The ACC stuck to their guns and are allowing the top 12 teams from the new ACC (based on their final RPI) to play in the Challenge. Since there will be 15 teams in the league, this means 3 teams will not play since the Big-whatever still has 12. VT, clemson, and wake will be excluded from the festivities because of their RPI.

Personally, I think this is bull. The ACC should have banned maryland from playing in it since they are abandoning the league (good riddance). Instead, they get to play ohio state, albeit at osu. And when VT joined the league they didn’t get to play in the challenge their first year despite finishing 8th or 9th in the Big East and winning a BET game. I’ll have to check their RPI but it smells fishy. Plain and simple, this is the league catering to the newbies instead of thanking their loyal members. Once again the ACC execs are about as spot on as the A’s/Indians umpires.

Here’s how they should have done it:
- maryland: excluded.
- Top 2 newbies make it based on RPI.
- Result: just one existing member (not counting md) gets excluded and one newbie gets excluded (which is fair)
- Fire Swofford, hire me

Here’s an ARTICLE with the list of VT’s 2013-14 ACC opponents.  For the second year in a row the league will feature an 18 game schedule.  But this coming year there will now be 15 teams in the league, which should be the norm going forward (pitt, syracuse, and notre dame have been added — maryland is still in the ACC for one more year but then louisville will replace them for 2014-15 keeping the league at 15 teams).  That means Tech will play four teams twice and 10 teams once each season.  This coming year the Hokies will play uva*, miami*, bc and maryland twice.

• Home games: uva, miami, bc, maryland, clemson, unc, wake, syracuse, and nc state
• Road games: uva, miami, bc, maryland, duke, georgia tech, pitt, notre dame, and florida state (fsu is the only venue Tech has not won at since joining the league of the teams already in the league)

*Tech will play uva and miami twice every season, with the other two teams rotating each year

Tech will be one of the four teams competing in the Coaches vs Cancer Classic in Brooklyn, NY at the Barclays Center (home of the Brooklyn Nets) this coming November.  Similar to the Las Vegas Classic last year, the Hokies will host two round robin games in Blacksburg between November 9th and 18th.  The other two teams will also play each other (not sure if that is also in the ‘Burg).  No matter what happens in those games, the Hokies will then advance to the semi-finals in NY and will face michigan state, oklahoma, or seton hall (let’s hope the latter-most) in the semi-finals on Friday, November 22nd with the Consolation and Championship Games on Saturday, November 23rd.  The games will be on truTV (you may have learned of that channel from the NCAA Tournament).  The opponents will be announced at a later date.

As you may remember from this past season, VT beat mississippi valley state but then lost to georgia southern in the Las Vegas prelim round, but still advanced to the semi-finals of the tournament in Vegas, beating bradley in OT in the semis but getting crushed in the finals by colorado state.

Tech has never played at the Barclays Center, a brand new arena.  They did own Madison Square Garden with two NIT titles and two Aeropostale Tourney titles.

The Virginia Tech basketball Class of 2013 is now complete.  With Robert Brown’s transfer, another spot opened up and guard Devin Wilson from Montour HS in McKees Rock, PA (basically Pittsburgh) has committed to the Hokies and could sign as early as Wednesday, April 17th when the spring signing period begins.

Wilson is listed at 6’4″ so has good size, necessary in the ACC.  Both Clark and Emelogu are also 6’4″, and Muller from Germany is a metric 6’3″, so it is a tall guard class.

Wilson had offers in both football (nc state, temple, akron, and ohio) and basketball (wvu, george mason, st. joe’s, some CAA and MAAC schools, etc.) but decided to go with hoops and the Hokies.  He was a 2-star wide receiver in football, and a 3-star guard in basketball according to Rivals.com.  ESPN Recruiting Nation didn’t give him a grade (i.e. not a 3-star) but at least had an article about it.  If you subscribe to ESPN you can read it.

God bless all 32 of you that had your life tragically taken away six years ago today.  And bless your families who no doubt struggle with this day.  We remember and are thinking of you and your families.

WE REMEMBER

Yesterday was all too familiar of a reminder of the bad side of humanity, and this great country.  God bless the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings.

LINK TO TECH ALL AMERICANS

How many years has the ACC Player of the Year not been an AP First Team All-American? I’m not sure, but I bet it is pretty rare (that’s our crack research staff right there). The Winchester Rifle was honored by being named a Third Team AP All-American.

Update: Our buddy Miller Time said the following ACC POTY weren’t AP First Team since the ACC expanded: Zeller ’12, Vasquez ’11, ty lawson ’09, jared dudley 07. So actually pretty often. But they didn’t lead the nation in scoring!

The AP First Team was announced and included Burke of michigan, Porter Jr of georgetown, Oladipo of indiana, McDermott of creighton barrel, and Olynyk of gonzaga. Burke and Porter tied with the most votes.

It should be noted Larkin of miami and Plumlee of duke were on the Second Team, ahead of the Player of the Year from their own conference!

Just like I said with ACC POTY – this honor shouldn’t be about how your team did, it should be the 5, 10, and 15 best players in the nation from the past year. Can you really tell me Green fell in the 11-15 range while Larkin and Plumlee were 6-10 (2nd Team)? Can you tell me the nation’s leading scorer only deserved 3rd Team? I don’t buy it. No respect!

In what was always an annual event with Coach Greenberg and now is spilling into JJ’s tenure, transfer rumors are out there in terms of a Hokie potentially leaving the ‘Burg.  This player*** has been rumored to be considering leaving since back in January, so this is nothing new but talk about it has heated up again.  I have no inside info so I cannot confirm or deny it, we’ll all just have to wait it out and see.

I will say this — I have seen guys who I knew were transferring before.  They start mailing it in towards the end of the season.  One case in point is Hank Thorns — his last game as a Hokie was against baylor in the NIT.  He was the absolute last player out for the shootaround and warm-ups, and the first back in the locker room.  This player, though, played his tail off the last month of the season.  So either he a) hadn’t decided (despite the earlier rumors), b) was ‘auditioning’ for new suitors, or c) that’s just his way.  Personally, I don’t think he didn’t play like someone on his way out (think about your work ethic when you know you are leaving a job), so I’m not convinced it is going to happen.

For now, we just have to wait and see.

***My policy is to not name names until it is fact, which I know annoys many of you, but I’d rather put it out there than just pretend like nothing is going on.  And many of you probably know, or could easily find out, whom I’m referring to.

Former Hokie Tyrone Garland hit the game-winning shot for la salle with 2.5 seconds left to propel the explorers to a 2-point win over ole miss and that punk Henderson in the NCAA Tournament Third Round. Garland and la salle are off to the Sweet 16. The legendary Philly Public League player (top 3 all time in points) has had 22, 2, and 17 in their 3 games.

Trevor and Niemo (I’m 6’1″)

Virginia Tech Class of 2013 signee Trevor Thompson participated in the 2013 Elite Showcase Basketball Classic on Sunday, March 24th at trinity university in Washington, DC.  Donte Clark was also supposed to participate in the game but was a no-show (I asked Trevor after the game and he had no idea why Clark wasn’t there).

Trevor had the best first half of anyone in the game.  He had 13 points on 6/10 shooting, 1/2 free throws, 6 rebounds, and one block.  Both the points and rebounds were the most of anyone in the game at the break.  He was much quieter in the second half, though, with just 2 points on 1/3 FGs, 1 steal and 1 assist.  He finished the game with 15 points on 7/13 FGs, 1/2 FTs, 7 rebounds, and 1 steal, block, and assist.  His 7 FGs included 3 dunks, 2 putbacks, a turnaround bank shot from 6-8 feet, and a 10-12 foot jumper.  He missed other 3 or 4 jumpshots including one that Dodd swatted right back in his face but he ended up getting a dunk out of it.

Thompson In-Game Dunk Part 1

Thompson is listed as a center but I don’t feel he’s quite ready to be a big man in the low post just yet.  He needs to add some weight to his frame but is athletic.  I’d call him a stretch-4 at this point.  Not quite as tall as JvZ and with more weight already than Joey had last year, and more polished as a scorer.  Trevor isn’t afraid to face the basket from 12-18 feet away, but his jumper has a weird, clockwise-spin on it (as opposed to backspin) that he’ll need to fix as he progresses.

He didn’t show a lot of post moves, but this was an all-star game, they aren’t exactly feeding the post a lot.  He did show a short hook to his right and a turnaround jumper in the post.  Trevor didn’t show the tenacity on the glass we’ll need him to have, but again, this was an all-star game.  You don’t expect to see it but hopefully he has it.

Thompson In-Game Dunk Part 2

My buddy Pete also noted he has bad posture a lot of the time on the court so he hides his height to a degree.  As you can see in the pictures of him and me, he towers over me (I’m 6’1″ – a real 6’1″).  So I’d put him at a legit 6’9″, or probably 6’10″ or 6’11″ in “basketball height”.  If he can add weight, he could be a force.

The all-star game featured no Top 150 recruits (since Clark wasn’t there).  It had mostly 2 and 3-star prospects who all would be playing at the next level, but mostly at low-to-mid-majors such as navy, holy cross, niagara, vmi, manhattan, and duquesne.  Some of the 3-stars will be going to providence, arizona, and kansas (Frank Mason, who VT really thought they were going to get).

Trevor and Dodd in the low post

One player of note was Damonte Dodd, a 6’9″ 230 lbs. center going to maryland.  I’d say Trevor was an inch or two taller, but Dodd was clearly more physical than Thompson, dunking on him once and swatting Trevor’s shots twice.  But Thompson was more athletic than Dodd and was able to beat him to the hoop a couple of times on nice feeds.  Trevor will have to beef up to compete with bigs that size though — and Dodd isn’t even in college yet.  Schools like pitt and syracuse and unc will have guys at least Dodd’s size that Trevor will have to bang with down low.  I would rate Dodd as the better player today because he’s more physically ready for the ACC, but Trevor may have more upside because he’s more versatile and active on offense (can step away from the hoop).

The most visually appealing player was Harold Givens.  He could literally jump out of the gym and put on a show in pregame dunks.  He is considering several SEC schools and miami, ga tech, and uva (boo).

Thompson Pre-Game Dunk Part 1

Trevor’s team lost on a tip-in at the buzzer to cap an exciting ending to the game.  Approximately 120 people were there (I literally counted everyone there at one point).

Not pictured is all the chili and cheese I spilled on myself from the half-smoke I got there (it was embarrassing).

Thompson Pre-Game Dunk Part 2

Monster Pre-Game Dunk

Update: JT Thompson’s charlotte team is playing in the NIT (though he’s out for the season with another knee injury) and Allan Chaney will be playing in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament for high point. That means Manny Atkins (georgia state) is the only one of nine former Hokies/commits who’s team isn’t playing in the postseason.

While Virginia Tech missed the NCAA Tournament for the sixth consecutive season (and 16 of 17), six guys who formerly played, or almost played, for the Hokies did make the Big Dance.

The table below shows the nine current Division I players who either: a) played for the Hokies at some point (this includes seven of the nine and I included Allan Chaney, who sat out two years at VT waiting to be cleared to play but never actually played in a game for VT), b) signed with Tech and were later released (Montrezl Harrell), or c) verbally committed to VT but never signed (Momo Jones).

I’ll repeat — of these nine guys, an amazing SIX will be playing (or redshirting as is the case with Doo Doo Finney-Smith) in the NCAA Tournament. And we aren’t just talking about basketball powers like louisville and florida, we are also talking about iona (2nd straight trip), jmu, valpo, and la salle (getting an at large bid, no less!).

While we are happy for some of these guys, in many cases it is a bitter pill to swallow and think “what might have been” had they stayed or even arrived at Tech. For example, Momo Jones averaged 23 ppg this year for iona, third in the nation behind our Erick Green and McDermott of creighton (he averaged just 6.6 ppg his freshman year at arizona — so he had a similar rise in scoring to Mr. Green). And Montrezl Harrell was the MVP of the Big East Championship Game in their win over syracuse Saturday night — as a freshman! Sure would have liked to see his big body in orange and maroon.

It is another disappointing season for the Hokies, and the days of being on the bubble are a distant memory now. Tech is closer to 10 years ago than their Humpty Dumpty days of a few years ago.

In other news, uva’s and maryland’s bubbles burst. uva’s finish to their season (home win over duke, struggle the rest of the way, not making the Big Dance) was a carbon copy of Tech’s situation two years ago. It was good to see at least uva was punished the same way VT was.

The ACC ended up with just four teams in the Big Dance — [Correction: 5 Atlantic 10 and Mountain West teams made the NCAAs! More than the ACC! How the mighty have fallen].

Each year at the ACC Tournament they honor a “legend” from each ACC school.  This year’s legend from Virginia Tech definitely fits into that category: Ace Custis.

The Virginia peninsula native is firmly one of Tech’s 10 greatest players (and nicest guys you’ll ever meet).  His jersey is one of four hanging from the rafters of Cassell Coliseum.  Ace helped Tech to a NIT Championship in 1995 and a NCAA Tournament berth in 1996.  He is 11th on Tech’s all time scoring list (Erick Green just knocked him out of the top 10) with more than 1,700 points, he’s 3rd in rebounds with 1,177, and 7th in steals with 199.  Ace was an unselfish player and a real stat stuffer.

Ace Runs into Niemo’s BP

Ace was even kind enough to stop by my bachelor party in Florida last year!  (Well, he was at port while on a cruise and we ran into him)

Two years ago, TechHoops.com ranked him the 7th greatest player in Hokies history.  Here’s a link to our interview with him and summary of his brilliant Tech career:

LINK TO ARTICLE AND INTERVIEW WITH ACE

The ACC also did an interview with him when they announced he was Tech’s legend for this year: LINK

With their loss to nc state today, uva failed to advance to ACC Semifinal Saturday for the 18th consecutive year! They haven’t made it to the weekend of the ACC Tournament since my freshman year at VT. They must really want to get out of G-boro and back to Ch-ville for all those awesome wine and cheese parties and box socials.

Enjoy sweating out Selection Sunday like we had to two years ago, and I expect uva to have a similar result after losing 3 of 4 after beating duke (we lost 3 of 5 two years ago).

Check back later and I’ll post their record by round (1st and Quarters) over this span.

Here are the final plus/minus numbers for all the Hokies, split up by starters, bench, and deep bench.  It includes cumulative +/-, average in wins and losses, in ACC play, and overall average per game for the season.  I’ve also included the +/- by player for each game (a blank means he didn’t play).

Barksdale, as expected, had the best average for the season and in ACC play other than Beyer (who didn’t play nearly as many minutes).  C.J. seemed to have the best numbers in most games.  Rankin had the worst of anyone on the team, though he posted positives in each of the final two games (both losses).  Hopefully that carries over to next season and largely was due to him being more aggressive off the dribble.

GAME-BY-GAME:

Here are the plus/minus numbers from Thursday’s season-ending ACC Tournament loss to nc state for the Hokies.

Rankin had his second straight positive game (+1 – best of the regulars) and really finished the season strong and aggressive on offense (and he’s Tech’s best on-ball defender).

On the flip side, Raines had a -20 and Eddie a -21.

The Virginia Tech Hokies’ season ends with an 80-63 loss to nc state in the First Round of the ACC Tournament.  Erick Green, the ACC Player of the Year, scored 15 points, finishing the season with 801 points (first Hokie to eclipse the 800-mark) and 25.03 ppg to lead the nation.  Tech finishes the season at 13-19.

After I heard that the Winchester Rifle had won the ACC POTY on Tuesday I was extremely excited for him and our program, as it is a great recruiting tool to say you CAN be the ACC POTY at Virginia Tech.  But after those giddy moments, I started to think, “Would I have voted for Erick as ACC POTY if I was a real member of the media and not just running some 2-bit VT hoops blog?”

At first, my answer was “No”.  I’ve said since the second VT/miami meeting that I thought Shane Larkin was the MVP of the ACC.  Larkin finished 13th in the league in scoring, 4th in assists, 2nd in steals and 5th in assist-to-turnover ratio.  But more importantly, his team won the ACC regular season title.  And this isn’t duke or unc we are talking about, this is the c-a-n-e-s canes, a school that hadn’t finished above .500 in league play until this year.  A team that averaged less than 4,000 fans per home game last year!

And Shane was clearly the straw that stirs the drink for this team.  If this was baseball, his WAR would be tops in the league, even better than Erick’s (I mean, where would VT have finished without Mr. Green?  1-17?  We know we would have beaten wake at home regardless since they have Coach “Can’t Win on the Road” Bzdelik — 1-24 all time in ACC road games).  If we give Erick a WAR of +3, you’d have to put Shane around +6 since they had never finished over .500 but were 15-3 this year with largely the same loveable losers as in past years, but with a more mature Larkin as a sophomore.

But, the award isn’t called ACC Most Valuable Player, it is the Player of the Year.  And based on that, I would have voted for Erick.  It doesn’t take orange & maroon glasses to appreciate what he did.  Despite being Tech’s only scoring threat in ACC play, he went for 20+ points in all but two ACC games (3 overall), scored 30+ three times in league action (4 overall), led the league and nation in scoring (something done just once before in ACC history), finished 8th in FG% (2nd among guards behind just Reggie Bullock of unc), 6th in assists, 3rd in FT%, 7th in steals, 6th in assisst-to-turnover ratio, 1st in minutes, and he would have been 5th in 3-Pt% if he had shot just 7 more 3s on the year (he didn’t shoot enough to qualify).

While Larkin meant more to his team, Erick was the best player in the league… by far.  To shoot for that high of a percentage as a guard with every team putting their best defender on you, score that much (he accomplished a Tech single season record for points), and still finish in the top 6 in assists, you are the player of the year.  Period.  Upon further review, there is no debate, and clearly the media agreed with 50% of them casting their vote for the Winchester Rifle (heck, Obama calls 50% a resounding win so Mr. Green can, too… and Larkin finished 2nd with just 30%).  Again, congrats to him for all he accomplished and here’s looking forward to seeing him represent Virginia Tech in the NBA, which is currently void of Hokies.