
• Victor Davila had 10 points tonight (I think 8 were on dunks), his first 10 point game since 12/9.
• Malcolm Delaney’s four made 3-pointers (4/7) were his most made threes since 12/22 when he also hit four against umbc.  He is 7/13 on threes in the last two games.  Malcolm was 20/84 (24%) to start ACC play before the last two games.
• Delaney also chipped in 9 assists yesterday, tying his season high (he had 9 in the first miami meeting).  It was one below his career high of 10 which he set twice last year.
• VT had 16 assists, their most since the second unc game eight games ago.
• Lewis Witcher scored two points, giving him six in the last two games (he had two points total in Tech’s first 14 ACC games).
• Manny Atkins had a career high 7 rebounds and 5 assists, and set his ACC high with 5 points.  One of the assists was a great pass on the break to Davila that set up a dunk (nice to see the Hokies pass on the break).
• VT is now 10-3 all time against georgia tech, including 6-2 in ACC play.
• VT is 3-1 at georgia tech since joining the conference.
• The Hokies had lost four straight regular season finales until today.
• Tech shot 51% from the field, just the fourth time all season they shot over 50% from the field.
• VT hit 8/10 threes in the first half (yet led by just 6 at the break), and hit just 1/7 in the second stanza.  How did they win then?  24/29 from the FT line in the 2nd half.  gt was just 11/17.
• Tech’s 9/17 effort on threes marked the first time all season they shot over 50% from behind the arc.  They were 5/10 against seton hall but other than that were below 50%.
• VT shot over 71% from the foul line in 13 of their 16 ACC games (shot 81% yesterday).  They shot over 80% from the line in 7 of their final 12 ACC games.
• The Hokies shot 51% for the game, the jackets just 38%.
• VT won points off turnovers 15-10 and won the game by 6.  No coincidence in my opinion.  But they committed 6 more turnovers than the jackets.  Tech just did a better job converting them into points.
• The Hokies started the game with a 14-0 advantage in fast break points, again a huge key to the game.
• The Hokies will play in the quarterfinals the winner of miami (#12 seed) or fsu/wake (#5 seed).  If wake wins tomorrow, it is wake.  If clemson wins tomorrow, it is fsu.  I’d rather play wake to be honest.  I think fsu is a tougher match-up, and not just because they beat us.

WE MADE THE BIG DANCE!!! How good does it feel?

• VT finished 3-3 against the top seven teams in the league (not bad, certainly respectable)
• The Hokies were 7-3 against the bottom five teams, whom they played all of twice (I’d take that)
• Tech was 3-5 on the road in ACC play this season.  I think anyone would take that.  VT was 3-5 on the road the last three seasons.  They were 4-4 in 2006-07.
• What a year!  Now we just need Zo Hudson to rest up.

Popularity: 31% [?]

At the top of USA Today’s “Top News” section for College Basketball: Article on VT

In ESPN.com’s Weekend Watch – Bubble Trouble article they talk about the importance of the VT/gt game for the Hokies: Blurb on the Game…

“Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech (ESPN360, 4 p.m. ET): The Hokies are two games better than the Yellow Jackets in the ACC standings, but there’s little debate about which team needs a win here more. Georgia Tech played a much tougher schedule and has more high-end victories. The Hokies lost three of their past four games and could really use another win over an RPI top-50 foe. That said, the Yellow Jackets probably shouldn’t drop to 7-9 in the down ACC.“

Popularity: 26% [?]

DC area Hokie fans – Come on out to the Clarendon (Arlington) Hard Times Cafe to watch the VT/gt game at 4 PM Saturday and enjoy a FREE CHILI BUFFET and Saturday drink specials!  This is the TechHoops.com end of the regular season party.  Hard Times has been great to us all season long and will show us another fantastic time.  We will be up on the second floor in their Hokie-themed room.

The Clarendon Hard Times is at 3028 Wilson Blvd in Arlington.

Popularity: 7% [?]

THE SETUP

The stakes at hand for the Hokies on Saturday are real simple:

• Win and they’ve punched their ticket to the Big Dance
• Win and they’ve earned a First Round bye in the ACC Tournament

I truly believe the Hokies have a great shot at winning the ACC Tournament.  They played the two first place teams very tough – they had two opportunities to beat maryland last weekend in 2 OTs and led duke on the road with less than 10 minutes to play.  But the Hokies have to earn that first round bye to have a real shot.  It is too much to ask for the Hokies to win four games in four days.  VT will garner a first round bye with either a win this weekend against georgia tech, or if wake beats clemson on Sunday in Winston-Salem (Go deacs!).

More importantly to most Hokie fans though is that NCAA Tournament bid.  Pretty much all the talking heads that do bracketology have the Hokies in the tourney right now.  A loss to the jackets though would put in back in the Committee’s hands (depending on what VT does in the ACC Tournament).  Leaving it up to the NCAA Tournament Committee is something that has not faired well for Tech the last two years.  But with a win Tech gets to 10 ACC wins and 23 overall and there is no way they don’t get in with that resume.  The Committee would have to be certifiably insane to not let a team in with those marks.  That would be like a bouncer shutting out a 5′9″ blonde with D’s from a club.  But with a loss to the jackets and we drop down to a 5′6″ brunette with C’s but a couple extra pounds.  Good, but not a sure thing.

VT won’t have history on their side Saturday.  Home teams have dominated ACC games this year, winning around two-thirds of the games.  But road teams were 5-1 last weekend (gt was the only team to win at home).

Another thing working against the Hokies is they have lost their regular season finale four years in a row.  Three years ago it cost them an ACC regular season title, losing at home to clemson.  Two years ago it likely cost them a NCAA Tournament bid at clemson.  And last year it pull the nail in their NIT coffin at fsu.

THE SERIES

The Hokies have absolutely owned the lesser tech all-time.  VT is 9-3 against the jackets, including 5-2 in ACC play.  The Hokies are even 3-1 in Atlanta, including 2-1 since joining the league.  Tech has won two in a row in the series but both were in Blacksburg.  VT won 76-71 last year in the only meeting.

THE OPPONENT

The Good News: georgia tech is absolutely horrible on the road, going 1-7 in ACC play this year and 6-34 (think about that for a minute) over the last five ACC seasons.

The Bad News: This game is in Atlanta where the jackets are 14-1 this year, including 6-1 in ACC action with wins over duke, clemson, and wake.  The Hokies will really have their work cut out for them to win on the road on georgia tech’s Senior Day.

georgia tech, despite going 2-14 in conference last year, were a trendy pick to get a bye (top 4 seed) this year due to their recruiting class.  But as usual, freshmen haven’t been as good as people thought, georgia tech (thanks to Coach Paul Hewitt) has underachieved, and gt still can’t win a road game.  They sit in 7th place and can only move up to the 6th seed at best for the ACC Tourney.

Despite Virginia Tech’s past success against gt, this is the exact type of team the Hokies struggle with.  The jackets have good size (every starter is 6′5″ or taller), and have talent inside.  6′9″ Gani Lawal is an absolute beast.  At one point earlier in the year he was my pick to be the ACC Player of the Year.  But he’s fallen off a bit on the scoring end, averaging just 13.5 ppg (he is their leading scorer).  Gani has been held to single digits in five of the last nine games after scoring 10+ in 15 of the first 18 games.  But he also grabs nine rebounds per contest.  Gani also blocks 1-1/2 shots per game.

Despite being a shot blocker, he doesn’t foul much and rarely is in serious foul trouble (read: he doesn’t work that hard on defense, just likes blocking shots).  But he has a solid mid-range game and great low post moves.  Lawal can play facing the hoop or with his back to it, and has close to 100 offensive rebounds on the year.  gt should be feeding him the ball more than they do, he’s their best player right now.

With Lawal slipping slightly on the offensive end, 5-star freshman (and ACC Preseason Rookie of the Year) Derrick Favors has stepped up his game.  The 6′10″ top 5 recruit from a year ago has shot 50% or better in 12 of the last 14 games.  In gt’s last four games he’s averaging 16 ppg and just under 10 rebounds.  Yeah, he’s good and is really peaking right now.  The good news is Virginia Tech shouldn’t have to worry about facing him next season, or Lawal for that matter.  Favors should be yet another one-and-done jacket (Kenny Anderson, Stephon Marbury, Thaddeus Young, and Gilbert Arenas’s buddy Javaris Crittendon).

The jackets then start three guards.  Early in the year freshman Mfon Udofia was seeing a lot of action at the point but his time has all but evaporated.  Now Iman Shumpert is seeing most of the minutes as the floor general.  He is yet another stud point guard recruit of the jackets.  His numbers have actually gone down this year in almost every category, but that is the Favors factor.  Shumpert can score 30 like he did against unc or 24 like he did against bc, or he can get shutout like he did in consecutive games against wake forest and unc in the second meeting.  So you never know what you’ll see from him.  Iman doesn’t have a great assist-to-turnover ratio (1.3) and will still make dumb decisions.  georgia tech in general makes a lot of mistakes, averaging 16 turnovers per game (third most in the ACC).  That is great news for the Hokies who need turnovers to fuel their transition game.

The other two starting guards are mostly role players.  6′6″ D’Andre Bell is a Terrell Bell clone.  Tall and lanky but a good defender.  D’Andre is also very selective about the shots he takes.  He is hitting 45% of his threes, but has shot just 29.  At the other guard is freshman Glen Rice, Jr, yes, the son of Glen Rice.  While that Rice was a match-up nightmare – a tall guard that could shoot from anywhere inside half court, his son does his damage inside the arc.  Rice has shot just 45 threes, but he has hit 47% so he can be a threat if he gets hot.  He hit 4/5 threes against wake and hit 3/6 in their last game, a loss at clemson.  Bell and Rice average just 11.6 ppg combined.  They remind me a lot of how Hudson and T-Bell were before Zo realized what a great scorer he is.  Rice could get to Zo like numbers soon.

The jackets have three guys on their bench that average more than Bell or Rice.  And because they love to press, they depend on their bench a lot.  No one averages even 29 minutes for them.  Zachary Peacock is a dependable commodity off the bench.  The senior has averaged in the 9-10 point range the last three years and is a great mid-range shooter.  He is hitting 51% of his shots this year.  He also shoots over 40% on threes, though again averages less than two attempts per game.

Freshman Brian Oliver (yes, another descendant of a NBA player and in this case a former jacket) gives the jackets 7.7 ppg off the bench.  Almost all his damage is from behind the arc – he is also shooting over 40% on threes and has made 56 of them.  The funny thing is his dad was more of a low post player, so they are opposites in their game, just like the Rice’s.

Finally is the aforementioned Mfon Udofia.  The 6′2″ freshman was bombing treys early in the year but is in an Erick Green like slump of late – he’s hit just one three-pointer in their last 10 games.  He’ll only see about 10 minutes.  In his place, the forgotten stud recruit guard has seen more time – Maurice Miller.  Miller has played 17 or more minutes in the last five games and has averaged just under 7 ppg in that stretch.  Yes, they have a lot of depth at point guard, they just aren’t that good compared to their expectations and all turn the ball over a lot.

georgia tech plays an uber aggressive style.  They press full court and love to trap.  Unlike clemson’s press that is really about creating turnovers, the jacket press seems more interested in either stealing your wallet or seeing how many bruises that can inflict.  They will mug you.  If the refs are letting them play on Saturday, VT is in trouble.  The Hokies can get easy looks by making extra passes, and getting the ball over the press as they do so well.  Or take jacket live-ball turnovers and convert them into transition opportunities, something VT has done a better job with of late (i.e. not settling for 18-foot jumpers on 2-on-1 breaks).

On offense the jackets also will be aggressive.  gt shoots 46% from the field, 2nd best in the ACC, and 37% on threes, 3rd best in the conference.  They don’t mind getting shots up quick and then they will rain down on the offensive glass like a tsunami.  Again, let’s hope the refs are calling over the back and the Hokies must do a good job on the boards.  They must get in position to box out and have everyone helping.  Then look for an outlet and burn the jackets up the court.  But secure the ball first.

And the jackets weakness on offense if foul shooting.  They hit just 65% from the line.  This could be key in a close game late – foul early if behind.

SIX PACK OF KEYS TO WINNING:

• Hat Trick for Allen: Jeff has scored 43 points and grabbed 24 rebounds in 77 minutes in VT’s last two games.  The Hokies absolutely must keep him on the floor.  Two quick fouls in this one and the Hokies are in a world of hurt.  Tech needs him as much for his defense against Lawal or Favors as they do for his offense.
• Make the jackets Earn their Points: Even though georgia tech shoots a solid 37% from behind the arc, I’d rather force them to beat you from there.  Don’t let them pound it inside and get easy buckets in the paint, or crowd-riling dunks from Favors or Peacock or Lawal.
• Windex: And if you force georgia tech to beat you from three-point range, that means you have to get rebounds to get stops.  VT must box out the aggressive jackets, and then look to push the ball to use their aggressiveness against them.  gt grabs 39% of their misses – the Hokies need to hold them under that (around 33%) to win.
• 4-Star Turnover: The jackets have three 4-star point guards, one from each of the past three years.  But they average 6.5 turnovers per game combined to just 8.6 assists (read: throw the ball to Lawal and Favors!  Their PGs are selfish.).  The Hokies need to do what they’ve done all season – win the Points off Turnover battle by turning jacket mistakes into transition hopes.  Get easy buckets off gt before they can set their press up.
• Read Your Calendar: It is March and VT needs to start playing every game like it is a NCAA Tournament play-in game, because that’s just what this is.  Luckily, it might still be double elimination for the Hokies.  But it is time to crank things up to tournament intensity, and that means not starting 3/13 from the floor like they did the other night.
• Remember 2008 and 2009: The Hokies were left out of the dance in 2008 when they really felt they deserved to be in.  They didn’t make it last year because they just couldn’t close out big games late in the season (and had bad losses early).  Here’s your chance at redemption.  Here is your chance to say we are crashing the party and there is nothing you can do about it.  Tech’s worked so hard to be in this position, now let’s rip up that NIT invitation.  VT has a lot to play for (NCAA bubble and clinch a First Round bye) while gt has very little to play for (they will be the 6th or 7th seed no matter what).

STARTERS:

Note: Let’s hope Zo’s foot holds up.  He was in a boot most of Wednesday yet played 37 minutes against the pack.

STATS:

Hot Hokies:

• Malcolm Delaney has hit 15/29 shots in his last two games (52%).  He had been shooting 74/205 (36%) in ACC games before that.
• Jeff Allen has scored double digits in 8 of 10 games.  He had been held under 10 in 5 of the 6 games before that to start ACC play.
• Allen’s 24 rebounds in the last two games were more than in his previous five (20 boards).  Jeff’s 77 minutes were more than in his previous four games combined.
• Lewis Witcher has 4 points against nc state on Senior Night.  He had just 2 total points in ACC action before that.
• Zo Hudson is averaging 18.1 ppg in his last 7 games and has scored in double digits in every ACC game but one.

Not so Hot:

• VT has been outrebounded in 7 of their last 9 games.
• Erick Green is 5/40 (13%) in ACC play and has missed 12 shots in a row.
• Victor Davila has scored 6 or less in 11 straight games and hasn’t hit double digits since December 9th.
• The Hokies have lost 4 straight regular season finales.

Popularity: 23% [?]

With clemson’s win over georgia tech and fsu’s win over wake, the Hokies sit tied for third at 9-6 with clemson and fsu. That said, wake sits at 8-7 with a game at home against clemson lurking Saturday and fsu has to play at miami. Here are the scenarios with the games left:

• VT wins over georgia tech on Saturday, clemson loses to wake forest, and fsu loses to miami: VT finishes 3rd
• VT wins over georgia tech on Saturday, clemson beats wake forest, and fsu loses to miami: VT finishes 3rd
• VT loses to georgia tech, clemson loses to wake, and fsu loses to miami: VT finishes 3rd
• VT wins over georgia tech on Saturday, clemson beats wake forest, and fsu beats miami: VT finishes 4th
• VT wins over georgia tech on Saturday, clemson loses to wake forest, and fsu beats miami: VT finishes 4th
• VT loses to georgia tech, clemson loses to wake, and fsu beats miami: VT finishes 4th
• VT loses to georgia tech, clemson beats wake, and fsu loses to miami: VT finishes 5th
• VT loses to georgia tech, clemson beats wake, and fsu beats miami: VT finishes 5th

So, it is that simple. If VT wins at georgia tech on Saturday, they get a first round bye for the 4th time in six years in the ACC, no matter what. But in only two of the four scenarios where they lose do they get a bye. In other words, Tech has to earn it (but Tech’s chances are pretty good either way). So root for VT and root for wake. If wake wins on Sunday, VT gets a bye no matter what. But VT’s game against georgia tech will have already been decided by that point.

Popularity: 59% [?]

Boxscore

LEWWWWWWWWWWWWW! WE WANT DEBNAM! The Hokies picked up an absolute must-win on Senior Night in Blacksburg and closed the home season (we hope) at 15-1 by defeating the nc state wolfpack 71-59. The Hokies swept the season series against the pack and have won three in a row over state after dropping six in a row.

There were three keys to the game: nc state turnovers, nc state offensive rebounds, and Hokie points in the paint. VT forced 20 nc state turnovers, limited the pack to 11 offensive rebounds (after grabbing 27 in the first meeting), and Tech scored 34 points in the paint on 16 layups/dunks (state had 22 points in the paint). The Hokies also hit 16 layups/dunks in the first game. That’s 32 layups/dunks in two games against state! Read: Sidney Lowe can’t coach defense. Part of this is the Hokies made much better decisions on the break, not settling for pull-up jumpers when they had numbers.

Tech played an absolutely perfect game in Raleigh except for one thing – they gave up 27 offensive rebounds in the first meeting in 55 opportunities (just a 51% defensive rebounding Percentage). But tonight the Hokies were great on the glass, grabbing 19 of 30 defensive rebounds (63%). And nc state had just three offensive rebounds in the first half.

Turnovers plagued the pack again tonight. They turned the ball over just 15 times (‘just’ is a bit generous, 15 is slightly high). But tonight state had 13 turnovers at the half, including four by point guard Javier Gonzalez. “He’s scored more points for Tech than he has for nc state,” Bill Roth on nc state’s Javier Gonzalez. That pretty much says it all about the nc state point guard.

Malcolm Delaney and Dorenzo Hudson finished with a game-high 21 points. While it was great that Delaney shot 50% for the second game in a row (6/12), the bigger tip of the cap has to go to Zo. He was VERY questionable going into tonight (was seen wearing a protective boot before the game) but scored 21 points on 7/14 shooting and played 37 minutes.

Delaney might as well forget his acting lessons, his ham jobs aren’t working anymore. Refs simply won’t give him the calls they used to give him, or give any other star in the ACC (reference Hansbrough). But he did step up in the second half by knocking down shots. After state cut Tech’s nine-point halftime lead to two with 16:15 to go in the game, Malcolm hit three big treys that pushed the lead to 11 and jump-started an 11-0 run for the Hokies that put the game away. state never got closer than seven after that point. Delaney finished 3/6 on threes. This was just the second time since the florida state game (13 games) that Malcolm had made more than two three-pointers.

Why the Hokies didn’t feed the ball to Jeff Allen on every possession this game I will never know. For the second straight game he stayed out of foul trouble and had a monster game with 18 points on 6/10 shooting. He also chipped in nine rebounds, just missing a double-double.

This game did not have the same recipe for success the game three weeks ago in Raleigh had. In that game, the Hokies hit their first 10 shots on their way to a 26-7 lead in the first nine minutes. Tonight the Hokies trailed 9-7 after nine minutes and had made just three of their first 13 shots (23%). But then the Hokies caught fire again against the porous wolfpack defense. The Hokies closed out the half making 12 of their final 18 shots (67%) and used a 14-2 run to close to half to lead by nine at the break. In comparison, VT led by 11 in Raleigh at the half so it wasn’t much of a difference.

Despite the hot end to the first half, the Hokies still really struggled on threes and free throws. Tech was 0/7 on threes in the first half and just 1/5 from the line (Hudson was 0/3, perhaps because of his foot injury). Speaking of threes, nc state didn’t make a three in the meeting at state but hit a three-pointer with just under eight minutes left in the first half, stopping their three-less streak at 52 minutes against the Hokies. But in the second half the Hokies got back to fundamentals – they hit 3/5 threes (60%) and 19/23 free throws (83%).

Note: It was an odd starting lineup for the Hokies on Senior Night with Allen, Delaney, and Hudson starting, but Witcher and Debnam (Tech’s seniors) also starting.

Popularity: 27% [?]

Update: Zo Hudson ended up starting the game...

Seth Greenberg on the pregame radio show mentioned that he wasn’t sure if Dorenzo Hudson would be able to go tonight.  As the Washington Post reported earlier this week, he has been battling a foot injury since the fsu game in mid-January and he did leave the court Saturday night against maryland.  The Post reported he had been seen in a walking boot over the weekend.

Lewis Witcher and Paul Debnam, Tech’s two seniors, will be in the starting lineup on Senior Night.

Popularity: 14% [?]

TYRONE GARLAND, a Class of 2010 Virginia Tech signee, had carried his team all season, averaging 25 ppg and becoming the third leading scorer in Philadelphia Public League scoring history.  But on Tuesday night his amazing effort was not enough to bring home the championship to John Bartram High School.  Bartram lost by a 58-46 score in the Public League Championship to Imhotep.

Garland had a huge game, though.  Tyrone scored 32 of his teams 46 points!  He hit 6 of 12 from behind the arc, but his teammates were just 5 for 37 from the field.

Bartram will continue on in the Pennsylvania State Tournament this weekend.  Garland is closing in on Wilt Chamberlain, who currently sits in 2nd place on the Philly scoring list.  Tyrone doesn’t have a realistic shot at #1 though, which is over 2,600.  Garland is around 2,200 for his high school career right now.

For more on Garland’s game stats, check out his bio page linked at the top of this article.

Popularity: 18% [?]

The Hokies will need to haul in some huge recruiting classes the next two years to keep the program’s momentum going.  Tech has signed two recruits, Jarell Eddie and Tyrone Garland, for next year.  But the 2011 Class will be even more important as the Hokies’ top five scorers this year are all juniors.

Tech has already picked up verbal commitments from two 2011 prospects, C.J. Barksdale of Danville, VA and Robert Brown of Clermont, FL.  Robert’s Head Coach, Mike Clutter, was kind enough to give us the skinny on Tech’s future shooting guard.  I was surprised to learn that Coach Clutter coached in Virginia for 20 years in Louisa County, Albemarle County, and Osbourn HS in Manassas.  He also has a very good relationship with the VT coaching staff.

QUESTIONS:

Q: What were Robert’s stats this season?

Coach Clutter: He finished the year averaging 21.0 ppg, 4 rebounds, 2.1 assists, shot 46% from the field, and 70% from the foul line.  He recently scored his 1000th point at East Ridge and now ranks 4^th on the schools career list with 1159 points.

Q: What honors has he picked up?

Coach Clutter: Robert is our team’s MVP for the 3^rd straight  year and was for the second time  selected 6 A Coaches District Player of the Year. He has been All-County for 3 years and will most likely be Player of the Year this year.

Q: How did East Ridge do this season?

Coach Clutter: We finished 16-7 and tied for 4^th in our district which is called the District of Dome.  We had 5 out of our 9 teams ranked in the top 10 in the state for most of the season. We finished ranked 12^th in the state in the top division in Florida, 6 A

Q: On offense, is Robert more of a slasher or a three-point shooter?

Coach Clutter: Robert is very quick with a great move to the basket. He can slash to the basket and dunk it in your face. He had a great 3-point shooting effort last year but got a lot more pressure this year and his 3-point shooting percentage fell down some.

Q: How is Robert’s mid-range game/runners?

Coach Clutter: He has developed a great runner this year and it continues to get better.

Q: How are Robert’s ballhandling skills?  Can he run the point or is he strickly a 2-guard?

Coach Clutter: Good ball handler and does run the point and even plays the 3 sometimes.

Q: How is Robert’s defense on the ball (as I’m sure you know Coach Greenberg really preaches defense)?

Coach Clutter: He is a good defender on the ball, when he wants to and runs the floor filling the lanes very well.

Q: How are his intangibles (leadership, work ethic, etc)?

Coach Clutter: He is a leader by example and loves to have the ball in his hands.

Q: What area(s) does Robert need to improve on the most to be ready to play in the ACC in 2 years?

Coach Clutter: He will need to get stronger and become a better rebounder.

Q: Any other information you’d like to add?

Coach Clutter: He is running track right now and has won 3 straight high jumps with his best being 6’4’’, not too bad for someone who never did it before. He will be a great player when he gets to Tech.

Thanks again to Coach Clutter for giving us some great insight on one of the keystones of the future of Hokie basketball!

Popularity: 16% [?]