I'm going to wade into this against my better judgement

All-Conference [447]

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Dec 21, 2016, 2:55 PM

mainly because I am bored out of my mid this time of year doing year end reports and that kind of crap and I need a break.

You are quite right. What have the Hokies done? Now the optimism is from VT's finish last year after being picked either 13th or 14th in the preseason poll last year and 4 straight bottom finishes in the conference. Nobody, including the vast majority of Hokie fans saw that coming. But Buzz has re-energized the fan base who had almost quit on the basketball program altogether. Our previous AD had no interest in basketball and it showed by his hiring of a succession of mediocre to bad head coaches, most of which he barely left his office to identify. He completely bungled letting Greenberg go, even if you agree it was time for him to go (which I did). To appreciate what the Hokies accomplished last season, you have to know where Buzz Williams started when he got to Blacksburg. And that was ground zero.

Buzz has recruited well to his style, and the kids have bought in 100%. Most all of them are either redshirt sophs or juniors on the team this year, and they have all grown up under Buzz. VT is a legitimate big man away from being really dangerous, because they have guys all over the court that can score. They still have zero presence in the middle against good competition. One big man has been out all year, and another just was lost for the season, a seven footer. Our only player 6'10" or better is a true freshman that Buzz wanted to redshirt but can't now.

VT has not played the best OOC schedule and come tourney time, I see that as a detriment. I believe VT has to win 10 games in conference, including a couple of upsets to get in this year. Michigan on the road (RPI #25) is by far their best win, but a good sign is they are squashing inferior competition rather than playing down to them. That is a marked change from recent years.

I'm a little nervous about the ACC season. VT is sneaking up on no one this year like they did last year, but Buzz is an excellent coach and has already proven he can make up a talent difference with coaching. VT has two of the top 50 players overall already signed in the early signing period coming in, both guards for next year. There is no denying that VT is on the rise, but even as much of a fan as I am, I'm not sure that the improvement of this year over last year will be much at all when the dust settles in March.

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The best win we have right now via RPI is a home win vs #33 UGA. The loss to #160 ranked Oklahoma wasn't exactly a resume builder unless they cut us some slack for not having our full roster.

I'm not ready to claim this team is a tournament caliber team until after next week. We get #16 South Carolina minus their best player, and #17 UNC Wilmington at home. A split and the jury is still out, two wins goes a long way to having a solid non-conference resume. Two losses will just about guarantee were looking at NIT at best as the best win on our non-conference resume would likely be UGA or Davidson and may or may not be inside the RPI top 50 by season's end.

This is a huge week for the hoops team and they need to take advantage of the opportunity.

Virginia Tech Basketball

Re: Virginia Tech Basketball

Re: Virginia Tech Basketball

Everyone keeps saying that but what have they done?

I'm going to wade into this against my better judgement

Nice assessment.***

CU > VT Basketball 2016-2017 Season

Re: CU > VT Basketball 2016-2017 Season

If there's one area that CBB has consistently excelled, it's

Re: CU > VT Basketball 2016-2017 Season

Re: Virginia Tech Basketball

While this team looks to be his best thus far

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