Virginia Tech
What to Like: Team basketball. The Hokies have good players; maybe even great players, but what separates this team from, say Virginia, is that there is never an instance while watching them on television that would make you say "Wow,
[insert player name]is taking a lot of bad shots". Last night against UNC, Zabian Dowdell may have scored 33 points, but he did so in 41 minutes, on fifteen shots from the floor and an impressive 17-19 from the foul line. Five Hokies took more than ten shots, which means that they're spreading the ball around the floor.What to be Pleasantly Surprised By: Coach Seth Greenberg, who has come into a football school, and created a top notch basketball program in arguably the best basketball conference in the game
What Will Keep Them From Winning: Depth. This is not a deep team, and could hurt them in the tournament if they ever run into foul trouble on the perimeter. Compounding their depth issues, they are also very young on the bench, getting significant minutes from four sophomores and freshmen.
What We Don't Know: If their good fortune can last. Dowdell is the leader of this team, and their tourney hopes delicately are balanced on his health and strong play.
X-Factor: Sophomore A.D. Vasallo. In four games at UNC (2-10 from the floor last night), at GW (2-6 threes) at Western Michigan (1-6 from distance), at Marshall (0-4 from three point), the Hokies won only one game, and lost the others by a margin of three or fewer points. In their loss against Southern Illinois, Vasallo shot 2-6 from long range as they lost by five.
Who Do They Want to Play?: North Carolina and Kansas. Virginia Tech has proven twice that they can slow down the pace at will, and grind it out with the best of teams who rely on talent, more so than a system of sorts to win games.
Who Don't They Want to Play?: Texas A&M and Ohio State. The Aggies are showing up a lot as a team that teams do not want to face in the tournament, and it's because of their defense. Acie Law is the kind of player who can put some kind of clamps on Dowdell, who is the Hokies' catalyst on offense. Ohio State would cause tremendous matchup problems for VT, since the Buckeyes can limit penetration with Greg Oden anchoring the lane.Prediction: Anywhere from a four to a six seed. The Hokies still have a lot of work to do (hosting BC and Clemson, travelling to Virginia), but the true challenges are games against NC State and Miami. I wouldn't fault them for losing to Virginia at the John Paul Jones Center, but they need to take care of business at home, against the bubbling Wolfpack and the bottom feeder Hurricanes.
6 comments:
that's wicked good but not as good as the shit at wittyusername.
Good post, I agree. Va. Tech looks damn good (and they're overtime tested), but I think UNC is a tad overrated.
-Theny
Sir,
We like to interject that VT needs to develop some consistancy in their play. They look like an elite eight team when they get on the floor with the likes of UNC and Duke (nothing better than watching them beat Duke), but then against less formidable competition, they play down.
They will either go deep into the tourney or bow out early. No in between.
Thanks for the comment. I made the same point to my wife last night (no bullshit), and you're absolutely right. They play to their competition, and that could hurt them if they play an upset-minded lower seed in the 2nd or Sweet Sixteen round.
Good post. I've only seen them play twice this year. Very informative.
i think this site might make me start caring about college ball. nice work!
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