Hokie Hoops: The Last 3 Games...Ouch

Hello again all of you sad, masochistic people out there known as Virginia Tech men's basketball fans. In my last basketball column I previewed the VCU game and wrote things like "It's not going to be easy, but beating Virginia Commonwealth would not be impossible for this team."

I want to thank the remainder of the people who are still reading this column, because I'm going to guess that about 75% of you questioned my credibility and stopped. Sure, I thought that the Hokies could give the Rams a run for their money. Was that more about me thinking that VCU was overrated than Tech being under rated? Maybe, but at the end of the day it still goes down as one of my top ten "make myself look really stupid on the internet" predictions.

Since that embarrassment, Tech split a pair of home games that was assumed to be a sweep, and began conference play for good. Let's take a look at how they fared over those three games.

UNCG 55–Virginia Tech 52

This clunker of a loss to UNC Greensboro, seemed inexplicable. The 6-7 Spartans were thought to be an easy win, yet ice cold shooting from both the field and the line lead to a game that was way too close down the stretch. What happens when a game is close down the stretch? Well, anything. Just target="_blank">ask Roy Williams.

I'm not saying that the Greensboro loss wasn't disappointing. It was incredibly disappointing, inexcusable and just generally poor basketball. Getting run out of the gym by VCU is one thing, shooting 18-50 against one of the fake UNCs is another thing altogether. Here's a stat for how bad Tech's shooting was: only four players shot the ball more than four times, with those four players putting up 41 out of the team's 50 shots. Joey Van Zegeren and Ben Emelogu went 9-16. The other two, Jarell Eddie and Marshall Wood, went 5-25. FIVE-FOR-TWENTY-FIVE! And while you can chalk up some of those misses to bad luck, those are enough bricks to build Cadarian Raines a nice dog house in James Johnson's office.

It's the losses like this that drive me insane. Not losing by a combined 49 points to Michigan State and VCU, but losing by a combined four points against USC Upstate and UNC Greensboro. Some of that can be chalked up to youth. There are way too many contested jump shots taken early in the shot clock, which is (primarily) a youthful mistake. The Hokies had a freshman (Devin Wilson) on the line after an and-one to tie the game against Greensboro with 10 seconds to play, and he missed the free throw.

That being said, at some point in time you have to look at the coaching staff. I'm not saying show up at Cassell with pitchforks and torches, but the staff has a huge responsibility to put their players in the best position to succeed. Losses to inferior opponents say that that is not always the case. It's losses like this (and to Georgia Southern last year) that have been biggest red mark on JJ's resume thus far.

Virginia Tech 82–UMES 66

For those of you who are confused, this game happened on New Years Eve at roughly the exact same time as the Sun Bowl. There's really not much to talk about here, other than you talking out loud to try and figure out what UMES stands for (University of Maryland-Eastern Shore). This team is one of the worst in the NCAA. The 2-11 Hawks' best win was a seven point victory over Mount St. Mary's and just recently came off a 24 point loss to Savannah State. Yes, the same Savannah State that scored 34 points against Florida.

In summary, I think the only thing to take away is that things could always be worse. Well, unless you're a fan of UMES, then they really, really can't.

Syracuse 72–Virginia Tech 52

Ugh.

That's really all I want to say about this game. The thing that annoys me most is that it can be considered a "victory" that it was close for a half. People can say "Well hey, they made the second best team in the country sweat until halftime!"

I hated this game. Every single second of it, really. I hated it because you could tell from the jump how this one would play out. These young guys would put up just enough for a fight during most of the first half, Syracuse would adjust and then those poor young guys would have no idea what to do. Well, you know what? That happened. Tech shot 37% from the field, including an abysmal stretch where they scored 11 points in the first 14 minutes of the second half. There are 20 minutes in a college half, by the way.

Coming out of halftime Jim Boeheim made adjustments. They shadowed Adam Smith everywhere after he made three 3s in the first half. C.J. Barksdale was playing well in the midrange belly of the zone? Yep, they started playing him tight too.

Not that it was out of control for the longest time. It was still a 10 point game midway through the second half. That was when the wheels came off, however. The long forwards of 'Cuse gave Eddie problems all night, and his shooting percentage showed it. It seemed like each freshman made their own special version of "young guy mistakes". Wilson would pick up his dribble 20 feet from the basket, stopping the offense. Emelogu would miss the opportunity for an easy pass only to create a contested shot for himself. Adam Smith (technically he's not a frosh, but I'm counting him in the group) took shots from Siberia early in the shot clock. van Zegeren would catch the ball weakly in the paint...you get the idea.

Here's a summary of that paragraph for anyone who zoned out: they did everything that they shouldn't have.

Also, let me pose a question to no one in particular. This Syracuse game was the first in a three-game home stand, with 4-11 BC and untested Clemson to follow. Those last two are winnable games, and games that Tech needs to win. Sure, they're not jockeying for tournament position, but they (and yes, by they I mean JJ) need to show progress from year one to year two. Finishing eleventh or twelfth instead of fifteenth would be huge. They came into the game on Tuesday with two big time injuries and an illness. Wood was battling the flu, Smith has been struggling with an on-going calf issue and Barksdale has a hodgepodge of issues including an injured ankle, knee, and the flu.

Before I make my point, let me reiterate: the next two games of this stretch are MUCH more important than the game against the Orange. Why in the hell, then, did Smith play 30 minutes, Barksdale 20 and Wood 8? I don't think anyone aggravated anything, but you never know. Those guys should have played SERIOUSLY reduced minutes, because at the end of the day this game just isn't that important. Think about how poor the point guard depth is. If Smith is out, Emelogu would be the backup point should Wilson need to sit. What about the presence Barksdale gives at power forward? He may be the best all-around player on this team right now. He'll be needed in (hopefully) close contests against the Eagles and Tigers.

I'll be coming out with another article shortly with my version of grades for this team, but as of now all you need to know is that this team is like one of those target="_blank"> ridiculously catchy commercial jingles. You know what it is, but sometimes the beat gets stuck in your head and you convince yourself that it's a real song, until you remember that it's from a commercial.

Tech can beat other bad teams (like West Virginia or Miami), but a good half here or there makes you think otherwise...until it doesn't.