Basketball ACC Play Week 1: @WF (1/7 noon), FSU (1/10 7pm), @BC (1/14 3pm)

[Ragingcroc]

After the first week of ACC play, we have a tough stretch (UNC, UVA BYU, MD, Duke) so we need to win this week to have a good start in ACC play. We should come out 3-0 or 2-1 at the worst because FSU is struggling, BC is horri-awful and WF is improved but still not that good.

@Wake Forest, January 7th, 12:00pm, ESPN3/ACC network
vs. Florida State, January 10th, 7:00pm, ESPNU
@ Boston College, January 14th, 3:00pm, Raycom Sports Network

 

[HoHumHokie]

After the first week of ACC play, we have a tough stretch (UNC, UVA BYU, MD, Duke) so we need to win this week to have a good start in ACC play. We should come out 3-0 or 2-1 at the worst because FSU is struggling, BC is horri-awful and WF is improved but still not that good.

@Wake Forest, January 7th, 12:00pm, ESPN3/ACC network
vs. Florida State, January 10th, 7:00pm, ESPNU
@ Boston College, January 14th, 3:00pm, Raycom Sports Network

If VT is any good we start the ACC 3-0. FSU will be tough, hopefully Cassell has a good turnout for that one.

 

[Ragingcroc]

If VT is any good we start the ACC 3-0. FSU will be tough, hopefully Cassell has a good turnout for that one.

No way it will be a good turnout because students will still be on break. I will be there but I don't think many people will come back early for basketball.

 

[wildturkey]

If we're not 3-0, then I'll have serious doubts about the team's chances to be different from the teams of the last 5 years (meaning no tourny). FSU is still good defensively, but on offense, they can't hit the side of a barn right now standing 5 feet away.

 

[Ragingcroc]

Holy poor shot selection batman

 

[Ragingcroc]

We're pretty much shooting our way out of the game. Every wild shot or missed long shot versus the 2-3 ends up giving up Wake Forest baskets in transition.

 

[hokiecheme11]

Our offense is horrendous. Zo played another terrible game. And that was one of the worst final possessions I've ever seen.

Only upside is that we played our way back into the game after starting out really poorly.

 

[Ragingcroc]

Basically, we took so many crappy shots that they were able to run on us way too much. We also can't defend a simple pick and roll to save our life. I'm talking more about the pick, and not even the roll at this point.

 

[Ragingcroc]

The sad thing, I think we could have won if we had just held on to the ball and got a shot clock violation instead of jacking up crappy jumpshots and then Wake running it.

 

[VT_Football_Fan]

Hello NIT. Nice to see you again.

 

[hokiehi21]

Why is Hudson so bad? Is he playing high? Where was Finney-Smith?

 

[Ragingcroc]

Why is Hudson so bad? Is he playing high? Where was Finney-Smith?

Hudson has always been a streaky shooter.

 

[Lumbee09]

Hello NIT. Nice to see you again.

I was thinking CBI

 

[Ragingcroc]

I was thinking CBI

That tournament is not really meant for the major conferences. Most bids are given to midmajors.

 

[Lumbee09]

That tournament is not really meant for the major conferences. Most bids are given to midmajors.

Oh I know. Only 1 or 2 major conference teams go. Was mostly being sarcastic.

 

[VT_Football_Fan]

That tournament is not really meant for the major conferences. Most bids are given to midmajors.

Wasn't UVA invited last year?

 

[wildturkey]

Took me a few minutes to write this post because I'm trying to figure out how to do it without cussing out Greenberg and certain players every 10 words. You'd think season after season of the exact same bullshit, it wouldn't be as infuriating. See, if this team was a bunch of no name scrubs who overachieved, I wouldn't give a damn. They tried their best and that's all you can ask. But our team isn't a bunch of no name scrubs. Most of them were recruited by major programs, some were very highly touted recruits. That's at least one thing Greenberg does well. He can recruit...but he damn sure can't coach.

The offense today was...no words can describe because there was no offense. Zero. It was nothing but have our guards throw up some god awful shots on the outside. I didn't keep track of how many were 3s and long 2s, but our guards took 74% of the shots today. You're not winning any games on a consistent basis if you're not getting into the paint. It doesn't matter if you're feeding the Bigs or driving to the lane, you have to get inside. Otherwise, teams are perfectly content to watch you throw up a contested long range shot and snatch the rebound.

Here's another example of how crappy our offense was. We shot 6 total FTs. SIX. It's not because the refs are biased, it because we weren't aggressive. We didn't attack the basket. Wake dropped into a zone, we ran our typical bullshit of throwing the ball around the perimeter for 30 seconds before finally launching a bad shot. Ridiculous. This is YOUR FAULT Seth Greenberg. I've seen this exact same shit for 5 straight years. The faces change, but the same problems remain. It doesn't take CSI investigation to figure out it's the coach's fault.

Croc is right on the defense too. It was terrible. There was very little communication between the defenders on just about every screen Wake set.

Dorian Finney-Smith, it's time to call him out. He took 1 shot today. He's got to be more aggressive in looking for his own shot. Show why he was #12 on ESPN's Top 50 list. A few games this year, he's just settling for what the game gives him. If he gets a couple of shots off rebounds, he's fine with that. Don't be fine with that.Get the ball and take it to the hole. He's 6-7 and very athletic. Outside of UNC, you're not going to find many teams that can match up with that too easily. He needs to be more involved offensively if we have any hope of success.

To make matters worse, Wake still almost let the game slip away despite how badly we played. You shouldn't be encouraged by that though. It just goes to show you how badly this team is messed up.

 

[757Hokie83]

Saturdays game was incredibly frustrating....for a good 3/4 of the game, the only inside shots we took were off rebounds from missed 3s....wtf is that?? we shouldnt be trying to live and die by the 3, we've got the talent to get it inside and hit high percentage shots

 

[wildturkey]

From Shane Ryan's column (LINK) on Grantland.

Every year, it seems like Seth Greenberg's Hokies are the on the NCAA bubble until the very end, at which point they blow some late games and are relegated to the NIT. That fate is largely due to the type of bad loss we saw Saturday, against a rebuilding Wake Forest team that went 1-15 in conference last season.

Remember how we said Arizona State was one of the four teams to enter conference play with a sub-.500 record? It beat Wake Forest by 28 points earlier this season. Meanwhile, Virginia Tech came in with a lot of wins and close losses to the likes of Syracuse and Kansas State. So what the hell happened in Winston-Salem?

Essentially, Virginia Tech tried to force a slow tempo, and Wake Forest said “great!” This game was proof that simply playing slow isn't an effective way to be successful in college basketball. Sure, maybe you can hold great teams like Syracuse below 70 points, but it also exposes you to upsets against teams like Wake. Slow pace must be matched with offensive efficiency, or you're essentially reducing games -- especially road contests -- to chance.

The efficiency wasn't there for Tech, which shot 27.3 percent from 3 while allowing 44.4 percent from Wake. The Hokies also gave up numerous second chances, and Wake's Travis McKie grabbed six offensive boards and scored 12 points to give his team the edge.

Inconsistency has always been the name of Greenberg's game. It was never on brighter display than last year, when Tech upset Duke at home to seemingly secure a tournament berth, then suffered two bad losses to Clemson and Boston College. So far in 2012, nothing's changed.

Pretty spot on I'd say. His "slow pace must be matched with offensive efficiency" line is particularly dead on accurate. In essence, it explains Seth Greenberg's entire tenure at Virginia Tech. Why do we play well one game and then have a head scratching loss the next? Because Seth Greenberg has no real strategy except milking clock and hoping a few balls bounce our way.

 

[Lumbee09]

Florida State game tonight at 7. This is a game that we should win. FSU has been crushed in their only 3 road games all year (lost by 16 to Michigan St, 18 to Florida, and 20 to Clemson).