Spread: duke by 8.5

Doe Doe: Everyone has been talking about how good Cadarian Raines has been the last 3 weeks, and rightfully so (averaging just under 12 PPG over the last 6 games), but Dorian Finney-Smith has quietly turned things around, too.  Look at the tale of his three seasons, so to speak.

Dorian is also 11/28 from behind the arc in those last 10 games, a 39% clip (remember when he missed 25 straight shots at one point, from inside and outside the arc?).  So congrats to him on finding his stroke again.  The disappointment has been his foul shooting, he’s 6/17 in his last 4 games and hasn’t made both in a 2-shot situation in 8 opportunities.  But all in all, he’s at least gotten back to the player he was early in the season.

Random: At one point on Thursday I gave Doe Doe a new nickname — Bambi — for how timid he is on the drive.  Then he showed me up by getting two nice drive-and-finishes.

VT vs duke:

duke will not have Ryan Kelly on Friday night (so you’re sayin’ there’s a chance)… but VT had just 7 scholarship players on Thursday, forcing 5 guys to play 30+ minutes.  There is some good news on Rankin, though, there’s a solid chance he’ll play Friday.

First Meeting – 2/2 at VT – #5 duke 75, VT 60

• HIGHLIGHTS
• RECAP
• PREVIEW

Second Meeting – 2/25 at duke – #5 duke 70, VT 65 (OT)

• RECAP
• PREVIEW
• Tech stayed in this game thanks to fantastic defense (duke was getting no transition opportunities which keep the score down) and great days from Raines, Green, and Hudson – 16 points each
• Green and Raines had shots at the end of regulation to win it for VT
• Rivers was too much off the dribble for Tech (and the refs treated him like Lebron — he had 17 FTAs leading to 23 points… Curry added 19)
• Ryan Kelly had 8 in this game (He’s out)
• VT was called for 25 fouls while duke just 13 (typical)

The Hokies stayed in that game at duke, and had a chance to win it, because of their transition defense.  They made this it a half court game, and with Raines dominating inside, Green in the midrange, and Zo outside, VT had a chance to win.  But with Tech likely tired after everyone playing so many minutes Thursday night, will the 7 or 8 scholarship guys have enough in the tank and their legs to slow down duke again?

Popularity: 19% [?]

The Hokies take the rubber match of their 3-game series with the clemson tigers, knocking off the higher seed in the First Round of the ACC Tournament 68-63 in Atlanta.  This exacted some measure of revenge for the tigers taking down the Hokies in this season’s ACC Football Championship Game.

The 5-point victory was Tech’s largest margin of victory this calendar year (their previous high was 2-points).

Popularity: 13% [?]

Boxscore

Cancel your tee times for Friday, the Hokies used their expansive close game experience and pulled away from the clemson tigers down the stretch, winning 68-63 in the First Round of the ACC Tournament.  Tech moves back to .500 at 16-16 on the season and will face #2-seed duke (without Ryan Kelly) at 7 PM on Friday night in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinals.

The Hokies captured the season series, winning for the 2nd time in 3 games against clemson this season.  And how crazy is this — Tech’s 5-point margin of victory is their largest of 2012… by 3 points (their previous largest win this calendar year was by 2 points).

Erick Green led the Hokies with 24 points.  clemson held him to just 8 last Thursday at clemson, snapping his string of 30 consecutive double digit games.  In fact, Green had scored just 25 total points in his previous 3 games against the tigers, which he almost equaled tonight.  The 2nd-Team All-ACCer hit 7/11 from the field, 2/4 from deep, and 8/8 from the line (including 4/4 in one-and-one situations).

Stat of the Game: Don’t Go Green… Until Tonight – Green (24 points) hadn’t scored more than 16 points in any of Tech’s previous 9 wins before tonight.  But he had scored 17 or more in 8 Tech’s last 13 losses.

Tech’s best player was the best player on the floor tonight, and carried the Hokies.  After clemson cut a 61-52 VT lead to 61-57 in a span of 15 seconds with 1:50 to go, Green drove the floor and laid in an acrobatic layup to put the Hokies back up 6 with 100 seconds to go.

Old Man River (Dorenzo Hudson) also stepped up, decided his career wouldn’t end tonight.  Zo hit 6/12 FGs, 3/7 3-pointers, and 4/4 from the stripe to tally 19 points.

The Hokies played without point guard Marquis Rankin, who is out with a knee injury, and Victor Davila, dropping them to 7 scholarship players (deja vu all over again).  5 Hokies played 30 minutes or more, including 36 from Doe Doe.

Dorian Finney-Smith had another solid game (he’s on a nice 10 game stretch), scoring 8 points and snagging 8 boards, including 4 on the offensive end to extend possessions.  He also ran the point some with Rankin out and Young (ACC steals leader) on Green.  Doe Doe showed some nice drives, getting to the rack for tough layups twice, including a runner at the end of the shot clock that put VT up 61-52 with 2:25 to go.  Doe Doe added 3 steals, too.

Cadarian Raines had a solid game with 9 points on 4/6 shooting, but clemson really focused on keeping the ball away from him.  Booker did a solid job defending Raines in the post, but that led to Devin’s 4 fouls.

clemson got average games from their stars — Freshman Devin Coleman was the surprising scoring leader for the tigers with 15, most on drives to the rack.  It was his career high, in fact, he had never reached double digits before.  He even hit a 3-pointer despite being 2/17 on the year from long range.

Senior Andre Young and junior Milton Jennings had 13 each, while senior Tanner Smith had 12.  Tech limited Devin Booker to just 7 points (only 4 FG attempts).  Booker was also hit with a flagrant-1 foul when he elbowed Cadarian Raines with 4 minutes to go, allowing the Hokies to hit 1/2 FTs and get the ball (Tech converted).

clemson came into this game averaging 8.8 steals per game, but Virginia Tech did an excellent job of protecting the ball, allowing just 2 steals for the tigers (VT had 5 steals).  The Hokies even got some transition buckets — two layups on fastbreaks off turnovers (they actually passed the ball once on the break!!!  EG to Zo!) and two 3-pointers in transition by Hudson.

The whistles were much more prevalent in the 2nd half.  clemson was called for just 1 foul in the first half, and just two FTs were attempted (by clemson).  But Tech was aggressive getting to the rack in the 2nd half and drew 12 fouls on the tigers and hit 17/20 FTs (that’s more like it — Tech had been just 58% from the line since the start of the @florida state game).

The surprise was clemson’s 3-point shooting.  The tigers were 0/10 from behind the arc at clemson last week, and just 2/27 in the 2 games vs VT.  But the tigers hit 5/9 from deep in the first half and started 6/10 from 3-point range… then they went back to being clemson, hitting just 2/12 from deep in the final 18 minutes.

The Hokies just missed 70 points (they still have not reached 70 in regulation in 18 games in 2012).

VT shot 42% from the field, 30% on 3s (7/23), and 85% on FTs (17/20).  Tech had 11 offensive rebounds to just 9 by clemson (clemson had 33 offensive rebounds in the previous 2 games vs VT).

clemson shot over 50% in the first half, but just 46% from the game.  They were 36% on 3s (8/22 – - but 2/12 to end the game), and 9/15 from the line (60%).

GAME FLOW:

• clemson jumped ahead 8-2
• VT went on a 14-3 run to go ahead 16-11
• clemson closed the half on a 14-3 run of their own to go into the break up 35-30
• VT scored just 3 points in the final 5:15 of the 1st half (all on a Brown 3)
• Tech started the 2nd half on a 7-1 run to go ahead 37-36, then went almost 6 minutes without a FG (but 5 FTs)
• The game stayed tight from 46-44 (clemson) to 52-52 with under 6 minutes to go
• Hudson and Green hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put VT up 58-52 with 4 minutes to go and the game never got closer than 4 after that
• The Hokies went on a 13-2 run after trailing 50-48 with 7 minutes to go to lead 61-52 with 2:05 left
• VT hit 5/6 FTs in the final 2 minutes, clemson went just 3/6 from the line (and that’s not counting a FT Tanner Smith missed on a lane violation)

• Under-16: clemson 8-4
• Under-12: VT 16-11
• U8: VT 21-18
• U4: Tied 27-27

HALF: clemson 35-30

2nd Half:

• Under-16: clemson 42-40
• U12: Tied at 46
• U8: clemson 50-48
• U4: VT 58-52

FINAL: VT 68-63

Popularity: 15% [?]

Spread: clemson by 3.5 (Spread has moved a point up from 2.5 — people are betting on clemson!)

For the second Thursday in a row the Hokies and c-l-e-m-s-ohhhhh-n will do battle, but this time with survival at stake.  If the Hokies lose, their season is over in all likelihood.  It is not believed that Tech will accept a bid to a tournament lower than the NIT, and VT would likely have to win 3 games in the Dirty, Dirty to have any shot at the NIT for a 5th year in a row.  The Hokies come in at 15-16 overall, so they must win at least 2 games to avoid finishing with a losing record.

But enough about anything other than Thursday.  The Hokies come into this game struggling, having lost 4 in a row, while the tigers have won 5 of 7, including that meeting last Thursday at clemson.  If the Hokies play like they did Sunday against nc state, you can go ahead and make a tee time for Friday, Tech will be done for the season.

These two teams are evenly matched.  In fact, each team won by exactly two points at home this year.  And in both games the road team had a chance to tie the game at the free throw line with a couple of seconds left, and in both cases, missed both.

Note: Erick Green was named to the All-ACC Second Team and Dorian Finney-Smith was selected to the All Freshman Team for the ACC.

HISTORY IN THE ACC TOURNAMENT:

• Overall Record: 5-7
• Record in the First Round: 2-1 (beat georgia tech last year)
• First Meeting between VT and clemson in the ACC Tournament

SEASON SERIES VS clemson:

Feb. 4 at Virginia Tech – VT 67-65

• Recap
• Highlights

Mar. 1 at clemson – clemson 58-56

• Recap

Tech jumped out to big leads in both games.  In Blacksburg, VT led by as many as 17 in the 1st half and took a 42-28 lead to the break.  The Hokies led by 14 with 5:30 to go, but took a knee the rest of the game and needed K.J. McDaniels (14 points and 6 dunks) to miss 2 free throws with 3 seconds left, and Tanner Smith to miss a wide open 15-footer at the buzzer from the corner to secure the win.  The tigers snagged 22 offensive rebounds but where just 2/17 on 3-pointers.

At clemson, the Hokies jumped ahead 16-6 but went scoreless for more than 6-1/2 minutes and trailed at the break 33-31.  The tigers threatened to pull away in the 2nd half, leading by as many as 8, but VT tied it with 3 minutes to go.  Neither team scored in the final 2:45 and 2 missed free throws by Cadarian Raines that could have tied the game with 5 seconds left sent the Hokies to defeat (although Raines was the VT player of the game with 12 points and 8 rebounds).  clemson outscored VT on the fastbreak 13-0, but went 0/10 from behind the arc.

Jarell Eddie scored exactly 15 points in both meetings and is 5/12 from deep against the tigers.

clemson is 2/27 from 3-point range against VT this year.

SERIES:

• Overall: VT 13-12
• Overall in ACC Play: clemson 7-5

STARTERS:

STATS:

Note: these stats are for ACC games ONLY.

Let’s win the season series!  Let’s take the rubber match!

Popularity: 17% [?]

Well, folks, it’s not like you can say you are surprised. We have wins over duke (No. 1 seed), two wins over fsu (which made the tournament), and a win over penn state (which also in the big dance), and we got left out. We won 11 conference games in the ACC including regular season and the ACC tournament. The Hokies made it to the semifinals of the ACC tourney, beating the No. 3 seed, fsu. And yet, Seth Greenberg and his 21-11, 11-8, Hokies got the big old snub once again from the NCAA tournament selection committee.

What more can we say? The NIT selection show is at 9 p.m., tonight. We would assume the Hokies would be a No. 1 or 2 seed and will host 2-3 games, assuming they win. Excuse us if we’re not all giggly about those prospects.

Popularity: 69% [?]

The Hokies’ NCAA tournament hopes now rest in the hands of the selection committee. Virginia Tech lost in the semifinals of the 2011 ACC tournament, 77-63, to the No. 2 seed duke.

Senior guard Malcolm Delaney led? Tech with 17 points, while sophomore Erick Green also scored 17. Victor Davila was the only other Hokie in double figures with 11. Jeff Allen was a non-factor, registering just two points and seven rebounds and fouling out in the second half.

Despite only 15 hours of rest since their gut-wrenching and near heart-breaking win over fsu, the Hokies came out strong against the defending national champs and kept it close for most of the first half.

But, with the game tied at 14-14, duke went on a 14-2 run to take a 12-point lead, 28-16, and led 39-28 at the break.

Tech fought stay in the game, but the devils didn’t have the same kind of off-day shooting-wise that they had in a loss in Blacksburg earlier this season, and managed to keep at least a 10-point lead for most of the second half.

Meanwhile, the Hokies played with a great deal of intensity and heart. They wanted this game and it showed. But they were clearly running on empty and struggled from the field, especially from behind the arc. Tech was 0/5 from three point range in the first half.

Tech stands at 21-11 overall and 11-8 in the ACC. Their chances are good for an at-large bid, but there are no guarantees.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Here are the highlights from the final 30 seconds of last night’s miracle win…

Popularity: 30% [?]

SATURDAY:

• Head to your local Hard Times (Web Site Link) to watch the game!  It will start 20 minutes after the conclusion of the first semi-final at 1 PM.
• The Hokies are in the semi-finals for the third time in five years.   They were unable to advance to the title game in 2007 or 2008.
• The big news is duke may be without ACC Player of the Year Nolan Smith.  He injured his toe midway through the second half on Friday and did not return, and looked to be in a lot of pain.  But I should note duke outscored maryland 22-11 without him to blow open a close game.
• Losing Smith would be a huge deal as he was the best player on the court back in Blacksburg two weeks ago (other than maybe Jeff Allen).  But he has been the star of stars for duke.  Don’t feel too bad for them though if he cannot go, they have a lot of stars (tic).
• Seth Curry had a horrible game in B’burg but I bet he’ll have a better day Saturday being away from Tech and the Dell Curry legacy.  He needs to step up for the devils… let’s hope his shot is off again.
• VT won last time because of great effort, and duke being off from deep (4/20).  With the Hokies having tired legs Saturday, they will have trouble getting out on three-point shooters which means if duke is on, this could be a long day.  And I’d expect to see duke pound it inside and crash the boards like fsu did to get the Hokies in foul trouble.  But Nolan is by far their best penetrator.
• Let’s hope Malcolm Delaney can be the best guard on the floor Saturday.  He was just 4/15 (1/6 on 3s) against duke the first time.  Without Smith guarding him (perhaps), let’s hope he can get things going.
• And I have checked with the ACC officials, and Allen, Davila, and Delaney will start the game Saturday with 0 fouls (phew).  Let’s keep it that way and not force David Jackson to start stretching Prince Parker on the bench.
• I hate to say it, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see VT blown out in this game with or without Smith playing.  The Hokies had such an emotional victory, and have to be back on the court 15 hours later.  Jack Bauer, anyone?  This seems like an episode of 24 and VT (CTU) will have a tough time taking down Starwood/Jonas Hodges (duke).   They have to be exhausted after two straight days of playing (although uconn will be playing for a fifth straight day Saturday).  But this team continues to amaze me, so maybe they have a little bit more magic dust in their bag left for Saturday.

STARTERS:

If Smith cannot go, look for Tyler Thornton and Andre Dawkins to fill in his minutes.  Thornton is more of a point guard than Dawkins, but Thornton is a freshman.  But duke is down to three guards (Seth Curry, too) if Nolan cannot go — boohoo, welcome to our world.

STATS:

Note: Team stats are from ACC games only along with the team’s ACC ranking, player stats are from all games this season.

LAST MEETING:

• Preview
• Recap – VT 64, duke 60
• Highlights

FRIDAY WRAP-UP:

• WOW!  What a roller coaster.  The end was like a movie.  I mean, did you think VT had any chance of winning with Delaney, Davila, and Allen having four fouls with about 7 minutes to go?  I wasn’t sure we were still going to have enough guys on the court by the end.  Yet they found a way.
• I said we’d be out of fingernails by Selection Sunday.  Well, it turns out our bid may have come down to the fingertips of Derwin Kitchen.  The ball was still on them at 0.0 and VT had their win.  Reminds me of Al Pacino’s speech in Any Given Sunday — and the noles were a few inches too late Friday (thank God).  It’s crazy to think that if there had been 4.8 seconds left when fsu got the ball instead of 4.7, they’d have won.
• I was screaming for us to foul with 30 seconds left.  But Seth going to the 1-3-1 trap after fsu’s timeout was brilliant.  Got us the steal that led to Green’s go-ahead shot.
• Speaking of which, hats off to the Winchester Rifle.  He was mis-firing all game, just 1/12 from the floor.  But he stepped up and took that go-ahead shot with confidence and nailed it.  Erick didn’t let the miss at the end of at bc scare him today.  Boy has balls.  And he played great D on Kitchen’s run.
• Manny Millions looked like the only Hokie playing hard in the first half.  Credit him with keeping us competitive.
• Yes, for the 16th straight VT game, the team that shot better from 3-point range won.  VT’s 6/22 (27.3%) was good enough to beat 4/15 (26.7%).  Maybe that got us that extra tenth of a second!
• Have to think VT locked up their invitation to the NCAA Tournament.  11 ACC wins has to get us in, but we seem to find new ways to get shafted each year.  But I’m confident now.  Congrats to these guys.
• WOW!  That’s all you can say.  Now on to Saturday.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Box Score

The Virginia Tech Hokies’ NCAA tournament hopes got a huge boost Friday night as Tech beat the No. 3 seed fsu in the 2011 ACC Tournament, 52-51, in a sloppy, low-scoring game, that for at least one half set the sport back a half century.

The Hokies overcame a 10-point, second-half deficit and tied the game at 49 on a Manny Atkins three pointer from near the Virginia Tech bench with three minutes to play. The noles retook the lead, 51-49, before Malcolm Delaney hit 1/2 free throws with :41 seconds left to cut the lead to one, 50-51.

Erick Green was just 2/13 on the night, but he hit his biggest shot of the game, a long two from the top of the key, with 4.7 seconds to play to give the Hokies their first lead, 52-51, since early in the opening half when they lead 4-3.

fsu still had a shot, though. Derwin Kitchen got the ball in the far corner and appeared to hit a game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer as the noles’ bench and about a dozen fans erupted in celebration. But after nearly five minutes of reviewing the shot, it was clear that the ball was still on his fingertips when the clock hit 00:00:00. The officials left the scorer’s table and waived off the basket, thus giving the win to the Hokies.

Aside from the thrilling end, this game was ugly; something Hokie fans have witnessed so often this season. Everything that could go wrong, practically did. Things got off to an ominous start when head coach Seth Greenberg called a timeout just 41 seconds into the game and got into a verbal argument with first-team All-ACC guard Malcolm Delaney, whom Greenberg promptly benched for :32 seconds.

Greenberg could be seen trying to talk to Delaney, but the star player turned his head away from the coach, clearly not interested in what he had to say.

It got worse. Jeff Allen picked up two fouls less than five minutes into the game, while Davila finished the first half with three fouls and Delaney was called for two fouls. The Hokies couldn’t hit a free throw, or a field goal for that matter, the entire first half. It took Virginia Tech six and a half minutes to register their first field goal and were under 50 percent from the charity stripe until Delaney hit a pair with less than a second left in the half. The finished the half 7/13 from the FT line and trailed 19-27 at the break.

The Hokies shot a pathetic 17.9 percent from the field on 5/28 shooting in the first half. They had only 19 points and two of those came on a pair of Delaney free throws with less than a second to play in the half. The 19 points is the lowest first-half total by the Hokies all season. Their lowest scoring output in a half was 18 in a 72-57 road loss to georgia tech.

The second half didn’t get off to a particularly great start either. After a quick 4-0 run by the Hokies, Davila picked up his fourth foul, while Delaney and Allen picked their third less than five minutes into the second half. It was all downhill from there.

From there, the noles pushed their lead to 10 points, 28-38, with 13:25 to play. Then, the Hokies finally found some rhythm. Tech used an 11-3 run to cut fsu’s lead to one, 39-40 with nine minutes to play and it was a decent game from then on out.

With 3:05 remaining and Tech trailing 49-46, Manny Atkins came of a screen near the Hokies’ bench and drained a three pointer to tie the game at 49. The Noles regained the lead with a minute to play, 51-49. Delaney was fouled in the act with :41 to play, but missed the first and made the second, to cut the lead to 50-51.

The noles had the ball and the shot clock off when fsu called a timeout. On the inbounds pass, Allen stripped the ball giving the Hokies the ball. Green hit the eventual game winner, but only after replays showed that fsu’s would-be game-winner did not count.

Foul trouble nearly killed the Hokies Friday night. Delaney, Davila and Allen all played with four fouls each for the critical final five minutes of the second half, which hindered their ability to play aggressive basketball. Despite that, Tech kept the game close and allowed them to hang with the noles before overcoming the adversity.

The Hokies will face No. 2 seed duke tomorrow in the ACC semifinals.

Popularity: 30% [?]

Spread: VT by 1.5 (wow, wasn’t expecting that — clearly Vegas doesn’t think Singleton is playing).

The Hokies kept themselves firmly on the bubble Thursday by beating georgia tech, now they have a chance to punch their ticket to the Big Dance with a win over florida state.   A loss means a lot of anxiety between now and Sunday evening.

The big question is: will Chris Singleton play?  fsu’s lone star (he’s to the noles what Toney Douglas was two years ago) has been out since February 12th when he suffered a foot stress fracture against uva.  He’s been shooting and warming up lately before games.  Personally, I don’t think he’ll play.  I think they’ll save him for the NCAA Tournament next week (they have a bid locked up) to protect his future and give him more time to heal.

Even if Singleton cannot play, don’t think this game will be a walkover.  The noles have been playing surprisingly well since their franchise man went down.  They beat uva despite the fact Chris went down early in the game while fsu was behind, and they’ve won three of five since.  One of those losses was to unc (yes, the unc that has won 12 of 13) where fsu led with under 10 seconds left before Harrison Barnes hit a 3-pointer to win it for the heels.  So these guys can still play… though I’m not sure how.  And to be fair, five of the six teams they played without Singleton (including uva) had losing ACC records.  Friday will be a test for the noles, who won’t have the hunger VT should have.

Note that teams playing on consecutive days tend to have an advantage early in games since they tend to be in the flow more quickly.  All you have to do is look at Tech’s record on short turnarounds (6-1) in ACC regular season games to see that.  Or look at the Big East marathon ( I mean Tournament) — there have been tons of upsets where teams that played the previous day upset a higher seed that was resting.  That will be key to Tech to jump up early.

HO-KEYS TO WINNING:

• 3-Pt%: In VT’s last 15 games, the team that shot a higher percentage from behind the arc won.  (Though in the first meeting between these clubs, VT was just 1/8 from deep — FTs won them that game).
• Transition: fsu plays great defense.  That’s how they win with or without Singleton.  They aren’t going to drop 80 or 90 on you.  So the Hokies have to find ways to get easy buckets.  Push the ball like they did against georgia tech and attack the rim, Green and Delaney.
• Protect the ball: The noles need turnovers to fuel their offense.  They are good in transition.  The Hokies need to make smart passes, and avoid giving up a lot of steals (fsu is #2 in the league in steals).
• Urgency: Tech needs to play like they did Thursday, or like they did against duke — like they were playing for a NCAA Tournament bid.  In many ways, they are.  Win Friday and I feel they are a lock.  Lose, and again, they are the mercy of the Committee, which hasn’t worked out too well the last 3 years.
• Battle Inside: The noles aren’t a team that’s going to bomb you out of the gym from deep (8th in the league in 3s made per game).  They want to penetrate.  VT has to work hard to cut off noles on the dribble, while being smart and not fouling, then box out and deny fsu second chance opportunities.

SERIES:

• All-time: fsu 25-18
• In ACC Play: fsu 6-3

EARLIER MEETING:

• at VT 71, fsu 59 (Recap)

Jeff Allen scored 24 and snagged 11 boards on his way to ACC Player of the Week honors.  VT hit 34/37 free throws to fuel the win.  Chris Singleton had 22 points and 8 rebounds for fsu.

STARTERS:

*Singleton would play for White if he plays.

STATS*:

*Team stats are from ACC games only (and ACC rank), player stats are for all games.

# Since my thought is Singleton won’t play, I’ve listed their second leading ‘whatever’.

BORING FACTS ABOUT fsu:

• f-l-o-r-i-d-a s-t-a-t-e! florida state, florida state, florida state… WOOOOO! [Sorry, but guys should not be yelling 'Woooo' at the end of your school cheer]
• Established in 1851
• 31,000 undergrads, 8,500 post-grads
• Was an all women’s school from 1906 to 1947 when it became coed. Lee Corso (ESPN Gameday personality) joked that when he went on his recruiting visit to the florida gators, he barely saw any women, but when he went to fsu, he barely saw any men… he went to fsu.
• Burt Reynolds went to fsu.
• Jim Morrison attended fsu for a stretch and got arrested for a prank after a football game.
• Richard Simmons went to fsu (chuckle)
• Ted Bundy killed two fsu Chi Omegans during his serial killing spree back in the late ’70s.
• fsu has 2 titles in football (as Hokies know all too well) and 3 title game appearances in the College World Series, but lost all 3.
• 2 Heismans – Charlie Ward and Chris Weinke
• florida state is the only school VT hasn’t beaten on the road in football OR basketball.  0-1 in pigskin, 0-4 in hoops.

Popularity: 21% [?]

Boxscore

The Magnificent Seven rolled to victory, 59-43, against georgia tech on Thursday.  Virginia Tech did what they had to do — take care of business and win on Day 1 of the ACC Tournament (which consequently is Day 14 of the Big East UEFA Cup round robin double elimination Tournament — I haven’t seen a tournament this confusing since Base-ketball) in a near Bear Fight at the Greensboro Coliseum .  The Hokies locked up their 20th win of the season, and 10th ACC win.  The current senior class is now 11-1 in tournament openers (3-1 at the ACC Tournament).

In what was Paul Hewitt’s final game as coach of georgia tech, the jackets laid an egg.  The Hokies played like a team on a mission to get to the NCAA Tournament (where was this last week???) and sent the jackets, along with most of the crowd, home early.

The Hokies dominated this game from the start.  Tech jumped out to an 8-0 lead and pushed it to 15-2 shortly thereafter.  The yellow jackets had their fans feeling yellow — they had just 2 points 7 minutes into the game.  A Terrell Bell triple blew the doors open with 8 minutes to go in the first half, putting the Hokies up 27-9.  VT got 7 points each early from Delaney and Green (who struggled mightily in Atlanta against gt) to build the lead.  Tech led by as many as 18 in the first half, and after a sluggish start for both teams offensively in the second half, VT leaped out to a 20-point lead five and a half minutes into the second half.  When I say this game was all Hokies, I mean it was ALL HOKIES.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, YES, the stat of stats held true: for the 15th straight VT game, the team that shot a higher percentage from 3-point range won.  georgia tech couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat tonight.  They shot just 22% from deep (5/23) while the Hokies knocked down 27% (4/15).  georgia tech started just 3/21 from behind the arc and that sunk their ship.  Shumpert, who had a triple-double in Atlanta and 27 points in B’burg, finished with a pedestrian 12 points, 4 steals, 2 assists, and 1 rebound.  And Brian Oliver, who torched the Hokies in the gt win in Atlanta, did play for the first time in over a month tonight but was just 1/8 from the field.

VT shot 47% for the game compared to just 32% for the jackets.  The jackets, a poor shooting team on average, had no answer for the VT 2-3 zone (which they stayed in the entire game).  Tech also dominated tech in the paint as expected — beating gt 28-14 in points in the paint.  The Hokies even got 9 points from their ‘scholarship’ bench (all two of them) — Atkins had 6 while Garland had 3 — and Paul Debnam also added a free throw in garbage time.

The good news is this: Malcolm Delaney’s shot looked good tonight for the first time in a while, and Jeff Allen still had that sweet, sweet mid-range jumper.  The two combined to shoot 10/17 from the floor (a low shot total but I’ll take the efficiency).  Delaney tallied 15 points, 4 assists, and 2 steals on the night while Allen added 14 points and 11 rebounds for his 15th double-double of the season and 45th of his career.  Erick Green added a solid 11 points to give three Hokies double figures.  Bell and Davila had just 9 combined points, but it didn’t matter tonight.

Tales of Jeff Allen’s demise were greatly exaggerated — the senior had 6 points and 8 rebounds at the break in 17 minutes.  The 8 rebounds matched in a half what he produced all of last week in 2 games.  Delaney led the Hokies at the break with 11 points and 4 assists, plus chipped in 2 of VT’s 8 steals.

VT exploded to a 55-31 lead with 8 minutes to go, and largely ‘iced the puck’ the rest of the game.  In fact, georgia tech had averaged less than a point per minute for most of the first 35 minutes.  VT scored just 2 points from the 8:23 mark of the second half to the 1:18 point, but it didn’t matter.  The game was for the birds.

The jackets, meanwhile, did one of two things on offensive early on: supply another brick for a house, or turn the ball over.  georgia tech shot just 23% in the first half, while the Hokies hit 50% of their shots.   If it hadn’t been for Glen Rice Jr., who was banking in more shots than Minnesota Fats, georgia tech might have been in single digits at the break.  He had 8 points, while star Iman Shumpert was largely invisible with just 5 points, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 0 rebounds, well below his triple-double (and near quadruple-double) against VT in Atlanta.

The only scare of the first half was, after building a 30-11 lead on a Tyrone Garland 3-point play, georgia tech went on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 30-19 and had a couple of shots to get within single digits.  The Hokies were scoreless for almost 5 minutes, including 3 missed free throws by Delaney.  But Tech went on a 6-0 run to close the half and led 36-19 at the half.

The Hokies return to action on Friday night at the same time (~9:20 PM) against the #3 seed florida state seminoles… oh, and Chris Singleton might play after all (but I doubt it).  Win, and the Hokies are assured a NCAA Tournament bid (I think).  Lose, and look out fingernails on Sunday.

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One of the great streaks in the ACC continued Thursday on the first day of the ACC Tournament – the wahoos failed to make the ACC Tournament Semi-Finals for the 16th straight year.  And they accomplished this in epic fashion — uva led 53-43 with 45 seconds left in the game.  But thanks to two 3-pointers for miami, 3 uva turnovers, 2 missed uva FTs, a cane dunk, and a cane ‘and-1′ (though he missed the FT to give miami the lead), miami sent the game to OT and then buried the cavs.

uva has not made the ACC Semi-Finals since 1995.  And remember – there were only nine teams in the league until 2004 so they basically just had to win one game the first half of this streak.  They have been bad for a lot of years now.

Let’s hope the Hokies can start a push to the Semi-Finals tonight by at least making the Quarters.  VT made the semis in back-to-back years in 2007 and 2008.

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Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse for the Hokies, it did. Yesterday, Virginia Tech men’s head basketball coach Seth Greenberg announced that freshman forward Jarell Eddie will not dress or play for the Hokies for the remainder of the 2010-11 season.

According to a news release on HokieSports.com, the freshman Charlotte, N.C., was suspended as a result of his marijuana incident that occurred on Feb. 15 in Blacksburg, Va.

“Jarell Eddie is a excellent student, a fine young man and a great teammate,” said Greenberg in the release. “He made a mistake in judgment and is paying the price for that mistake.”

Losing Eddie is a huge blow to the Hokies as they enter the ACC tournament today. Senior forward Jeff Allen is hobbled by a bad ankle that severely limited him in practice this week, so that leaves sophomore Manny Atkins as the only scholarship forward on the bench.

Essentially, the Hokies will be playing with only seven players against georgia tech, assuming Allen can go. Freshman Tyrone Garland, who was recently named to the ACC all-academic team, and Atkins are the only scholarship players on the bench to relieve the starting five: Malcolm Delaney, Jeff Allen, Terrell Bell, Victor Davila and Erick Green.

Tech lost its last two regular season games and is firmly on the NCAA tournament bubble heading into the ACC tourney. Realistically, they need at least two wins this week to make it into the dance. That is a challenge unto itself, never mind the fact they must do so with seven players.

If you’re looking for more details on this developing situation, you won’t get it from Greenberg, his staff or anyone in the basketball office. The official word in the release went something like this:

“This release will serve as the sole statement by the Virginia Tech Athletics Administration, Coach Greenberg and members of the basketball program on this matter. No further comments will be made on this matter during the remainder of the season and Coach Greenberg will not address this issue during press conferences at the ACC Tournament.”

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Let’s look back at what went wrong on Friday and how much we have to sweat it out on Sunday.

Friday’s Analysis:

Wow, it was a fun, but rough couple of days in Greensboro.  Good time had by all, though the Weekend Warrior is going to be the end of me.

• The Hokies are now 0-2 in ACC Tournament games at the Greensboro Coliseum and just 1-8 all time there against current ACC teams.  Unfortunately, the tourney is going to be there four of the next five years so VT better figure out how to win there.
• The loss snapped the Hokies’ streak of winning their first tournament game in 10 straight tournaments, including the last three ACC Tournaments.
• I really liked the half-court trap Seth employed early in the game.  It created a lot of turnovers from the canes and forced their bigs to handle the ball away from the hoop in uncomfortable situations.  The canes had 18 turnovers for the game to just eight for VT.  Despite that, Tech had just a 16-10 edge in points off turnovers.  VT had 13 steals compared to just four by the canes.  miami does not have strong ballhandlers and that trap really exposed that.
• Tech’s two starting guards and top two scorers, Delaney and Hudson, were just 8/31 from the field yesterday.  They made just one shot combined in the second half and scored just 1 point in final 15:55.  The miami 2-3 zone dared the Hokies to shoot threes.  Tech was hitting them early, and Terrell Bell was nailing them all game, but VT really struggled to hit outside shots in the final 32 minutes of play.  VT was just 3/12 in the second half and Bell hit all three of those.  Hudson and Delaney were a combined 2/14 from behind the arc.
• I can’t be hard on Malcolm.  Every player, even a star, has an off day.  It just came at a terrible time – in the ACC Tournament.  What also concerned me was the way Durand Scott owned Delaney, who was manning up Scott, in the final three minutes.  Scott had 9 points in the final three minutes and was unstoppable on the drive and finishing.  But in hindsight, Scott may just be that good.  The freshman really had a coming out party this tournament.  He had 38 points in the final two cane games, including 21 against duke.  So he’s pretty good.  Still, it was a rough day on offense and defense for Malcolm except for his four steals on defense.
• Delaney had scored at least 13 points in every other ACC game this season.  miami held him to just 7.  He had reached double digits in all but two regular season games.
• I have to wonder if Dorenzo Hudson’s conditioning was off.  He hadn’t played in nine days and he has missed a lot of practice time due to his foot injury.  That has to effect your endurance at some point.  Yet he gutted out 39 minutes of play yesterday, including the whole second half.  Zo came out hot as a pistol Friday, scoring 11 of Tech’s first 15 points and 13 of their first 22, but had just three points the rest of the way.  He had just one point in the second half.  After starting out 4/5 from the field, he was just 1/11 in the final 30 minutes.
• Jeff Allen continues to be a beast.  The inner tube posted his third double-double in four games.  He had 18 points and 11 rebounds and was the only offense Tech had in the paint.
• Terrell Bell is also playing really well.  He hit double digits in points for the third time in four games with his 12 points, all on three-pointers.  He had reached double digits just four times all season before this recent stretch.
• The Hokies were not good on the offensive glass, despite the fact miami was missing leading scorer and rebounder Dwayne Collins.  Tech gathered just 21 percent of their misses (33 percent is average), while miami got 38 percent of their misses (not too bad for the Hokies).
• The Hokies actually made more threes than the canes (6-4), which was a huge surprise.  If you had told me miami would go just 4/16 on threes and commit 10 more turnovers than the Hokies, I’d have assumed VT won by double digits.  But the fact VT shot 24 threes is not a good thing.  That 2-3 zone miami ran was pure genius.
• Tech was just 61 percent from the line, a rare off day there.  Delaney had just three attempts, six below his average, and he only made one.
• miami scored on five of their final six possessions in the front court, largely thanks to Scott.  VT simply couldn’t answer.
• It was a rough tournament all around for high seeds.  Who’d have thought the 11 and 12 seeds, easily the two worst teams in the league (nc state and miami) would make the semifinals.  On both Thursday and Friday three higher seeded teams lost.  For the tournament, five teams seeded at least five seeds below the team they were playing won.  Crazy.  Just shows this was a down year for the league and all teams are pretty much equal.

Selection Sunday:

A week ago the Hokies seemed like a lock but now they’ll be sweating bullets Sunday.  Let’s look at VT’s resume:

• 10 ACC wins
• 23 total wins
• 4th place in the ACC regular season (ahead of three tourney “locks” – clemson, wake, and gt).
• RPI #59
• Wins over RPI #33 clemson, at #34 georgia tech, #36 wake forest, and on a neutral court against #61 seton hall (another bubble team)
• 8-7 against RPI Top 100 teams (VT just lost a top 100 win because georgia fell out)
• 3-4 against RPI Top 50 teams (including 3-1 against teams 26-50)
• 6-4 in their final 10 games

That is a pretty solid resume, but the weak out of conference schedule (and in conference for that matter – they played the bottom five teams twice and the top six teams just once) is constantly mentioned by the so-called bracketology experts.  miami and nc state’s runs were actually a good thing (of course beating miami would have been better).  But now both are firmly in the Top 100, so those two miami losses aren’t as bad.  And it makes that weak in conference schedule a little more legit.

The Hokies also know they were left out two years ago despite winning 9 ACC games in the regular season and one in the ACC Tournament against a team that made the Big Dance, so they have to be worried.  But the Selection Committee is human and I think the snub two years ago that led to Seth Greenberg’s famous “certifiably insane” line about the committee will actually work in VT’s favor.  They know they snubbed VT and the Hokies won 10 conference games this year and 23 overall.  They may feel pressure to put the Hokies in this time.

Now let’s look at the bubble.  The bubble teams you hear about are VT, illinois, rhode island, minnesota, mississippi state, ole miss, seton hall, florida, dayton, and uab.

• VT (RPI #59)
• mississippi state (54) beat #23 vandy on Saturday in the SEC semis but lost to kentucky in the title game in an amazing battle.  kentucky sent the game to overtime on a putback that left Cousins’s hand with .1 left on the clock.  Then Wall hit a wild three to put the game away in OT.  But as Hokie fans know from two years ago when VT lost to unc in the ACC semifinals in the final second, close does NOT count to the NCAA Selection Committee.  This loss was huge for the Hokies.  The bulldogs now have 23 overall wins and 11 SEC wins but it may not be enough.
• minnesota (60) absolutely crushed #5 purdue in the Big(11)Ten semifinals by 27 but then lost to ohio state by a similarly huge margin in the Big(11)Ten title game.  They are firmly on the bubble right with the Hokies.
• Speaking of the Big(11)Ten, illinois (72) lost in 2 OTs to ohio state.  Losses, no matter how close, haven’t seemed to impress the committee (like VT’s last-second loss to unc two years ago in the ACC semis).  So this is good for VT.  And their RPI is awful.
• florida (56) was 10-8 in the SEC but lost four of their final five, including in the quarters of the SEC Tourney to miss state.  I think the bulldogs are solidly in over them and I think the Hokies would beat out the gators if it came down to the two of them.
• ole miss (62) lost their SEC Tourney opener but had won four in a row before that.  They don’t have any real big wins and finished 9-8 in the SEC.  Again, I like the Hokies over them.
• rhode island (40) got smoked by temple Saturday in the A-10 semis.  And they are 4-6 in their last 10.  I think the rams are done (good for the Hokies).  But that RPI is pretty high compared to the other teams on this list.
• seton hall (61) - how could the committee take them over the Hokies, who beat them on a neutral court?  I don’t think they could.  I’ve seen one projection that has them in and one that has them out.  Hokies shouldn’t have to worry about the hall, who lost in the Big East Second Round (not even the quarters).
• dayton (55) lost to xavier in the A-10 quarterfinals.  Could the #7 seed in the A-10 (that went 9-9 in the league) really get in over the ACC’s #4?  I don’t see it, though they did beat georgia tech, odu, and xavier.
• uab (45) has 23 wins, went 11-6 in C-USA, but lost their tourney opener to southern miss.  They’ve lost three in a row.  Again, I can’t see them getting in over the Hokies, but they did beat georgia, butler, cincinnati, and arkansas out of conference so they have some nice wins.  Could be tough to keep them out.
• Also, unlv and san diego state played for the Mountain West title.  Lunardi has both in (though san diego state just barely), as does Jerry Palm (again, sdsu is a higher number seed).  So a unlv win would be good for Tech. Update: san diego state won, of course.Both are likely in.
• utah state (31 in the RPI) played new mexico state for their conference title Saturday.  utah state seems to be in, new mexico state will not be without a win.  Update: new mexico state won - again, not good for the Hokies.
• the ohio state win over minnesota Sunday would be good as would be a ky kentucky win over mississippi state.

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Check out our photo gallery from the Hokies loss to the canes in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals.  You can see how I snuck closer and closer to the court over the course of the game.

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Recap | Box Score

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