I looked up at the scoreboard with 3 minutes left today and saw the points breakdown for our 5 on the court, it was: 0, 6, 4, 33, 0. Can you guess which one was Erick Green? The other 7 guys in the rotation really need to dig deep for the rest of the year and give Erick some help. He scored 60% of our points tonight. That's inexcusable for the rest of the team. The NCAA Tournament has been out of reach for a couple weeks, but that's not a reason to quit. The rest of the guys on the team need to really dig deep now and play hard for nothing other than pride and more importantly, their Senior captain. He deserves better, he's one of the best players in the country and watching him out there at times is just depressing because of how bad the rest of the team has been. I hope to one day see Erick's jersey up there with Curry and Bristow.
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one thing you're forgetting
We still can make the big dance.
#ACCTOURNEYCHAMPS
You can't ignore the fact that our defense is absolutely atrocious, though. In the kind of offense Tech likes to run, which is run like hell, the defense has to create the offense. Our defense is not doing that right now, and we're being forced to play other team's games, like last night against UVA. Even if Erick is the only player producing on offense, we may be able to get more production out of other players, like Eddie and Rankin (I've given up hope on Robert Brown). Look at our 7-0 start, especially the Iowa and Oklahoma State game. We played fantastic defense is those games, which set up transition buckets for our offense. It all starts on the defensive end.
Agreed. And seeing them just run screens along the baseline all game and still get wide open 3's is frustrating. I would love for our lineup for the next game be Green-Rankin-Eddie-Wood-Raines. I think that's our best defensive lineup.
Definitely. When Barksdale was benched, that sparked a fire under him. Maybe it would do the same for Robert Brown.
I think they are getting tired. Not enough people helping rotate out.
I don't buy that as a valid excuse. We had 7 days off between GT and WF, then another 5 until last night's game. Three games in 12 days isn't that many. Not to mention we played 10 players last night.
These...
...are dark days in Blacksburg. (for hoops)
Nothing new...
Just look at the Big East days before Greenberg.
I know everyone was just overjoyed that we got rid of him... but I remember what it was like rooting for a team that couldn't even make the Big East tournament (back then there were 14 teams, and only 12 teams participated in the conference tournament). We were in the Big East 4 years, 3 under Stokes and one under Greenberg. The only time we finished outside of the basement was when Greenberg led us to a 7-9 conference record in his first year, before we jumped to the ACC the following season and went 8-8.
I know that we kind of plateaued under him, but at least his teams consistently played great defense, and as a result were rarely blown out. He took us out of the cellar of the Big East and made us somewhat relevant in the ACC.
Yeah, Seth was a good coach for us
but he had a self-destructive tendency. He had run his course, unfortunately, which left Weaver with this hire.
I'm not sure JJ is terrible, but he certainly is not getting the best out of these guys. It pains me to see such poor defensive fundamentals.
What's even stranger to see is the night and day difference between Greenberg and JJ's styles. Greenberg was a hard nosed defensive style coach. Control the clock but focus more on keeping the other team from scoring and putting the ball only in your star's hands to score points. JJ coaches practically zero defense and focuses on offense and shooting when you feel like you have a shot, whether it's the right move or not.
Which is ironic considering JJ was a 3-time Defensive Conference POY at Ferrum. You'd think he would care more about defense. As for Greenberg, I think our teams had slightly inflated defensive numbers because our offense was to stand around for 25 seconds and then have someone go one-on-one for the last 10.
Seven bodies guys, and other than Green, not a single one has enough talent to be a legitimate ACC starter. Guys, until you get 2 more recruiting classes in the door, can't really measure this other than cast metaphorical stones at Greenberg.
Thought about it last night...
and realized just how bad of a recruiter Greenberg was. I think it's been clear for a while but now that he's gone, I can be honest with myself.
I'm not huge into college hoops like I am football so please correct me if I'm wrong but in my years of following our bball team, we've never had a legitimate big man. Seems to me we've always filled our center spot with the tallest forward we had, instead of recruiting actual 5's and 4's. I just don't get how you can consistently have a bball team with no true big man.
Hopefully JJ will turn things around. I think he can - seems to be much more a players coach than Seth was and I don't think that hurts with recruiting.
I agree that Greenberg didn't recruit many big men, but he still was a very good recruiter. If Finney-Smith hadn't transfered and Harrell hadn't decommitted (he's starting at Louisville right now) we would have a pretty good team actually. But with losses like that it's hard to survive in the ACC. Especially when your AD decides a month after the season to do something.
I think JJ is a great guy, I've talked to him a couple times and he seems like a genuinely good person, but he was never ready for this. He was thrown to the fire, and looking ahead to next season, without Green this team is going to be the worst in the ACC. I don't know if he keeps his job, and then we're right back to where we were in April, losing recruits and looking for a coach. Weaver really screwed us on this one.
I think DFS and Harrell would be evidence that Greenberg was a good recruiter. Now could he utilize players properly? Well that's a different question entirely.
I see
Good points guys - appreciate the insight. Well maybe he just didn't focus his recruiting efforts in the right place then. The lack of big men over the years is just bewildering to me.
DFS?
DFS.......is he the same DFS that went 0 for 25 at one time last year?
Bigs
It may take another recruiting cycle to find another 5. It is going to be another year of Raines and JVZ at center next year. The two big guys coming in are both 6'9". Thompson I believe was in attendance as well last night.
I disagree
I don't think the talent is anywhere near that bad. Eddie, Rankin and Brown could have went to 8 or more other ACC schools. Maybe Barksdale and Raines are marginal talents, but our problem isn't on the inside.
I think the depth problem is overblown, but what it does do is it REQUIRES you to play the guys you got. There is not competition in practice to make Eddie defend better or to push Brown to be more efficient offensively. I don't think the 7 players we have are untalented, I just think we need 5 more like them so that we can get the best out of what we have.
Exactly
Brown, Eddie, Barksdale, and Raines should not be starting on an ACC team. It's that simple.
Agree
Give him time to build his own team and see how that turns out. He has no bench and has been forced to play walk ons. Give the man a break, and some time to show us what he can do. I will continue to give him the benefit of the doubt. Without a full roster,and the ability to keep any talent fresh on the courts, I see no reason to tear him down.
I remember fondly
the days of Dale Solomon.
I remember watching the tape of Shawn Good, Purcell, Ace Custis, and Corruth (Sp?). Those were the good days!