Didn't see any threads going and figured it was worth discussing. For those that haven't seen, we lost 68-66 after trailing by 19 at half.
http://www.roanoke.com/sports/columns_and_blogs/blogs/courtside/quick-bl...
Random thoughts:
If they play with half as much energy in the first half that they did in the second half we may well have won this thing.
Hats off to that 2nd half effort though, without JVZ out there they scrapped and battled for loose balls hit some clutch shots against that Cuse zone.
Buzz Williams is incredible to watch. The man was sweating like he was playing and is as intense a coach as I've seen at VT. (including Bud)
Good crowd today, very loud on tv during the comeback.
Maybe this is one those games that a team points to as a turning point in their development and growth as a group. I was disappointed when Mueller airmailed the potential game winning three, but the fact they even found themselves in that situation was remarkable. I know it's gonna be a long ACC season, but today gives at least a little bit of hope.
Comments
Muller's shot was over 6-9 Christmas. Altered fade away didn't have much of a chance. What a great game
Good analysis, lot of reasons to be proud of effort. You are correct, we could have won this game!
Justin Bibbs had 22 and 11. Wow.
Now THERE'S the kind of performance we're all looking to see week in and week out. Effort, energy, tenacity was there. Still a ton of mistakes, we're getting crushed on the glass (can I haz big man plz?), but we're scrapping our way into a position to win the game. Came up short, but a hell of a lot to be proud of there. Great work by Buzz and the players moving on from a terrible game against WVU to put something respectable out on the floor today.
When Pierce fouled out with about 5 minutes left, I thought Buzz was going to explode. Could anyone tell if he was mad at the refs, or Pierce?
Yes, he was.
That moment is what I was referencing about intensity above. He was mad at Pierce, Buzz's face was unreal. One of the other coaches gave Pierce a sympathetic look and pat on the stomach when he went to his seat.
I was terrified watching from my couch. I can only imagine what he covered his mouth to say...
Coach Roc was giving him a towel because Buzz spit all over him with as much as he was yelling at him.
Yea he had it on line still but was a very tough shot with the 2 defenders on him. Great comeback by the hokies even though they came up just short. The next 5 games are going to be tough games as well.
I just want to win a few games we have no business winning...maybe the basketball gods will let us be LOLUVA's first loss....
I only got to see 2nd half, any mention of why Joey was suspended?
I didn't hear anything other than what has already been discussed on TKP & from Buzz. He has more quotes in Alex's game story, but not much more detail.
I wouldn't expect to hear any more details than what you are already hearing. The incident happened during practice on either New Year's Eve/Day so nobody really there other than immediate members of the team so I doubt there will be any leaks. The most I heard at the game was "an altercation." Those that were at the open practice for season ticket holders saw a glimpse of the intensity of practices and when "outsiders" aren't there, it is very intense. I'm sure Joey will be back, just needs some time away from the situation most likely.
I think we just witnessed Buzz out-coaching Jim Boeheim. Now granted, Boeheim didn't really need to make any halftime adjustments, and his team 'should' have just ran us out of the gym with their size and talent. I'd venture to say they averaged at least 1 offensive rebound per possession. However, Buzz kept the team motivated and managed a good rotation of our bigs (Pierce/Henry) despite their foul trouble. And the awareness with 3+ minutes remaining to start fouling since Boeheim left a sub-50% FT shooting ball-handler on the floor was the only reason we were in a position to win it.
I think Pierce had a decent game, but it looks like his tendency is to be a facilitator rather than get to the basket. A couple of times he caught the ball with good position or no defender and didn't even give a thought to shooting. A confidence thing I guess.
My only question was why Beyer didn't get any minutes to at least alleviate the foul trouble on Pierce and Henry. And I feel Beyer would have provided better offensive rebounding skills down the stretch when we were in scoring mode.
This game should answer the questions anyone might have as to whether or not we can win some ACC games this season. Buzz's post game interview with Bill Roth showed just how badly Buzz wanted this game, especially after having to suspend such a valuable big man as JVZ. This game also reiterated that Buzz will do things the right way for the larger cause than for a player's ego. We'll get there, it's just not going to be without challenges.
After watching the replay of the game I am still not sold that this team is headed to any wins in the ACC. If this game really was where Buzz wanted to make a statement the first half would have never happened. They made some decent second half adjustments but if they played a whole game maybe they would have won today. We all saw what Buzz thinks of maybe and shouldas. Too many mistakes especially by the bigs getting called for bad fouls. If it wasn't for a big shooting night from Bibbs this game isn't close. And thank Boeheim for not pulling his crappy free throw shooters. That helped a ton.
Yeah, this game told me a lot more about Syracuse than VT.
We just kicked our best big man off the team. It's not a moment that evokes any optimism.
Sure, Syracuse will have a down year, but I think even a pessimist has to appreciate the effort today. A 2 point loss to Syracuse is at least an improvement over a 31 point drubbing to West Virginia.
More about Syracuse... Dang, ok. 7 scholarship players, 4 of whom are freshman and we outscore them by 17 in the second half.
I give us credit for showing some good hoops IQ attacking that zone, and using our length and quickness in the backcourt to create turnovers with the traps. Keep in mind post-game Buzz apologized to the team for not practicing at all with 5 guards saying they had really no idea what to do when all 5 were together on the court. More cred to our guys for figuring that out on the fly against a very good team.
I don't know what they are headed for in terms of wins. With this team I just look for signs that they are improving and I thought I saw our players playing with an attitude in the second half of SU that I hadn't seen yet all season. It was nice to see that and I'm hopeful we'll see more of that starting with FSU.
Anybody else watch Roth interview Buzz after the game? (It's on the hokiesxtra app) Buzz looked like Scot after the UVA win. Completely exhausted. Then he choked up like Bud after the bowl game because of the effort. I like Buzz more and more each day.
Yep, I saw that. Buzz wanted to win his first ACC game way more than anyone could have known. Especially since it was against a HoF coach and name program like Syracuse.
One thing I did notice was that Bill Roth gave him the back pat. I think Roth really likes Buzz, and gets him, as much as any of 'us' do so far. Buzz seems like an odd guy in some ways, extremely tightly wound, but he seems to be growing on the fans, the admin, & Hokie Nation in general as time goes by. That's refreshing.
Ugh, please don't link to a Mark Berman story.
Haha, yeah I know. I made the post minutes after the game ended and that was the only story I found about it. At the time I thought about apologizing for it.
Upvote for best avatar on TKP. You listened to any of their XFM shows?
Oh yeah, pretty sure my wife has their entire catalog of podcasts on her phone. I'm told I have a resemblance to Carl, so that's why I picked it.