In case you haven't noticed, college basketball season is underway. ESPN just finished some 24 hours of college hoops thing, which frankly struck me as a big dud that got little notice from hard core college sports fans. To me its just another reason why we don't need a playoff in college football (but that's another post I won't get into here). Its hard to hype early season college basketball.
The Virginia Tech men's basketball team has also started their season, and are off to a 2-0 start. The pulse from fans so far is that expectations are tempered. Here are my top questions for the 2009 team.
- Who's Going to Score? So A. D. Vassallo is gone and so are his 19+ points a game. Who's going to replace them? Malcolm Delany is reliable but will surely get more attention. Jeff Allen can score but is less consistent. There are several other 6-8 pt/game players, but the theme for 2009-10 is who will step up and replace Vassallo's points.
- How Much Has Jeff Allen Improved? You could slightly alter that question and by changing 'improved' with 'matured', but regardless its clear Allen has immense talent and the question is how much of it will be harnessed and applied. Much of the Hokies 2009 season depends on it.
- Will Victor Davila Do More Than Score? After 8 or so games last year and seeing Davila make shots in the post, I thought for sure he was headed for the starting line-up. He never did, and its still his rebounding and defense that will continue to hold him back.
- Can the Hokies Make Free Throws? The Hokies shot 72.3% from the free throw line last year, good for 7th in the ACC. I would have thought it to be much less, and I'm sure if you take out Malcolm Delany's 89+% it would be. The Hokies lost lots of close games last year and these free throws are usually the difference.
- Do We Have a Point Guard in Erick Green? This point guard carousel has been a pain in the ass. Nigel Munsen, Hank Thorns, Malcolm Delany. It sure would be nice if this freshman could step in and take over the job.
- Is Terrell Bell a Starter on an ACC team? What we've seen from Bell is athletic player who plays good defense and will find you a few buckets a game. He's got to be more than that this year if the Hokies are going to be successful. I've got to see it to believe it.
- Can the Hokies avoid the early season OOC loss? Every year its an Old Dominion, Bowling Green, or a bad Penn State or Seton Hall beating the Hokies early in the year. Those early losses always come back to haunt in March when you're putting your tourney resume together. Let's avoid one this year.
- How About the Freshman? Its what we love about college sports, the influx of new talent on your team. Greenberg plays freshman if their capable, so we'll see about Green, Ben Boggs, and Manny Atkins.
- What the Ceiling on Malcolm Delany? Delany is one of those rare player that will come through Blacksburg. His pure jump shot is something to look forward to in each game. He's going to get more attention from teams this year, but if nothing else, watching Delany will be fun this year.
- Can We Win Close Games? If nothing else, 2008-2009 had drama. There were few blow-outs in either the wins or losses. I can understand why Greenberg has no hair, because Hokie games were gut-wrenching. A few more breaks would have put VT in the tourney, and the question is can we capitalize on those this year?
What are your expectations for the Hokies basketball season?
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I love this kind of blog because i am a big fan of football…
Have you been checking out Dozensports.com for sports blog reviews? It’s a cool site with loads of stuff for sports fans, like this one. Keep up the good work!