www.roanoke.com

Mark Berman back here at Cassell Coliseum, where the Hokies struggled to finish off UNC Greensboro before prevailing 59-46.

The game was tied at 38 with 10:48 left but Jeff Allen and Malcolm Delaney got all the points in an 11-0 run that gave Tech a 49-38 lead with 6:37 left.

"I knew this wouldn't be easy," coach Seth Greenberg said. "You've got to prepare [in] one day for a different defense, the 1-1-3. But I wanted to see how much our guys could assimilate in a short period of time.

"The basket was small today. We had layups, we had putbacks, we had open threes, we had kickouts (and missed them). It's not like we didn't have open shots. We had pretty good shots."

Greenberg talked to his team during the media timeout at the 10:58 mark.

"We've got to get stops and pound that thing inside," Greenberg said he told the players.

Allen had 14 points, 10 rebounds and six steals. Delaney had 17 points despite suffering an apparent sprained ankle in the first half.

"They attacked the rim all night long; they just missed a lot of shots early," UNCG coach Mike Dement said. "But we've got to score more than 46 points to win. .... The other thing I'm disappointed in is their ability to get a lot of offensive rebounds (18) and come right down the lane."

But if Tech has trouble beating SoCon lightweight UNCG, which won just 5 games last year, is this team ready to play Temple next week?

"We've got Campbell" first, Greenberg said with a smile.

OK, is it ready to win at Campbell (No. 257 in the final RPI last season)

"I don't know. We'll find out," Greenberg said with a grin.

How will Tech fare next week against Campbell, Temple and Delaware?

"I have no idea. If I was Kreskin, I'd tell you the future," Greenberg said with a laugh.

Temple, one of the few nonleague tests Tech has, looms next Friday in Philly. Temple is one of only two nonleague foes that did not end with an RPI in the triple digits last season, and the only nonleague team that made the NCAAs. There just aren't a lot of challenging teams on this nonleague schedule.

"You don't think there's a lot of challenging nonleague teams? I don't agree," Greenberg said. "You go on the road to Iowa, ... you go on the road to Penn State, that's a challenging game. When you go on the road to Temple, that's a challenging game. When you go play Georgia ... that's a challenging game.

"College basketball this time of year, teams are developing an identity."

Tech was 0-of-10 from 3-point range in the first half and finished 1-for-13 from long range. Tech shot 37.5 percent from the field against UNCG's 1-1-3 defense and shot 10-of-18 from the charity stripe.

"The free-throw shooting is the thing that probably eats at me the most because .. we make 100 free throws a day, each player," Greenberg said. "It's unbelievable how well we've shot free throws (in practice).

"We'll make shots. We'll be a good free throw shooting team and we're going to make enough open shots."

UNCG shot 35.3 percent from the field, including 29.2 percent in the 2nd half.

"We told them at halftime they were going to really pick up their defense, and they did," UNCG coach Mike Dement said. "They were very aggressive on the ball, and they do a nice job blocking shots. If we got an offensive rebound or we got inside, ... we didn't get a lot of good things off inside."

Dorenzo Hudson held Mikko Kovisto without a field-goal attempt in the 2nd half after he had 10 points in the first half.

"I was really proud of Dorenzo," Greenberg said. "After Kovisto got his 10th point, I thought we defended really well. They didn't get very many open looks. 

"They've made their investment (by practicing defense). If you don't make a deposit, you can't get a return. They made deposits and that's why I think we'll eventually be a really really good defensive team.

"Dorenzo, .. his stance was great, his closeouts were good, he was on balance, he was active, he stayed down, he didn't overhelp."

UNCG was coming off a lopsided loss at Duke.

"We didn't play as hard as we played" at Duke, Dement said. "We weren't as tough. ... We were fortunate they missed the 3-point ball like they did, but we didn't rebound it very well."

Greenberg didn't play the freshmen much because the game was so tight. Boggs had nine minutes, including 7 in the first half.  Erick Green had 6 minutes, including 4 in the first half. Manny Atkins got a minute of garbage time.

Mark Berman here in Blacksburg, where VIrginia Tech and UNC Greensboro are tied 26-26 at halftime.

Duke blew out UNCG last week, but the Hokies are hurting themselves by shooting just 32.4 percent from the field. Malcolm Delaney is 3 of 10 from the field, Dorenzo Hudson 1 of 4, Terrell Bell 2 of 6, Erick Green 0 of 3 and Ben Boggs 1 of 4.

The Hokies have six steals but have turned the ball over eight times. Bell has 4 turnovers. UNCG has 12 turnovers.

Jeff Allen has 8 points but has not scored since a dunk with 10:52 left that put Tech up 18-13. UNCG went on a 9-0 run to grab a 22-18 lead.

Well, time for the first regular-season ballot for the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

I have two new teams on my ballot: Rider and Cornell.

Yep, that's right.

Rider, after all, had the biggest win of the first week, winning at Miss. State. Knocking off a Top 25 team on the road is certainly worth a spot on my first regular-season ballot. So I booted Miss. State, which I had at No. 14 in my preseason ballot, and added Rider at No. 24. Rider was picked third in the preseason MAAC poll, behind Siena and Niagara. Siena remains on my ballot, so I have two MAAC teams in my Top 25.

Rider, which boasts the best player in the MAAC, plays UVa pretty soon. So Rider may not be done knocking off major-conference teams.

The second-most notable win of the first week was Cornell winning at Alabama, which was voted third in the West Division in the preseason SEC poll. Yes, it was only the first game for new Alabama coach Anthony Grant, but still a nice win. And Cornell is no slouch - the Big Red is the defending Ivy League champ.

Western Kentucky was No. 23 in my preseason ballot, but the Hilltoppers have not played yet. So I took them out of my ballot to make room for Cornell.

There were some other interesting wins of note in Week 1 -- San Diego beat Stanford, Texas-San Antonio beat Iowa (so the Hokies better win that game next month at Iowa), and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi crushed Oregon State (Ore. State also lost to Texas Tech).

But Cornell made the 2009 NCAAs, unlike Texas-San Antonio, Texas A&M-CC and San Diego, and the team the Big Red beat seems a bit better than Stanford, Iowa and Oregon State. So I gave Cornell the No. 25 spot instead of those other teams.

Why Rider and Cornell instead of the likes of Louisville, Clemson or Minnesota? Because Rider and Cornell have already accomplished something. Louisvile, Clemson and Minn. could certainly be in my ballot soon, but they don't have a noteworthy win yet, so I am again leaving them out of my ballot, just like I left them out of my preseason ballot.

Heck, very few teams have a noteworthy win so far. All the more reason to salute Rider and Cornell.

My ballot:

1. Kansas

2. Mich State

3. Villanova

4 Texas

5 Purdue

6 Cal

7 WVU

8 Kentucky

9 UNC

10 Duke

11 Tenn.

12 Ohio St

13 Wash.

14 Dayton, up a spot from my preseason ballot.

15 Butler, up a spot

16 Ill., up a spot

17 UConn, up a spot

18 Michigan, up  a spot

19. Oklahoma, up a spot

20 Georgetown, up a spot after winning at Tulane

21 Ga. Tech, up a spot

22. Siena, up  a spot. Siena was not in the AP preseason Top 25, but would you want to play these guys?

23. N. Iowa, up a spot. Again, Northern Iowa is not in the AP Top 25, but this is a good team.

24. Rider cracks the poll

25 Cornell cracks the poll.

Mark Berman back here in Blacksburg, where Virginia Tech beat Brown 69-55.

The defense? Not so great. The supporting cast? Not bad.

Tech led Brown just 51-45 with 8:38 to go. Brown, which used a lot of the shot clock, never led, though.

"We showed the lack of discipline, surely, at the end of the shot clock defensively," Seth Greenberg said. "We were so spread out. We weren't going to double the {post] guy. We do double the post, but we weren't going to double the guy. They got a couple 3's out of the lack of discipline on the defensive end.

"Our post defense has got to improve. ... They were just so far spread out. I didn't want our perimeter guys to help. ... We didn't have the zip defensively that I would've liked."

Next up is UNC Greensboro on Tuesday.

"We don't play any better, with a greater purpose on Tuesday, we'll lose," Greenberg said. "They've got two guards that can break it down off the dribble."

Malcolm Delaney had 21 points and Jeff Allen (nursing a bruised wrist) 17 points. What you also have to like is 8 points apiece from Victor Davila, Terrell Bell (seven boards) and Dorenzo Hudson (six assists).

"We shot the ball, we moved the ball, we posted the ball," Greenberg said. "They were playing behind the post, so that was pretty easy.

"Dorenzo ... made great decisions in terms of in transition, passing the ball. Had a nice pull-up on the break. I thought he did a nice job. I thought Terrell did some good things."

Tech didn't use much motion offense, though.

"We could just throw the ball in the post," Greenberg said. "It wasn't like we had to move them around a whole lot."

Davila drew mixed reviews after getting 8 pts but just 3 rebounds. He also didn't do that well on defense.

"Victor's a very talented offensive player," Greenberg said. "He's got to grit his teeth (on defense) and bang the guy and be more active. He can do it. I've got to get under his skin a little bit. It doesn't bother me. It might bother him."

JT Thompson was just 1-of-7 from the field after being hampered by a sprained ankle in the preseason.

"JT surely wasn't himself," Greenberg said.

Ben Boggs had one bucket in 10 minutes in his college debut. Fellow freshman Erick Green got only 3 minutes, all in the first half, and freshman Manny Atkins did not play.

"I'm disappointed I didn't get Green and Boggs and Atkins a couple more minutes," Greenberg said. "Green is going to be a good player and I wanted to get him more minutes and I just never felt comfortable enough. I just need to make myself play him because he would've been just fine."

More on the game In Monday's paper and online Monday.

Greetings from Blacksburg, where the Hokies lead Brown 34-23 at halftime.

Malcolm Delaney had 10 points, making 4 of 7 shots from the field.  Victor Davila already has 8 points, making 3 of 4 shots. Dorenzo Hudson already has 5 points, making both his shots.

Jeff Allen has 4 points, Terrell Bell 2 and JT Thompson 2.

Two freshmen have seen action. Erick Green has 3 points in minutes, thanks to a trey. Ben Boggs has not scored in 7 minutes.

The Hokies are shooting 56 percent from the field but are being outrebounded 13-11

Virginia Tech announced the signings of 6-foot-7, 209-pound swingman Jarell Eddie of the Cannon School in Charlotte, N.C., and 6-1, 170-pound guard Tyrone Garland of John Bartram High School in Phiadelphia.
Scout.com ranks Eddie the No. 12 small forward prospect in the nation and Garland the No. 26 point guard prospect nationally.
Tech only has one scholarship senior on this year’s roster (Lewis Witcher), so coach Seth Greenberg currently doesn’t have enough scholarships to go around for next season.
Eddie, a two-time all-state pick, averaged 25 points and eight rebounds as a junior last season. Garland averaged 28.9 points as a junior last season, earning all-state honors.

At Virginia Tech basketball media day Tuesday, I asked Seth Greenberg who his starters will be in Sunday's opener against Brown. He also talked about the new motion offense.

Seth said the likely starters, if the game were Tuesday, would be Victor Davila, Dorenzo Hudson, Jeff Allen, Malcolm Delaney and, surprisingly, Terrell Bell at the small forward spot.

"Bell has had a realy good last week of practice," Greenberg said. "He's making more plays, he's using his length, he's running the court a little harder.

"I'm really pleased with Terrell right now. He's makng more scoring passes, he's using his length, he's actually attacking the basket a little more."

Entering preseason practice, Bell was going to spend his time as one of the power forwards because of how strong he has gotten. JT Thompson was going to be spending his time at small forward.

Now the plan is for JT to spend time at both forward spots, as he has in the past. He will be at the 4 spot when VT goes to its small lineup.

"JT's going to play lot of minutes," Greenberg said.

JT returned to practice this week after missing a few weeks with a sprained ankle. Is Bell just starting because JT is still getting back into form?

"I don't want to say that. RIght now he'd be a starter because he's had a really good last 10 days," Seth said.

Davila has lost 12 pounds during a recent battle with the flu, but Greenberg has liked what he has seen.

"Victor's been the most pleasant surprise up front, " Greenberg said. "He scores buckets. He makes shots. He's a big targert. He posts wide. He wants the ball. .... He said to me something that I thought was important. He said, 'Coach, I'm confident, but more importantly, my teammates are confident in me.' That wsa a huge step for him, feeling like those guys believe in him and want to throw him the ball."

Look for Seth to run plenty of motion offense in an effort to free up Delaney for shots.

"We have been working on some motion and things of that nature and a lot of random ball screens, which puts a lot of pressure on the defense," Seth said. "Guarding plays is one thing. Guarding motion is another. It's more spontaneous.

"This isn't exactly Bobby Knight motion. It's a work in progress. ... Right now we're kind of force-feeding to them. ..... It's not an easy deal to understand. It gives them a lot more freedom. WIth that freedom comes some spacing issues. If the pass is too long, people are going to run through a passing lane. You run motion against Carolna and there are long passes, they're going to steal the ball and make a layup. So you've got to make sure you meet your passer. You've got to make sure you're waiting on screens. You've got to make sure you're setting screens and holding screens.

"It comes down to spacing and setting good screens and waiting on screens. .. If we're patient and wait on screens, eventually it could be good.

"I'm doing it to move Malcolm in different spots so people can't mark him as easy. I want to be able to be a little bit less predictable because people are going to add at least a half a defender to him. It's been fun to coach. Frustrating at times, but fun to coach.

"The one good thing about Malcolm is whether Malcolm's on or off the ball, we're still going to give him screening and scoring opportunities.... Whether he's the point guard or not, once he gives it up, we're going to get it back to him somewhere. It's just not going to be as predictable where we're going to get it back to him.

"On dead balls, we're (still) going to run sets, coming out of timeouts, we're going to run sets. If we haven't scored in a while, if we get motionless motion, I'm going to create some movement to get them moving in the right direction. But I'd like to have better flow. I don't want to have to re-set as much."

I attended the inaugural Southwest Tip-off Luncheon to benefit Coaches vs Cancer today in Blacksburg, and I talked to Virginia Tech's Seth Greenberg, Radford's Brad Greenberg and Roanoke's Page Moir about how their teams are looking in practice. (I also talked with them about raising money for cancer; that portion will be in the newspaper.)

First, an update from Seth on how the Hokies are looking. 

Victor Davila has the flu and will be out for at least five days -- but VT does not open until the Brown game on Nov 15.  JT Thompson has been hampered by a sprained ankle.

"I'm almost afraid to practice," Seth said with a laugh.

Davila had been looking good. So have some of his teammates.

"These past two days, Terrell Bell and Dorenzo (Hudson) have done a nice job. Victor, it's sad that he got sick because he's gained a great deal of confidence in the last week -- and his teammates have gained confidence in him, which is just as important," he said.

Has an identity of this year's team emerged yet?

"I hope our identity is a tough-minded, physical, aggressive, attacking team," he said.

Is the defense getting better?

"We're making some progress,"  he said. "But we've still got a long way to go."

How are the freshmen looking?

"Ben Boggs and Erick (Green) have been solid. Ben's really been solid."

I also talked to Brad Greenberg. The RU coach said Amir Johnson is back, and it was his decision to bring him back.

Johnson was the starting point guard on last season's NCAA tournament team. He was convicted of petit larceny in August; he was accused of breaking into the home of Jamar Jenkins and Martell McDuffy in May and taking cash, a PlayStation, software and an iPod.

"Amir is going to play from Game 1," Brad said.

RU is the consensus pick to repeat as Big South champs, what with 4 starters back, including league player of the year Art Parakhouski.

"It's to be expected if you've won the year before and played well and return a bunch of guys, including some first-team all-conference guys and the player of the year," Brad said.

How much of an impact will Binghamton transfer Lazar Trifunovic make?

"He has a chance to be a real strong contributor," Brad said. "He's working off the rust a little bit. It's been almost a year and half, two years where he hasn't played in a game, so it's all new."

Brad said Lazar, Art and Joey Lynch-Flohr will all be on the floor at the same time for portions of the game. 

"Figuring out how to take advantage of all three of them at the same time, that'll be a work in progress," Brad said.

With Seth Curry having left Liberty and the Holmes twins having graduated from VMI, and with a High Point standout and a Charleston Southern star transferring, RU could have an easy time of it in the Big South this year. Brad isn't so sure about that, though.

"There's some good teams. I think there are a couple of surprise teams that people don't talk about, like Coastal Carolina -- they're going to be a real strong team," he said. "Winthrop is back. They had guys that sat out last year that are big. ... They'll be deeper and bigger and very good. Asheville's got 4 starters back."

I also talked to Page Moir, who has lost 3 starters from a 19-win team. But he said this can definitely still be a winning season.

"We've got a lot of question marks, but I like the possible solutions," he said. "I'm really excited about some of the guys we have back and what they're capable of."

Moir is high on freshman guard Kwasi Amponsah out of Gar-Field High in Woodbridge.

"He'll be playing more than 20 minutes a game," he said. "He's a player."

Hidden Valley grad Logan Singleton will have an increased role this year.

"Logan earned more playing time last year than he got, but with Curtis (Peery) in there -- you get tight, you want to go with him -- and I was trying to get some of the other big kids some experience at the cost of him. But Logan I think's going to turn into a very, very good ODAC player."

Guilford went to the D-III FInal Four last season. Will the Quakers run away with the ODAC?

"Not at all," Page said." They've got their three studs back and they're very good and they're very well-coached, of course, but it was close last year. Heck, they got beat by the 8th-place team in the first round of the (ODAC) tournament. We split with them last year. Virginia Wesleyan has got to be looked on as the favorite because of how they seem to reload -- they're like a Carolina. They reload every year.

"Randolph-Macon loses Short but has most everybody else back. I'm excited about how competitive the league is going to be."

Once again I am a voter for the Associated Press Top 25 men's basketball poll. I turned in my ballot today, because the poll comes out Thursday - as does the preseason All-America team.

Here's how I voted

1. Kansas: The Jayhawks have two stars in Cole Aldrich and Sherron Collins, and could wind up with their second NCAA title in three seasons. All five starters are back from a Sweet 16 team, and freshman Xavier Henry has come aboard.

2. Michigan State: Kalin Lucas is back to try to lead the Spartans to a second straight Final Four. They will miss Goran Suton and Travis Walton, but Raymar Morgan and Durrell Summers return.

3. Villanova: Scottie Reynolds will try to get the Wildcats to a second straight Final Four. Two other starters are back, as well as Big East sixth man of the year Corey Fisher.

4. Texas: Dexter Pittman and Damion James are back to lead the way. With eight of the top 10 scorers back from an NCAA tournament team, this should be a deep bunch, even though AJ Abrams is gone. Freshman Avery Bradley will be one to watch.

5. Purdue: Robbie Hummel, JaJuan Johnson and E'Twaun Moore are back from a Sweet 16 team. All the starters are back, in fact.

6. Cal: Four starters are back from an NCAA tournament team, including Jerome Randle and Patrick Christopher.

7. WVU: Four starters are back from an NCAA tournament team, although Alex Ruoff will be missed. But Da'Sean Butler and Devin Ebanks are back, and will be joined by national JUCO player of the year Casey Mitchell.

8. Kentucky: Calipari should have UK clicking right away, thanks to freshman John Wall and standout Patrick Patterson, even though Jodie Meeks is gone. Patterson is one of 3 starters back.

9. UNC: Hansbrough, Lawson, Ellington and Graves are gone, but Ed Davis should have a big year. Ginyard and Thompson are back, and freshman John Henson should be good. Zeller is promising. Will Drew and Ginyard get the job done in the backcourt?  Another national title isn't likely, but UNC should still be fun to watch.

10. Duke: Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer are back from a Sweet 16 team. Gerald Henderson and Elliot Williams will be missed, though. Can Nolan Smith and freshman Dawkins have good years in the backcourt? Can Duke hurt teams in the paint? The 1-2 punch of Singler and Scheyer should make Duke pretty good, though.

11. Tennessee: Vols have all five starters back from an NCAA tournament team, including Tyler Smith.

12. Ohio State: Evan Turner and William Buford are back from an NCAA team. BJ Mullens will be missed, but all the other regulars are back, and David Lighty is healthy again.

13. Washington: Three starters are back from an NCAA team. Jon Brockman and Justin Dentsmon will be missed, but freshman Abdul Gaddy looks good and Isaiah Thomas is back.

14. Miss. State: Five starters are back from an NCAA team, including Jarvis Varnado.

15. Dayton: Four starters are back from an NCAA team. Chris Wright will lead the way for the A-10 team.

16. Butler: All the starters return from an NCAA team. Matt Howard is back to help Butler rule the Horizon League.

17. Illinois: Three starters are back from an NCAA team: Mike Davis, Demetri McCarney and Mike Tisdale.

18. UConn: Huskies don't look like a Final Four team, not with Thabeet, AJ Price and Jeff Adrien gone. Jerome Dyson and Stanley Robinson are back. If the newcomers click, the Huskies will too. Be interesting to see Ater Majok, who spent a year in Henry County before heading to Storrs.

19. Michigan: Another Big Ten team? Yep. The top five scorers are back from an NCAA team, including Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims.

20. Oklahoma: Blake Griffin and two other starters as gone, but Willie Warren is back. Tiny Gallon has come aboard from Oak Hill and should make an impact.

21. Georgetown: Only an NIT team last year, but three starters are back: Greg Monroe, Austin Freeman and Chris Wright. DaJuan Summers will be missed, though. I thought long and hard about having Louisville be the 4th Big East team in my Top 25, not the Hoyas.

22. Ga. Tech: Gani Lawal is back, and freshman Derrick Favors comes in to give the Jackets a great set of post players. Clinch and Aminu will be missed, but with eight of the top 10 scorers back and Bell healthy again, I think Jackets go from losing team to NCAA team. I thought long and hard about Clemson or Maryland being my 3rd ACC team in this poll, but I think GT has more potential.

23. Siena: Four starters are back from a MAAC team that won an NCAA tournament game again last season. Kenny Hasbrouck will be missed, but Siena deserves to be ranked.

24. Western Kentucky: This Sun Belt team deserves to be ranked, too. Four starters are back from a team that also won an NCAA first-round game last season. Orlando Mendez-Valdez will be missed, though.

25. Northern Iowa: All five starters are back from an NCAA team. Adam Koch will lead the way for the Missouri Valley team.

That's my ballot. I also considered Louisville, Clemson, Maryland, Vandy and Utah State. I also thought about South Carolina, VCU, BYU, Tulsa and Notre Dame.

As far as my preseason All-America team, I went with Harangody of Notre Dame, Aldrich of Kansas, Lucas of Michigan State, Patterson of Kentucky and Reynolds of Villanova.

I also thought about Collins of Kansas, Warren of Oklahoma, Booker of Clemson, Downey of South Carolina, Ebanks of WVU and Singler of Duke.

The Pistons waived Deron Washington today (Monday).

Deron, who was picked by Detroit in the 2nd round of the 2008 draft, spent last season in Greece. He averaged 3.3 points, 0.6 rebounds and 6.4