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, have 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.

Note: Dwayne Collins, miami’s leading scorer, is out for the entire ACC Tournament with an injury.  In other words, expect to see the deacons on Friday.

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.
• 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 wake this is Ish Smith and Al Aminu.  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.  Here’s more on the deacon stars…

THE POSSIBLE opponents:

• wake: Recap – VT 87, wake 83
• miami: Recap – at VT 81, miami 66 |   Recap – at miami 82, VT 75

wake: Aminu had 25 points in the meeting in Blacksburg, including 21 in the first half, but just 9 of those points were against Jeff Allen.  Allen had him when he was in the game and did a decent job.  Some of the points while Allen was in were in transition where nothing could be done.  Jeff has the size and height to guard Aminu, and for the most part the athleticism.  When Allen wasn’t in, JT Thompson was on Aminu a lot and Thompson just didn’t have the height to check him.  Aminu is just too good of a rebounder (led the league at 10.8) and can really get after it on the boards.  The Hokies ended up doubling Aminu a lot and that created issues, too.  Aminu would pass the ball out and Smith would break down the Hokies who were scrambling to recover, and Ish would dish to someone else for an easy finish.

Ishmael Smith is the quickest guard in the league and is so deadly in transition.  You must slow him up, you cannot stop him.  And he is such a good finisher around the hoop.  But I think wake is at their best when he is creating for the rest of the team.  He had 9 assists in the first meeting but when Tech forced him to play in the half court and force shots, it helped the Hokies.  And he is a terrible foul shooter and 3-point shooter (50% and 22% respectively).  He’ll always score in the teens, but if you can keep Smith’s assists down wake struggles on offense.  He is so good at running off screens in transition, and in the half court, so slowing him on the break and popping out to force him high in the half court are musts.

VT used a zone some against the deacs last time and it did seem to slow and confuse the deacons.  They are not a good outside shooting team so that is the advantage of the zone.  But it can make rebounding difficult (no true responsibilities), which wake dominated the Hokies on early.  The Hokies forced the deacs to shoot mid-to-long range jumpers in the latter part of the second half and wake, who was hitting them early (to my surprise), ran out of luck.  Force them to beat you with jumpers.

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.

The canes have lost 5 of 6 and 11 of 14,  I don’t expect to see they Friday (especially with Collins hurt) but stranger things have happened (like a 2-14 georgia tech team beating a ranked clemson team last year). If the Hokies do face the canes, they 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.

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:

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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!

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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% [?]

During the ACC’s final weekly teleconference, Virginia Tech head coach Seth Greenberg spoke about Dorenzo Hudson’s status for the ACC tournament.

“He assured me he’s going to play on Friday. How will he feel Wednesday? I’m holding him out until we get to Greensboro,” said Greenberg. “When we get to Greensboro we’re going to put him through some shooting drills and have him cut and run some offense and do some things and kind of get a feel for how he feels.

“If he feels good on Wednesday, then Thursday, every other possession we’ll let him go live. I expect for him to play. Here’s a kid from NC with the ACC tournament in NC coming off a magnificent season. This is special to him.”

Popularity: 14% [?]

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.

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THE SETUP:

For the second time this week the Hokies play host to eagles, with bc flying in from Boston to renew their ACC rivalry.  As I said before the miami game last week, this isn’t a must win for Tech.  It is too early to say that.  But the Hokies need to win this game.  The eagles are one of the weaker teams in the league (I have them in the bottom three).  Both their conference wins were against a miami team whose season has gone from a hurricane of success to a gentle sprinkle.  Heck, the canes might have trouble beating north carolina central right now, whom VT disposed of with extreme prejudice on Monday, 72-30, the lowest total by an opponent in 50 years. 

The eagles will have some confidence after overcoming a 17-point second half deficit to win in Coral Gables against miami on Tuesday.  Reggie Jackson led the furious comeback, scoring 15 second half points.

SERIES: bc 10-6, but VT has won four of the last five.  Tech was just 1-6 in Big East play against the eagles, but the two teams have split the eight ACC match-ups.  The teams both won on their home floors last year, though bc needed a put-back to win by one just before the buzzer.

SIX PACK OF KEYS TO WINNING:

1. Where’s the beef? The Hokies must get more production from their big men, namely Victor Davila and Jeff Allen.  Allen might start appearing on milk cartons if he cannot find his game soon.  His scoring average is the lowest it has been in his three years and he’s averaging just 7 ppg in Tech’s three ACC games.  That said, Allen scored 53 points and grabbed 20 rebounds in the two games against bc last year and the eagles aren’t any better inside, so this might be just the tonic to get him going.  Or is it nagging injuries and we just have to lower our expectation for the Big Donut?  This game might be a telling sign.  Davila hasn’t been any better, scoring just 11 points in VT’s three ACC games.
2. Bid on the line: The last two years Virginia Tech has waited until March to try and earn their NCAA Tournament bid, and it didn’t work out either year.  Losing a game like this, to a team in the lower third of the league, at home, would be devastating.  These are the games where the Hokies need to start stockpiling wins.  8-8 and I think the Hokies are in the dance, and they need this one.
3. Hunker down, dawgs!  The Hokies need to start playing like the “junkyard dogs” Seth Greenberg wants the Hokies to be.  That means 40 minutes of scrappy, aggressive play.  The defense has been good, even in the fsu loss.  Tech needs that every night, or in this case, every day.
4. No charity: The eagles are 11th in the conference in Field Goal Percentage (VT is last) and last in 3-Point FG Percentage (VT is 10th).  But the eagles are fourth in the league in Free Throw Percentage.  Force bc to hit shots from the field, not the line.
5. We must protect this glass! One thing the eagles do well is rebound.  They are third in the league in Offensive and Defensive Rebounding Percentage.  The Hokies, who are fourth in Defensive Rebounding Percentage, need to limit the eagles second chances.  Do that and bc doesn’t have much on offense, especially considering how poor they are at shooting.  The difference in the loss at bc last year was rebounding.  In the Hokie win at VT, bc had just 9 offensive rebounds.  That increased to 14 in Boston, including the game-winner by Rakim Sanders with 0.4 seconds left.
6. Come on baby, turnover! Not sure what that meant but anyway, the Hokies should, and need to, win the turnover battle.  bc has a negative turnover margin while the Hokies are close to +3.5.  And live ball turnovers need to turn into transition opportunities.  Tech has enough trouble scoring, but do well in transition.  Any easy buckets they can get are a plus.

Also, one other thing, Tech got off to a terrible start against fsu and played up-hill all game.  That hasn’t been a problem this season but was a huge issue last year.  Let’s hope it doesn’t become a trend.  A solid start would be nice.  Heck, another 30 point first half lead would be even better.

THE OPPONENT:

Check out our Opposing View article with Brian from BC Interruption for more on the eagles.  Unlike Brian, however, I do not feel bc has the talent to compete in the ACC this year.  I think they have the 10th or 11th best talent in the league with star and ACC Second Team member, Tyrese Rice, gone.

The eagles’ best player is vermont transfer Joe Trapani.  He is a forward and is 6′8″, but he loves to play on the perimeter.  Joe hit 52 threes last year and has already drained 33 this season.  But he shoots a pedestrian 35.5% from deep and just 43% from the field, low for a big man.  He has improved his post moves this offseason and can drive to the goal if you over-pursue on the perimeter.   That said, if he’s open, you have to rush at him and take your chances at him penetrating versus letting his shoot from deep.  He is 11th in the ACC averaging 15.2 ppg and Joe had 23 points in the loss in Blacksburg last year, with 13 in the win at bc.

Corey Raji and Rakim Sanders are similar players for bc.  They are undersized in the paint and are more threes than fours.  Both are around 6′6″.  Both were suspended for the first two games for the well know “violation of team rules”, along with reserve Courtney Dunn.  Sanders also missed several games with an injury.  Sanders will shoot the three, though he is terrible at it, hitting under 30%.  Raji won’t shoot from deep.  Both though battle inside and despite not being that tall, can grab offensive rebounds.  Raji is second in the league in offensive rebounds, grabbing 3.9 per game.  Tech must get a body on him.  Sanders averaged 13 ppg in the two games versus VT last year and had the game winning putback with 0.4 seconds in the 67-66 win at bc.

Reggie Jackson, as you might expect by his name, is the straw that stirs the drink for the eagles.  He has double his point production from 7 ppg last year to almost 14 this year.  He has averaged 15.6 ppg in conference play and even grabs 6 rebounds per game.  Reggie is not skilled in the long ball, though, he is better at driving.  Tech must cut him off and limit his transition opportunities.  Reggie has been coming off the bench but he is really one of their stars, and is second on the team in scoring average and assists, and third in rebounds.

Biko Paris runs the point for the eagles.  He is not a scorer but does average 5 assists per game.  Give him room and expect him to dish when driving.

Tyler Roche is a three-point threat off the bench for bc and Josh Southern is their big man inside.  Josh, despite being 6′10″ is not much of a shot-blocker.

On offense bc runs a flex, but not the one VT destroyed against nccu.  They will run it closer to the paint than out on the perimeter like nccu ran.

STARTERS:

bc STATS:

VT STATS:

BORING FACTS ABOUT boston college:

• Established in 1863
• Type: Private – Jesuit
• Undergrad: 9k
• Postgrad: 4.5k
• Location: Chestnut Hill (just west of downtown Boston)
• Mascot: Baldwin the eagle (get it?  Bald eagle… win games… Baldwin)
• bc participates in the Beanpot Tournament – a hocket tourney of bc, bu, northeastern, and harvard at the Boston Bruins (and Celtics) arena.
• Their football stadium seats just 44.5k (and they still don’t sell it out for big games and basketball arena seats 8.6k

Famous Alums:

• Ed McMahon (Yes!)
• Chris O’Donnell
• Leonard Nimoy (no relation)
• Amy Poehler
• Elisabeth Hasselbeck
• Tip O’Neill
• John Kerry
• Mike Lupica
• John McLaughlin
• Bob Ryan
• Lesley Visser
• Jared Dudley
• Bruce Pearl
• and of course, Doug Flutie – Flutie Hail Mary against miami

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For those of you not fortunate enough to get to make the trek to this year’s ACC Tournament, the Weekend Warrior gives you an all-access pass to the tourney in Atlanta.  And we mean ALL ACCESS. 

Click ‘Read more’ to see his running journal… 

Continue Reading

Popularity: 21% [?]

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

All ACC First Team (in order)

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

Reserves / 2nd Team

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

Water boys / 3rd Team

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Semis: fsu over unc, wake over duke

Finals: wake over fsu

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

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

Popularity: 20% [?]

THE SETUP

Virginia Tech no longer has any margin of error.  The Hokies are now in a single elimination situation in more ways than one.  Obviously if they lose in the ACC Tournament, they are done from that.  But a loss in the first two rounds of the ACC Tournament will eliminate Tech from any chance of going to the NCAA Tournament and send them to the consolation tourney, aka: the Junior Prom, the NIT for the second year in a row.  If the Hokies can defeat miami in the First Round (and for the second time this season), and then knock off the #1 (that’s in the nation, not just the ACC) unc tar heels in the Quarterfinals, they put themselves squarely back on the bubble.

But first things first — the Hokies, losers of six of their last seven games, must knock off a pesky miami hurricane team on Thursday at noon in the opening game of the ACC Tournament.   miami is also on the bubble, so call this an elimination game where both teams are playing for their NCAA lives.

The Weekend Warrior and Niemo will be at the ACC Tournament – the first person to recognize Niemo and come up to him and say, “Yahtzee” will get a beer bought for him or her (pending ID check: must be 21 years of age except in Puerto Rico; offer not valid with any other coupons; and assuming they sell booze in the Dome for this).

THE BRACKET

Thursday – First Round

• Noon – #8 Virginia Tech vs. #9 miami
• ~2:20 – #5 clemson vs. #12 georgia tech
• 7 – #7 maryland vs. #10 nc state
• ~9:20 – #6 bc vs. #11 uva

Friday – Quarterfinals

• Noon – #1 unc vs. #8 Virginia Tech / #9 miami
• ~2:20 – #4 fsu vs. #5 clemson/#12 georgia tech
• 7 – #2 wake forest vs. #7 maryland/#10 nc state
• ~9:20 – #3 duke vs. #6 bc/#11 uva

Saturday – Semi-Finals

• 1:30 – Friday afternoon winners
• ~3:50 – Friday evening winners

Sunday – Championship Game  – 1 PM

ACC TOURNAMENT SIX PACK

• Virginia Tech is 2-4 in the ACC Tournament
• The Hokies are 0-1 in the First Round, having received a bye three of the previous four seasons
• A.D. Vassallo scored 22 points against wake in the 2007 Quarterfinals, a Tech game high in the tournament
• This is the first tourney opponent Tech has played in a previous ACC Tournament — Tech has also played georgia tech, uva, wake, nc state, and unc
• Tech has been held under 70 points in five of their previous six ACC Tournament games — the lone time they surpassed 70 was in the win against wake in 2007 (71).  Two VT opponents have passed 70 — nc state with 72 in 2007 and georgia tech with 73 in 2005.
• Malcolm Delaney scored 30 combined points on a blistering 10/15 from the floor and 6/9 from three-point range in last year’s two ACC games.

FIRST ROUND – #9 miami (18-11, 7-9)

How about this for a good omen in this game: Virginia Tech has won their first game in the last eight tournaments they’ve entered.  This dates back to the 2006 Old Spice Classic in Florida, where VT lost to western michigan.  Since then, the Hokies have won their opening games in both ACC Tournaments, both Holiday Festivals, the NCAA Tournament, the NIT, the Great Alaska Shootout, and the Puerto Rico Tip-off (I did not count things like the BB&T Classic or ACC/Big(11)Ten Challenge that are just one game and not true tournaments).

Also, the Hokies should have some confidence knowing they defeated the canes 88-83 in overtime in miami.  The Big 3 went nuts in this one, scoring 74 of Tech’s 88 points.  In fact, only one player other than the Big 3 had more than two points — Lewis Witcher had six.  Malcolm Delaney had 29, A.D. Vassallo 28, and Jeff Allen 17.   Jack McClinton was “limited” to 20 points (he was just 6/21 from the field), and Dwayne Collins dominated the Hokies inside for 23 points.  Brian Asbury, who had been in a shooting slump, got hot and scored 21 points, by far his season high, and mostly against Vassallo.  Tech shot 43% (9/21) on threes, and despite trailing most of the game, took a late lead only to see the game sent to overtime on a Brian Asbury three with 25 seconds left.  The Hokies fell behind by four early in overtime, but scored 11 of the final 13 points to pull away.  After that game, Tech was sitting at 4-1 in the ACC and riding the gravy train with biscuit wheels.  But that was a LONG time ago in a basketball season.

miami comes into this game having won three of four.  But those four games included the bottom three teams in the ACC, and bc, who finished in sixth.  The canes lost to 2-14 georgia tech in their second to last game.  So while the wins may have given them a lift after a 4-8 start in ACC play, they haven’t proven much of anything.  The canes lost six of their final seven games away from Coral Gables, with the lone road win against lowly uva. [editor's note: italics added because its fun.]

Meanwhile, VT was strong away from the Cassell this season.  Tech finished 3-5 away from Blacksburg in ACC action, with wins over wake (wake’s only home loss of the season), clemson, and miami.  The Hokies know they can play in unfamiliar settings. 

KEYS TO THE GAME

• Get a Lead!  Virginia Tech has not led at any point in their last three games, a span of 120 minutes since the end of the clemson game.  The main culprit has been slow starts on offense.  In Tech’s last seven games, they have trailed at the first media timeout in every game by an average of five points.  The Hokies have played up-hill every game, and it has taken a toll on them.
• Malcolm Delaney: Malcolm is the leader of this team, the heart and soul.  And as he goes, so go the Hokies.  When he was putting up ACC Player of the Week numbers (an award he won once) in mid-January, the Hokies were red hot.  But he has been in a slump the last nine games, due in part to the fact his body is extremely beat up from throwing it around, giving each game his all.  By no coincidence, Tech has struggled.  Malcolm must regain the hot-shooting touch he had in the first half of the ACC season, where he was in the Top 10 in the ACC in shooting percentage.   The biggest issue lately has been his inability to hit runners in the lane or on the break.  If Malcolm can get a 10-footer in the paint to drop, and an early three, VT could be in for a good day.  Delaney was hot against miami in the first meeting, hitting 9/19 from the floor and 3/7 on threes.
• Impeach McClinton:  Jack McClinton has insane range from deep.  He must be guarded anywhere and everywhere on the floor.   He finished third in the ACC in scoring and was tops in three-point shooting, hitting an incredible 90/194 threes (46%).  But he has been in a slump the last three games, hitting just 9/37 shots from the field (24%).  The main issue has been, like Delaney, he cannot hit a two-point shot — he is just 3/19 from inside the arc.  And Tech has done a great job on him in the last two meetings.  He was just 6/21 from the field in January (4/12 on threes) and 4/17 from the field (3/11 on threes) in VT’s 63-49 defeat of miami in the Quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament last season. 
• Boo Collins / Yay Allen: As I mentioned earlier, Dwayne Collins dominated Tech inside in January.  He scored 13 straight points for the canes during the second half to keep them in the game.  Jeff Allen managed to play 40 minutes in that game, a rare occasion where he didn’t battle foul troubles.  If Tech is going to limit Collins, they have to keep Allen on the floor and get a big effort from Diakite and/or Davila inside in post defense.  Davila has been playing better in the low post of late on the defensive end, while Diakite can challenge his shots.  And Tech must limit second chance opportunities for the big cane lineup (the goon line).

THE LINEUPS

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Both A.D. Vassallo and Malcolm Delaney made the 2008 ACC All-Tournament Second Team.  This is a great honor for both, especially for the freshman, Delaney.  Malcolm was the only freshman on the first or second team.

Vassallo averaged 16 points in the two Hokie games while Delaney averaged 15.  Delaney shot 67% for the tournament from the field and 75% on threes.  Malcolm also had an assist-to-turnover ratio of better than 2:1 with 9 assists and just 4 turnovers.

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With unc’s title on Sunday, they now have the most ACC Basketball Championships, moving ahead of duke.  Amazingly, clemson still has not won one and has only played for the title twice including Sunday. 

Here’s the totals by school.

• duke won 7 of 8 titles between 1999 and 2006
• unc or duke has won 11 of the last 12 ACC titles 
• maryland is the only school not in NC to win the title since 1993
• As you may have noticed above, the top four schools in terms of titles are the four NC schools and they have won 47 of the 55 championships (85%)

FYI: The tournament is scheduled to be at the Georgia Dome next year.  The dome was hit by a tornado this week during the SEC Tournament.

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As I sit here watching the ESPN Classic Game of the Week (the VT/unc game), I figured I would take a look back at how the Hokies did in Charlotte.

MVP: This is a no-brainer. It is Malcolm Delaney. He scored 15 in both games and hit 10/15 (67%) from the floor and 6/8 (75%) on threes. He also had 9 assists to just 4 turnovers. Anything over 2 in that ratio is incredible. I predicted before the season he would be VT’s best recruit in this class. I was wrong, at least for this year, but he showed he can be a star in this league. Delaney scored 35 combined points in the two games against unc this year.

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The Hokies played their hearts out but came up short as ACC POY Tyler Hansbrough hit a 12-foot baseline jumper with 0:00:8 left to break a tie and give unc the win. I honestly have never seen the Hokies fight harder in any game. I won’t say Tech played perfectly, but they did an amazing job and nearly avenged a 39-point loss exactly four weeks ago at unc.

Tech led almost the entire game, jumping out to eight point leads in the first and second halves. In fact, the heels’ biggest lead was three points at 5-2 early in the game. VT went up 59-52 with 6:18 to go on an incredible inbounds pass/alley-oop dunk by Deron Washington, but the Hokies struggled to score down the stretch. Deron fouled out with 1:29 to go.

Neither team shot very well, with both teams shooting 40%. Jeff Allen had 9 points and 11 rebounds but shot just 3/9 from the floor. Even A.D. Vassallo was 6/19 from the field, including 1/8 on threes. That’s one of the reasons I say Tech didn’t play a perfect game.

Hansbrough led unc with 26 points, but had just 10 in the second half. The Hokies did a much better job of frustrating him in the second stanza. Wayne Ellington also hurt the Hokies with 15 points, including three clutch three-pointers.

The Hokies, who were outrebounded by 30 in the first meeting, held their own in the first half, but got dominated on the glass in the second half. For the game, the heels outrebounded Tech 39-30. And had A.D. been able to grab Lawson’s miss with 3 seconds left, the game would have gone to overtime. Instead, the ball bounced right off Vassallo’s hands under the hoop to Hansbrough, who hit the 12-foot jumper over Hank Thorns.

Malcolm Delaney had another terrific game. After scoring 15 points on 4/5 three point shooting against miami yesterday, he had 15 again today on 2/3 long range shooting and 5/6 from the floor overall. He took great strides forward in this tournament. He could be the next Zabian Dowdell.

On defense, the Hokies got beat off the dribble too much. The heels were able to take it at the hoop way too much, and got most of their points this way.

This is a devastating loss for the Hokies, but may have been enough to propel them into the NCAA Tournament. They finished in the Top Four in the ACC regular season and in the ACC Tournament. They also proved they can play the #1 team in the country all the way to the buzzer. Now, we just have to sit back and wait for a day and see if the NCAA Tournament Committee agrees. Either way, the Hokies made us all proud today, showcasing how resilient this team is and what they are capable of.

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Spread: unc -11

THE SETUP 

1/30/2005 – duke 100, VT 65

2/17/2005 – VT 67, duke 65

2/16/2008 – unc 92, VT 53

3/15/2008 – VT ??, unc ??

Nuff said.  Let’s roll.

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Recap | Box Score

The Hokies advance to the ACC Tournament semi-finals with Friday’s win over miami.

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Box Score | Game Film

The 4th seeded Hokies used a 21-4 run during the second half to beat the 5th seeded miami hurricanes 63-49 in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinal. Today’s game was one of the best team efforts I’ve seen out of Virginia Tech this year on both sides of the court. The Hokies won today thanks to an aggressive defensive effort, domination on the boards, and exceptional shot selection, which led to 7 three-pointers.

From the onset, the Hokies were tenacious on D. miami shot only 31.6% from the field. Jack McClinton was just 4 of 17 from the field. Tech’s defense set the tone. If it weren’t for some foul trouble in the first half (Deron Washington picked up 2 fouls in the first 6 minutes) and the beginning of the second half (Jeff Allen picked up his 2nd and 3rd fouls within 10 seconds, early in the half), the Hokies might have broken away from the canes even earlier in the game.

On the offensive end, the Hokies shot 42.6% from the field including 7 of 15 from 3 point land and A.D. Vassallo only made 1 of those threes! Malcolm Delaney, my player of the game, stepped up BIG TIME today with 15 points, 4 boards, and 3 assists. Delaney was 4 of 5 from behind the arc. He nailed a couple daggers during the 21-4 run that virtually sealed the deal for Tech. Hank Thorns and Deron Washington made the other three pointers. Washington finished with 14 points and 12 boards. A.D. had 15 points, 5 boards, and 5 assists. Jeff Allen, who didn’t score his first basket until 11 seconds left in the first half, sparked the Hokies in the first few minutes of the second half, but then had to sit after his 3rd foul at the 16:36 mark. miami used that to their advantage and took a 40-38 lead with 11:11 to go. Coach Greenberg put Allen back in, and the Hokies took off on their 21-4 run to win the game. Allen finished with another double-double, 10 points and 10 boards.

Finally, the rebounding margin was Tech 47 miami 22. That’s insane. Gary Cope-acabana had a great line in our in game after a monster rebound by J.T. Thompson in the second half: “That was a tremendous individual effort by J.T. to stick with that offensive rebound – it’ll only count as one rebound, but it was more like three.” The Hokies crashed the boards, and that has to continue tomorrow in order for Tech to have a snowballs chance in hell to win.

The Hokies are now 2-3 all-time in ACC Tournament play with victories against miami today and wake forest (‘07 quarters) and losses against n.c. state (‘07 semis), uva (‘06 1st round), and ga tech (‘05 quarters).

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