Rambling about Basketball

The Hokies are 0-2 in the ACC for the first time since the 2005-06 season. The team has looked lifeless, lost and inept in their first two conference games against Wake Forest and Florida State. Some fans are angry, others are showing patience with the young team.

***

I stepped foot inside Cassell Coliseum just two times during my four years at Virginia Tech. The first was mandatory. All freshman were herded inside for orientation a day or two before classes started. All I remember was the speaker explaining the importance of Ut Prosim, and how those cadets in attendance would know the truest sense of the motto. The last was for a celebration.

Screaming all the way my buddy jumped off the couch like his ass was on fire, ran outside my apartment and smashed two empty beer bottles against the cold metal backside of the stairs. Virginia Tech had just beaten Miami, in Miami, back when Miami was back. We had won our first ACC Championship, and it was a big deal. Soon after, my roommate got an email or an IM (remember AIM?) notifying us that there'd be a reception to welcome back the team that night.

We were pretty drunk and my roommate hit on a 70-year-old lady in front of her husband. One of my favorite college nights.

***

I didn't go to any basketball games as a student in four years at Virginia Tech. Tech hosted sixth ranked UConn on Jan 28, 2004. That night I remember walking out of McComas after a lift, passing by Cassell and thinking to myself, "Why didn't I go to that game?" My home state Huskies ended up blowing us out, 60-96. Oh, that's why...

We sucked and we had sucked long enough to where the average student, myself included, wasn't interested in Hokie basketball. Prior to Seth, then coach Ricky Stokes went 46–69 from 1999-03.

Football was and is my passion. I understand that game, or at least I like to think I do. Aside from a two-game stint in a church rec league I never played organized basketball. I rarely played in pickup games or threw down on horse. An uncoordinated fat kid makes a much better linemen than forward. Even if I was a student at Kansas, I wouldn't have gone to every game, but I would've supported the team more than I did.

***

67-65. I split a lot of beer and high-fived a lot of Hokies that night. We were going cray in BW3s. Every time we made a basket, or got a stop I slammed my mug onto the table like a judge pounding his gable, but I wasn't asking for order. That team was confident. Jeff King put up baskets in the post and guarded Shelden Williams like he didn't give a fuck; he didn't. Gordon, Dixon, Collins, Dowdell all played their game of the year. When Zabian drained the final three the entire bar erupted and started chanting, "Let's go Hokies!" We beat Duke and suddenly Virginia Tech basketball mattered.

***

Seth Greenberg is a victim of his own success. Any comparison of his tenure to those previous at Tech will show he has been wildly successful, maybe more than any coach we've had considering the quality of opponents in the ACC. He's second all-time in victories with 156. He's won 59% of his games, and is about even in ACC play. He's recruited top classes. He's beaten three top ranked teams. He's guided the program to six of their twenty all-time postseason appearances. Most importantly, he's made Virginia Tech basketball relevant. He's gotten people, especially the students interested in the program. I've met students who look more forward to basketball than football season. That would have never of happened when I was in school.

However, missing out on the NCAA tournament the last two seasons was a flop, a regression in the positive direction the program was headed. Seth deserves the lion's share of the credit for raising the bar, but it's human nature not to be happy with what you have and to want more.

What's the standard now then?

We've invested in the program. We built a premier $21 million practice facility. We play in a marquee conference. We should get big-time recruits. We should go dancing more than once every five seasons. We should never be the league's cellar dweller, and should be able to compete with the top teams. That's what a team funded to succeed does, or at least I think so.

***

I didn't expect the team to make the tournament this season. I knew going into it we'd be extremely talented, but for the most part inexperienced. The players who were on the team last year would be stepping into bigger roles, and would have to learn to play with the new guys. It takes time to for any team to learn each other's tendencies, figure out how to play together and gel. At the same time, I didn't expect us to be the disaster that we are right now.

Either way, and whether I like it or not, I'm interested and watching. I just hope that's not good enough.