The #4 seed Hokies host the #5 seed Baylor at 8PM tonight on ESPN. The Hokies are currently #13 in the AP poll; Baylor is #19. This game will be a much tougher test than Marshall. Baylor is a little taller and has played a much tougher schedule:
Baylor does have 6'7" freshman #25 Lety Vasconcelos from Brazil; but she has not played in their last few games. So, when Strack is on the floor, she should have a big height advantage. Again, we will be taller than Baylor at most positions. Baylor does not put as many players in the game as Marshall; but they do have 8 players averaging 16 or more min/game and two more average 8 min/game.
Baylor comes in at 25-7, 6-4 on the road. They were 5-6 against opponents that are currently ranked or receiving votes. One of the five wins was against current #3 Texas at Texas on Dec 3. They also easily defeated Miami 75-57 on Dec 16 at home. We beat Miami 76-52 at home on Jan 11 and again 55-47 in the ACC Tournament on Mar 8. They lost to Kansas 69-61 on Feb 21; we beat Kansas 59-58 on Nov 24. So we should win tonight by between 5 and 9 points.
Their leading scorer is #44 Edwards, who has started 25 of 32 games but has not started their last couple of games. She only played 10 minutes against Vanderbilt; but she played 23 minutes and scored 17 points in their loss to Iowa State in the quarterfinals of their league tournament. Three starters average 9.9 to 11.1 ppg and 4 other players average about 8 ppg.
Baylor is a more methodical, slower paced offense than Marshall, scoring only 75 ppg while only allowing 59.7. They shoot 44.6% overall and 33.6% from three. Baylor has five players shooting over 30% from three; they make about 7.5 threes per game. Their three-point defense has been excellent, only allowing opponents to shoot 26% from beyond the arc. If Strack can play well in the paint, Baylor is going to struggle to cover our shooters from beyond the arc; I don't think they can guard Strack one on one. And if they try to help down low, our long-distance shooters are going to have room. If King, Ekh and Amoore can shoot well from out there, we should do well tonight.
Baylor could have some issues with fouls. They ended the Vanderbilt game with two players with 4 fouls and three players with 3. How the game is called could have a big impact on who can keep their players on the court.
Stats:
The Hokies at 16-0 at home this year and have won 26 in a row. I think they have a good shot at making it 17 and 27 tonight, if everyone plays their game. If our taller guards can stay with the Baylor guards, we should be able to limit their scoring and if our shooters play like they did against Marshall, we should be moving on the the Sweet Sixteen.
LETS GO HOKIES!
Comments
LETS GOOOO
HOKIES!!!
Also I got a wild hair last night and bought tickets for tonight. Me and my little ladies are getting geared up to head down here in a little bit to get some mellow mushroom and walk around downtown a little bit before tipoff. Super amped!!
Really nervous about today, bu lt optimistic... Lets go hokies!
PSA.....fuck you frontier airlines. I'm delayed in San Juan PR....was supposed to land in Philly around 8:30 and be able to watch/listen to most of the game on the ESPN app while we drove home. Now not taking off till 8:15 at best. And frontier has no wifi on the plane. Never again frontier. Only jetblue FTW from now on.
Frontier Airlines is a pox upon society.
A little sad that ESPN app's "preview" lists Liz Kitley as the player to watch. 🤦♂️
They do cut to her in the stands a lot during the game. My cousin who had never watched a game before thought she was cute.
so. nervous.
Georgia channeling her inner Sean Pedulla. 3 turnovers already.
Strack Attack!!
STRACK ATTACK X2
Georgia is pressing too much... facilitate and feed STRACK ATTACK
Some soft fucking fouls the last couple minutes
We were in the bonus and then they called 6 straight fouls on us.
Won't beat anybody shooting like this from 3 and a complete inability to limit or stop dribble penetration into the paint
If we're only down 3, without hitting a single 3, I would have to think we're in a decent position.
Now for the 2nd.
Amoore
Jesus, these refs are calling every touch on us and nothing on Baylor smacking the shit out of our players
Reporting live from section 4. This place is fucking lit
That was a BS foul call
These refs have favorites. Very ticky tacky. That last call on King was complete BS.
They called it more because the girl hit the floor but King didnt even need to be there. Got to be smarter
Fouls are really going to be an issue with the short bench.
That ball was tipped so should not have been a back court violation
That's how I saw it too.
Ladies are stuck in a stack of bricks
Crap we could build a house with all the bricks we are chucking from 3.
Baker has been crafty here lately
We have to find an offense other than having Amoore play Iso.
Someone else has to step up or we aren't gonna eclipse 60.
FWIW I think it's a bit of Georgia fault - we were getting good looks and moving the ball well, but lately she seems to get a little dribble happy and takes the other players out of it herself. I honestly think we should give her a break and see how things go. We moved the ball so we'll against Marshall
I think that's also a product of us having 5 players on the perimeter and no one underneath so we just can't do anything but top of the key picks
This. And she's not making shots. Trying too hard. Needs to trust her teammates and just run the offense.
Ok that was not a foul on them but will take it
Strack wasnt even close to her
They are giving Baylors coach Mulkey leash
I think Brooks would have gotten a T if he acted like that.
Collins needs a technical to calm down.
When are they going to T her up. This is third time
She's on the court and screaming at the refs literally stopping them from inbounding the ball. How is that not a T?
Third time this quarter. It was a clear deflection and they fouled Ekh going for the ball. The jump ball was a gift to Baylor and she is complaining.
Someone needs a technical....
Apparently Baylor attracts complete ass coaches. She need a technical like yesterday!
We look better when Amoore lets everyone else get involved.
Amoore needs to dribble right at the Baylor guards. They both have 3 fouls
or Wenzel
Amoore needs to sit for the rest of this quarter
Gotta keep it close and unleash Strack and Amoore in the 4th, with this foul trouble
other teams will go at our players who are in foul trouble. We never go at theirs. Womens or mens!
Had two starters with three play almost the whole 3rd without getting their 4th
These refs are not letting us play defense at all
Micheaux making her time count!
get Rose out of the game
That foul was complete BS. Rose had position, got the rebound and then was shoved in the back by 44, who caused her to lean into 11...who was already falling.
Fuck mark that miss down. Shit
Guh. Now get Rose out.
Well fuckin shit.
Fucking shit defense at the buzzer. Every possession matters. How many times does that happen to us.
She walked on that before the shot
I'm shocked, SHOCKED, that these refs would miss a call...
They are walking before about 1/5th of their shots.
You still have to defend with 4 seconds in the quarter how many half courts shots against this team?
Fourth this season
Feed Strack here, find Tilly for corner threes, profit?
Arm bar.
Let's get ahead and stay ahead here.
They need to give us about five makeup calls to make up for some of these atrocious calls.
The non calls underneath are just getting out of hand
At least they're not falling for any of Blackwell's book of tricks!
Amoore refuses to drive on Walker. Walker is a constant foul but not taking it to her
Getting tired of their "Hack a Strack" defense. who am I kidding, they are hacking everyone, but the refs are afraid of the Baylor coach getting really angry.
Amoore has at least one more moment in her, one more shot, esp. after that missed layup. Gotta use it here while it counts
Second time on inbounds we gave up an easy bucket
Finally they call the armbar
Amoore not passing to Strack covered by a 5'8 guard had me grinding my teeth
I hate to say but that missed layup shook her. She's hid since
Run your best play outta thus timeout Kenny. We need a bucket
Offensive rebounds haunting us again
They don't teach boxing out in Blacksburg
What the actual fuck Summiel?
The whole team. Thats the fourth or fifth turnover on a half pass directly to a Baylor player
what the fuck
Props to that announcer- he threw Tech in there HARD after he realized he missed it
Double Double for Strack
Strack with 18 and 10 as a Freshman! None bigger than that rebound and bucket
How was that not an and 1?
Because ESPN needs the Big12 to be better than the ACC
Giant mistake there. Woof
Foul was on the floor
But now they are looking to upgrade???
These refs have been favoring Baylor the whole game and are now icing it. She was fouled on the floor. But they are giving her the basket.
She was clearly fouled before the shot.
Its either technical and no basket or foul and 1
what a horrible mistake by a 5th year player
Tbf King did a terrible job positioning on the inbounds, Baylor spaced the floor in a clear effort to get someone going downhill to the basket there
I'm sorry... that was intentional.
But it was before the basket!
before or during no matter. should have planted her face in the floor and made sure of no bucket!
23-12 Free Throw advantage
Still have to foul twice
GEORGIA AMOORE
How big is the three at the end of 3rd now?
They're still not giving her a technical. No balls.
God damn she should have been teed up
As a super-uneducated basketball fan, what happens if a coach gets a technical?
same as a player - 2 shots and the ball
And with the game this close the chances of those being called dwindled to nothing even as her behavior ramped up. Just ain't right.
After the second technical she would have been ejected as well.
If she had gotten two then that would have been four free throws and two possessions. Could be a 10 point swing.
Why the hell were they not fouling before the ball is inbounded? Grab the jersey and bear hug them before the ball goes in. no time comes off the clock and you get them shooting free throws.
Yeah..losing 10 secs there was inexplicable to me.
Let them throw the ball over the top to their best FT shooter consecutively.
The refs have lost complete control of this game. They should have called Baylors coach for a T within the first 2:00 of the game. Now they're letting her just yap.
We certainly threw away some possessions, but the refs gave that game to Baylor
You can't win 5 versus 8 and they were favoring Baylor from the tip. Great run, but I really have to wonder why Summiel was in for the last two minutes of the game. She is a complete liability on offense.
She had fouls to give.
You had Suffren and Baker on the bench that could have been in and both are better perimeter players and ball handlers to boot
She's the only one who can rebound, that's why
Just gutted for the team and Kitley especially. Gutted.
Shitty way to end the season. Refs gift wrapped that one, but we still made too many mistakes. Excited for the future (assuming Brooks stays in the burg)
The non Techs on their coach would have been a possible 6-8 point swing
Thank You Liz
Thank You Cayla
Thank You Olivia
Georgia, please come back
pain
So proud of the fight in this team tonight. I said it last year in the final four, and I'll say it now too. Makes me think of one of my favorite Ted Lasso quotes "Let's be sad now. Let's be sad together. And then we can be a gosh-darn goldfish. Onward. Forward."
Now let's hope coach brooks makes the right decision.
Sucky way to end the season, but I couldn't be prouder of this team and to be a Hokie!
that missed layup into a rebound foul for 2 points really feels like the point we werent going to break through
...and 2-16 from 3 in the 1H. Imagine if we got 2-3 of those.
Man leave it to a Richmond kid to have a career high against the Hokies.
Now need to hear Babcock has extended Brooks tomorrow and then Brooks announce they will #Retire33.
Make it so.
Not the outcome we wanted but the young Hokies on this squad look like they are up for the challenge next year. They just went toe to toe with a very experienced, good team for 40 minutes. Excited to see what they can do next year.
I hope Kitley and King don't become strangers to Blacksburg and visit often, always Hokies. Let's hang at least one jersery in Cassel.
After a good night's rest, I came to a realization: with Kitley being out for the tourney, anything less than winning the whole thing was inevitably going to be a disappointment.
Obviously it would've been awesome to win last night and keep going, but even if we had gone as far as the Final Four or the Championship Game and lost there, we always would wonder if we could have gone even farther with Kitley.
Baylor should have been a win, bad luck shooting, refs refusal to reign in Collins and not calling things both ways. But the biggest issue was the magnetic blockers in the baskets were on for the wrong team. Way to many in and outs, and just shots missing that normally go in. Greatest example, Georgia's layup that refused to go in.
I know we're supposed to have O&M glasses on, but if Georgia didn't pull a bit of showboating with that one-handed layup then it should have gone in easey-peasey.
Even with Kitley, IMO, the way they played down the stretch of the regular season, we likely wouldn't have made it to the Elite 8.
Well, I thought I was done with all things WBB for the season after last night, but then waking up today and reading about the Kim Mulkey press conference meltdown, I'm just sitting here waiting for the WaPo "hit piece" to drop like.....
Yeah preemptively saying you plan to sue is a sure fire way to drum up attention on it and lend people to believe its true.
At the risk of wading into politics... her "the mainstream media is treating me very unfairly" schtick seemed like an attempt to posture herself for a certain career change after LSU cans her for whatever's in this Post article.
You are ready too much into it. Kim Mulkey is total trash. Stop there. and BTW when Trash people constantly use the term "hit piece" what they mean is.. "its the absolute truth"
It's always interesting when someone calls a press conference and reads a statement written by their expensive lawyers, and when someone calls an article "a hit piece" before they've even read it.
I haven't read it, either, but I'm even more inclined to believe it now, since she's responding vigorously to shadow allegations they haven't even made yet.
She's absolutely scared of something.
Well she has been ducking his interview requests for what four years? Just because he doesn't like Brian Kelly? That is a good thing. Doesn't she know that Brian Kelly killed a kid?
She said two years. Right before she said she was blindsided by the interview request.
As far as I'm concerned, they should fire away.
I think they are going to double check the sources and unleash the broadsides. She has hyped the article for them immensely.
Yes, she has.
Baylor is good, still got that Mulkey culture of cheating down there.
And hiring coaches I'd like to dropkick.
Haha watching her tantrums from the stands last night my 12 year old declared "their coach is annoying".
I was like yeah sure is
I have reffed basketball for 20 years, and I've done ~10 years of HS basketball here in the DC area.
No ref should have put up with her tantrums. The moment was way too big for that crew.
I didn't see this posted elsewhere on the forum so sharing here.
Kenny really gets choked up talking about his girls. This is what a great coach looks / feels like. And someone I'd want to send my girls to play/learn from.
Virginia Tech Second Round Postgame Press Conference
Thanks for sharing the link. I tend to be an optimist, but CKB sure didn't sound like he was ready to walk away from what he has built at VT.
My OM glasses had that same takeaway, but my "VT fans always get hurt" take was that he was looking back at a chapter that is closing
I will be incredibly sad if he leaves, but the ACC is a rapidly sinking ship with an unclear future.
I can't blame him if he wants more stability, even if we were able to match everything else UK offers which would be nearly impossible if you're factoring in overall program prestige, budget, facilities etc.
Prestige is pretty limited on Kentucky women's side but the rest I agree. While Mitchell was there they had a pretty decent run from 2009 to 2013. They had a winning record in conference one time from 1982 to 2004.
Elzy the last four years managed to win with what Mitchell left her the first two years but then fell off a cliff the last two.
Someone needs to tell Dan Hurley that you can't win in the very-much-not-P2 Big East Conference. He'd be much better off bailing for Georgia or Old Miss.
Seriously though, I don't think SEC vs ACC will be a huge factor in Brooks' decision. At least not nearly as much as the sky-is-falling doomsayers on TKP might believe.
UCONN basketball has 5 national titles. They could go independent in hoops and be fine. Not a great comparison. They are blue blood old money
Hurley got his start based on his dad's epic NJ high school history. Served his time getting URI better, and got rewarded for several good years there with the UCONN job. He has been able to build/maintain that program. However, all of his relationships, etc, are NJ, and the NE states. I am not sure how well he would be able to maintain that at a SEC school.
If you look at Brooks recruiting, he has heavily recruited the New York EYBL circuit. He gets players elsewhere but going back to JMU, that been his preferred hot bed. I could see Hurley doing the same thing by still recruiting that area heavily while operating at an SEC school. He definitely would have the travel budget for it.
If he wins two Natty's - that tops Gary Williams, Boeheim, Izzo and a whole lot of people. He will get a spot on USA basketball and Nike can funnel him players via that if he coached on the moon.
Building a basketball team outside of a P2 is easier than building a football team for sure. While I'm not quite Chicken Little I have to imagine coaches of most programs that are not currently in the SEC or Big 10 aren't quite comfortable with the amount of uncertainty for their respective athletic conferences.
Great season, IMO, based on all the things that the team had to work through. Then with Kitley going down just before the ACCT, it really threw things for a loop. A couple of observations...
1. Strack is going to be really good. She's exponentially more physical than Kitley. I think she may have a higher ceiling, especially if she can acquire a solid mid range jumper.
2. With the way the women's game is called, Brooks simply has to teach his squad to be much more aggressive and physical. The teams VT struggles with are the physical, more aggressive teams. And in the end the whistle is so incredibly inconsistent (usually favoring the more aggressive, physical teams) that its totally worth the risk.
2. With the way the women's game is called, Brooks simply has to teach his squad to be much more aggressive and physical. The teams VT struggles with are the physical, more aggressive teams. And in the end the whistle is so incredibly inconsistent (usually favoring the more aggressive, physical teams) that its totally worth the risk.
This is why depth is so important. The really good teams can play aggressive defense and dare the refs to blow the whistles for 4 quarters because they can play 9-10 players. When one of our better players gets in foul trouble it changes the way we play for big stretches of the game. The really good teams seem to play like the LOB Seahawks. Hold and commit pass interference on every play and the refs will eventually start to swallow their whistles.
So when should we expect to know about Kenny's decision?! The suspense is killing me
Probably around the time the tournament ends. If he's going.
The longer we wait, the less likely he's leaving.
I would actually expect it much sooner due to portal recruiting and other factors
Yes if it's going to happen we will know by Easter Monday.
Easter Monday also happens to be April Fools Day 💀
I wouldn't be surprised if it's even a shorter turnaround time than that - several coaches have been bounced from the tourney on the men's side and have accepted new roles within a few days.