Friday: “We just looked so dead out there”; Harvick, Redick on the move
VIRGINIA TECH WAS NEVER IN IT LAST NIGHT, falling behind by 20 points at halftime and losing to Duke 88-56 at Cassell Coliseum. Interesting quotes from a frustrated Erick Green on Berman’s blog, including this one:
“I just don’t get it, man, how you don’t have … my family always calls it that ‘dog’ in you, that thing that comes out when you’ve got heart. …. When someone gets down the lane, I’m not saying foul them hard, but you’ve got to put them on their butt, make a statement. Do stuff like that, have some fun. We just looked so dead out there. We’re just out there getting our butts whipped and it’s just not even fun.”
That’s nine straight losses for the Hokies, who host Florida State at 6 p.m. Sunday.
Seth Curry scored 22 points for the Blue Devils with his parents looking on from behind the Duke bench. Curry’s best performance against Tech included five 3-pointers in the first half.
KEVIN HARVICK KEEPS HIS SPEEDWEEKS SUCCESS GOING, winning the first Budweiser Duel after taking the checkered flag in last weekend’s exhibition race. Kyle Busch won the second Duel. More coverage of the Daytona 500 today on Speed with practice televised a 11 a.m. Sunday’s coverage starts at noon on WFXR.
THE MAGIC TRADES J.J. REDICK TO MILWAUKEE in a six-player deal, relinquishing the team’s most popular player (Orlando Sentinel describes Redick as such in its story today).
“People underestimate J.J.’s overall ability because he’s such an effective three-point shooter,” Bucks GM John Hammond tells the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “He’s a quality defender, a good ball handler, a good decision-maker.
“He gives us an opportunity to go with a true three-guard rotation. I don’t want to say we have the best three-guard rotation in the NBA, but we’ve got to be in the discussion.”
If the season ended today, the Bucks would be the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
OUSTED: Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods both get knocked out of the Accenture Match Play in the first round.
NAME THAT TUNE
Señor Plow no es macho
Es solamente un borracho…
February 22, 2013 - 8:20 AM
ANF,
Any chance the RT would put the article of the VT game online or will that just be a print edition only deal?
VT is mailing it in at this point of the season.
The Duke game was as much a no show as what happened when they played GT.
JJ has not displayed any brilliance at coach to make me think he is the guy to lead this program. In other words, I realize that we don’t have an overload of talent right now, but he is not coaching to any level where people are rising beyond their talent levels.
As Vince Lombardi would point out, every player has a gap between the player they are and the player they could be, and it is the job of the coach to reduce that gap.
I am not seeing that in JJ. More times than not he seems in over his head. And Louisville, Pitt, Syracuse, and ND are enter the league soon (and all are ranked). This team will be the welcome mat of the league for them
VT is a one man team. Give JJ a chance. Look how long Stiney had to prove himself. Pretty boring races yesterday. Not enough passing. Hoping the 500 will be better. Winner is coming out of row 2 and my money is on #18. He is the smartest driver out there. Kind of torn, do I watch the truck race or the 2 hr. finale of Gold Rush tonight.
Nicely stated, Bob H, you made an obvious but astute assessment re: coaching. I went into more detail on Berman’s blog, but I’ll hit a couple of points here, too.
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It’s more than obvious that we’ve got Green & Johnson vs the rest of the team. The only voices we hear are those two, and seldom any perspective from the others on the team. Isn’t Green the leader of this team? Has he done anything except talk about ‘having fun’ scoring and criticize his teammates to the media? It’s obvious he’s taking cues from Johnson, who publicly criticizes his players more than any coach I can remember, anywhere. Not just once or twice, but continually, game after game. Yet no acceptance of the responsibility for his coaching, or lack thereof. I find that disturbing. Perhaps Johnson should try coaching the players on fundamentals like working through screens to prevent easy 3 pt shots, as opposed to preaching to them about ‘having fun’.
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It’s obvious Jim Weaver has gotten what he paid for, the basement of the ACC. Next season, without Green, with a bunch of mid-major level recruits coming in, anyone want to make any predictions?
Isn’t that the spanish-language version of the jingle from The Simpsons, Plow King episode? That was a good one…and ironically enough, I actually ran a snow plow one winter.
Read this on Twitter yesterday: Want to hear a joke? VT sports this year.
Yep, that pretty well sums it up.
Yeah, all four of those Big East teams really worry me. They play up-tempo rugged basketball in that league and all four of those teams play to win the conference, especially Pitt, Louisville and Syracuse. You think they’ll come into the ACC with “no dog in them”? I seriously doubt it, and VT mailing it in isn’t going to work at all.
I had forgotten that Harvick is going to SHR next season. You’ve got to admit, Tony Stewart is transitioning from ‘just’ an elite driver to a real force as a team owner. Not just one or two cars, but four! As good as Roush or Childress, if you look at the numbers. It will be interesting to see what occurs during the season with Newman. The interesting thing about Stewart the owner is that he is as publicly serene in his management as he was sarcastic as a driver. He still holds some barbs for the media, deservedly so. But when discussing his teams, he’s just as smooth as silk. He deserves huge respect.
VT had a chance to really establish themselves as a top-half ACC program, and for a couple seasons proved they could be that kind of team. But now, that likely won’t happen. An NCAA trip every decade? That may even prove to be a stretch in the future.
Coxter,
These are players JJ is familiar with. He WAS an assistant at VT for several years and involved with these players. The correlation between Stiney and JJ is NONE. Stiney was never a HC and will not be the head football coach at VT.
No one expected miracles this year given the situation. This team has lost like 11 straight games, some of them blowouts and some of them close ones or even overtime. If you get blown out, chances are you didn’t have your team ready. If you lose every close game (at least in that stretch) then you are likely getting outcoached at the end. Wimming close games at the end is all about making the right decisions at the right time.
JJ is not displaying the flashes of coaching brilliance that lead me to believe he is going to be a great coach. Instead he really seems like a guy who is in way over his head. Let’s see how he does in a winnable game Sunday night.
Go Hokies….
I, too, would like to see a little fire in JJ but, I’m willing to give him a chance. Let’s face it he is trying to play poker with only four cards. Give him a couple of years to see what players he can bring in. If it doesn’t work by then maybe VT will have an AD that knows how to search for a coach instead of hiring the first guy he finds at the water cooler.
GO KYLE!!! After last seasons disappointment this will be a breakout year. As for Texh basketball what can you say? No contribution from others as Brown and Eddie should be riding the bench and give others a chance. This will not fix anything but they will either respond or continue to sit. Barksdale hot and cold, Wood will be ok given time.
OJ, we’ve transitioned from a team that defeated three #1 teams in eight seasons, and beat Duke & UNC both home & away – to what we saw last night. Folks didn’t like the former coach’s candor and ‘chip on the shoulder’ attitude, but we never backed down from elite competition. Unlike last night. Folks complained about not making the NCAA but once in nine years, despite the fact we’d only made it twice in the three decades prior. Now we’re looking at a situation where we might only make the NIT once in the same span, assuming no changes are made administratively. We are family, indeed…
Bob H your right. My Stiney comparision was meant more as showing how long it takes for change at Tech. Maybe when Weaver leaves is will get better. His handling of Greenberg was TERRIBLE and the football changes this past year took way too long. I was fortunate enough to go to the UNC game and VT WOULD have won had Green driven the lane instead of pulling up for a jumper. I wont pretend to know as much about this team as you guys since I have only watched a handful of games but I do know that other coaches in the athletic department think he is a stand up guy. Let’s at least give him three years.
Bob H nails it. The very disturbing thing about this situation is how Johnson has lost the team. The record is lousy, but this team has lost games by 36 (Colorado State), 32 (Duke), 26 (BYU), and another 5 by double digits, not counting losing by 12 to UNC in OT – getting waxed like that in OT is pretty disturbing, as well.
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It isn’t getting any better, either. Unless there are some hidden gems in this marginal recruiting class coming in, it is pretty obvious Johnson can’t do anything with the guys on this team that were highly rated (Barksdale, Brown, Eddie – all top 100 recruits).
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Jim Weaver has a knack for destroying basketball programs. What is also getting lost in this, never mentioned – because why mention it something so horrific – is how poorly the women’s program is doing. Beth D wasn’t all that great of a coach (although my personal opinion is her staff was her downfall), but Dennis Wolff is going to have back-to-backs way worse than anything she did. And, they getting blown off the floor many games, too.
Rick H,
Wolfe is doing a great job considering he had 0 experience in coaching WBB. (TIC intended).
The WBB team at VT is title 9 compliant and that is about as far as it goes. What is being accomplished in WBB is slightly more than handing out jerseys to fans in attendance before a game and asking them to play.
One does have to wonder with all of these coaching disasters (Wolfe, Weiss, Brand, Stokes, Dunkenberger, and possibly JJ) and given the poor way that the SG situation was handled, the way Bonnie was run off, what almost happened with FB going to Carolina, etc., and his health issues, how JW keeps his job.
Dunkenberger was not a good coach at all. She was successful at WC because she inherited a good situation and once Bonnie’s players were gone at VT she had poor teams here as well. She did not evaluate talent needed to compete in the ACC well at all.
We lost a kid to Maryland (because JW chased off Bonnie) who eventually led Maryland to an NCAA championship. The NCAA berths under BD were outright gifts, fairly low seeds, and resulted in VT not going far in either the NCAA or WNIT. At some point, you do have to have X’s and O’s coaching.
All the comments about Weaver and his lack of hiring competent coaches hits the nail on the head. Also, add in his health problems, and every Hokie club member should be questioning the administration about WHY Weaver is not retired.
Yes, yes, its all JJ’s fault….. NOT!!
Now, if your megahero SG had not blown off Dell we might have had two more Currys.
The most successful sports team at VT this year? VT Ice Hockey. They aren’t a varsity NCAA sport under JW’s thumb…
It doesn’t get the comment traffic that this sorry blog does, but I’ve got to put in a plug for Doug Doughty’s latest UVA Insider. It is a pretty neat read – about UVA’s staff in 83-84, and some others along the way that were loaded with future head coaches.
All football and nothing else makes Va.Tech a dull boy. Greenberg’s teams stood up and fought but they were still prone to the same late season swoons
due to no depth Why no depth? Because basketball (and all other sports except Beamerball) are the redheaded stepchildren in the Tech athletic program. So top recruits don’t want to be there.
Zman, that is a debate that will rage on among long-time Hokies for years to come – what if Seth Greenberg had been more Frank Beamer like, and embraced the Curry/Hokie legacy, and spent his 13th scholarship that year on Steph, and not on a guy that didn’t qualify?
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If Steph comes, Seth comes. But, let’s remember, Steph left Davidson early for the NBA, so he would have left VT early, too, most likely, and if Seth had come to VT originally, he wouldn’t be playing this year. He’s a rarity in college basketball – a 5th year senior, because of his transfer from Liberty to Duke.
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Nobody will ever know, but it is a great “what if” in the history of VT basketball. It is just how things go with Tech hoops. After all, the 3 point shot came into play the year after Dell Curry graduated. There is some negative karma infecting VT hoops.
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It goes back to running off Don DeVoe for simply wanting to interview at his alma mater. Tech had one of college basketball’s best then, and got all uppity about him wanting to seek out a job at Ohio State, and let his contract expire. The ‘tude then was we can do better – and Charlie Moir was a good coach and is a good man, but in the end, he helped start the ship to sink. He guided us to the iceberg.
Agree with all comments above. I think the exception is Raines. I was not a big fan of his but despite a limited skill set he is showing improvement. The thing that bothers me about this team is it’s defense. Shooting is in your DNA, you either have it or not, playing defense is not. It’s all hard work and desire and when I see the likes of Eddie, Brown, Barksdale, Wood and even Green make the same silly mistakes time after time you wonder where their pride is.This season is a wash and as I’ve said before, foreign leagues and JUCO’s until he can establish a recruiting pipeline. Wood shows promise, Raines has improved but the rest of the crowd is mid-major at best. It’s going to be a long 3 years. If you want to see a dynamic AD, check out Selig at ODU. He’ll fire a coach in a minute, ask Blaine Taylor. There’s still a lot there still under wraps.
Wow!!!………..Watching the “beat down” that Duke put on the Hokies last night, makes one wonder………..
If the Hokies, losers of 11 straight games, are this bad “WITH” Erick Green, how will they do next season “WITHOUT” him???
It doesn’t look good, folks!
Personally, i am very surprised that Seth Curry became the player that he is. I saw him play vs. RU a couple of times while at Liberty during his freshman year, and I was shocked that Coach K wanted him as a transfer. Nobody would have ever doubted his work ethic, but there were times in those games vs. RU where he was not the best guard on Liberty’s team.
Concerning Seth, it is is not how you begin but how you finish. Liberty U taught him the most important things about life and now he can excel at basketball. He still exhibits a tad of explosiveness with the temper but he is doing much better.
The wrestling team is ranked seventh in the country and you folks are blatheriing about JJ and FB. Get onboard and support Tech’s best team.
On a tangent, Texas A&M will begin renovation of Kyle Field immediately following the 2013 season. Expected length and expense? Three years, $425 million dollars. Those folks seem pretty serious about their football down there. Their current capacity is approx. 82.5K, but they want this to take them much larger. Specific numbers haven’t been released, but it will be interesting. Everything hasn’t been finalized yet, but here is a link to some proposed imaging.
http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=2272881&forum_id=5
RP, that’s what makes Coach K the coach he is, with regards to Seth Curry. He gets more out of his guys than anybody. Yes – he gets his share of HS All-Americans, but he takes guys like Seth Curry and get them to buy into what their role is (his role, last night, of course, was to destroy Tech all by himself). He also is able to take superstars and bring them down a notch, and take the role they need to take.
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My son and I were talking about it last night watching the game – the system they have – everybody is like little Coach K robots. The assistant coaches, the players, everybody in the program. They do what he asks, or demands, from the best player down to the rookie equipment manager. Duke is the Stepford Wives of college basketball. They are all programmed to do things a certain way – and they do it. And . . .consequently, they win.
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Just an example, but watch a Duke game and when a media time out approaches, those guys know it is coming, and are on the bench before the horn is finished going off – getting 30 seconds of extra rest, and not to mention, coaching, while the other team is just ambling over to their bench, which was the case last night.
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Sadly, Jim Weaver would probably fire Coach K for not being nice enough.
Name that Kindle: ” it was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. Anyway, Duke the former, Tech the latter Coach Johnson had a bad night. It started off badly when all the announcers could find to say about him was that he was popular in the Tech community-read family-and that he had been a squad leader in the Army National Guard. I swear I heard them say that twice. That`s what you need to go agaInst Coach K for sure. His team went 1-17 from 3 point land while the other guys went 12-17. I think we had more shots hit the side of the backboard then the bottom of the net. Worse yet, the whole nation could watched if they had wanted; which, after 15 minutes, I doubt they did. Give credit to Green, Ced and Barksdale they played hard-the rest hardly. Seems to me Coach Johnson was not even playing with a full squad. Trying not to be to pessimistic; after all “tomorrow is another day”.
We discussed this last year after Weaver dragged his feet releasing Seth and hiring JJ. VT fans here expressed hope the hire would work out and despite an early season flourish, our worst fears have been met. Keep JJ until Weaver retires and hope, once again, that whoever replaces him will make a truly informed decision and hire the proper coach for this worthy ACC basketball team. Hiring the untested assistant who just left the program or the assistant who had worked there previously just does not cut it. There is no reason why either the men’s or women’s program should led by relatively unproven coaches. I’m not sure of all the BB coaching hires Weaver has made, but of the four I can recall only one which panned out, and Weaver fired him. I say this being fully aware JJ does not even have a full year under his belt but from what I have seen I hold out little hope for any significant improvement.
“Duke is the Stepford Wives of college basketball. They are all programmed to do things a certain way – and they do it. And consequently, they win.” — Rick H.
Nice analogy, sir. Excellent.
Still waiting on the tune nailage, you guys. I’ll accept the title of the show at this point. For those who have been around here a while, that ought to be easy.
I watched the game as long as I could stand it, then switched over to Person of Interest (Phoenix time allows this, thank God). Tech brings the ball up, stands around a few seconds, and then starts a slowly developing play; Duke brings the ball up, and everybody is doing something and doing it fast. It’s bad enough to play a team with overall better players (with the exception of Green) and coach, but to play that same team that just plays harder than you do has only one possible outcome. A thirty point blowout! It looks like Barksdale actually has a jump shot, and Raines’ inside shot is starting to fall. Green is Green. The others show absolute brilliance about one out of every ten times they touch the ball; the other nine times explains why they are where they are. Pathetic, just pathetic!
Mr. Plow is not a man, he’s just drunk- Simpson’s
Is the tune from American Dad.
Desert Hokie!!!!! Yessss!
Yes, it’s Linda Ronstadt’s Spanish version of the “Mr. Plow” song. Wow, what I wouldn’t give for a few more episodes like those from the heyday of The Simpsons. The problem with this show hanging on too long is that kids these days think it’s always sucked like this. At least Willie Mays/Joe Montana had years of incredible stats on the backs of their cards to prove otherwise. Fans of The Simpsons glory years can only provide anecdotal evidence.
Rick H, the thing about Duke is – other than the flopping to draw charges, and Wojo slapping the court, they do everything the right way. The team is focused, they actually understand the concept that playing elite college basketball is hard work, yet they embrace it. You don’t hear them waxing about ‘having fun’, they derive their enjoyment from doing the necessary work to win. Coach K is pious, but he understands what it takes to build and sustain a program. They play aggressive defense, they are organized and efficient on offense, etc. That’s what makes it so great when you beat them.
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Scott, you’re right, Johnson will last until Weaver retires, which projects three more seasons. Then hopefully the new AD will see the point of establishing a credible basketball program. He can easily hire a young mid-major coach who’s proven himself for around $1.2 mil or so, compensate the staff at least at mid-ACC levels, and hopefully reverse the four-plus years of ineffectiveness we’ll go through until then.
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The answer currently lies in Ruston. The problem is in the timing.
Am I the only one here old enough to remember Coach K’s first year or two at Duke? They stunk. There was controversy because he left a senior on the bench who he played only at the end of the season when he had no choice. That kid was great but was in the Doghouse of K’s predecessor.
Give JJ a chance!
Zman,
You think JJ is another Coach K? What’s in your Kool aid?
Yeah, we’ve got the next Coach K in our midst, thanks to the evaluation genius of Jim Weaver. Sure, whatever you say…
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Coach K was head coach at Army for five seasons prior to taking the Duke job. Three of the five years he had winning records. At Army. His first season at Duke, the team finished 17-13 and advanced to the NIT quarterfinals. Then he had two losing seasons. After that followed 29 NCAA bids in 30 years. 30 of 31, if you count this season. See, immediately at Duke, Kryzewski showed he knew how to build a winning team. Immediately.
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See, Zman, sometimes in trying to spin a story, you evade so many of the facts in order to make your erroneous point. Coach K had five years of head coaching prior to coming to Duke. Johnson had zero. Johnson is not starting out 17-13, like Kryzewski.
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I predicted on Berman’s blog – Aug 23rd – the Hokies would end up with a 12-20 record this season. One other person on here predicted the same, prior to the beginning of the season. I based that on perspective, not emotion. Marathon, not a sprint, remember? Remember how you mocked me after the OkState game? When we were 7-0? How’s it taste now?
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Jim Weaver is reaping from the sparse seeds he sowed. We are family, indeed…
We are the Duke Football of ACC Basketball.
Coach K had the benefit of being an assisstant to Bobby Knight at Army. Can you spell discipline? Win or lose (not often) his teams play hard. Not always well, but hard. And, surprise, surprise, he gets really good people with great internal discipline. My guess it doesn’t take much for a Duke player to ‘buy in’ because coach K has a lot to sell. Winning. Wins and losses are a summation of both player performance and coaching. Allowing apathetic play is on the coach. It’s the way we lose that’s so annoying! But, maybe he inherited an apathetic squad, and this is the best he can do. Won’t complain any more. He’s got this year, and most of next year.
#39 Hokie92, we can’t be the Duke football of ACC basketball. Duke football made the postseason this year. We may not make the postseason within the next five years. Ahh, those glory days of being ‘on the bubble’. They seem so far away, and so long ago. This season? This season smells like… Ricky Stokes.
The sad thing about all of this? We are a dormat team in a league that is not even having a very good year (2 teams ranked).
Last night, we were not even competitive At home!
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We could have had Laranaga for a ham sandwich a few years ago.
All we hear from Jim Weaver is…… Sounds of Silence (and it ain’t Simon and Garfunkel singing either).
As the grim reality of Tech basketball 2013 settles over us like a wet blanket, let me to to add a little humor. Apologies if you have heard this one, I only heard it today. Q. What is the name of the only surviving Japanese Kamikaze pilot? A. Chicken Teryakie
Jim Weaver has done a great job in poor hiring for the Basketball program, Men’s and Women’s respectively.The blame starts and ends with Weaver. Other than a new basketball practice facility and a view enhancements to Cassell, his record speaks volumes on accepting mediocrity and expecting less as the standard for VT basketball. Weaver is a Football AD, pandering to the BMOC Coach Beamer. Ask anyone else in the ACC why VT is always below average in basketball. and their reply is, it’s a Football school. After last years Football performance, that may be subject to debate. However, judging by the recent Basketball teams record with Seth, JJ, and Wolfe, Weaver is still living up to the title-A Football AD only.
Seth Greenberg will always be known for missing out on both Curry’s and simply just being unlucky. 1-9 in NCAA appearances. Arrogance is cute only so long.
Hey Jim Weaver, any new ideas for Spring Football??
Bob H and Mike 3 hit it. Weaver has single handedly ruined both basketball programs at Tech and it is going to get worse. His retirement can’t possibly come soon enough so they can (hopefully) bring in a younger AD who works hard, is well connected and is living in the world of 2013 not the 1980′s. And I give him no credit for the football success we have had that is because of FB and to a lesser extent Dave Braine not JW.
For the first time since I set foot on campus in the late sixties, I turned a televised VT game off before it was over. Any game, any sport, any time on TV and on the radio if it isn’t televised, if I can get it and I am aware it is on, I always watch or listen, to the bitter end…until that miserable performance against Duke. We have fielded many exciting and competetive bball teams in the past decades, hopefully we will again, but it is time to step up or step down for Mr. Weaver.
CR and Bob H – you guys are making a lot of sense except for that stuff about Laranga. No way he was coming to VT and no way VT was going to pay him the money Miami is paying him. Laranga is a guy who was looking to get paid, he sure didn’t go to Miami thinking he was getting a better setup than Mason. Still he’s done a great job down there, BUT the team is laden with seniors too. Let’s see how it goes from here out.
I think most of see the problems with JJ. It’s not the losing so much as the lack of leadership. It’s the comments, the teams obvious lack of preparation, either way he’s got a lot of responsibility for this teams implosion. It’s not that they’re bad, it’s that they’re awful. Green is not helping with his comments, beginning to think he doesn’t deserve ACC POY.
What was with Duke using the full court press late in the game up by 30? That was terrible sportsmanship. I thought Coach K’s comments were snide as well when refering to Seth Curry, “yes, we know who his daddy is”? What was that all about. I noticed that Coach K was calm courtside when he was getting all the calls too.
Anyway I don’t think Ricky Stokes (I mean JJ (fake slip)) will be coaching this team that much longer, but long enough to destroy the program that Seth had built into a challenger.
Both basketball programs in last place in the ACC. Family of losers.
Johnson will be the coach as long as Weaver stays around. Weaver isn’t going to want to walk down the hall to hire another head coach again, nor does he want to spend money paying a coach’s contract. By hiring Johnson at a cut rate price, he saved enough money so that, even with paying Greenberg’s contract, he’s coming out cheaper. That’s all he cares about in basketball. By making a cut rate hire out of personal convenience and extreme shortsightedness, Jim Weaver has already set the Hokie basketball program back to the days of Ricky Stokes. In one season. Just think how mired in the bottom of the ACC we’ll be after three more years of this.
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It’s not that Johnson is necessarily a bad coach. It’s just that he’s in so far over his head he’s floundering. If his first job were at UNC-Asheville or UNC-Greensboro or VMI or Elon or somewhere like that, he could grow into the position. He wasn’t prepared for the ACC, for big league basketball.
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Someone above made a good point, too. The ACC is down significantly this season, and we’re still at the bottom. Even if we improve appreciably, which we will not, next season we’ll be fighting just to keep from being last again.
Ouch, Ralph. Good one.
I decided to delve into VT hoops a little more, just for the heck of it. of their 11 wins, only 4 are against teams with winning records: Iowa, Oklahoma State, Bradley, and Georgia Tech (who they also lost to, badly). Combined record of those opponents is 129-159.
After the initial 7-0 start, they’ve flopped, going 4-15. And actually, even at 8-1, following a close road loss to WVU and a blowout win over Mississippi Valley State, things didn’t look all that bad.
The home loss to Georgia Southern was the eye-opener though. And from that game on, they’ve been dreadful, going 3-14. Two 1-point wins over Bradley and WF, and a 5-point win over GT…combined with 2 30-point blowout losses (9 total by double digits). Probably the best game they’ve played in that whole stretch is the 4-point loss at NC State. Against ACC opponents, that it the only game that VT scored over 75 points…in fact, they’ve only hit 70+ in 5 ACC games this year, with 6 games of 60 points or less in the ACC.
It’s no wonder Erick Green isn’t having fun, the team stinks. And looking at their remaining schedule, 3 gaames are against reasonably beatable opposition: FSU, Clemson, WF. At Miami and at Duke are basically guaranteed losses right now. Given that WF is tough at home, I have a hard time seeing VT winning their last regular season game. That leaves FSU and Clemson. VT already lost at Clemson by 7, but the Tigers aren’t very good. FSU is likewise not very good. At best, VT wins those 2 games, and finishes 13-18 (4-14), still squarely in last, but maybe tied with BC or GT.
I hope Redick does well tonight in his debut against Atlanta but there are big concerns. He could provide a bust in this game with all of the pressure and the change of teams. He may have seen his best days but at least he can still make some big money.
A couple weekend thoughts…Maryland got a nice win today against Clemson, but they’re still on the outside looking in, though the win did get them to even par in the ACC. That BC loss is going to haunt them, I think. Miami laid an egg at Wake Forest today…the Deacons may have a losing record, but they’re tough at home. NC State had a chance to notch a solid win against a fellow competitor for the NCAA tournament, and failed again to do so. They don;t really have any games to make an impression, but they likely still get in, even though if they won out and finished 23-9, their resume would look awfully similar to that of a Virginia Tech team a few years back…
Scary wreck at the end of the race in Daytona. They’re saying now that 28 people got hurt in the stands from the flying debris and hot fluids spewed from the engine that got ripped off in the catch fence. Despite all the safety improvements with th cars, they still manage to get airborne like that, and those catch fences really are not enough protection for the fans in the event of a flying car, or tire, or engine.
Yeah I knew when I saw that engine block laying in the stands something bad had happened. Was that Rusty Wallace that called it before the restart – he said it was about to get really really ugly and sure enough it got ugly.
I am by no means a NASCAR fan, but that wreck in Daytona was scary. Hope that the fans who were rushed to the hospital will recover. I kknow the barrier was designed to protect fans, but physics can always overcome resistance. Thankfully, it was not worse than it appeared.
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On the basketball front, I wrote an opinion piece at Gobblercountry.com about how Weaver is at the center of the mess that affected the basketball program. I was not a big fan of SG, but I did respect him. His offense was as exciting as watching paint drying, but they could play defense under him. JJ is the polar opposite of him. I think what the program needs is a blend of SG and JJ. One thing they both have in common? They are bald. I believe that JJ needs more time to get traction. It is, after all, his first full-time gig as the Head Ball coach, and he is going to have growing pains. Lets all hope he is learning from it. The question I have – who does he turn to for advice? SG had several friends he turned to, coaches such as Tom Izzo and Rick Barnes.
Sunday Q @ A: Was the last 1/3 of Aaron`s column today about the best thing you`ve read on hear in a while? A. Yes, it was.