Virginia Tech Dominates Georgia Tech 88-82
Virginia Tech’s head coach Seth Greenberg received some bad news before the game as Tech’s starting shooting guard Dorenzo Hudson would have to spend the day on the bench in a dress shirt and khaki pants due to injury. Just as the team rallied around Hudson when Delaney was MIA against Seton Hall earlier this year, the team would do the same today.
Malcolm Delaney put on a show in Atlanta, torching the Yellow Jackets for 32 points. However, the two most surprising performances came from Hudson’s replacement Manny Atkins and the Hokie starting small forward Terrell Bell. Atkins started for the first time in his young career and played by far his best basketball of the season. He finished with just five points but chipped in seven rebounds and five assist.
Virginia Tech Beats NC State 71-59 on Senior Night
After a rough overtime loss against Maryland, the Hokies looked to end their three game losing streak and thanks to Dorenzo Hudson they did just that. A rumor spread that Hudson may miss Wednesday nights game but instead, Hudson started and scored a team high 21 points to help the Hokies edge the now 4-11 NC State Wolfpack.
Jeff Allen continued his recent tear, scoring 18 points on the night. After a bit of a lull in the middle of the season, Allen has really come on strong lately and played well when he’s been on the floor. Malcolm Delaney nailed all of the Hokies three three-pointers on the night and finished with a ho-hum 21 points.
Hokies Land First Commit of 2011 Class
Just a few weeks after Signing Day, the Virginia Tech coaching staff was back to work trying to secure another highly touted class. Saturday was Virginia Tech’s Junior Day and needless to say the event went off with only one hitch caused by a Bud Lite truck running over a fire hydrant. Some of the recruits had to leave before the Virginia Tech vs. Maryland game but the quality time spent with the coaches was very beneficial.
Tech kicked off their 2011 recruiting class by having a highly touted in-state player commit. Ronny Vandyke committed to the Hokies over offers from about nine other schools. After missing all of his junior season thanks to a shoulder injury, Vandyke saw his recruitment take off with UVA, Virginia Tech, Maryland, JMU, and others send him official scholarship offers on September 1st.
Virginia Tech Falls To Maryland 104-100 in Double Overtime
If you read my article last week, I harped on the Hokies inability to win games down the stretch. Tonight’s game was another example of how Tech just can’t seem to win the one’s that they need to win when the month of March draws near.
The Hokies best record over their last 8 ACC games since joining the ACC is 4-4. This year’s squad could finish 3-5 if they fail to win another game. If they are able to win one of their final two they will finish 4-4, which is no better than the tournament team back in 2007.
Frustrating 80-60 Loss at Boston College Puts Hokies Back On The Bubble
Road losses are frustrating, especially when you abandon your core beliefs and function like somebody you’re not. The Hokies tried to go toe-to-toe with a hot shooting Boston College team and failed miserably. While BC shot lights out from beyond the arc, the Hokies had stretches where they were lucky if the ball just hit the rim.
Tech abandoned its defensive gameplan early, after Joe Trapani of Boston College knocked down a couple threes to give Boston College an early 15-2 lead. Sadly, the Hokies never recovered. Its rare that you lose a game in the first four minutes, but that’s exactly what happened in Boston on Wednesday night.
Hokies Win Streak Ends After 67-55 Loss in Durham
The Hokies came out on a mission on Sunday night but just couldn’t keep up the tempo for the entire 40 minutes. Tech did everything they needed to do to win. They held Duke to less than 70 points, less than 30% shooting, and the Blue Devils had stretches where none of their shots would fall. All of that should have equaled a huge upset on the road but it just wasn’t meant to be for the Hokies.
Despite a great defensive effort, the Hokies were simply out-rebounded in this affair. How many times do you expect to stop Duke when you give them two and three chances to score? Eventually the camel’s back is going to break and it did with just under eight minutes to play in the second half.
Looking at Football Recruiting in the Rear View Mirror
There is an interesting article on SI.com as pointed out on this Penn State Football blog post that looks back at the performance of 2007 recruiting classes based on their on-field performance. While this is still subjective, there's no doubt is much more solid of an evaluation than the Rivals and Scout rankings that come out immediately after signing classes are inked.
For recruiting geeks who like to follow star ratings and rankings, its probably some cold water in the face. Players don't always pan out. But most Hokie fans know this by now, and this article supports the theory that most of us have believe for a long time that either A) Frank Beamer and company do more with less or B) Rivals and Scout don't particularly rank VT classes accurately.
Personally, I think its the Hokie coaching staff knowing what they need and the type of players fit their system better than others. Other staffs that turnover more often have to rely on 'getting the best players', whereas I believe the Hokies can focus more on 'getting the right players'.
What say you?
Tech Rallies To Defeat 25th Ranked Wake Forest 87-83
What more can you say about this team? No they weren’t the most talented team on the floor last night, that award belongs to Wake Forest. Yet despite another lackluster first half, Tech managed to climb out of an 11 point deficit and beat another ACC team by playing better in the final five minutes.
Tech struggled defensively in the first half as Wake’s Al-Farouq Aminu torched the Hokies for 21 points but after halftime, he failed to make another basket until the 12 minute mark in the second half. He scored just four total in the final 20 minutes. Combine that with a more ferocious Virginia Tech offense and the Demon Deacons just couldn’t find an answer in the second half.
Hokies Out-Last Cavs for 61-55 Victory
In front of a “Black Out” crowd in Cassell Coliseum, the Hokies went to work trying to defeat the UVA Cavaliers for the second time this season. The game, simply, was at Virginia Tech’s pace. It was sloppy. It was ugly. At times, it was tough to watch.
However, that’s where the Hokies excel. When Tech can sit back, play defense and find quality possessions down the stretch, they will beat you more times than not. The Cavaliers found this out for the second time this season on Saturday night, losing to the Hokies 61-55.
Virginia Tech Dominates NC State in 72-52 Road Win
The NC State Wolfpack have been the Hokies kryptonite in recent years, especially in 2007 when Tech lost to the Pack three times in one single season. However, the Hokies put those demons to rest and were able to win for the first time in the city of Raleigh, North Carolina since 1917.
That’s right, the last time Tech won against NC State in Raleigh, Women still didn’t have the right to vote and Woodrow Wilson was the President of the United States. That was a long time ago. Since then, the Hokies have managed to go 7-34 against the Wolfpack. Ouch!
