Good news to all Hokie fans who don't have ESPNU:
With Wednesday's Duke-North Carolina game being blacked out on ESPN in Western Virginia because WDBJ is televising that game, ESPN announced today that Wednesday's Virginia Tech-N.C. State game will air in this area on ESPN, not just on ESPNU.
A number of other markets, including the Richmond, Charlottesville and Norfolk areas, will also get the Tech game on ESPN for blackout reasons.
Time to send in another Top 25 ballot to the Associated Press.
I kicked out BYU after its loss at UNLV. BYU has lost 2 of its last 4 games, and its best win all year was at home over UNLV. Time to leave my ballot.
I also kicked out Temple after its loss at Richmond. Temple has lost 2 of its last 4 games and has fallen out of first place in the A-10. I thought hard about keeping Temple in because of its earlier win over Villanova. Temple could be back in my ballot next week.
I also booted Baylor after its loss to Texas A&M.
I also kicked out Pitt after its loss to WVU. Pitt did bounce back and beat Seton Hall, but Pitt has lost 4 of its last 6 games. Time for some new, hotter teams, at least for this week. Pitt may be back in my ballot pretty soon, though. I thought long and hard about leaving Pitt on my ballot, but decided it was time for them to sit out a week.
Here is my ballot:
1. Kansas stays here after beating Colorado and Nebraska. Next: big Monday game at slumping Texas, followed by Sat home game with Iowa St.
2. Syracuse moves up one spot after beating Providence and Cincinnati. Next: home games Wed and Sunday with UConn and Louisville.
3. Kentucky moves up one spot after beating Ole Miss and LSU. Next: big home game with Vandy on Tuesday, followed by Sat home game with LSU.
4. Villanova falls 2 spots after beating Seton Hall and losing at Georgetown. I thought about dropping Villanova further, but they did beat Georgetown earlier this season. And that was only the Wildcats' 2nd loss all season. Next: big Monday game at WVU, followed by Sat home game with Providence.
5. Purdue moves up 2 spots after beating Indiana. Keeping Purdue ahead of WVU because the Boilermakers beat WVU. Next: big game Tuesday at Mich State, followed by Sat home game with Iowa.
6. Georgetown stays here after losing at home to S. Florida but beating Villanova. Thought about moving them up. but have to take the South Florida game into consideration. Next: Visits Tues and Sun to Providence and Rutgers.
7. WVU moves up one spot after beating Pitt and St. John's. WVU poised for a big jump up my ballot if they do well this week. Next: big home game Monday with Villanova, followed by a Friday - yes, Friday - visit to Pitt.
8. Ohio State moves up a spot after beating Penn State and Iowa. Next: Wed visit to Indiana and Sunday visit to Illinois. The Sunday game could be telling about the Illini.
9. Kansas State moves up a spot after beating Nebraska and Iowa St. Next: Sat home game with Colorado, which took Kansas to OT.
10. Duke moves up a spot after beating Ga. Tech and BC. Next: Wed visit to slumping UNC and Sat home game wtih surging Maryland. Big week for the Devils.
11. Wisconsin moves up 4 spots after beating Mich. State and Michigan. Next: home games Tues and Sat with Illinois and Indiana.
12. Mich. St. falls seven spots after losing to Wisconsin and Illinois. Kalin Lucas got hurt against the Badgers and missed the Illinois game. Spartans not the same without their best player. Next: big home game Tues with Purdue, followed by Sat game at Penn St.
13. New Mexico moves up three spots after beating San Diego State. Next: big game Wed at UNLV, which has already beaten the Lobos this season, followed by Sat visit to Utah.
14 Tennessee moves up six spots after beating LSU and S. Carolina. Next: big road games Tues and Sat against Vandy and Kentucky. Tough week.
15. Gonzaga moves up seven spots after beating Portland and Memphis. Next: big home game Thurs with St Mary's, followed by Sat home game with San Diego
16. Northern Iowa moves up 7 spots after beating Wichita State and S. Illinois. Next: visits Wed and Sat to Drake and Bradley
17 Ga. Tech moves down 3 spots after losing at Duke and beating NC State. Ga. Tech might not be on my ballot much longer, but they do have wins over Duke, Wake and Charlotte on their resume, so they are still on my ballot. Next: visits Wed and Sat to Miami and Wake.
18 Cornell moves up one spot after beating Yale and Brown. Cornell ranked in the coaches poll but not the AP poll. Next: Fri visit to Penn and big game Sat at Princeton
19 Vanderbilt falls seven spots after beating Miss. State but losing to Georgia. Next: big home game Tues with Tenn., followed by Sat home game with LSU.
20. Texas falls seven spots after beating Okla. State on the road and losing to Oklahoma. Texas has lost 4 of 6, and running out of patience with the Longhorns. But they stay on my ballot, at least for one more week. Next: big home game Monday with Kansas, followed by Sat home game with Nebraska.
21. Wake Forest re-enters my ballot here after beating Miami and winning in OT at UVa. Wake has good earlier wins over Maryland, Richmond and Gonzaga Next: home games Tues and Sat with BC and Ga. Tech. Loser of that Sat game prob leaves my ballot.
22. Maryland cracks my ballot after winning at FSU and crushing UNC. Next: home game Wed with UVa and big Sat game at Duke.
23. Charlotte moves up two spots after moving into first place in the A-10 with wins over GW and Fordham. Next: big game Wed at Dayton, followed by Sat home game with Duquesne.
24. Butler re-enters my ballot after beating Detroit and Wright St. Butler returned to the AP poll last week, and now I am getting back on the bandwagon. Butler has yet to lose in the Horizon, plus has good wins over Ohio State and Xavier. Next: Mon home game with Loyola of Ill, followed by visits Thurs and Sat to Youngstown St and Cleveland St.
25. I looked long and hard at UNLV and Texas A&M for this spot. I also considered leaving Pitt or Temple on my ballot.
But in the end, I decided to make Richmond No. 25. The Spiders deserve a shout-out after beating Temple to move just one game out of first in the A-10. Spiders beat Missouri and Miss. State earlier this season. Next: big game Wed at Rhode Island, followed by Sat visit to St. Bonaventure.
Mark Berman back in Blacksburg, where Virginia Tech beat Clemson 70-59.
The Hokies made just 15 baskets but were 38 of 46 from the charity stripe. Tech shot 30.6 percent from the field, as did Clemson.
"Both teams just played so hard defensively that the game offensively set the game back a couple years," Tech coach Seth Greenberg said.
Malcolm Delaney had 30 points and was 20 of 23 from the charity stripe, tying the school mark for most free throws made in a game.
"I don't think a lot on the free-throw line. A lot of people think too much. I just spin it and shoot," Delaney said.
Tech's new practice facility is paying off at the charity stripe. Tech players have to make 100 free throws apiece at practice this season.
"It was hard to have everyone make 100 free throws when you practiced at the Cassell and had 2 baskets. It's pretty easy when you have 8 baskets," Seth said.
Delaney was 5 of 14 from the field but 5 of 7 in the 2nd half. Dorenzo Hudson was just 2 of 8 from the field and had just five points, but Terrell Bell had 10 points and Jeff Allen had 13 points (and four steals). Seth also liked how freshmen Cadarian Raines, Erick Green and Ben Boggs played.
Tech, playing its 2nd game in 3 days, had 4 baskets in the first half.
"Offensively we had no ability to get in any rhythm in the first half," Greenberg said. "I'm not sure Malcolm had any real legs. Dorenzo, I think his body shut down."
Tech shot 47.8 percent from the field in the 2nd half.
"We decided if we couldn't run offense because they were so aggressive we were just going to spread the court ... and try to drive it," Seth said.
Trevor Booker was 2 of 10 from the field for just seven points.
"We tried to deny the post," Seth said. "Guarding him in 23 minutes is sure a lot better than having to guard him for 40 because that guy's a beast."
Booker had four fouls and played just 23 minutes.
"The game came down to who's going to get in worse foul trouble first, Booker or Allen," Seth said.
"I took it upon myself to get Booker in foul trouble," Delaney said. "I shot one 3 and he kind of jumped from almost the free throw line to block it. I said next time I'm going to pump-fake him. I just outsmart people."
Tech had 10 turnovers to Clemson's 17. Tech had 11 steals.
It was Tech's most important win of the year. Clemson entered the game No. 32 in the RPI.
Tech is 5-3 in the ACC, tied for fourth place halfway through its league schedule.
"We're pretty resilient. I don't know if we're good but we're sure resilient and I think we play hard and take care of the ball," Seth said. "We're a long way from being a good team but we are a tough team.
"We're not where we need to be. ... We didn't run good offense today. Because we used all our energy on the defensive side of the ball. And if I could have a choice, I would take that. But for us to get to the next level, we've got to do both consistently."
Mark Berman here in Blacksburg, where Virginia Tech has rallied to lead the Clemson men 29-27 at halftime.
Tech is shooting just 15.4 percent from the field but is 20 of 25 from the charity stripe. Malcolm Delaney is 13 of 15 from the free throw line, making up for being 0 for 7 from the field.
Clemson is outrebounding VT 26-17. VT has just 7 offensive boards and so just 3 second-chance points. Clemson has 17 defensive rebounds.
Dorenzo Hudson is 1 of 6 from the field and has 3 points.
Clemson built a 9-1 lead with 12:46 left in the first half. Tech did not score its first basket until 10 seconds later.
Tech took its first lead at 27-26 with 1:10 left.
Mark Berman back in Blacksburg, where Va. Tech women blew an 11-point lead with 7:45 to go and lost to Wake Forest 58-51.
Wake went on an 18-0 run to grab a 54-47 lead with 1:42 to left. Tech had 8 turnovers in the run. Wake scored six baskets off turnovers in the run, when the Demon Deacons had 4 steals.
Lindsay Biggs had 12 points for Tech.
Mark Berman here in Blacksburg, where the Virginia Tech women's team leads Wake Forest 24-20 at halftime.
The Hokie women are shooting 36 percent from the field to Wake's 30 percent. Lindsay Biggs has 9 points for Tech. Nikki Davis, who missed the past two games with a knee injury, has played 9 minutes off the bench.
Mark Berman back in Blacksburg, where Malcolm Delaney, Jeff Allen, Dorenzo Hudson and the rest of Virginia Tech’s core of five juniors finally have a win over North Carolina on their resume.
The jubilant Hokies snapped a five-game losing streak in their series with the Tar Heels, beating the defending NCAA men’s basketball champions 74-70 on Thursday at Cassell Coliseum.
"It means a lot, and it feels good," Allen, who had 14 points and seven rebounds, said with a grin. "It feels good."
Allen, Hudson and Delaney slapped hands with each other as teammate Terrell Bell went to the free-throw line with 4.6 seconds to go and the Hokies (17-4, 4-3 ACC) up by five points. Allen and Hudson waved their arms to encourage the fans in the nearly full house to scream even louder with delight.
Tech coach Seth Greenberg hugged his eldest two daughters at game’s end.
Senior backup Lewis Witcher had been the only current Tech player who knew what it was like to beat UNC. He was a freshman reserve on the 2006-07 team that swept the regular-season series with UNC en route to making the NCAA tournament. UNC had beaten Tech 18 straight times prior to that sweep.
Delaney, who scored 21 points Thursday, and the other four juniors had been 0-5 against UNC, including a 78-64 loss in Chapel Hill last month. The losing streak included two narrow losses in the ACC Tournament that ended Tech’s NCAA tournament hopes the past two years.
UNC (13-9, 2-5), which lost four starters from last year’s NCAA championship team, lost for the fifth time in six games.
But the fact that Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green no longer play for UNC didn’t take away any of the joy in the win for Allen.
"I don’t care," Allen said with a smile. "I don’t care. They’re still North Carolina."
Hudson had 17 points for Tech, which won despite shooting 38.8 percent from the field.
Tech grabbed the lead for good at 44-43 on a Delaney jumper with 14:54 to go.
Delaney made back-to-back 3-pointers to extend Tech’s lead to 54-47 with 12:18 to go.
Delaney picked up his fourth foul with 12:04 to go and went to the bench. But the Hokies maintained the lead without him. He returned with 7:01 to go and Tech up 63-59.
With Tech clinging to a 66-64 lead, Allen was fouled by Deon Thompson with 2:43 to go. Allen made one of two free throws.
After a UNC turnover, Allen scored to extend the lead to 69-64.
Ed Davis made one of two free throws to cut the lead to 69-65 with 1:26 to go. After a Tech turnover, Larry Drew II made a layup with 1:09 left.
Delaney made two free throws with 36.6 seconds left to extend the lead to 71-67.
After a 3-pointer by UNC’s Will Graves rattled around the rim and went out, Allen made one of two free throws with 17.9 seconds to go.
Davis had 15 points and seven rebounds.
UNC’s John Henson, a 6-10, 195-pound freshman forward, had a career-high 14 points off the bench. He entered the game averaging just 3 points.
UNC’s David Wear, a 6-foot-10, 225-pound freshman forward, had a career-high 12 points off the bench. He entered the game averaging just 2.5 points.
Mark Berman here in Blacksburg, where the Hokies trail North Carolina 35-33 at halftime.
The Hokies jumped to an 8-1 lead, thanks in part to two treys by Dorenzo Hudson.
The VT lead grew to 18-6 with 13:29 to go. The lead actually doubled from 6 to 12 points with Malcolm Delaney on the bench with 2 fouls. He left after getting his 2nd with 15:24 to go.
Malcolm was put back in the game with about 12:00 to go.
Tech led 22-10 with 11:41 to go, but UNC went on a 14-2 run to tie the score at 24 with 7:20 to go. Ed Davis of UNC picked up his 2nd foul during that run, with 9:43 to go, but coach Roy Williams left him in the game.
UNC took its first lead on a Davis free throw with 5:32. UNC led 27-26. Davis then left for the rest of the half.
VT led 33-29 with 3:12 to go but never scored again in the half.
For the final 2:18, after Dorenzo got his 2nd foul, Tech had a doomed lineup of Malcolm, Raines, Witcher, Erick Green and Bell. The lineup yielded no points.
VT is shooting 35.3 percent from the field to UNC's 41.4 percent. UNC has outrebounded VT 27-15.
Dorenzo has 12 points, and Malcolm 7.
UNC has 8 points off the bench from John Henson, who averages 3 points. UNC has 7 points off the bench from David Wear, who averages 2.5 points.
UNC has 9 turnovers.
Time to send the Associated Press another Top 25 ballot.
I kicked out Wake Forest after its loss to Georgia Tech.
I booted UConn after its two losses, to Providence and Marquette.
I evicted Oklahoma State after its loss to Missouri.
I also booted Old Dominion after its loss to Northeastern.
Here is my ballot:
1. Kansas moves up 3 spots after beating Missouri and winning at Kansas State in OT. I took a fresh look at Villanova, Syracuse and Kansas to decide about No. 1. Syracuse had a big win over Georgetown this week, and Villanova has not stumbled since Dec. 13. But in the end, I gave Kansas the nod because it had the best week of the three and thus most deserved to be promoted. Next up: Wed. visit to Colorado and a Sat home game with Nebraska
2. Villanova stays here after beating Notre Dame and taking the weekend off. Next: Tuesday home game with Seton Hall and huge Saturday visit to Georgetown.
3. Syracuse stays here after beating Georgetown and DePaul. Next: Tues home game with Providence and Sat visit to Cincinnati.
4. Kentucky drops three spots after losing at South Carolina and beating Vandy. Next: Tuesday home game with Ole Miss and Sat visit to LSU.
5. Michigan State moves up a spot after beating Michigan and Northwestern. Next: visits Tuesday and Saturday to Northwestern and Illinois.
6. Georgetown moves up two spots after losing at Syracuse but beating Duke impressively. Next: home games Wed and Sat with South Florida and Georgetown.
7. Purdue moves up 7 spots after beating Wisconsin and Penn State. Next: Thursday visit to Indiana.
8. WVU moves up 7 spots after beating DePaul and Louisville. Next: big Wed home game with Pitt, followed by Sat visit to St. John's.
9. Ohio State moves up 7 spots after beating Iowa and Minnesota. Only loss in last 6 games was at WVU. Next: Wed home game with Penn State and Sun home game with Iowa.
10. Kansas State moves up one spot after winning at Baylor and losing at home to Kansas in OT. Next: Tues visit to Nebraska and Sat visit to Iowa St
11. Duke falls one spot after beating Florida State and losing at Georgetown. Duke has lost 2 of its last 4 games. Next: Big Thurs home game with Ga. Tech, followed by Sat visit to BC.
12. Vanderbilt moves up 7 spots after impressive win at Tennessee and a loss to Kentucky. Next; Wed home game with Miss State and Sat visit to Georgia
13. Texas falls 8 spots after beating Texas Tech and losing at home to Baylor in OT. Texas is no longer a Top 10 team in my book, not after losing 3 of its last 4 and wihtout having beaten a really good team all Janaury. Next: challenging visit tonight to Oklahoma St, followed by Saturday visit to Oklahoma.
14. Ga. Tech moves up 7 spots after good win over Wake Forest, not because of Saturday cupcake win over Kentucky State. Next: Big Thurs visit to Duke, followed by Sat home game with NC State.
15. Wisconsin falls 2 spots after beating Penn State in OT and losing at Purdue. Next: big home game Tues. with Mich State, followed by Sat visit to Michigan.
16. New Mexico jumps back into my ballot here after big win over BYU and also winning at TCU. New Mexico was already ranked last week, but after BYU I'm sold too. Next: Sat home game with San Diego State.
17. BYU falls 8 spots after losing at New Mexico but beating Utah. Next: Tues home game with TCU and Sat visit to UNLV.
18. Temple falls 11 spots after losing at Charlotte and beating LaSalle. Next: Wed home game with Duquesne and Sat visit to Richmond.
19. Cornell moves up 2 spots after beating Dartmouth and destroying a good Harvard team 86-50. That was an impressive rout. Next: home games Fri and Sat with Yale and Brown.
20. Tennessee falls 3 spots after losing at home to Vandy but beating Florida to end 2-game skid. Next: Thurs visit to LSU and Sat home game with South Carolina.
21. Baylor jumps back on my ballot here after losing by two points to Kansas State and winning at Texas in OT. Baylor was already ranked last week in the poll, but now I'm joining in because of the Texas game. Next: Wed home game with Iowa State and Sat visit to Texas A&M.
22. Gonzaga falls 10 spots after beating Santa Clara but losing in OT at San Francisco. Next: Thurs home game with Portland and Sat visit to Memphis.
23. Northern Iowa jumps back in my ballot here after beating Drake and Missouri State. Only two losses all season. Next: big Wed home game with Wichita State, followed by Sat home game with So. Illinois.
24. Pitt falls 6 spots after beating St. John's and losing at South Florida. Pitt has lost 3 of its last 4, but stays on my ballot because of wins at Syracuse and UConn earlier this month.
25. I was going to put Ole Miss somewhere on my ballot if they had won Sunday, but they lost at home so I didn't look at them after all. I did look at South Carolina, Marquette and Missouri for for this spot, but in the end it came down to Charlotte vs. Butler for me.
Butler has been racking up wins in the Horizon League, including 4 straight road wins. And Butler does have nice December wins over Xavier and Ohio State. I thought hard about returning them to my ballot.
But I ended up putting Charlotte at No. 25. Charlotte has only 5 losses on the year, including just one loss in the A-10 (Xavier). I gave them the shout-out because of their big win over Temple (followed by the win at UMass). They also have a good road win over Richmond this month, and a good December win at Louisville.
I talked today with Tech athletic director Jim Weaver and with ACC associate commissioner Karl Hicks, and neither Weaver nor the ACC has opted to suspend Jeff Allen for Sunday's game at Miami.
Allen was ejected from Thursday's game at UVa for elbowing Jeff Jones in the face -- a flagrant personal foul, according to the officials.
