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Greetings from Blacksburg, where Virginia Tech rallied to tie the score but did not play well down the stretch. Duke beat the Hokies 72-65.

"They're a very very good team," Coach Seth Greenberg said. "We're a pretty good team also. I think we've grown up some defensively. I'm just really disappointed in our attention to detail early on to what we wanted to do defensively."

This leaves VT (17-11, 7-7) with two more chances to get an 8th win in the ACC so they can stay in the NCAA tourney conversation. They host UNC on Wed. and visit FSU next weekend.

"If we play as hard as we did today, we've got a chance (vs UNC)," said AD Vassallo, who had 26 points.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said even if Tech winds up 7-9 in the ACC, the Hokies belong in the NCAA tourney.

"Virginia Tech's had a great year. They've been in hellacious games," he said. "The top 8 teams in our league, they all need to be in, and let's see what happens with Miami, Maryland -- it might be 9, depending on these last few games. But it should have nothing to do with conference record. Nothing. I think that's just such a big mistake. Commentators, people who analyze these things, I can't believe they even talk about that kind of stuff.

"Because of the expansion, it's a different schedule (because it's no longer round-robin). ... Is that enough? Do I feel like the governor of Virginia? I have the utmost respect for Virginia Tech. ... What the heck, we were one possession away from them beating us. And put somebody else from another conference in that schedule and see if they would have an 8-8 record."

Good sentiment, but I just can't see VT getting in at 7-9, unless they win 3 in the ACC tourney. Because VT didn't get any good nonleague wins. If you beat Mich State and Mich. like Maryland did, for example, 7-9 doesn't look as bad.

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Greetings from Clemson, where VIrginia Tech knocked off the No. 12 Tigers 80-77 in a very entertaining game to get a much-needed win.

"Hopefully we turn the team around and we get 3 or 4 more," said AD Vassallo, who had 21 points. "We're tough. When we want to play, we can play with anybody."

"We're getting out of our slump," Hank Thorns said. "We have to step up our game even more to get into the tournament. That's what we're doing. We're playing harder. Everybody's playing with much more passion."

The Hokies had lost three straight games to play themselves out of the NCAA tournament bracket. But with this win, they are 17-10, 7-6 and still have a pulse. This is their second road win over a nationally ranked team this season, their third ACC road win and their fourth win over a team currently in the RPI top 50.

"I talked to our guys before the game today and really made it a point to tell them to go out, play hard but they also had to be tough," coach Seth Greenberg said. "Everyone knows the situation that we're in and we're trying to get into the tournament. .... I watched the Georgetown-Louisville game on Monday ... and you could see the Georgetown kids, they were trying so hard, that almost every play they almost overreacted, beating themselves up.

"I told our guys, here's the deal, we need to attack, play freed up, play aggressive and what happens happens. ... Play hard, be tough but play relaxed.

It was VT's seventh win in 14 games this year by five points or less

"The difference between having a really good year and having just a year is winning close games," Greenberg said. "It was a very good win for us."

Greenberg's in-game decisions showed he felt the game was critical.

"I made a couple decisions today and I just said, 'We have to win this game. It's time.' " Greenberg said.

The Hokies still need at least one more win, though, to be in the NCAA conversation. Finishing 9-7 would seal the deal, but if they can finish 8-8 then they know they can play their way into the NCAAs with a good showing at the ACC Tournament.

Tech hosts Duke on Sat, followed by home game with UNC on Wed and a visit to FSU to end the season.

"We're playing (Duke and UNC) at home. Anything can happen at home," Vassallo said. "If we can play as hard as we did today, I think we've got a good chance."

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Well, time to send another ballot to the Associated Press for the Top 25 poll.

I evicted Dayton after the loss to St. Louis, although it was a close call. I also booted Cal after the loss to Oregon State. I kicked out Ohio State after its 0-2 week.

 Here is my ballot:

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Greetings from Blacksburg, where it looks like Virginia Tech will be hosting an NIT game or two next month. FSU beat Tech 67-65.

First of all, before I forget and get going on this game, in response to the person who gave a comment about the "tough road to hoe" headline in today's paper - I don't write the headlines.

Anyway, more importantly, the Hokies fell to 16-10, 6-6 with this disappointing loss. This was their best shot at a win in this season-ending five-game stretch. I cannot see them winning at Clemson on Wed. Then they host Duke and UNC. I can see them winning one of those, but both? And then they have to to FSU, where they have lost five in a row.

Can they win three of these and sew up an NCAA bid? Sure. It will just be hard to win even one of them, let alone two or three. Can they win one of the ones at home and one of the ones on the road and have an NCAA shot going into the ACC tourney and help themselves there? Sure. But looks gloomy.

Tech has lost 3 straight, and trailed at halftime all three times.

"We've still got 4 more games in the ACC. We've still got the ACC tournament left," AD said. "We've just got to get back to winning."

VT was down by 10 at the half but climbed back into this with a 14-2 run to start the 2nd half. Clemson shot just 30.8 percent from the field in the 2nd half after shooting 50 percent in the firsr half.

"In the second half, we kind of picked it up (on defense)," Malcolm Delaney said. "We got stops and we got out in transition. We buckled down (on D)."

Uche Echefu (12 points) hit two free throws to give FSU a 63-62 lead with 3:14 left. Tech wasted its next possession, turning it over on a shot clock violation. On Tech's following possession, Jeff Allen missed an ill-advised trey way too early in the possession.

"We wasted a couple possessions," Delaney said. "We kind of sped ourselves up when we really didn't have to."

After two free throws by Toney Douglas, AD Vassallo missed a trey. But Cheick Diakite hit one of two free throws and AD got the rebound. Delaney missed a trey but Jeff Allen got the stickback to tie the score with 36 seconds to go.

Douglas drove in the lane for a pullup jumper with 6.2 seconds left to put FSU up 67-65. Four seconds was left on the shot clock when he scored.

"That was exactly what we wanted to do," FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. "We ran it a little earlier than we had anticipated. We didn't want to leave that much time on the shot clock. But Solomon (Alabi) stepped up a little bit early and they played Toney to the right. He crossed over and got into the lane."

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Ready or not, Hokies, it's time for the toughest part of the schedule.

And you have to wonder if they are ready. The Hokies have lost 4 of their last 6, including two in a row. And one of their best players, Malcolm Delaney, is in a shooting slump.

With their NCAA hopes damaged, the Hokies now must host FSU on Sat night, then visit Clemson on Wed, then host Duke next Sat, followed by a home game with UNC and a visit to FSU to end the regular season.

Five killer games.

"In this league, they're all killer games. You define them as five killer games, I define all our games as killer games," coach Seth Greenberg said.

No, these are the ones that are killer games. There's a difference between Ga. Tech and UNC.

Is Malcolm Delaney starting to worry that Tech will wind up in the NIT for a 2nd straight year?

"Not at all," Delaney said.

I'm not so sure. We could be in for a Greenberg vs. Greenberg duel in the first round of the NIT. Brad Greenberg's Radford team can clinch an automatic NIT bid by winning the Big South regular-season title Saturday, so if RU doesn't win the Big South tourney, they will be bound for the NIT - just like Tech might be.

The good news is that if Tech (16-9, 6-5 ACC) can win 3 of these next five, they will be 9-7 in the ACC and with plenty of quality wins. An at-large bid will be in the bag.

The next five games are incredibly tough, though. I can't see them getting 3 wins in this stretch.

"Every game in the ACC is tough," Delaney said. "Clemson just lost to UVa. No matter what team you play, you can lose to anybody. ... I'm not worried about the opponents. The ACC is full of good teams. Carolina lost to BC. Duke lost to BC. BC was predicted (next to last) in the ACC.

"I'm not worried about the talent (other teams) got. I think we're just as good as anybody in the ACC, if not in the country. We've just got to play good."

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Greetings from Charlottesville, where Virginia Tech lacked scoring punch and fell to UVa 75-61.

"I just didn't think we played all that well," coach Seth Greenberg said.

With one member of the Big Three suspended and another in a shooting slump, Tech (16-9, 6-5) struggled offensively en route to a second straight loss.

Tech, which trailed the entire second half, could be en route to the NIT as well.

Tech played without power forward Jeff Allen, who sat on the bench in street clothes. Allen was suspended for this game by athletic director Jim Weaver on Monday for his obscene gesture to Maryland fans last weekend. Allen ranks third on the Hokies in scoring (14.5 ppg) and third in the ACC in rebounding (8.8 rpg).

How much did it hurt not having him in the game?

"A lot. A whole lot," Malcolm Delaney said. "We needed a low-post presence."

"It hurt a lot because he also gets rebounds," said JT Thompson, who had 10 points and two rebounds as he started in place of Allen. "With him missing, that's a big part of the team, so it really did hurt us."

Greenberg wasn't so candid.

"I don't look at it like we didn't have Jeff Allen. We coached the guys that we have on our roster that are able to play," he said.

Do the Hokies look at Jeff and say geez, you cost us this game, you let us down?

"I don't think nobody's going to look at him and say that," JT said. "He messed up. We forgave him."

Meanwhile, Tech’s leading scorer this season had a poor shooting effort for the fourth straight game. Delaney was just 3 of 13 from the field and had just 11 points.

"The ball just didn't go down for him. He got good looks, "Greenberg said.

Delaney attempted just two shots in the first half, when he had just 5 points and was outscored by UVa’s backup center.

"I passed up a lot of shots," Delaney said of that half.

Greenberg said he told him he had to be more aggressive in the 2nd half.

"He didn't shoot a couple shots I thought he should've shot," Greenberg said. "We've got to get him the ball sooner. We've got to pass the ball better. We've got to get guys to deliver him the ball.

"With Jeff out, it's easy to push out an extra defender on him, too. Let's face it, you've got AD and you've got Malcom and they're playing a 3-2 zone. It's pretty easy to mark him. We tried to ball screen for him a little bit. I told him at halfitme, 'You've got to shoot the ball.' .... He got better looks in the 2nd half."

But Delaney said that was not because he lacked confidence in his shot.

"I've got confidence in my shot every time. You can stop asking me about confidence," he said. "I've got confidence in my game no matter what, if I'm making or missing shots."

Delaney is now 16-of-52 from the field (30.7 percent) in the past four games.

"He missed shots. Dwyane Wade misses shots. I want him to shoot the ball," Greenberg said.

"I felt good before the game," Delaney said. "I was shooting good in pregame warmups and all week in practice."

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Virginia Tech will play Wednesday at UVa without Jeff Allen, who was suspended by athletic director Jim Weaver for one game for his obscene gesture to Maryland fans when he fouled out of Saturday's loss. (Full story online Tuesday and in paper Tuesday)

It could be a tall order for VT to win in C'ville without its best post player, considering UVa is coming off that impressive win over Clemson.

"We're going to miss that big body down there," Terrell Bell said. "But we should be OK."

The Hokies were 1-1 when Allen was suspended last year; of course, they still had Deron Washington last  year.

"Somebody else might step up," Malcolm Delaney said. "We've got other big men on the team that can rebound."

"We're going to step up to the challenge," Bell said. "On any given night anybody could step  up."

Odds are JT Thompson will start in Allen's place, like he did last year when Allen was suspended 2 games by the ACC for bumping an official when he fouled out of a loss at Ga. Tech.

"He creates a mismatch for other (power forwards) in the league," Delaney said. "He's smaller, but he's just as strong as any other (PF). And it's harder for them to guard him. Plus he can guard a lot of different spots, so we can switch a lot on D. It's just another dimension to our team."

The Hokies are going to have to do collectively well on the boards, like they did last week when Allen played only 10 minutes in the 2nd half against Ga. Tech. But Cheick Diakite, Bell, Delaney and AD Vassallo each had 6 or 7 boards.

"We've definitely got to come together as a team and outrebound them," Delaney said. "We dominate the boards, we'll be fine."

After giving up 83 points to Maryland, the Hokies hope to play better defense at UVa.

"We've got to start bringing effort for 40 minutes," Delaney said. "Sometimes we slack (off) with effort. The last couple games that we didn't play good defensively, we didn't prepare right. We didn't go hard in practice and it kind of showed.

"We've just got to start stopping people. That's when we're at our best. We're a good transition team. We can't get in transition unless we get stops.

"You can tell from the first play of the (Md.) game, we weren't intense at all. We just went through the motions."

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Time to send off another Top 25 ballot to the Associated Press.

I kicked out Florida State after that lopsided loss to Wake Forest. I also evicted Butler after that home loss to Loyola of Illinois. I also booted Utah State after that loss to Boise State.

Here's my ballot:

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Greetings from College Park, Md., where the Hokies played poorly in an 83-73 loss to Maryland.

TV cameras caught Jeff Allen giving the middle finger, presumably to Md. fans, when he fouled out. Will Allen be suspended for Wed. game at UVa? If so, it will be the 2nd straight year he has been suspended for at least one game.

Will coach Seth Greenberg again take a lighter approach and just not start him? If so, it will be the 3rd time this year he has disciplined a player that way -- the first two times, he did it with AD Vassallo.

Greenberg was sharply critical of his team but did not bring up the gesture. He was not asked about it because the media was on the opposite end of the court and did not catch Allen's gesture.

"They had a week to prepare, and they took us out of what we watned to do. We were reacting to them the whole game," he said. "That's what you get when you have 2 days of practice. .... They had a greater sense of urgency, and that's my fault. ... I'm sure practice Monday wil be spirited. You always wonder 3rd game in a week, you think maybe you should back off your guys, but I don't think this group is the type of group you can back off. We've got to push and scrape and claw because that's who we are, and if we think we're anything else but that. we could get whacked the rest of the season. ... If I have to pull teeth on Monday (to get the Hokies to play hard in practice), then those guys ... just aren't going to play (in the game Wed).

"There was no sense of urgency. I could see it in warmups, just the way we were carrying ourselves."

The Hokies agreed that they didn't practice hard in recent days.

"If you don't practice good enough and get ready for it, it's going to show in the game, and it showed today," AD Vassallo said. "Coach just told us that we were really not doing a good job in practice, that it was going to show in the game, and once again he was right."

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Virginia Tech visits Maryland on Saturday, and this game might make Hokie fans a bit nervous.

 Sure, Tech has beaten Maryland three straight times. Yes, Tech swept the series last year, including its first win in College Park since 1951. But the Terrapins have been off since winning at Ga. Tech on Sunday, so they have had plenty of time to get ready for the Hokies. Plus they will be pretty motivated after last year's sweep. Plus Gary Williams has been under the microscope in the Washington Post this week in two articles about the program's decline, so Williams and the Terps will be even more motivated.

On the plus side, Washington native Jeff Allen and Baltimore native Malcolm Delaney are sure to be fired up to play in College Park again.

Another good sign: of Maryland's 4 ACC wins, two came against Ga. Tech and another vs. UVa. Miami is the only good ACC team the Terps have beaten. They did beat Michigan State and Michigan in nonleague play, but then again they also were humbled by Morgan State.

Perimeter defense figures to be the key Saturday. Greivis Vasquez averages 16.1 points, and Eric Hayes 9.4 points. Fellow guard Adrian Bowie averages 9.9 points off the bench. Maryland does have forward Landon Milbourne, who averages 12.5 points.

The Hokies are 6-6 this season in games decided by five points or fewer or by OT. Don't be surprised if this falls into that category as well.

Game tips at 4 pm on WDBJ.