The Hokies take on Florida State today in more than just National Signing Day, unfortunately we are not favored in either competition at this point. The Seminoles are a fairly well balanced team, led by their two guards, Ian Miller and Aaron Thomas who combine for 25.2 points per game. The other player to watch out for tonight is Okaro White, the starting Power Forward who also puts in 12 a game plus 7 rebounds.
As a team they are coming into this game on a three game losing streak, having fallen to Duke, NC State and Clemson. They were blown out by Duke but kept the other two games fairly close. The bad news though is that FSU is 10-2 at home this season and with our track record of late, this game could get ugly towards the end. We do have the talent on the roster to compete with this team and its not outside the realm of possibility that we could upset them but it seems unlikely.
They tend to run an Early Offense Set designed to create open shots at the top of the key. They also use Double High Ball Screens to create open looks for their big men inside. This is where White could especially hurt us as he is extremely effective one on one down low.
On defense they subscribe to their head coach's Five Musts:
1. Must prevent easy transition baskets
2. Must keep ball out of the Red Zone
3. Must contest every shot
4. Must allow only one shot opportunity
5. Must create offense with defense
That said, expect to see FSU guards play in your face defense at the top of the key in a quasi 2-3 zone setting that allows them to crash the lane to prevent drives to the basket and easy layup opportunities.
I predict that FSU will come away with the victory along the lines of 65-55 at this point.
***I have not seen any injury updates on Barksdale or Smith(believe he is done for the season)***
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If ever there was a time for VT hoops to lay a beat down on FSU.
Thanks for the post!
Getting spanked by FSU tonight in basketball too is going to be a great end to this day. Ugh.
CJ is not playing tonight and Smith is in fact done for the season. Doesn't look like it's going to be a good night in Tallahassee.
Well that's a tough pill for the game tonight as CJ definitely would have been a factor in containing White down low. Its also bad news on Smith because that means Devin is likely going to have to play way to many minutes. He has been averaging something like 39 and a half out of 40 each game. Fatigue is going to catch up with him if it hasn't already.
Isn't Florida State's best player, Ian Miller out tonight?
I haven't seen confirmation on that. I know he was dealing with an ankle injury the last two games.
FSU up 14-11 about ten minutes in. Havent seen any of the half so far due to Pitt vs Miami going to OT.
Am I bad fan for missing part of the first half for Modern Family?
Only if you have a dvr
17-15 now with about eight minutes left in the half. Thompson with six points. Tech strughling to get back in transition but seems to be doing well once they get set in their two-three zone
Eddie is forcing things. Pretty good effort so far though.
Yep 0-6 so far.
22-18 four mins to go. We are trying to run set plays but our guys just can't seem to cleanly run the screens or move without the ball.JVZ is especially struggling with this. Hanging tough by outrebounding FSU and forcing tough shots
Wow really bad set there. Give up the deep three and foul on the rebound gives up two free throws. Lead went from 5 to 10 in seconds
I looked away for literally 30 seconds.
Yeah the three was as the shot clock ran out from about eight feet behind the arc and then JVZ goes over the back attempting to position for rebound
31-20 to end the half. Slipped those last few minutes. No productive trips on the offensive side of the ball
48-33 Nothing nice to say about the second half thus far
FSU pulling away, sigh.
This is painful to watch. Still have not made a free throw tonight.
Johnston with four made three's tonight. Eddie can't hit the broad side of a barn
He must have heard me...Eddie with the three
They are so awful running the set play from the offensive baseline
FSU 19 foul shots Hokies 5...... Is that due to the constant passing outside or lack of aggression
Its the lack of our players to protect the ball as they take the ball up or their failure to take the ball up specifically Devin. Raines has had several times gone up without drawing the foul because he gets blocked
Devin didn't get to the free throw line much last night because he wouldn't penetrate and try to score the ball. He kept trying to drive and kick it out. That's works in AAU U15, but now it's time to get to the basket every now and then.
A little pick and roll would help as well, but that would take some movement from players without the ball. So...yeah.
Devin makes the first free throw with 2 mins left in game. Embarrassing showing all around tonight.
The same showing it is every night, Pinky.
So what are we going to do tomorrow, Brain?
Fail to score a FG for 5-10 minutes at some point in the first half resulting in a double digit halftime deficit and never making a serious run in the second half as a result of allowing the opponent to shoot a season high FG% and 3-pt%, eventually losing by 20?
Sigh.
I have a question. Why do y'all subject yourself to this?
Or this question: "is it football season yet?"
Right there Raines should have gone up strong into the guy and instead tries a circus shot and failed.
Welp. 70-50 final. Another 20 point blowout with very little improvement visible.
Isn't that literally 4 20 point losses in a row?
Yes. 4 in a row of 20 or more and 9 in a row overall. Just painful to watch as the young guys flail around out there with no apparent rudder.
So....you're saying our bball team is the Bismarck and every other team we play is the Royal Navy.....excuse the history major while he realizes just how accurate that analogy is....
Reminded me of an episode of "Dogfights" that I once watched on the history channel
At least the Bismarck had the Fjords of Norway to quasi keep it upright while it was blasted into oblivion....next year this team should at least have a Ford to stabilize it a little
Hail the SS Hokie Men's Basketball 2014:
I'm just gonna go out on a limb here and guess that Isaiah Ford wasn't secretly installed in the game.
Unfortunately he was not present although that's prob best for football
Yea, we don't want him learning any bad habits...
Last year we were run and gun, which work ok since we had Green. This year we have chances for transition and instead we slow down for half court sets...which we apparently don't have/do well. There is no identity on offense and we chase the ball around like children on defense. I've been giving the benefit of the doubt to JJ so far, but it seems like we are getting worse. Most of our offense comes from throwing up 3 pointers, and since Smith is gone for the season, most of that offense is gone.
Its almost as if Coach JJ was the offensive guru while Seth Greenberg was in town, and took his offensive gameplanning and applied it to the defensive side of the ball as well.
In other words, we look completely clueless on offense and even worse on defense.
Why is this guy still the coach!?!
Goodness gracious. If I were an ACC AD with the Hokies on my upcoming home schedule, I would do free admission. There is no way anybody should have to pay to watch this team play ball, Hokie fan or otherwise. My son's high school team could run with these guys for at least 30 minutes.
There is no excuse for the missed free throws, and the non-existence of any off ball movement on offense. The Hokies' offense consists of Wilson dribbling to the elbow (maybe), one high screen (maybe), then just stand and watch.
There were guys at the end of the Maryland bench (as well as some other schools that have come through Cassell) that I would argue, would be starting if they were at Tech right now. Most of that is because of effort and size and not necessarily talent. At this point, this team is just counting down for March 13th so the season would be over with.