Hot Ones is the greatest interview show out there. If you haven't heard of it, here's your introduction. The first question asked was about whether or not he would be the player he is today if he went to Virginia Tech/Duke and his answer was thoughtful and leveled (he doesn't think he would).
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Sean is the fucking man.
What a great concept he came up with. And it's not just about the wings, either. True, they knock the interviewee out of their comfort zone and sometimes they let slip a glimpse behind the mask. But the real genius of the show is the deep-dive questions that he pulls up through some impressive research about the subject. Time after time you get a surprised look and a comment like, "Wow, didn't know you knew about that."
Really, really enjoy watching Hot Ones. (And I spend way too much money at Heatonist, too.)
"We've never had an NBA player tap out"
Nice little line to keep that competitive fire going
#1 on my list of Tech's biggest "What if's"
Yup. And no amount of equivication from the usual bunch avoids the poor choices made by VT at the time. NO AMOUNT.
Still pisses me off after all these years, and no, I'll not get over it because "Nobody else wanted him either" smugness. We blew it, plain and simple, and it definitely negatively affected our program in the long term far more than having him sit the bench for 4 years would have.
Hindsight? Not to many VT fans, no. Saw it then.
Look no further than Beamer. Alston Smith wasn't a "can't miss prospect" he was a 2 star recruit at best without a true position. Beamer - going by the numbers- shouldn't have offered him a scholarship. But Beamer "gets it" Bruce Smith is the best football player ever to play here, and that is is son. No brainer to offer him. Contrast that to the Curry situation. Yes at the time he was skinny and shot from the elbow, yes at the time Zabian Dowdell told Greenberg he couldn't play in the ACC after a workout. Yes Nigel fucking Munson was "rated higher".. who gives a fuck? This is Dell Curry's son and you never make the NCAA tourney anyway. You are an NIT program. You can't take a flier on a legacy kid like that? Nigel Munson is going to lead your program? All you need to know is that Greenberg was gone soon after and Curry is the best shooter ever to play in the NBA. It's not hindsight when you touch the polar ends of the spectrum here - Curry is not an OK college or NBA player. He is a first ballot hall of famer, elite pro player. he was an elite player at davidson. But Nigel Munson something something scholarship limits- which as I have beaten to death- winning coaches ignore.
Eh.
I think the Aldon Smith point and IFISHVTIAM's critiques are unfair, to be honest.
1) Yes, it was the biggest miss in VT Basketball history and one of if not the greatest miss in VT athletics history but you can't offer a scholarship on a basketball team to a VT great's kid just because. There's too few scholarships available.
2) I do think the counterargument of "no one knew how good he was" is a fair and valid one and the frustrations we all have about it are hindsight being 20/20. I doubt even Bob McKillop had any clue he'd be any good, and definitely didn't realize he'd be what he is today.
The issue I have with this- in your point 1- VT hoops was mid at best- NIT program. Got passed over for the dance with 11 acc wins by Tulsa with zero good wins. Got wiped out by VCU on the court, etc. Honestly- in that program at that time, unless its lebron james, who cares who is on scholarship? Cut someone who is getting you at best to the first round of the NIT- you have nothing to lose, WADR. That's my biggest issue. and to your point # 2- McKillop had the same scholarship limits as greenberg. That's why McKillop is a much better coach.
But we had some guards committed that everyone on the planet would have agreed (at the time) were better than Steph. So it was more of a roster management decision that I believe based on the knowledge he had at the time SG was the right one. I'm blanking on who they were, but IIRC they were some really impressive signees (EDIT: re-reading DC's comment, maybe it was Nigel Munson? I thought it was him + another guy who never came to VT, can't recall). And Seth's program was a bubble program but I don't feel like they were in bad enough shape to just throw scholarships out willy nilly because Dell Curry was so important.
And trust me, I'm not exactly the world's biggest SG fan. He was the coach for my entire time at VT and we had some great times with the upsets his teams pulled off but the guy couldn't draw up an offensive play to save his life and was probably the biggest prick to ever work for VT.
Jim Calhoun was crushed by the media for years for not taking Ryan Gomes- who ended up staring at providence- all big east type player he turned out to be. You want to know the difference between Calhoun passing on Ryan Gomes and Virginia Tech hoops? National Championships. That's what. When you are in the Elite 8 every year, you can pass on Ryan Gomes. When you are in the 11/12 game in the ACC tourney in Greensboro, maybe you take a flier on Dell Currys son- also knowing he has a younger brother who WAS projected to be a top flight prospect.
I'm not sure Seth Curry was on anyone's radar as a top flight prospect when people were recruiting Steph but I'm gonna just agree to disagree to prevent this thread from getting further derailed.
I'm doing no research, just going by memory, but was t the other player Hank Thorns?
Do you mean Alston Smith? Aldon Smith (no relation) played at Mizzou
Thats what my post says- Alston :")
At least we learned our lesson and got his younger brother who is also now one of the best shooters in the NBA
This is the one that gets me and never seems to be talked about. Sure, we missed out on Steph but how the heck did Seth end up at Liberty. Anyone know the details of his recruiting journey?
It's going to be fun when you bitch about Pry not giving Mitez Vick a scholarship.
"We should cut Pop Watson and give the scholarship to Vick because something something alumni relations. We went 3-8 last year, it's not like it matters anyways" -dcwilson, probablhy.
Looks like we're a bit behind the curve on that, considering he just turned 21 this month.
from an article about Mike Vick's kids.
I'm thinking if we do that again, we'll be bitching more about Pry than whomever he's not giving a scholarship to.
And besides, it looks like if any of Vick's kids are getting a scholarship, it'll be from Kenny Brooks, not Brent Pry.
How involved was Dell Curry with our program at the time? Bruce seems to always be around and featured on the sidelines, GameDay, etc. I can never remember seeing a shot of Dell Curry on TV, social media, etc during a basketball game. Not a knock at all on Dell at all, but it just doesn't seem fair to compare the two at all.
to be fair, he is one of the main tv guys for Hornets broadcasts, so he very likely doesn't have the time to be as involved as you'd like.
>>>he was skinny
i don't believe it for a minute ... some high level unsupervised courts from waay back in the day (pre aau)... skinny and height weren't knockout thresholds.... you could either play on that court or you couldn't... people wanted you to play next or they looked you off...M Bogues Wake Forest, Juan Dixon UMD.... these guys stuck in the league for I think over five years despite lack of height, body mass... guarantee noone was looking them off.... doubt any were for Curry either... the guy made waves in NC high school for a few years.... guarantee he played in AAU or an unsanctioned high level court.... and guarantee he may have been working it out but he was cream of crop on the court
I think its just a reflection on the coach and the situation he found himself in at VT.... just look at the stupid "rationale" 160 pounds. Yeah, UMDs two guard tandem Blake and Dixon (led them to national championship) were both 6'3 and 165, and I don't believe Juan was ever 165. Total bullshit... the 165 lb thing. 6'3" 165 lb long guard was a perfect SG/PG for a long time and still may be
>>>shot from the elbow
has his shot ever become something technically amazing? always looks like an underpowered heave to me.... hats off on him changing the game with that shit shot.... but at the college level lots of guys have been really good with horrendous looking shots
>>yes at the time Zabian Dowdell told Greenberg he couldn't play in the ACC after a workout. Yes Nigel fucking Munson was "rated higher".. who gives a fuck?
I like Gberg alot and hate him a lot, but this is embarrassing to put this on a former player's and prospects ratings.... FFS, man sack up.... he didn't like wandering the VT halls with everyone assuming he would take a marginal alum player...2 much of a softie to have his own system of beliefs.... so he f'd up and did what he always did at VT .... watched his own arse instead of playing the long game.... if he had ever eaten with ZD, he would have seen that maybe 6'2" 190lbs aint what its cracked up to be on a hoops court.... did he ever watch the kid play? are we to believe that a 6'3" 165 or 160 lb Curry didn't give ZD a hard time? What did ZD push him down every time SC boxed him? LOL what a joke. Love me some Greenberg, but come on man.
The only argument I can make is: If I have two players of equivalent-ish talent and only one scholarship, I'd rather give it to the kid from a lower-class family who otherwise wouldn't have the financial means to pay for it than the son of a multi-millionaire former NBA player (and just have his family pay 30k a year to go there).
I don't think it sends a good message to the rest of the team to burn a scholarship on a player that "doesn't deserve it" because of who his dad knows. People bitch about privilege all the time. This would be the same as giving an entry-level job at Goldman Sachs to an average applicant just because his dad was a former partner (and that kid ended up being Ray Dalio).
We're not UVa, you don't get to skip the line because Daddy has important friends.
This isn't exactly an apples-to-apples comparison but you can probably see the point I'm trying to make.
Bruce Smith's kid isn't the same thing. Beamer burned 1/85 of his resources, not 1/13. Scholarships are a more precious in basketball and should be treated as such.
Personally, I think zero consideration should be given to the family's financial situation. You take the best players. Do you not take Spencer Rattler or Arch Manning because their families have money? No. In Curry's case, the better argument was that he was still developing vs. not offering because we assume Dell has money. I don't think that should be considered at all. If VT is recruiting a player for a scholly - hopefully the kid is going to get a scholly somewhere else if not VT- thus making the financial situation moot anyway.
Ok, then Nigel Muson was a better prospect than Curry at the time. That's why got the scholarship (and why he deserves it). You're not making sense and you missed my point.
Great. Offer Munson. Cut any one of Krabbendam, Witcher, or Marcus Travis then. This team was mired in NIT land. Buzz Williams would have cut 5 guys if he needed to to offer Med Hill. Big boy hoops.
Do you realize that Curry was a worse prospect than every player on the roster at the time? Yes, let's cut a center that plays for a third-string point guard (Krabbendam). Yes, let's cut one of the highest-rated prospects in Greenburg's tenure (Witcher) for Curry.
Getting rid of scholarship guys for a kid who was barely a 3* prospect isn't big boy hoops, it's reckless. It only works 1/50,000 times. I guess Beamer didn't play big boy football because he didn't cut Ike Whitaker for 2* Russell Wilson.
Don't be silly. You should always recruit the player who will eventually play in the professional league as a starter.
My memory is fuzzy on this one but didn't we offer him a walk-on with the opportunity to compete for a scholarship? The thread is going in extremes but I think Greenberg did want him, he (probably) just didn't want him bad enough to undo his roster management and have to make some tough calls.
That is correct, Greenburg offered him a walk-on spot in 2006 with an opportunity to earn a scholarship in 2007 (when we had four available).
I don't see the issue with him offering Curry a walk-on spot when (1) He wasn't an ACC caliber player right away and needed a year to redshirt (2) His family is rich and could easily afford one-year COA and (3) It didn't tie up a scholarship for a player who was a better prospect.
Dell actually advised him to go to VT. It was his mom who told him to go to Davidson.
I think anyone who still holds resentment over Curry is illogical. Greenburg's logic made sense and he would have been right 49,999 out of 50,000 times. It's idiotic to give away a basketball scholarship to a kid because his dad was a really good Hokie and take it away from a kid who deserves it more (and would more likely have a better career, if you believe in recruiting rankings which per the football recruiting threads, that's you dc.).
But please dc, continue to be emotional. If you are still mad at Greenburg, you should be mad at Beamer for not cutting Ike Whitaker for 2* Russell Wilson in 2007 (I grew up with Russell, he would have chosen Virginia Tech over NC State if he was offered as a QB).
We couldn't take Wilson because Tyrod was our take and we promised he be the only one that year
"You give Russell Wilson a scholarship, who cares what Tyrod wants, that's big boy football" -dc, probably.
Davon Morgan was a higher rated QB prospect (ESPN) than Russell Wilson.
lol I love this gif
Always useful in a TKP thread
Peaking especially high during the offseason.
I want yo say he would have been the same player at VT for 1 reason. Assuming that as his only offer it is only a matter of time before some one trash talks him to let him know he only got here because of who his dad was. And then it would be on. Especially if this was his own teammate in rookie "hazing".
In light of the miss on the offspring of Dell Curry and his hokie volleyball player wife, we should definitely offer the offspring of Jessie Hanson and his softball playing wife. Might pan out in 18-20 yrs. Sorry to mix threads.
Side note, I love that he calls us "Tech".
Woulda, coulda, shoulda. My son has got a signed game worn jersey directly from Steph. The guy is awesome and it's a shame he didn't play for us, but that's not his fault
Woulda shoulda coulda... classic.
Whit should try to rebuild the relationship with the Curry family. Give them honorary degrees, and treat them like royalty when they're on campus. Whatever it takes.
It would be cool if we have him as the celebrity guest picker on Gameday (if we get back on that level) as a mea culpa. I think I read an article that the Curry family still roots for the football team.
So, hot ones fans, what sauces have you tried?
My wife and I just ordered a small bottle of "Da Bomb" last week and put it on some chicken we have. (11.95 on Amazon). We did one small drop and could feel the residual effects for about 15 minutes- it's hot. I can understand that eating a wing drenched in the stuff would probably not be a good time...
But Da Bomb is usually ~7 on their scale, so I feel pretty good about getting up to that point. Their 8-10 though? Yikes.
Sean always says that da bomb is just different and that 9 and 10 may be hotter on the scoville scale, but they aren't as bad. Guests have also said that after da bomb is doesn't really matter because your taste buds are just blown out.
So I've worked my way through quite a few sauces they've had on the show, and Da Bomb is a very different type in that it's the only remaining extract-based sauce (the heat comes from pure capsaicin extract rather than whole/partial pureed chilis) on the show. Extract sauces are a little bit misleading, and always punch FAR above the scoville rating of the pepper it was extracted from - rather than a bottle being made with 6-7 ground habeneros (or whatever pepper), it's made with the equivalent amount of pure capsaicin that was extracted from habeneros (and could've been extracted from pretty much any pepper), so it gets ONLY the spicy part and none of the fruitiness/flavor that comes from the pepper's flesh.
There were a few others in the first few seasons, with Mad Dog 357 being the other that I've tried (honestly it's even hotter than Da Bomb imo, though the flavor is a bit better), but they've been almost entirely phased out (Da Bomb being the only one left) in favor of "natural" whole-pepper sauces (which is the specialty of Heatonist, the sauce partner for Hot Ones). The two that they usually have sitting in the 9/10 spots after Da Bomb are natural, and none of the 3 "Last Dab" formulations I've tried have been nearly as hot as Da Bomb or Mad Dog (they're incredibly spicy, but they also have some flavor on their own rather than just pure pain and mildly chemical).
All of that being said, the main point of extract sauces is NOT to douse something in it the same way you'd use your favorite regular hot sauce, mainly bc most of them really don't taste great or add anything but heat to what you're eating. Instead, they work best as additives to other things . My favorite use of the bottle of Da Bomb I've had in the cabinet for the past 2 years is to punch up wings, chili, etc - since I like to have both the flavor of traditional buffalo sauce (basically just Franks Red Hot and butter, so not very spicy) with some actual kick, when I order wings for delivery I'll usually dump them into a bowl, add 1-2 drops of Da Bomb, and then toss them until it's been distributed. Instantly kicks them to quite spicy without adding any real extra flavor to speak of.
Everytime i see the word Capsaicin I wanna watch that video NigelRed on YouTube where he makes hot sauce 😂
Thanks for this explanation. Makes way more sense now.
Da Bomb isn't the hottest, but it absolutely kicks your ass the hardest. I have found most of their hotter ones easier to handle than that small bottled death goop.
I actually tried the last dab a few years ago. Definitely hot and that was a small sample
We didn't think he was gonna get taller when his dad was 6' 8".....
Silly dummies.
On this same line of thinking.... When I was in high school I played baseball in VA but never paid for any of the showcase tournaments to get recruited. My senior year I was already going to VT for engineering but was had one of the top batting averages in the state (2A back when 3A was the biggest). My coach called the VT coach and they were excited about my >0.600 batting average and other stats until being 6'1 at 165 and 17. The coach at the time (of the worst team in the acc) said "thats too small for the ACC", and that was the end of it. When I got to campus I reached out about walk on tryouts and was met with "we dont do walkons".
I just did engineering and then kept growing and was 6'3" and 185 by my sophomore year when I was 18.
Worked out fine for me because I would not have done as well in school if I was distracted with baseball, but it always blew my mind how they didnt recognize that people keep growing at different rates and that someone who skipped a grade and was going to college early may get bigger.
Exactly. Atleast ask how tall their parents are...
Also, give me people who can ball regardless of size. .600 batting average means you know how to hit the ball.
While I cringed when I first heard VT mentioned, I also like that we were I'm the same sentence with Duke basketball.
I can't imagine VT fans reactions if we did offer Curry and then he comes out and has a game like his first. VT fans are known for their level headed reactions.
Great interview.
He didn't go to VT. Time to move on.
I think he had a logical answer to it, much like Hendon Hooker would likely not be in the NFL if he had stayed at VT.
Also, that dude's stomach must be made of iron.
He has a documentary on apple tv where he talks about this. He was tiny. I doubt he ends up being the same player if he comes here.
He played as a freshman and was allowed to work through a couple rough patches while keeping his starting spot. If he came here, he'd be coming off the bench for at least two years and our style of offense wouldn't have given the opportunity to shoot as much as he did as Davidson.
He does say that he desperately wanted to come here and doesn't say a single bad thing about us. He's a class act