Three Keys For Buzzketball's Next Step

If Buzz Williams and the Hokies want to show growth in year two, fixing these will be a good start.

[Mark Umansky]

As the beginning of the Virginia Tech men's basketball season approaches, there seems to be an overwhelmingly positive vibe surrounding the program. While it may be odd to say a team which won 11 games a year ago is highly anticipated, it's easy to talk yourself into many of the things brewing in Blacksburg. Seth Allen is set to make his long-awaited debut, Buzz Williams brought in four newcomers (not counting Ty Outlaw) who all bring something to the table and there is still a recent memory of an ACC Tournament win in the back of people's minds.

Fresh, talented faces, and a coach with a track record of success? These are both legitimate reasons for excitement. But still, it seems like there needs to be a memo sent out amongst the fanbase reading "REMINDER: THIS WAS NOT A GOOD TEAM IN 2014-15." Because, as fun as it is to project what Buzzketball could potentially look like in February or what could happen a year from now, there will still be many bumps and bruises to come.

In the first year of a rebuild, ugly, one-sided affairs are accepted. You can't ask a coach to make miracles in his first year, right? But in year two, people start to get a little more anxious. The first few 15-to-20 point drubbings are tolerated, but they start to become agonizing. And if the season wears on and shows little progress from the one before? There will be an underlying feeling of discomfort simmering below the surface of supporters.

Williams and company have more than enough ability to make things better than their maiden voyage. But they still have a ton of work ahead of them, and if the Hokies want to be anything more than a bad team with young talent, there are three specific areas in which they need to improve.

FIX THE DEFENSE

I'm sorry, but this section had to be in all caps. There are almost an infinite amount of ways to describe how poor the defense was at times a year ago. Look at the stats, and you'll see they're not great. Tech was last in the conference in field goal percentage allowed (47 percent), three pointers allowed (140) and second-to-last in points allowed per game (72.8).

The Hokies let an opponent hit 50 percent or more of their shots on 10 different occasions (and were 0-10 in those games), and 40 percent or more of their threes 10 times (1-9). To say they struggled on that end of the court would is an understatement, and it is the most important factor when it comes to turning things around.

While those are pretty damning numbers, they can be explained. Buzz's lack of inside presence has been widely documented over his tenure. While the size deficiency shows itself in the rebounding categories, it really rears its ugly head in other understated areas. At first look, many of those field goal numbers are linked to offensive rebounds and uncontested putbacks (a condemnation on the front court).

But if you think about it, your performance close to the hoop also directly correlates with the other kinds of attempts given up. The less faith a coach has in his big men, the more he'll ask guards to double the low post. The more he doubles, however, the more teams can kick it outside and catch the defense in rotation, which narrows their margin of error considerably.

A good offense will be able to take advantage of their reeling counterpart with a few passes, and more often than not find at least one open chance.

Whether or not Tech can fix this a tricky question. Yes, there is more depth at the forward spot as Zach LeDay, Johnny Hamilton and Kerry Blackshear join forces with Satchel Pierce and Shane Henry. But how many of them Buzz actually feels good about is another matter entirely. LeDay is undersized at 6'7", Henry is listed at a generous 190 pounds, and it's yet to be seen whether or not Pierce, Blackshear or Hamilton have the strength their coach hopes for.

It'll be interesting to see who gets the majority of the initial playing time in the first few games, as it may show who Buzz thinks could solve his problem the best. But I'm sure we'll see a nice rotation as the staff does their best to figure it out.

Lessen the Free Throw Discrepancy

It's no secret that trips to the line haven't exactly been a strength over the last few years. In fact, images of bricklayers haunt the dreams of Tech fans everywhere, and is one of the easiest things to point to any time they lose a close game.

It's a fair critique to have. The Hokies shot 64 percent from the stripe a season ago, good for 331st out of the 351 in D-I basketball, but it's too easy to say the number has to get better to see improvement. I believe there's only so much a coach or his players can do to resolve the issue, because you can work on form as much as you want, but hours spent swishing shots in practice doesn't necessarily translate to in-game conversions. What is more concerning, however, is the difference in attempts between the Hokies and their opponents.

In theory, you can be a bad at free throw shooting and still be successful. Michigan State, for example, shot even worse than Tech (63.2 percent), but still won 27 games and made it to the Final Four. It seems counterintuitive to think a group so poor from the line would be able to make as much noise as they did, but the physical Spartans drew enough fouls to make their opportunities count (well, enough of them anyway).

In an ideal world the Hokies would make their foul shots at a much higher clip, but it's more important to simply get there. When you get to the line, it means a player is attacking the basket and playing a physical style that can wear down defenders. It also means they don't settle for bad mid-range jumpers and instead attempt to create chances as close to the rim as possible.

In conference play, Tech averaged 14.85 attempts a night. Their opponents? 19.9. It may not seem like a giant gap, but it's enough to both impact a game and show itself in their style of play (last in two-pointers made).

If the if the Hokies can amp up their attempts, look for the offense to receive a boost accordingly.

Show Signs of Maturation

Again, youth is great for hypotheticals and dreams of wins to come. But in the here and now, it can lead to big time struggles. If history's taught us anything, however, it's that a wave of players who grow at the same time can drastically alter a program. Take two semi-recent iterations of Hokie hoops into consideration:

In 2004 Seth Greenberg lead Tech to its only win in the Big East Tournament. Zabian Dowdell, Jamon Gordon and Coleman Collins were all freshmen (on a team centered around forward Bryant Matthews) and they grinded their way to a .500 finish after three years in the cellar.

The next year? A move to the stout ACC meant a leaner schedule with fewer of the bottom feeders the Hokies fed on in their previous conference. Gone was Matthews, their leading scorer, and they struggled to gain any traction in the season's first two months. But eventually, they showed improvement. And while the overall record remained the same, Dowdell, Gordon and Collins were able to claim 4th place in an 11-school league and formed the core group who powered Tech's last trip to the dance in 2007.

It took the next era of guys a little while to come into their own as well, when Malcolm Delaney, Jeff Allen, Terrell Bell, J.T. Thompson rolled in. As freshmen they deferred to A.D. Vassallo and Deron Washington, and as sophomores they suffered a string of brutal losses (eight losses by five points or less) as Delaney and Allen found their roles. But by year three, they transformed into the unit who won 47 games as juniors and seniors.

The point is, it takes young players time to find themselves on the court. It can lead to rough freshman campaigns, which can border on disastrous if there are no veterans to lean on. But once a maturation process begins to take place, it can turn the tides.

To do so, Justin Bibbs must learn from his summer with USA Basketball and settle for fewer jumpers. Pierce and Henry need to prove themselves worthy of Buzz's time on the block, and Jalen Hudson can't flip back and forth between his normal self and his alter-ego Tyrone. Tyrone has to be Jalen, and vice versa.

If the youngsters can take a step? We may get to talk about the next generation who can take Hokie basketball to another new height.

If the team can somehow address all three of these issues? The climb will start before our very eyes this season.

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