Monday: Choose your own adventure
ACTIVE WEEKEND. A LOT OF WAYS WE CAN GO TODAY. I’ll let you guys decide.
-In a must-win game that secures the No. 4 seed in the ACC tournament, UVa rallies to beat Maryland in overtime. I can’t find Doughty’s game story online at the moment, but here’s my column on UVa freshman Mike Tobey, who hit the game-tying shot in regulation and the go-ahead tip-in in OT.
-Erick Green scores 35 points to break Tech’s single-season scoring record, but the Hokies criticize their own lack of effort in a 90-79 loss at Wake. “It’s how bad you want it, and I don’t think we want it as bad as we claim we do,” Green says.
-I submitted my All-ACC ballot last night. In a close battle with Shane Larkin, I voted for Green as player of the year. First team: Green, Larkin, Mason Plumlee, Joe Harris and Seth Curry. Jim Larranaga coach of the year.
-Hokies will be the No. 12 seed in the tourney and face N.C. State at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday in the first round. UVa will get the winner on Friday. Here’s your full schedule:
First Round, Thursday, March 14
#8 Boston College vs. #9 Georgia Tech ESPNU/ACCN Noon
#5 NC State vs. #12 Virginia Tech ESPNU/ACCN 2:00
#7 Maryland vs. #10 Wake Forest ESPNU/ACCN 7:00
#6 Florida State vs. #11 Clemson ESPNU/ACCN 9:00
Quarterfinals, Friday, March 15
#1 Miami vs. 8/9 winner ESPN2/ACCN Noon
#4 Virginia vs. 5/12 winner ESPN2/ACCN 2:00
#2 Duke vs. 7/10 winner ESPN2/ACCN 7:00
#3 North Carolina vs. 6/11 winner ESPN2/ACCN 9:00
Semifinals, Saturday, March 16
Game 9 (game 5 & 6 winners) ESPN/ACCN 1:00
Game 10 (game 7 & 8 winners) ESPN/ACCN 3:00
Finals, Sunday, March 17
Game 11 (championship game) ESPN/ACCN 1:00
-If you missed it over the weekend, here’s Berman’s story on Jim Weaver saying he’s satisfied with both the men’s and women’s basketball coaches. “We have two good leaders heading up our programs and I think they’ll get us where we want to get. I think we’ll be better next year. To very honest, I thought both programs did some very good things this year. [Last is] not where we want to be, I’m the first person to say that, but when you transition, there’s a lot of things that happen and it takes time. I think we have the right leadership and I think it’ll happen.”
-Matt Kenseth celebrates his 41st birthday with a Sprint Cup win in Vegas.
-Liberty, which started 0-8 and lost 20 games this season, wins the Big South tournament to secure an NCAA bid.
-Tiger Woods wins at Doral.
-The U.S. rallies past Canada 9-4 to secure a berth in the second round of the World Baseball Classic. They’ll face Puerto Rico on Tuesday.
-The secret to Salem High School’s boys basketball turnaround? A trip to Lee-Hi Lanes.
NAME THAT TUNE
We don’t know the meaning of fear
We play every minute by ear
One for all and all for one
Everybody’s on the run
Especially at this time of year
Ooh, ooh, what do you do
No one else can dance like you
So what’s all the fuss
There ain’t nobody got [name of song]…
March 11, 2013 - 9:06 AM
I’ll keep my comments short, given the multitude of things to talk about.
You nail the All ACC team, but I’d go Larkin over Green. I can’t vote for a guy on a last place team as player of the year, even as Hokie as I am. I hope he pulls it off, but I’m doubtful he does. Guys on last place teams just don’t deserve it.
Voting for Larranaga was an easy choice. Granted, he’s got a very experienced team, but he has done well. He beat Duke and UNC in the regular season. That doesn’t happen all that often.
The WBC has been fun to watch, especially the weekend brawl. That wasn’t your basic baseball fight. Actual punches were thrown. These games have been more serious than I thought they would be.
The Vegas race is about the most boring on the circuit. You either have it there, or you don’t.
Tech basketball is dead, until Jim Weaver retires and somebody gets real coaches. There have been people that tried to rationalize the record from this year to last, but last year’s team lost a lot of close games. This year, they might as well not have gotten off the bus.
I’ve not been to Lee-Hi Lanes since… well, I think I’ve been to Lakeside more recently then Lee-Hi.
I notice that NASCAR suddenly has begun tracking the number of lead changes in their races – to help squash Denny Hamlin having a perspective of course. i also noticed several of their media lap dogs like Ed Hinton coming out & barking about how great NASCAR has become and how pleased everyone should be with the sport.
That was almost as laughable as when Joe Posnanski cranked out his homage to JoePa, after frittering away a lifetime’s opportunity in search of the easy story. on JoePa.
UVA got it done. The win will help them shake off two tough losses and should give some momentum going into their second round tournament game.
They also beat UNC and Duke in regular season.
Like your picks for the first team. Hard to argue with the stats.
Liberty U. in the NCAA tournament with 20 losses. March madness for sure.
“We didn`t come to play .” “The guys have no energy.” “I don`t get it…ect…ect…ect” I have never heard quotes like that coming from a VT basketball player. Not just any player either, mind you. This from a Wooden award finalist, nations leading scorer,Tech`s single season leading scorer. If the boys can`t come to play with him, then who? The German guy? The transfer from Wilmington? I`m getting a little tired of hearing that we let Johnson get his own players and see what happens. He`s been with these guys since they got on campus, recruited some of them and had a whole season to coach them and look at the results Sunday. Berman`s interview with Weaver was okay but would have liked a little .more of a 60 Minutes format. Morley Safer: “Mr. Weaver, what the hell were you thinking.” How long will it take `til we get a change at the top. Tick tok…tick toc…tick toc.
Frank Beamer dancing. Yep.
I asked Berman on the most recent podcast whether he thought the Hokies were still playing hard at the end of this lost season. He said, “Does it even matter? Either way, they’re losing.”
But it does matter. It matters if you’re trying to evaluate a head coach’s ability to motivate.
The Gen 6 race yesterday was boooring. Maybe Denny Hamlin was right.
I watched my daughter’s team of 6th graders lose a tight 5-3 baskeball game to close out the YMCA season. As painful as it was to sit through that, watching VT yesterday was worse.
Being the best player on a bad team does not make you a great player, which is why last place teams rarely have palyer of the year. That being said, Green is a great player. He just doesn’t appear to be a leader, which is why he won’t win ACC player of the year.
Why does UVA’s season remind me of some past Tech seasons? Start the season with low expectations; play tough D; beat some quality teams, including Duke; lose to worse teams late in the season; and finish 4th in the conference regular season. If the Hoos don’t have a good run this weekend, they may have played themselves off the bubble with the BC and FSU losses.
Erick Green is Carmelo Anthony. A gifted and talented player, but not a player capable of lifting team members up to the next level by being a team leader or opportunity creator. He’s a shooter. Looks at the stats:
Green: 25.4 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 3.9 APG.
Anthony: 28.2 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 2.8 APG (NBA)
Anthony: 22.2 PPG, 10.0 RPG, 2.2 APG (Syracuse)
There’s a lot of similarities there. Anthony can score all he wants, but he’s not a good team player. Time will tell with Green how it all plays out, but the resemblance in terms of statistics, and dare I say attitude, are striking.
I’m still in the let’s give JJ some time group. Being the head coach is a big change from being an assistant; and it seems clear JJ is still learning. One thing mentioned occasionally is that this would have been a different team if we had not lost a couple of our better players. It seems SG ran Finney-Smith off and our top recruit left because of the coaching change. Put those two guys in the mix and the season might have turned out much better
I say give JJ a couple of years to recruit players that fit his system, which is clearly much different than the one SG ran. I hope things get better; but there is no guarantee. It’s just too early to judge JJ.
I’m still waiting for the first time that either Erick Green or Johnson stop insulting the rest of the team in a public forum, and looks inward to their extreme lack of leadership.
OJ, you nailed it with the Carmelo analogy. As for Johnson getting unlimited amounts of ‘time’ from his apologists, that’s really just code for – ‘We’re too afraid to ever question any decision made in Hokie athletics’.
Johnson was touted as a cheap choice that was supposed to be a defensive guru. The facts point differently. Johnson was going to have a freewheeling high powered offense. The facts point differently. Johnson was supposed to have a special rapport with his team, yet all I have seen is that he neither controls nor motivates the team. Incessantly repeating the mantra ‘Have Fun’ does not equate to building a successful team. Especially when the supposed senior leader does nothing but criticize the rest of the team in every public venue he’s given, because he thinks they ‘don’t care enough’.
How about caring enough as a team leader to help them improve, instead of just insulting them? How about the coach instructing and guiding the team towards fundamentals, instead of just insulting them publicly?
It will be interesting to see how the apologists point the finger elsewhere for the defections that will occur pretty soon. Yeah, Jim Weaver, it takes time to improve. No, not really, the former coach did it immediately, there are coaches all across the nation that do it immediately, every single year.
Same old, same old Hokie AD excuse of – ‘Just don’t hold us accountable, but send in your Hokie Club dues & season ticket apps sooner every year.’
Having seen Mason Plumlee play, I have to question his inclusion on the first team…he’s not even the second or third best player on his team, much less one of the five best in the conference. In the Virginia game, he was barely one of the five best on the court. He has a nice touch, but gets pushed around by more physical players. He looks a lot better with Ryan Kelly to help with the heavy lifting. No problems with the rest of the team; I’d like to see Green win POY but suspect Larkin will (and it’s hard to argue with that). Larranaga definitely Coach of the Year.
.
Hoos need to win Friday, and maybe even Saturday, if they want to clinch an NCAA bid.
AMC, Completely agree with how you voted for All-ACC. While Plumlee and Curry are great players they have one another and now Brian Kelly back too. It’s nearly impossible to single out one of those 3 as the best on their team let alone in the ACC. I would be more accepting of Larkin but even he has a good amount of help and only averages 13.7 pts per game.
Honestly, as Cory Alexander said on the broadcast yesterday the best player is Erik Green…..no contest. Most games he has had no help. He’s done it with double teams and with every team looking to limit him. He’s done it against the best defenses in the ACC as he did when he scored 35 and 22 against UVA. He hits difficult shots in the lane, in transition, from the line, from outside, and usually while under duress. What has been almost as remarkable is the minutes that he’s had to log and yet he’s still produced down the stretch. And he isn’t chucking like an Iverson….he continues to try to get his teammates involved but unfortunately they’ve largely failed to deliver.
Contrary to the argument that OJ makes he’s no Carmelo Anthony. In the stat comparison used, EG averages a full assist more. Imagine what he would average if his teammates would hit more of those open shots that he creates for them. I saw Eddie miss several last night and it’s impossible to track how many open looks Robert Brown has missed this year. My guess is that the NBA talent that Anthony passes to does not miss those wide open looks, nor did his teammates in his lone season at Syracuse.
Didn’t even bother reading Berman’s interview with Weaver because there is nothing he can say to defend the coaching moves/non-moves he’s made/non-made with the BB team and football team thats going to make me or any other Hokie fan feel better. In terms of the basketball team, what the hell was he gonna say….” Well, in retrospect I believe it would have been more benificial to the men’s program if I had given Seth one more year to see how it played out for him and the team with the players he had in place and the highly touted Harrell kid coming in. I really think if I’d left Greenberg in charge we would probably be looking at a first round bye in the ACC tourney and maybe be on the bubble again for the NCAA’s instead of looking up at everyone else from our position in the ACC cellar. But it is what it is, and let’s all be patient and give JJ four or five years to recruit his own players and maybe get us back to the middle of the pack in our conference.”
If he was truthful in the interview, it should of read something like that IMHO.Tech’s athletic program has been in trouble with Weaver running it for years in regards to the non-moves he’s made with the football program, and now he’s put the men’s and women’s BB programs in the tank, no doubt about it.
If Berman wants to write an interview column with Weaver that I’ll actually bother reading, ask him to please call or email me when he’s about to interview him in regards to his sudden resignation as AD of Virginia Tech. I’ll be waiting down on the corner of Campbell Avenue to get my hands on the first copy that comes steaming off the press for that one.
I think UVA’s chances for the NCAA tournament at this point are very simple. Win both Friday and Saturday’s games (likely NC State and Miami) and they are in.
If they only win the first one then they would need some other bubble teams like Kentucky or Tennessee or Baylor or Villanova to get blown out in the first round of their tournament. Realistically they will not make it with one victory in the conference tournament.
If they don’t win at least one game then there is no chance they get into the NCAA tournament.
Greens leadership may be in question, but his effort to give his team mates the opprtunities to succeed can’t. Yesterday he scores 35 points on 16 attempts. All season he’s tried to spread the ball around. When the other players are the gang who can’t shoot straight, I can understand his frustration. I would have him taking at least 20 shots a game. On top of that they are a step slow on defense, have no anticipation, and basically just go through the motions. Wood has promise but let a WF forward do the same baseline move on him 3 times in a row. The overall talent is just not there. Maybe the defections would have helped but I doubt it.
I didn’t realize Weavers illness was Parkinsons. I don’t know the progression of his disease but knowing what I know, he should retire. Mentally you stay sharp but it takes such a toll on your body its hard to stay focused on your day to day activiteis. There’s a saying in the Parkinsons community, you don’t die from Parkinsons, you die with it. I just don’t see how he can run a major Div I program and fight this battle too.
As I have stated several times, the ACC tournament is getting interesting. Right now, it is anybody’s game to grab the tourney’s crown, but I seriously doubt that the Hokies have enough gas in their tank to give the Wuffies the scare. Watching the first half of Tech/Wake’s game, the whole team were gassed.
JJ is in over his head. The defense that Hokies displayed were laughable. They were sloppy several times in transition and on fast break opportunities. Even Green started to act a bit like Coach K, whining to the refs about non-call fouls.
Weaver is at the issue of the coaching problem. He doesn’t want to commit the finanical resources to the basketball programs. He needs to be “encouraged” to take an early retirement. He’s cheap. He’s lazy. He is too busy worshipping the ground Beamer walks on.
Anyway, I want to congratulate the Hokies wrestling team in winning their first ACC title over UVa, and the indoor track team capturing a national championship. It’s nice to see that the Hokies are faring well in “non-revenue” sports.
Remember Trev, part of the reason for the Greenberg/Weaver split was SG making public just how woefully underpaid his staff remained, after nearly a decade. Sure, some of the local media could have publicized it years earlier, but then they might not have gotten the sweet quotes from the VTAD that they always received. This would be a good time for a lot of you to Google ‘sardonicism’. Yeah, Greenberg proved he was not ‘part of the family’ with those comments.
Let’s never forget Jim Weaver proudly trumpeting that ‘We’re going to start paying our basketball assistants as much as Clemson’. Yeah, there’s a recipe for success in the ACC. Shoot for the bottom half of the conference when investing in the program.
Luckily, with the new additions to the ACC, we won’t have to worry about ever seeing the top half of the conference again. We’ll be miraculously lucky to escape the bottom 1/4 of the conference.
Where are the Danicapologists today? Another top 30 finish….
Look on the bright side of VT basketball, at least JW has prevented VT from getting robbed out of the NCAA dance. That won’t be a problem this year.
If Weaver is satisfied with the women’s program, Lord help us. I guess he is satisfied that it is title IX compliant….
Weaver probably wished VT had stayed in the BE so he could be one of the teams splitting up that $100 million left from all of the exit fees the other paid to get out.
VT could not afford JW if he worked for free, and, he doesn’t…..
In the assist column, yes…Green does average a bit more than Anthony. BJ…you argue that it’s the inability of Green’s teammates to hit shots that hurts his assist average. OK, let’s check that in the games where the Hokies scored 79+ points…when the rest of the team was putting up significantly more points than they did most of the season (which, by your logic, would substantially drag his APG total down). Coincidentally, in those games where VT scored 79+, they went 7-2 (basically, they outscored their horrible defense).
In those games, Green averaged: 27.2 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 4.6 APG. That’s a slight bit above-average on points and assists (though, not really all that much)…and about the same on rebounding. He had exactly 1 double-double all season…against WVU: 23 points, 10 assists. In fact, that is his only career double-double at VT. One. That’s all. This season Barksdale had 1, Eddie had 2, Raines had 2, and Wood had 1.
OK, so let’s look back at last season when for comparison. Green was also the team’s leading scorer at 15.6 PPG, with 3.3 RPG and 2.8 APG…all below this year’s totals. He averaged 34.5 minutes per game then, and this year, his playing time increase to 36.4 minutes. The team, as a whole, last year averaged 65 PPG…and this year it’s 70 PPG. Subtracting out Erick Green…last year’s team averaged 49 points…and this year’s team averaged 45. That’s not enough of a difference to say that Green’s assist totals would be higher. If anything, it further highlights that he is not a team-elevating player. Of course, there are other factors like a new coach and system, plus a supporting cast with several players who on other teams wouldn’t even be on the roster…but from what I see, Green’s numbers are pretty typical of a score-first kind of player.
He’s a shooter…and a darn good one. But, he is not a true team player in terms of creating opportunities for his teammates. He didn’t do that last year with what was arguably a better overall team, and he didn’t do it this year either. It is what it is, and the numbers back it up.
All-ACC teams announced:
First-team All-ACC
Mason Plumlee, Duke
Erick Green, Virginia Tech
Shane Larkin, Miami
Joe Harris, Virginia
Richard Howell, NC State
Second-team All-ACC
Seth Curry, Duke
Kenny Kadji, Miami
Lorenzo Brown, NC State
Reggie Bullock, North Carolina
James Michael McAdoo, North Carolina
Third-team All-ACC
Michael Snaer, Florida State
C.J. Leslie, NC State
Ryan Anderson, Boston College
Quinn Cook, Duke
(tie) Devin Booker, Clemson and Akil Mitchell, UVa
Bob H, I’ll jump on Danica for you – why not – she’s cute!
There are certain tracks on the NASCAR circuit that some drivers, and teams, just suck at. Stewart-Haas didn’t exactly hit the jackpot in Vegas. Newman blew up, Tony was a non-factor, just as was Danica. It just happens.
She’s a good driver, she’ll eventually win some. Nobody wins that many, anyway.
She isn’t going to be 5-time, Jeff Gordon, or anybody like that, but she’ll do fine. Look at drrivers like Trevor Bayne – won in his 2nd start, and before he needed to shave – in the biggest race of all, but what has he done since? Not much.
The simple fact that she could take on an Indy car, and go 200+ mph shows she has more ‘nads than you or I combined.
In case folks are wondering about the All-ACC ballots, the names were listed in the order of votes received. Thus, Mason Plumlee was the top vote getter, by a small margin over Green & Larkin.
Snaer being 3rd team All ACC is a complete joke. Any guy that hits as many game winners as he did should have at least been 2nd team.
Howell was a little bit of a surprise. Great season, but the underachieving ‘Pack . . . . eh, not sure he should be in over Curry. If I was going to pick an ‘upset’ on the first team, it’d be Snaer or Kadji.
If I had to take a guess at Danica’s cup career…if she races for a decade (roughly 350 races), I’d peg her for 5 wins, 15 top-5′s, 50 top-10′s, and 2 top-10 points finishes. Nothing great, but nothing all that terrible either. If I’m wrong, then I’ll own up to my incorrect assessment in 2023.
Good stats, O.J. but I`m not convinced Green is not a team player. To me, he spends a good part of the first half trying to get his teammates involved. I believe I have heard the announcers say the same thing. I`m guessing that he only averages 18 shots a game. Since he is double teamed most of time because teams can afford to lay off Brown, Eddie ect, maybe his teammates are not creating opportunities for him.
Regarding Erik Green the point that I’m really trying to make is that he’s a great player period. He does assist at a level that’s good enough to rank 6th in the league this year and 9th all time at VT. But let’s be honest, scoring and not assisting has been his job for the past 2 seasons. I think he’s proven capable of distributing when required and that will likely be what he’s called on to do in the NBA. Here’s a great article from gobblercountry on EG that’s a testament on how great he’s been. Truthfully, he’s the reason I’ve tuned into nearly every game this year. I can’t imagine what this team would have been without him.
http://www.gobblercountry.com/2013/3/5/4061300/virginia-tech-hokies-basketball-erick-green
Rick — What IS up with Trevor Bayne? I haven’t heard his name much at all. Is he still considered a prospect?
Ralph, that may be the case…we can unfortunately only guess at what might have been for Green at VT, had he not been saddled on losing teams the past 2 seasons when he was really the top player both years. For both seasons, only 1 other person averaged double-digits in scoring.
In 2010-2011, VT had 4 double-digit scorers (team average 70), including Green. In 2009-2010, the Hokies had 3 (team average 73), and in 2008-2009 they also had 3 (team average 73).
The past 2 years for VT hoops have been the worst for offensive scoring/points distribution since 2003-2004…which was the last time the Hokies only had 2 players averaging in the double digits.
It seems that if Erick Green were such a team player, he wouldn’t have such a ‘me vs. them’ attitude with all his teammates. Especially since he is supposed to be the senior leader on the team.
He sure sounds like Kobe, Melo, etc. to me…
Trevor Bayne seems destined to continue his role with the Wood Bros. as a part-time driver, and their limited budget makes it hard to see him emerge as a contender anytime soon.
There aren’t enough seats on good teams to go around – the Dillon brothers, and perhaps one or two other drivers, will be joining the series over the next couple of years, and that makes it even harder to envision Bayne landing a premier seat. For instance, if I was in charge of Stewart-Haas and thinking of adding a 4th car for 2014, I’d much rather have Kevin Harvick (likely free agent) over Bayne.
CR, I didn’teven consider the new additions to the ACC next year before my little anti-Weaver rant. Let’s see, it’s Syracuse, Pitt, Louisville and who else coming aboard? You are probably right, just three or four more BB teams to deliver beatdowns to the Hokies as they swim around in a basement flooded with mediocre teams….heaven help ‘em.
All-ACC First Team
Mason Plumlee, Duke (226 points)
Erick Green, Virginia Tech (225)
Shane Larkin, Miami (224)
Joe Harris, Virginia (219)
Richard Howell, NC State (192)
All-ACC Second Team
Seth Curry, Duke (178)
Kenny Kadji, Miami (131)
Lorenzo Brown, NC State (122)
Reggie Bullock, North Carolina (119)
James Michael McAdoo, North Carolina (97)
All-ACC Third Team
Michael Snaer, Florida State (93)
C.J. Leslie, NC State (80)
Ryan Anderson, Boston College (46)
Quinn Cook, Duke (43)
Devin Booker, Clemson (43)
Akil Mitchell, Virginia (43)
All-Freshman Team
Olivier Hanlan, Boston College (77 votes)
Rasheed Sulaimon, Duke (63)
T.J. Warren, NC State (63)
Devin Thomas, Wake Forest (59)
Marcus Paige, North Carolina (44)
All-Defensive Team
Shane Larkin, Miami (46 votes)
Daniel Miller, Georgia Tech (37)
Durand Scott, Miami (36)
Alex Len, Maryland (35)
Jontel Evans, Virginia (33)
Well, by this time next week Erick Green won`t be around for any one to criticize any more and we can start the wait for the next nation`s scoring leader, single season scoring leader and All ACC player to show up at Tech.
30 – don’t forget Notre Dame.
31 – has anyone been critical of Green?
That ‘nation’s scoring leader’ title really brings in the fans, doesn’t it Ralph? Oh, that’s right, fan attendance is down by more than 20% this season. That single season scoring record is the only positive Erick Green mentioned from yesterday. He said to the press that he was happy to break Bimbo’s record. He did NOT say he was disappointed in not getting a win. He DID say the other players didn’t seem to ‘want it’ as much as him. What he did NOT say was that he attempted ANYTHING to lead his teammates to success. I mean, success as defined by something more than Erick Green getting to score a lot.
Then again, I don’t remember seeing any quote from Green at any time this year that said he was happy winning but not scoring. What I do remember is Green saying he was having a lot of fun after games he scored a lot, yet the team still lost.
Yeah, I define ‘leadership’ as something more than scoring the most points.
Redskins, for the most part, are celebrating today as Deangelo Hall makes the exit. This guy was big time overrated, only able to perform against sub par NFL teams and a hall of fame loudmouth, never able to submit to authority. Look for him to surface in Jacksonville or Kansas City.
All I know is I’ve not seen a player like Erik Green at Tech since I started following in ’95 and we may be in for a long wait before we see anyone like him again. Question his leadership all you want but I don’t think there is any question he has a ton of heart and is extremely disappointed by how the season has turned out. I really don’t see why or how you could criticize him. Green knows his teammates better than us and he knows whether or not they are putting in the effort. I don’t think anyone can question whether or not Green puts in the effort. Clearly he has high expectations of himself and equally he expects as much from his teammates.
Aaron, as much as I hate to say it, Trevor Bayne won’t be much until he gets a better ride. The Wood Brothers team is just not a major player anymore. It hasn’t been for a long time. When they won at Daytona, it was pretty rare for that to happen.
It kind of goes back to the Sterling Marlin and Morgan-McClure days, a team based in Abingdon. Yeah, they pulled off a couple of big wins, at Daytona, but the success was few and far between. From what I understand, you can get a real deal on the race shop sitting right on interstate 81.
There really isn’t any other way to put it.
RP is right on, until Bayne lands on a Hendrick/Roush/Gibbs//Stewart-Haas type team, he isn’t going to do much. NASCAR has turned into a few power teams and “others receiving votes” – in AP poll terms.
Hdad, Notre Dame will definitely be in the ACC in two years, but based on the latest incidents, the Irish project to be in the ACC for basketball next season.
I’d expect Notre Dame to be mid-level & slightly above in basketball. Sort of 8-10 to 10-8 on a consistent basis. As for Pitt, Syracuse, & Louisville? I’d put 2 of those 3 in the top quarter of the expanded ACC every season. The third to be midlevel at worst, like Notre Dame.
The correlation is when Miami, VT, & BC joined the ACC. It basically pushed the football teams at NC State, UNC, Clemson & Maryland down at least two spots.
The base reality is that VaTech will NEVER see the top half of the ACC final basketball standings until Jim Weaver is gone, and a new coaching staff is hired by a new Athletic Director whose actions are essentially 180 degrees opposite those of Jim Weaver. Until Jim Weaver is gone, a new AD hired and his people in place, we have no hope of better than 12th in the ACC.
@32. So now Green is to blame for attendance being down 20%. If there was another positive to that game yesterday, I missed it. Every quote I read from Green said “we” not “they”or “they kicked our butts”. Plus, give the guy a break. A reporter probably asked him about breaking the record of the best Tech player ever, Olympian Bimbo Coles, and he said his hard work had paid off and it was an honor to break the record of a great payer. It`s pretty obvious he wants to win or he wouldn`t have made those other statements. Maybe the other players will take it to and play with a little more heart Thursday. I`ll stand by what I said in @31. I do, however, agree with your last paragraph in @ 34
I’ve got to jump on Dmhbeavers’s comment way back up, @9.
Seth Greenberg didn’t “run off” Dorian Finney-Smith. If he didn’t want to be here because of Seth, he had every reason to stay – Seth had been fired. And, if Johnson was such a good recruiter, or could get good players – he could have held on to both of them, DFS and Harrell.
DFS didn’t/couldn’t leave VT until he had finished the year. Otherwise, he’s academically ineligible for flunking an entire semester – you can’t redshirt that. He stuck around around AFTER Seth was fired, and Johnson couldn’t keep him.
In terms of recruiting his own players, he just did – and he got one really good one, and three that we’ll just have to see how turn out, but in my book, he lost the recruiting battle on DFS and Harrell. He had every chance to keep them, and could not.
crooked road and I are so on the same page – until a new AD comes along, VT is going to be #12, #14, #16 – however many teams the ACC has, in basketball, in both men’s and women’s hoops.
Welcome to the cellar. At least you can keep wine in it.
Had to ask my grand-daughter- Spies Lke Us – Sir Paul McCartney
If Weaver retired tomorrow, would you have the new AD fire JJ after one season? Other than Green, the personnel on this team was, well, awful. There’s a lot on this team that can’t be put at the feet of Weaver. As for me, he gets next year to get better. Period!
Rick H. I agree. If Seth and Harrell had stayed I believe DFS would have too. He wanted to play at 4 not the power forward spot. With Harrell around he could have done that. Seth was looking at Harrell, DFS, Green, Raines and Eddie as starters and a fairly decent bench. Top 6 in the ACC. We can “thank” Weaver for the plus 6.
DFS never showed me much in high school here and I wasn’t that impressed with his year at Tech. He was about the 5th or 6th player in 757 his senior year. His mama loved him though, that’s why he’s at Fla., better benefits. Maybe Donovan can coach him up. Eddie is the biggest disappointment, lost his shot, is a turnover waiting to happen and is slow defensively as they all are. There is no movement on offense and no anticipation on defense. I’m sure the players are being told, I’m just not sure much is sinking in. Maybe the recruits coming in aren’t high profile recruits but let’s hope they all have heart and a refuse to lose attitude.
Good stats OJ, but you know what they say about figures. Twist um anyway you want.
Other John, Green can and will never compare to Carmelo!! Melo led his team to a national championship his only year at college. Even though he has not won a championship in the NBA his teams are always good and make the playoffs. You need to find another comparison because green probably won’t even get drafted.
Here’s some shooting percentages for the hokies: Eddie .385, Brown .335, Wood .307, Rankin .393, Johnston .353, and these are the shooters, not the inside players. Blame Green if you want, but these guys wouldn’t get off the bench for most ACC teams. I’ve been going to games for years, but to be honest I would have skipped a lot this year if Green wasn’t playing.
UVA being 8-3 against RPI Top 100 should help, but at least one win in Greensboro is needed for insurance.
Cr and OJ, do you guys know anything about basketball at all?
Let’s talk Mello. Denver couldn’t wait to get rid of him. Stoudamire can’t play with him. When Mello sits, the Knicks win. Think Linsanity. No matter what you think of Lin, they won with him and Mello hurt. When Mello plays, they have trouble. Why? Mello is all about Mello. Mello plays no D and can’t spell pass.
Look at Green’s game. Green drives, dishes, other guy shoots, BRICK. I have seen nearly every game we played this year and the one thing I have to say about Green is that he gives up the ball willingly. Earlier this season BOTH OF YOU made comments about how nice it would be if someone else could help him. Now you BLAME GREEN FOR THE SEASON? WTF, over?
Let’s talk Kobe. He is not my favorite guy. He is not my favorite player. No rings since Shaq. To my mind Kobe is somewhat over rated. BUT he is one of the best who has ever played. Not my opinion. This is every one else’s opinion. Who am I to argue?
In the NBA you need guards. In college you need bigs. Who says this? Bilas, Legler and even Greenburg. Where are VT’s bigs? We always have guards. From Green back to Dawdell and back and back. We have always had decent enough at the 1, 2 &3. We haven’t had a real 4 since Wayne Robinson ( a first rounder if you recall) and a real 5 since Alan Bristow.
If only Ralph had chosen us over THAT university.
And if you want to sing the “woe is us chant” come to Texas where only 1 Div 1 school has a wining record this season.
Seems to me that Erick did all he could do to win and to get his teammates involved. If he wasn’t frustrated by this team’s performance, I would be amazed. If he didn’t express it from time to time, he wouldn’t be human. Tech BBall is broken and Erick Green is not the reason. Crooked needs to get over his own self and stick to criticizing Weaver. Most all of us agree he is a big part of the problem.
When you have a Football AD only, you get what you pay for!! On a lighter note, VT matches up as well with NCST as any ACC team. Maybe they can face UVA in next round who they DO NOT match up well against.New season starts Thursday hopefully with better results for EG and the one or two others that show up for the game.
Virginia is in, they will be in the final four once again. There is no bubble to it, their win over a tough Maryland team burst the bubble. I really hope Seth Greenbergs returns to coaching, he is one of the best. VT will beat NC State but will then be crushed by the CAVS.
Just as I predicted, Notre Dame will join ACC basketball for the 2-13/4 season. Press conference will be today (Tuesday). So, we’ll have ND, Syracuse, Pitt, & Louisville added into the mix. All of these teams project to finish well ahead of VaTech every season for the next several years.
It’s funny how Jim Weaver said – two days ago – that the basketball programs were headed in the right direction and that they were improving. Both total lies, of course, but since he’s never asked to provide context, who cares if he lies? He gets by with it.
So now, in Jim’s world, the Hokies will do BETTER than we’ve done in the last decade, since we’ll have to get by Louisville, Syracuse, Pitt, & Notre Dame in addition to the other teams that had occupied the top half of the ACC.
Oh yeah, that’s something to bet your mortgage on…
DH, my time table is the same as yours. I’m patient, but not a blind fool willing to keep wasting money supporting Jim Weaver’s laziness.
Zman, you’re reading too much into my comments…I’m not blaming Green for anything, his contributions probably spared the team even worse embarrassment. I’m just calling it like I see it. He’s a shooter and a scorer, but not a facilitator. Yeah, his supporting cast this year sucked. Last year it was marginally better and it didn’t make a difference then either, It is what it is. He’s certainly one of the best in VT history, and it’s hard to argue that this one year isn’t the best single-season performance by a Hokie…given that Green finished as the nation’s leading scorer. But in the end, Green finishes as the best player on a lousy team. How much did the lousy team impact his stats outside of scoring?
We’ll simply never know.
crooked, let’s play the ‘glass is half full’ scenario, although we need to play the glass is really half full of Franklin Co. moonshine!
Tech is about to become a Sweet 16 team – the 16th, team in the ACC, but I guess that is sweet, in its own way.
Sad thing is, it is about to be a Sweet 32 team, because both programs are going to sit at the bottom of the ACC. What people don’t see is how good some of those women’s teams that are coming in are, too.
I used to love college hoops, because it was a filler between college football, NASCAR and the MLB. I’m going to have some time on my hands, thanks to Jim Weaver. It really is one of the best sporting seasons, maybe the best. It just sucks not to have anybody to cheer for.
I’m open to nominations to who I need to root for.
Again, welcome to the cellar, my Hokie friends. At least we can keep wine in there to keep us comfortable.
Rick H, have you tried hockey? Come to the dark side…
In all seriousness though, if you’re in the Roanoke/NRV area, a VT hockey game at the Roanoke Civic Center is a quality evening, for $5 a person.
Zman, you make such extreme efforts to read something completely wrongly so you can be offended. If you only took those efforts to do more than post knee jerk emotional comments, you’d be better served.
Back in Sept-November, I posted repeatedly on here that Erick Green need help from his teammates for VT to be successful. As in, them nearly doubling their production. You mocked me repeatedly back then for being so accurate, but you refused to ever admit I was right. Why? Because your emotions clouded your judgement.
Now you’re falsely trying to pretend I blame Green for the team’s failures. No, I blame Green for being a vacuum as a leader, and for pointedly criticizing his teammates in public repeatedly. For only gauging his ‘fun’ in games by his scoring opportunities. If you don’t like that, take it up with Green, I based it solely on his words.
You’re wrong about college basketball being about the ‘bigs’, and about experts like Greenberg saying it is about the ‘bigs’. That is the exact opposite of what he has said for years. He, and nearly all the other experts, rightly point out that college basketball is all about the guards.
You’re wrong about Carmelo, and especially about Kobe. You ‘claim’, because it doesn’t fit your emotional argument, you claim that Kobe never won a championship without Shaq. That ignores the TWO championships he won without Shaq.
I could go on & on pointing out how wrong you are, but it’s boring. Some day, you might take my advice. Take off the O&M sunglasses, put down the koolaid, and try to look at things rationally. You’ll be a much more calm person for it. Also, I won’t have to constantly prove to you how I’m right about so many things, and you’re wrong about them.
Have a nice day.
OJ, I haven’t looked this season, but the Hockey Hokies used to sport the greatest sweaters. I thought they were the best VT uniforms of any sport.
CR, I liked the weaters they wore this season…very classy and classic looking. It was pretty cool watching them win the MACH championship. And they put up a great effort at trying to get through the Regionals, but came up just short of making it to the Nationals.
The one great thing, is they are not a varsity sport under the control of the AD…
OJ, your last sentence very likely explains why they managed to make the playoffs.
CR…that’s quite possible. I found it incredible that Weaver was praising the hoops teams after they combined for 23 total wins between them this year. For a single team in a single season, 23 wins is a good season. For 2 teams to combine for that, it’s bad…and everyone except JW seems to see that.
OK, so JJ is in year 1 with some roster issues and Wolfe was brought into a dumpster fire with a whistle and a bottle of water. Maybe the fact that they won 23 combined games is considered praise-worthy considering they could have been worse…but if that;s the yardstick of measure for Weaver regarding hoops, then like you and others have said…they won;t be competitive until he retires and someone else handles their hiring and management.