Mens Basketball: Alabama A&M (1-5) vs Virginia Tech (4-4) 3PM ESPN3

Television/Internet
ESPN3 - Andrew Allegretta & Mack McCarthy

Radio
Virginia Tech IMG Sports Network - Bill Roth & Mike Burnop
Also available on: Digital: Hokies Xtra & TuneIn

You look at this matchup and think that Tech should face an easy win today considering their opponent is coming in with only one win in their six games so far this season. You would think that Tech should win by at least fifteen points considering the Bulldogs have lost by at least that margin in all of their losses but one. You would think that Tech should be able to run for days considering they have had a week off between games this week. You may think that but I am done assuming anything on how these Hokies will come out. Thats not a bad thing, its a learning the game thing and its become readily apparent so far that we should just limit our expectations and enjoy the success these Hokies are able to forge.

Buzz has had a week of practices to improve some of our early season areas of concern, so the three things I am looking for tonight are:

1) Drive the Lane with Authority: I expect that Buzz will have made some minor tweaks and will look to get the wings more touches at the top of the key, giving them the opportunity to drive the lane and create. I would look to see Hill and Bibbs be much more active in this game creating shots down low.

2) Back side rebounding: We did see this improve a bit against Radford and I would expect that to continue in todays game against the Bulldogs. For those of you that want to know what to look for here, its how often do we have a player in place down low on the opposite side of the shot to be in a position to rebound. Typically our bigs set themselves up in either a return shot spot (ie the ball kicks directly back the way it came) or they set up in the middle of the lane. The reason the back side is so important with this team is that we have a significant number of our shots that come from the sides of the basket (ie Smith shooting a three from the corner) Those kinds of shots quite often lend themselves to the ball continuing on in the direction of the shot in the event of a miss. This is where having someone on that opposite side of the rim from the shot gets us better opportunities to rebound. This is true on both ends of the court. Its a big reason we have given up so many offensive rebounds this season.

3) Improved Free Throw Shooting: I am not expecting a miracle and that JVZ will all of a sudden go 7 for 7 from the line. What I do expect is that other players that shoot a better percent will be at the line more frequently. This comes from having our wings drive the lane more. I expect we will see Hokies at the line quite a bit as Bulldog opponents have been averaging 26 trips to the line so far this season.

That said, on to what to expect from the Bulldogs today. Alabama A&M is led by two scorers so far this season. Ladarius Tabb(#23) is the primary guy that makes everything go for the Bulldogs. He is averaging 12.2 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.5 apg, and 1.5 spg as the shooting guard. Tabb, due to his size will probably be matched up by Bibbs and Hill most of the day today so it will be interesting to see how they do on guarding a teams top scorer. The second player to watch for will be Nicholas West (#35), a 6'10 Power Forward, that is averaging 11.5 ppg, and 6.7 rpg. West is more on the light side so as long as JVZ and Pierce can remain out of foul trouble they both should be able to have decent games down low. A high energy, low minutes guy to keep an eye on will be Baryn Houston(#33), as he has the similar role as Henry, coming in for short spurts but being very active on the boards and he does have the ability to put the ball back in the basket. He could account for critical rebounds today.

The remainder of the starting five for the Bulldogs will likely be Rakiya Battle(#10) at the Point Guard position, Tyler Davis(#22) at the third guard spot, and Justin Colvin at the fourth guard spot. That said, Alabama A&M runs a similar four guard set to Tech. We should have dominant size at each position for most of the game. Alabama does have a 7 foot, 295 lb center lurking on their bench in the form of Isaiah Cotton (#00) so that could prove challenging. He has only been averaging 10 mpg and not alot of stats but that height and size could get our bigs in trouble quickly.

The Bulldogs come in to this game not doing anything specifically well, shooting below 36% from the field, less than 27% from behind the arc and a Tech familiar 58% from the charity stripe. If the game remains that way, then the Hokies should win big like the first paragraph alluded to. If they dont then thats where the Hokies struggles seem to become key in the last few minutes of each half. They have to find a way to close out each half on a strong note rather than let teams climb back into games or hang around. I would really like to see more of a killer instinct from this group. I expect it will have to come from either Bibbs or Hill as they seem to be our two that can shoot from outside but also drive to the basket intending to score. Devin just gets in the lane to create space for outside shooters almost always intent on passing the ball, and while he does it well, it doesnt put games away very often. JVZ has too much of a weakness at the line to be relied on to finish off an opponent. If opponents know they can foul him and force a zero point possession they are going to use that against Tech more often than not. I would almost be a fan of Buzz going to a five guard set in the last two minutes of each half for this specific reason.

All said and done, Tech wins today 67-55.