Hokies Pull Away from Canes, 63-49

Box Score | Game Film

From the team at TechHoops.com:

The 4th seeded Hokies used a 21-4 run during the second half to beat the 5th seeded miami hurricanes 63-49 in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinal. Today’s game was one of the best team efforts I’ve seen out of Virginia Tech this year on both sides of the court. The Hokies won today thanks to an aggressive defensive effort, domination on the boards, and exceptional shot selection, which led to 7 three-pointers.

From the onset, the Hokies were tenacious on D. miami shot only 31.6% from the field. Jack McClinton was just 4 of 17 from the field. Tech’s defense set the tone. If it weren’t for some foul trouble in the first half (Deron Washington picked up 2 fouls in the first 6 minutes) and the beginning of the second half (Jeff Allen picked up his 2nd and 3rd fouls within 10 seconds, early in the half), the Hokies might have broken away from the canes even earlier in the game.

Read more of this recap at TechHoops.com.

Greenberg Named 2008 Coach of the Year

For the second time in Virginia Tech’s four years in the ACC, Hokies Head Coach Seth Greenberg was named the league’s Coach of the Year. Seth was definitely deserving of the award and I think he was the right choice, however, I really thought it was going to go to Miami’s Frank Haith, and it was close. Seth received 25 votes and Haith was second with 23.

Read more at TheACC.com.

Hokies To Play NCST vs. Miami Winner on Friday, 2 p.m.

With the Hokies loss at clemson on Sunday, Tech will be the #4 seed in the ACC Tournament. Their first battle will be against either miami or nc state on Friday at 2 PM at the Charlotte Bobcats Arena. In reality, the game probably won’t start until somewhere between 2:20 and 2:40. There is a game at noon and then a 20 minute break before the next game, Tech’s game, tips off.

Read more at TechHoops.com.

Hokies Fall to Clemson in Season Finale

Box Score

For the second year in a row, the Hokies suffered a heartbreaking loss to clemson in the final ACC regular season game. Last year, it cost Tech an ACC regular season title. This year, it may have taken an invite to the Big Dance away from the Hokies. The Hokies will be the #4 seed in the ACC Tournament while clemson is #3. Both have byes.

Last year it was K.C. Rivers runner in the final 20 seconds that put clemson up by one, the winning margin. This year, Deron Washington tapped in an A.D. Vassallo miss with 9 seconds left to put the Hokies up 69-68. clemson was out of timeouts and had to rush the ball up the court. Tech did not have a chance to setup their half court defense and Vassallo committed his fifth foul reaching in to try and stop freshman Demontez Stitt with 3.8 seconds to go. Stitt calmly walked to the line and drained both free throws to put the tigers ahead. Deron tried a desperation three from 35 feet at the buzzer, but it did not find the mark.

Read more at TechHoops.com.

Hokies Win Home Finale 80-58 Over Wake Forest

Box Score | Game Film

Deron Washington scored a season-high 22 points. Marcus Travis made his first ever start and played the game of his career. Jeff Allen broke Dell Curry’s freshman record for steals in a single season. And the Hokies crushed wake forest 80-58 to secure a winning record in conference play and guarantee at least a tie for fourth place. Today, my Hokie friends, was a great day!

You just could not have scripted Senior Night any better for Deron and Marcus. The opening possession saw Marcus, a much beloved, but seldom used fan favorite, come off a couple of beautiful screens to have Jeff Allen feed him the ball en route to an uncontested layup. Meanwhile, Deron closed out his regular season career at the Cassell Coliseum by leading the Hokies with 22 points and 13 rebounds, including two more highlight-reel dunks and a pair of big-time three-pointers. The Hokies dominated the demon deacons from Marcus’ opening basket until Dorenzon Hudson’s three-pointer with :19 seconds left in the game that sealed the deal.

Read more at TechHoops.com.

Coach K or Roy for ACC Coach of the Year?

HokieDave over at vtbb.fanfoc.us asked me the following question regarding my “And the ACC Coach of the Year Award Goes To…” column a couple of days ago:

“I was curious that neither Coach K or Williams received mention in your article. Sure, neither has overcome the adversity of the coaches you mentioned, and neither team’s success is ’surprising’, but that can’t take away from great seasons for both teams. What are your thoughts on giving the award to a ’sentimental’ favorite versus a well-executed powerhouse that delivers when expected?”

I responded with the following:

With regards to Coach K and Roy Boy, I think it would take an amazing season, nothing short of an undefeated ACC schedule, to warrant COY award for those guys. When you have more All Americans on your team than the rest of the conference combined, I think you should be No. 1 or No. 2 in your conference year in and year out. If Seth Greenberg had eight All Americans on his team I think VT would have a top 5 team, too.

Now if you want to give out a lifetime achievement award for coaching, then definitely Coach K and Roy deserve consideration, especially K, because he built his program up to such a high level that all the top players want to come to Duke because they know they will win and win a lot. Maybe Coach K deserves ACC Recruiter of the Year every year, but not COY – he wins because he has the best players. Any half-decent college coach could win with that kind of talent. What makes a Coach of the Year is exceeding expectations. We expected UNC and Duke to be this good and go 1-2 in the ACC. Nobody expected VT, Wake and Miami to finish anywhere close to the top half of the conference, especially Wake and VT which faced extraordinarily unique challenges with WF losing its coach and VT being the youngest team in the conference.

Make sense?

VT’s Potential ACC Tournament Seeding

With 10 days left in the ACC regular season, let’s take a look at where the Hokies could be seeded for the ACC Tourney.  Tech could finish anywhere from 3rd to 8th.  And yes, Virginia Tech still has a great shot at a bye.  Yes, I’m talking about byes!  It’s as simple as this: if the Hokies win their final two games, they have a bye.  Now let’s look at the other scenarios.

Read the rest of the article… 

Vote for Your Favorite Deron Washington Highlight

We know that Deron Washington still has at least three more games left in a Virginia Tech jersey and that means plenty of opportunities to add to his lengthy list of highlight-reel plays, but we wanted to see which of his more popular plays is most memorable to the Hokie fans.We set up a special post for each of the following six highlights. To vote for your favorite highlight, just click on the link below and then give it a five-star rating at the bottom of the post. This is an honor system poll, so please only rate one video. If you rate more than two, Niemo will reprogrammed to hunt you down and arm-curl you. Of course we’re kidding … but not really. Remember, do not rate each highlight, only the one you are voting for. Ratings don’t matter, it is the number of people that rated a highlight that will decide the winner.

Go to TechHoops.com to watch the nominees and vote for your favorite!

And the ACC Coach of the Year Award Goes To…

When I sat down to write this column, I was going to lead (or “lede” for my fellow press box jockeys) with: “Go ahead and give Seth Greenberg the Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year Award. There isn’t another coach in the ACC that deserves it more.”

But, as I started doing my research, I discovered that there are really three very worthy candidates for the award … if the season were to end today.

The three coaches are Virginia Tech’s Greenberg, miami’s Frank Haith, and wake forest’s Dino Gaudio. Each of these men has taken his team to heights not thought possible before the 2007-08 season tipped off.

The Hokies, hurricanes, and demon deacons were picked to finish 10th, 11th and 12th, respectively, in the ACC prior to the season. As of today, Virginia Tech (8-6, 17-11) is alone in 4th place, while the deacs (6-6, 16-9) are in sixth, and the canes (6-7, 19-6) are in seventh. Tech and wake have a chance to finish 10-6 if they win out, but it will be a more difficult road for the deacons, who finish the season with maryland at home (2/28), then georgia tech (3/1) and Virginia Tech (3/4) on the road, before returning home to close out the season against in-state rival nc state (3/8). miami has three games left: the next two at home against virginia (3/1) and boston college (3/5), and then on the road against florida state (3/8).

Read the rest of the column.

Virginia Tech Revises Ticket Policy for Wake Forest Game

From www.hokiesports.com (see official release):

All students, faculty and staff are invited to Wake Forest game

BLACKSBURG, Va – All Virginia Tech students and faculty & staff members are invited to Tech’s men’s basketball game versus Wake Forest on Tuesday, March 4^th at 7:00 p.m. in Cassell Coliseum. No ticket is required, but you must have a valid Virginia Tech ID card to gain entrance. Everyone with a valid Virginia Tech ID card will be permitted access to the game for themselves and one guest as long as empty seats within Cassell Coliseum are available.

The athletics department reserves the right to deny entry once Cassell Coliseum reaches capacity in order to comply with State Fire Marshall regulations. Ticket holders will be given priority in seating. Anyone without a ticket that is admitted entrance to the game, must vacate their seat if the ticket holder arrives to that seat. Tuesday night’s game will mark the final home game for seniors Deron Washington and Marcus Travis. With no classes scheduled for the week, the athletics department has changed the normal ticketing policy in order to ensure more fans being able to attend the game and show their appreciation for the careers of Washington and Travis. Fans are encouraged to arrive early, as Senior Day ceremonies will begin at approximately 6:50 p.m. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.