Television
ESPNU - Tom Hart & Tim Welsh
Radio
Virginia Tech IMG Sports Network - Bill Roth & Mike Burnop
Also available on:
Satellite: Sirius: 126 XM: 203
(Syracuse Broadcast)
Digital: Hokies Xtra & TuneIn
The good news is that having the late game got us off the internet and onto the television, the bad news is that if you want to watch the entire game, you are going to be up until Midnight.
Virginia Tech comes in after another tough loss to Wake Forest, missing a three at the end, but also playing less than stellar basketball during the game that cost them quite a few opportunities to take over the game from the Demon Deacons. I dont expect to see those same mistakes again tonight as Buzz rarely tolerates repeating mistakes and works hard to ensure corrections happen quickly.
As for the Orangemen that these Hokies will be facing, they are going through a difficult transition after losing one of their more talented players in Chris McCullough much the same way the Hokies went through losing JVZ. McCullough was one of the more talented freshmen this year in the ACC. At 6'10, 220 lbs he was immediately their answer in the center of the lane this season. He had averaged 9.3 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 1.7 spg, and over 2 blocks per game on the year. The Orange are having a difficult time adjusting to not having him in the middle of the court. It has led to more of their core playing more minutes more than new faces picking up the space.
The Orange have gone 1-3 since McCullough went out with injury. Losses to Klemson, Miami and UNC with their only win over another ACC cellar dweller in Boston College.
Prior to his injury though there were no great ACC victories to speak of, having beaten Tech(1-7) by two, Georgia Tech(1-8) by one, FSU (4-5) by thirteen, and Wake (2-7) by three after OT. One basket wins over three of the four worst teams in conference before losing their starting center. Wins are wins though so dont get confused and think we are all of a sudden going into this game as favorites.
There are still a few Orange players that will likely have something to say about that, starting with Rakeem Christmas(#25), who on the season is averaging 18.4 ppg, 9 rpg, and 2 bpg, and when facing the Hokies threw in 17 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 blocks to lead the Orange to that win.
Beyond Christmas in the lane, we need to be prepared for Trevor Cooney(#10) and Michael Gbinije(#0), the starting guard tandem for Syracuse that combine to score 25 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists.
Gbinije is the outside scoring threat, knocking down 40% from behind the arc this season.
Cooney will drive the lane to create shots for others while taking open looks when he gets them.
The last Orangemen that concerns me is Tyler Roberson(#21).
His last game against us, he was a rebounding machine, with 17 rebounds. We couldnt stop him from getting the basketball which led to quite a few second chance points for the Orange. With McCullough out, it should make the matchup more even height wise down low with Pierce, Henry and Beyer combining to cover Christmas and Roberson.
Taking into account that this is a late game, on the road, likely to have an excellent home crowd for the Orange, I see this as a tall task for the Hokies to come out with a win unless they play a full game like they gave against Pitt. All 40 minutes they need to be in attack mode without being careless with the basketball. Go strong to the lane and draw fouls to get some of the Orange bigs out early and then try to run the floor. Need to focus more on the passes into the lane as the Orange lack outside shooters other then Gbinije, although Cooney did attempt 13 of them against us in the last game. We really need a decent effort on the defensive glass to win this game.
All of this said, I think Buzz going up against an opponent for the second time has alot of advantages so expect the Hokies to exploit some issues noted in the first game. As long as they are not dry at the rim, I expect a close Hokies win tonight.
Syracuse 58 - Hokies 61
Comments
Great overview... Hopefully having some hot 3-point shooters will be able to spread the zone out a bit or give us a bit of an edge here... I think we've learned how to play as a team without JVZ, and that's been big down the stretch, and one thing we might not have had in the last matchup. Hoping Tech can pull this one off
Rob calling for the upset, I love it.
Me, too. I feel great about this game as a Hokie triumph!
This optimism is infectious. Go Hokies!
I like it. Let's steal one on the road.
Bold prediction. Let's see if it pays off for us.
Bring this game on. I hope Bibbs is 100% back in the swing of things and scores 30 points by himself tonight. We've definitely missed that dude.
Question: (this is something I've always wondered) is Bibbs a better and/or more complete baller than Smith?
Heck,yes. He is a complete player. Smith is terrible defensively.
I agree with you, however Smith has significantly uppped his d game the last two weeks. He's still a liability out there on defense, but he's not as bad as he was at the beginning of the season.
Stoked to see this on something bigget than my 8 inch screen.
Hopefully we see some improvement in our second meeting.
Lets Go!!!!!!
Buzz's head might pop if Pierce fouls out against the Cuse again.
Jesus it's like running into a brick wall every time our guys go to the lane out there so far.
Slow start my ass! This looks like a track meet!
In a hotel room in Martinsville VA without ESPNU - is there a local affiliate that is televising the game?!
I'm pretty sure it's only on ESPNU in VA. No access to espn3.com or the WatchESPN app?
I'm trying to multitask; knock out some work and watch the game AT THE SAME DAMN TIME.
Looks like these emails will have to wait until tomorrow!
http://tvtoss.com/pages/player.php?ch_id=1800353689&ctd=1&t=Sports%20Cha...
Is Johnston not playing? He looks in street clothes with his arm in a sling....
He had surgery on his elbow.
Oh shit. I did not know that. Any idea how long he's out?
Don't think it's expected to be long, wasn't a serious procedure
Good to know. I wish Johnston and his fantastically weird hair a speedy recovery.
Fantastically weird or weirdly fantastic?
So far so good. We weathered the 11-0 Syracuse run, Smith is heating up, and we're doing a good job breaking down the zone.
Has Adam Smith ever seen a shot he didn't like? Hudson having a really nice game so far, really challenging the Cuse D in the paint. Hopefully this is his awakening.
After the Pitt game him and Donlon were the last two in the gym and he told Donlon that as long as he can see the rim he thinks he can make the shot.
Elbow jumpers all day!
I hate that zone.....I really, really hate that zone.
good driving in the paint but not so great in post which is kinda expected with Christmas
If Ahmed Hill wasn't 0-7 we would be winning this game.
What're your thoughts on Hill? He seems like he's got good talent, but right now he doesn't really know what to do with his body and just makes a ton of mistakes, both physical and mental. Is he a guy that Buzz is really high enough on to justify the amount of time he gets on the floor?
Its harder and harder for me to see how he gets his time until he can learn to keep his defensive energy high while slowing his offensive attempts especially when he thinks he is on a fast break by himself. He almost never finishes with a basket, hardly gets fouled, and usually turns it right back over.
Glad to know I'm not just seeing things.
He just needs to get stronger, he has no fear attacking the rim, but struggles to finish.
Seriously.... I wasn't even aware I had ED before all these commercials came on and convinced me otherwise.
Nice start to the second half
...aaaand just remembered my DVR was behind.
Yeesh, Christmas is an absolute animal. And we need to be able to make layups.
Christmas angry.
Funny thing is, dude's shown absolutely zero emotion. Just throws it down like a monster and looks like he couldn't care less.
Hudson about gets punched in the head by Christmas with no call. Thought Buzz was going to get a T
I have no idea how Christmas hasn't gotten at least 2 more foul calls. Completely beyond me. You can hear the contact from the TV, but nothing.
If Christmas were a couple inches taller he'd be in the NBA right now.
The Wilson layup was a thing of beauty.
Awful foul by Hudson.
He made a 3 though... so that was nice. But yeah... how do you foul there?
Some really nice passing, and some Godawful sloppy passing. We need to calm the fuck down.
Have we had a Beyer sighting tonight? Seems to have been getting a bunch of minutes lately and virtually none tonight? Any reason other than game plan?
We are about to see him or Henry since Pierce took another really awful unneeded foul
It's pretty early for Buzz to lose the tie.
Bibbs is really good.
Has Donlon been in uniform all year? Thought he was redshirting or something. I just dont recall him in uniform before this game
Yeah, he has been. Definitely played in the first game, IIRC. He's on a few posters and stuff too.
I believe he has been in uniform every game since JVZ left.
Is that #14?
Anyone else think Pierce needs to shoot that free throw line jumper they keep giving him in order to open up some passing lanes?
Was just about to say this. That's at least three times I've seen him get the ball there, with space around him, and he just looks totally lost. It's almost like he's surprised he has the ball. Brain tying up the feet, as the saying goes.
Buzz has to have put the red light on him shooting it
Not if we keep draining 3s every time he kicks it out
He cant hit it which is why Buzz has been rotating Bibbs down there. No need for Pierce to waste one of our possessions taking that shot.
Everyone in the building knows Pierce is absolutely offensive threat. Making things really tough on the other 4 guys. He adds a little jumper from the elbow to his game, and that'll add a heck of a lot to this team.
... And another foul on Pierce. C'mon, man.
What are we from beyond the arc tonight? Gotta be impressive.
8 of 12
4 on Pierce?
Right now 8 of 12
After starting 0-3. Dayum.
Yeah. Impressive. We've got some clutch shooters.
When Pierce fouls out I think the whole complexion of this game changes.
To what? 5 on 5 when we're on offense? No offense to Pierce, he's got some upside, but there are, ah, considerable gaps in his game right now.
Stop. The. Stupid. Fouls.
Good grief
No excuse for this. The hacks are just idiotic. We're going to foul everyone out before this is over
Doesn't help that they aren't getting the calls on the other side.
At a certain point if you know you aren't getting the calls, adjust. You can still play your game without fouling.
According to the espn game cast, we've shot 2 free throws to their 13.
Wow that foul should have been offensive on Christmas for using his elbow
They just haven't been calling him for anything, either offensively or defensively. And it's been blatant at times. No idea why the officials just aren't dinging him for a single thing. He has, what, 1 foul so far?
Hi Shane.
He went up for that dunk! Need more of that slashing to the rim from him until he adds some bulk.
Yeah, that one gave me wowsers in my trousers.
Christmas gets away with another elbow. Getting ridiculous.
He is really getting physical and the refs are letting it all slide. Need to start blowing the whistle or at least talk to him to cool it.
Christmas just threw an elbow into Henry's back, knocking him down and no whistle! That was just a dirty play.
Smith with a great drive to open up Hudson. Man, that's such a great compliment to his outside shooting, glad Hudson was able to connect to take advantage of the collapsing defense.
Did he just use the force on that three?
Another shoulder bull charge by Christmas and nothing
Great work there by Pierce to get position on Christmas and open things up for his teammate to get the rebound.
Christmas just got posterized
"Christmas got bumped...." and a foul.... Seriously? Dude can throw elbows, but gets the call on a bump?
It was a good call, but c'mon, dudes... be consistent.
I hope Henry is ready to go the distance.
Such BS the special treatment XMas is getting. He must have superpowers that frighten the refs.
Guess they know that Syracuse has nothing behind him and they don't want to "influence the game too much" or some such crap. As a football official, this is why I hate basketball officials and why I refuse to do it. Too emotional, too showboaty, too easy to make too big of an impact on a game.
Roger Ayers. Enough said.
Pierce fouls out with 7 mins to go.
The foul issues have to be addressed. Pierce doesn't help us on the bench, and he gets himself into trouble nightly, it seems.
That last foul was pretty weak
Loving this onslaught on the rim, this freshman team showing no fear. They grow up so fast sniff *wipes tear from corner of eye*
Bibbs is fun to watch.
FINALLY
FINALLY they freakin call him.
FINALLY
Christmas getting the calls but no gift baskets at the line.
Like I use to say on prom night, please don't blow it now.
Why? Did you take your sister?
No. I took yours.
Might want to think about offensive rebounds here.
Buzz needs to slow our guys back down on offense
And stop with the idiotic fouls on defense.
HENRY
NO
WHY
Now they start making free throws.
Adam, stop fouling. You can't make the game-winning 3 we'll inevitably need if you keep fouling.
Dammit Henry!
Dammit, Henry.... that was just moronic.
Henry gone now so Beyer has to be in I hope.
Good news!
Beyer has 0 fouls!
Where the heck is Beyer anyways? Would really like to see some of his hustling ass-kickery on the floor right now.
Buzz must see a really unfavorable matchup for him to not be on the floor, even in this situation. That, or he's hurt.
Was that planned?
9 point lead with 4 minutes left. Gotta watch the fouls though
The stupid damn fouls. Are you kidding me, just mindless basketball.
Mindboggling. I'm gonna give myself a concussion with all these facepalms pretty soon.
Its very frustrating. This is the kind of stuff I mean when I say they are lacking fundamentals... There was no need to go for that rebound, especially with 4 fouls. Staying in the game was more valuable than that rebound. And these things are happening with everyone.
Playing hard, but a little wreck less.
Is Beyer in the doghouse?
Secret weapon.
We are out of tall people. Princeton offense!
No way he called timeout
The concerns with the officiating have been well-documented and duly noted.
Calm the fuck down, guys. We are a completely out of control basketball team right now.
We have time on our side we have got to relax, slow the game down and play with a lead!
Another lazy reach in foul... This is beyond annoying.
We are going to need some smart offense here., use some clock and get some points, or turn it over again....
Lazy lazy lazy
Unbelievably poor basketball right now.
Are you kidding me? Take care of the damn ball. That's twice that they've just lost it and thrown away possessions.
Just ugly now
'Cuse fans booing the Christmas foul. Pfft, he should have been out of the game a few minutes ago.
Hey look, they called Christmas for a foul.
This goes beyond youth. This is just bad basketball. Breaking the press is something you practice everyday. And now another foul.
It's been unbelievable. And another turnover. Either take it to the basket or draw contact. Flailing up to the hoop and losing the ball isn't the way to drive.
Another Xmas Elbow
To be fair we looked gassed. We have 6'3" guards guarding 6'9 potential nba player it the fight down low reminds me of the old big east games where it's a braw in the post. I can see why Orange went on a run with their traps
Even tougher when said 6'9" player can freely throw elbows with zero consequences.
1 rebounder vs 4... Stupid decision to shoot that.
Open shot from our best shooter, dagger if it goes. I'm ok with it, unfortunate it didn't go.
With a minute to go? No, run clock and shorten the game.
Are we gonna get a better shot than that? Or are we more likely to end up giving the ball away yet again on a dumb turnover? Methinks one is more likely than the other.
I think I've seen this movie before.
Ice water Bibbs!
Rebound.... or foul and give up a basket.
Make. Your. Free. Throws.
You're up 4 and you foul on the shot....
The one thing you shouldn't do... And now Hudson is out.
The mental errors this team commits are beyond frustrating. High school teams have more composure than this.
They better break this press
Oh man... Hill with the ball in a corner facing the press.... Buzz couldn't have gotten onto the court to call that TO fast enough.
Threw the ball away... Unreal
Its like a broken record. This team is out of fucking control
Son of a bitch
This. This is how I feel. WTF, guys?
Weak sauce on that foul. So frustrating. Ahmed Hill should sit over Beyer
Fucking serious...... Literally throwing the game away. ALL they have to do is get the inbound cleanly, make a decent pass, ANYTHING but exactly what they just did.
You have to be fucking kidding me what in the hell. We're doing a good job of giving this game away.
This is painful to watch
I guess we don't want to win
I'm about to watch us lose another close one.
and it's done.....
Wow.... The discipline could not be more piss poor than it is. This is bad high school basketball levels of poor play. This is the shit that should not be happening right now. This team looks absolutely lost.
I'm no longer overly confident in the future of this program
Absolutely choked it away.
I know right, how dare those guys who are so long out of high school play like high schoolers. Lack of focus and inability to beat the press killed but those are a bunch of freshmen and sophomores out there. Doesn't help that they were playing on the road with 20k+ in attendance and were getting hosed by the refs too. You say lack of discipline and they're freshmen. Freshmen
Im just as pissed about the last 3 min of gameplay too but come on man
If they played like that in high school they wouldn't be playing at the collegiate level right now.
These kids are better than that, which is why I'm so frustrated. They are failing at and screwing up the little things which are hammered home from an early age. They know better than to do the things they have been doing. The fact they are playing D1 basketball proves that.
Godawful
Two passes thrown away in the last 25 seconds leading to 4 points. Terrible.
That was Seahawksesque.
This is why I don't watch us play basketball that much. When I do watch games I'm not really expecting us to win and then when it's close towards the end it hurts even more. Especially when it's that close.
Wow. I've never seen a team try so hard to lose a game they should have won comfortably. Way too many lazy, downright bad passes and shots. They lost this one and deserved to do so. Hope this one eats at you, boys. You flat-out sucked for the last 2 minutes after doing more than enough to win for the first 38.
13 point lead with 6:30 left in game.
4 guards on floor for last 1:30. Couldn't dribble or pass.
Ridiculous.
They youth excuse only takes them so far. This is pathetic. Time and time and time again we have reached the point where we should've won and time and time and time again we choked it away. Horrible play. Horrible discipline. There's only so much more I can say I'm proud of the team's effort when we piss another game away.
Enjoy that win Syracuse. We gift wrapped it and stuck it under your damned Christmas tree for you. Fuck this. I'm going to bed.
May need to take a break from this embarrassment. You cant script how our team goes about losing. Its like watching the Washington Generals when they lead the Globetrotters
I'm getting out my football bourbon.
I love how hard this team plays yeah yeah yahta yahta yahta, but that was freaking awful. Syracuse played terrible for about 38 minutes of that game and then we went ultra conservative with an 11 point lead. Worse execution down the stretch I have seen in a long time. No one to blame but ourselves
The absolute out of control basketball seen the past 2 games need to be coached out of this team immediately. We choked away a 16 point lead with 8 mins to go because we completely forgot how to play. The lazy reach in fouls, the poor passes, the undisciplined shots with no rebounding help, the poor decisions to drive the paint without a clear look... Just mindless basketball that has no place in the college game. We threw the game away tonight with no less than 5 awful passes in the closing minutes.
Buzz Williams, now is the time to show how good a coach you are, because these kinds of errors should not be happening in February. They shouldn't be happening.
This killed me. I don't think we have a player on the squad who is a threat to drive the lane. And that's fine, except that we keep trying to freaking do it. Two steps and just kinda noodle-arming the ball in the somewhat general direction of the basket.
The last four minutes of this game was one of the most frustrating experiences I've had in a while. Syracuse's press defense gave us a panic attack.
You need to give it a rest. The constant drumbeat of - 'out of control, don't belong in college basketball' mantra is unnecessary. You've posted that so many times lately as to be overly repetitive.
As far as 'coaching something out of the players', I don't know what you expect Buzz to do to stop them from getting trapped by pressure defense. That comes down to player decisions alone. Whatever has made you angry at Buzz & this team, you need to put it aside, or take a break from watching them until you get over it. Yes, they blew this game. They made bad decisions, especially at the end. It happens. No need to crucify them.
I'm confused about the backcourt violation. If the ball is tipped into the backcourt..it's still a violation? Regardless, ridiculous how 4 guards couldn't dribble and pass to close out the game.
It wasn't tipped... That's how bad a pass it was
When he had a clear pass to a guy inside. Didn't see who, but I mean it was the exact same pass to the foul line we'd been making all night against the zone.
Unreal. Never got a good replay so it was hard to tell. I didn't want to believe the pass was THAT bad. How about the 2 timeouts to just throw the ball away?
Five guards really, unless you're counting Bibbs or Mueller as forwards. Still pathetic. You'd think that would work to the offense's advantage
You'd think someone would do literally anything but the exact thing that we need to not do in order to lose the game. If we make one of those last inbounds cleanly, get one of those passes off at the end of the game, we win. I saw it in Winston-Salem, against UVA and tonight: this team just can't avoid beating itself. They have the exact same issue UVA football has. Even when they have the opportunity to win, they just can't get out of their own way.
if its tipped its not a violation...but it wasn't tipped. it was thrown there
2016 can't get here fast enough.
There can't be many more ways to lose a game after this one for fuck's sakes
Ugh...this is why I can't stand to watch us play sometimes. I come into it with no expectations, then we play really well and I start believing, only to watch us squander it and give it away right at the end. These guys are going to have to learn to not give away these big leads and how to win the close ones. We just can't seem to get over that hump of sealing the deal.
A good team would've beaten Syracuse by double digits
This bad team should have beaten them by at least 6.
That's the problem... Syracuse isn't a good team this year. They are a complete stretch to make the tournament at this point. This is not the quality of team you should melt down like that against.
Agreed. Not a good Boheim team. Aside from that, was anyone else impressed that a VT team finally figured out how to attack a 2-3 zone instead of the James Johnson where we just passed around the perimeter?
I thought the whole thing all game long. It was beautiful. And that much more painful that the setup was there to do it again at the end but we wouldn't take the inside pass.
That wasn't a 2-3 zone. A 2-3 zone puts two guys outside the blocks and is designed to defend the paint against bigger teams and crowd passing lanes. Boeheim uses the length to defend the three. With no inside threat from us he put 4 dudes on the 3-point line and left Christmas under the basket to rebound. I've never seen that before. I was able to snap a picture of what he drew up for his team before the game
If there was one positive from that game, it was scoring inside. Henry, Hudson, and Bibbs looked fearless attacking the rim against what is a notoriously tough zone. I know Bibbs threw up some prayers there at the end, but I liked that we actually attacked the rim, instead of just letting Smith and Muller chuck it from deep. If Pierce ever becomes a threat offensively, then we'll actually have some flow on the inside.
In two years, Satch will be average offensively for us, but a defensive force. That is where he'll really help.
Bad team is bad. This is why I had zero expectations for this year. On the bright side, I didn't think they'd even contend in many ACC games, and they've been in most of them right down to the wire. Need to figure out how to seal the deal, and soon.
I'm sure it's out there, but his "horrified" face that this face turns into is classic.
Welp, this sucks, but it is what it is. On to the next game.
7 losses so far by one possession. A go-to scorer to close out games would be fantastic. Chris Clarke?
How about having depth at the forward positions with Blackshear and LeDay.
Blackshear is the one I'm excited about. Hoping he can contribute and adjust to the college game early. Hopefully Satchel is much more adjusted next year.
Montrezl Harrell would be nice...
Eliminating dumb turnovers (lookin' at you, Hill) would be a start. But those passes in the last minute.... Oh, the humanity. I'm gonna be having nightmares of those for weeks.
The games shouldn't even be close. We are failing at so many little basic things in these close games that really, we should be winning them by double digits. But we find a way to throw it away.
Going into this season I didn't care about wins and losses. Well, I'll revise that. I don't care as long as habits aren't being learned. Right now we are learning how to lose games, and that is very difficult to break out of once it sets in. This team needs some wins, badly.
Unfortunately after the JJ years, learning how to lose is second nature. It'll get turned around though, I still have faith in the program direction
That's exactly what Buzz is fighting right now. A culture of losing.
I have every confidence in Buzz Williams. The process is gonna hurt like hell though.
Exactly. We are finally seeing the team actually be coached, instead of just turned out like we did the last two years. Buzz has instilled a system that is taking hold. Obviously, it is not there yet with the players, but even the best teams have bad nights. This team plays far better than it used to, and shows evidence it will improve on that as well.
Tonight was a very tough loss, but at least we know we can play with the other team in harsh environs, bad officiating, short handed also.
Those who are eager to give up on this team & Buzz probably were never that invested from the beginning.
Uh I think you mean Seth Allen.
Very disappointing. 4 guards on the floor, can't break a press. No idea what the mental block is, but it cannot happen. Very reminiscent of the Greenberg years. The freshman excuse is no more. It's February. No moral victories..simply invented another terrible way to lose. As disappointed as I've been all year following this team.
Immensely frustrating game tonight for many reasons that have been posted in this thread ad nauseam.
Freshman are going to make mistakes, see Duke's struggles at times this year, but hopefully they make the requisite sophomore jump. If they do, and I think they will, I have a hard time seeing us win less than 20 next year, especially if we find some meat in the middle before then.
EVERY team we play from here on out should press us from the opening tip. That was possibly the worst display of press breaking that EVER seen. At no point did I think we could get it past half court. Buzz takes two timeouts at the end, and promptly throw it into the backcourt.
If that happens, Buzz will find a way to beat the press. The problem this team has is putting it all together and changing gears when the situation calls for it. They can do one thing really well, and that one thing can be different from game to game, but they haven't been able to transition to doing a second thing really well in the same game.
I swear to god it's like watching a developmental league.
Right now, I think the moment is larger than this team. I don't know what Buzz does to get them beyond that, and I'm increasingly uncertain that it happens this year. But I do think it happens eventually. Every game is something different, and right now I don't think these young men believe they deserve it. You can watch our level of play decline as the pressure mounts.
Something will make this team larger than the moment, but it might take a different roster to make it happen. I dunno.
Gotta win games like these. I'm willing to accept UVA as a moral victory, despite the lead we gave up. Tonight, though, should have been ours. The players must keep their composure at the end of these games. I have full faith in what Buzz is doing, and I love watching this team play. But, losing a game under these circumstances shouldn't happen.
Got into a lovely little Twitter, ah, discussion with the guy who runs the Cassel Guard Twitter and wanted to make sure I made one thing very clear here, since I've obviously joined in with the negativity on this particular thread. I fully believe in Buzz Williams, I love the guys on this team and I'm gonna be at every home game from here on out screaming my head off. I'm going to be buying season tickets for next year the second they're available. I think it's very important that even in the negativity (we REALLY should have won that game, and losing in that fashion is 100% inexcusable, and I'm sure Buzz would say the same), we continue to support the team in real, tangible ways. That means a packed house on Saturday against FSU and financial support for what Buzz is trying to do. Getting on a plane to go check out big men in the JUCO national tournament isn't cheap, after all.
Jesus, I just went over and read your conversation with him. Is anyone allowed to not think the way you do or do you immediately start cursing and calling people pricks every time?
There were DMs involved as well. Just sayin.
.... Prick. (sorry, couldn't resist)
I'm not saying I handled that perfectly, by a long shot -emotions were high after all - but yeah, if someone's being a prick, I'm gonna call them a prick. If you take that as me cursing people out whenever they don't see things the same way I do, so be it.
Cassell Guard here and all I have to say is LOL
Yeah... sorry bout that. Bourbon and disappointment got the best of me there.
Syracuse is a better team than us. We should have never pulled away like that. For the first 35 minutes Buzz outcoached Boeheim and this team outplayed the Orange with their signature scrappiness. But in the last 5 minutes they went away from everything that got them that huge lead. Yes they were pressed but once they got in the half court they rushed shots, passes, and drives. They had played calm all game and then they all went Ahmed Hill at the end. I'm pissed like everyone else but those first 35 minutes were as promising as the last 5 were terrible.
*Infinite blank stare*
Just disbelief, that's what that was.
Fyi I am no hoops whiz and did not watch the game. However, the criticism of a team with 6 freshman, a sophomore, and 2 juniors for crumbling under the pressure is pretty harsh. The girls basketball team at my high school plays a press defense that makes the HAVOC look tame, and has done it for over 20 years. Every team in our district prepares for it every and they still can't cross midcourt against 5 undersized girls. Buzz beat the Syracuse Zone twice this year schematically, a defense that confounds some of the best basketball coaches in the world. That's a step in the right direction. Tonight we got beat by the press, something that nobody on our schedule does frequently, something great teams struggle to beat, and probably something this team has practiced very little.
This is going to be a tough season but you can't tell me that you expected this team to even be in this game coming into the season. Buzz is setting the foundation to contend with the big boys every night, step back from the ledge my friends.
Leg up for the thoughtful objectivity and the perspective. It is interesting that somehow folks turn so fast on this team, considering how much of a rebuild job Buzz faced from the beginning.
Yes, we had this win in our grasp, then passed it away, so to speak. But at least we're at the point where we have the wins within grasp now. We knew before the season this year was not about the W-L record. That doesn't ease the pain of losses like this, but that pain also shouldn't cause anyone to give up on the program.
Is anyone actually giving up on the program? People are disappointed, as they should be after that game. No one ever hinted that they've turned their back on the whole program, it's just a bad look to lose the way we did. You can't beat a press with literally five guards on the floor? I know the Hokies really haven't had to face a press this year, but that's no excuse for not being prepared for it in a tight game against a team known for their hellacious defense. End of rant, I'm moving on now, just thought that needed to be addressed.
This is the fourth game at least where a team has successfully used the press against us. Northern Iowa was the first, then WVU used it in the second half to blow us out, UVA used it to get them back in the game and now Syracuse to come back from a 13 point lead.
Thank you Hort Hokie! I have been astonished by the negativity on this thread. Maybe it is just everyone's emotions after a close game, but it was hard to read some of the comments saying so-and-so sucks and how inexcusable it is that we lost this one after having a lead in the last seconds.
Youth isn't an excuse, but it is a factor. Just like a brand new coach, a very short bench, and a lack of big men are also factors. There is little talk about how well this team played offense against the Syracuse zone. Exactly one month ago we came back from a 22 point deficit and lost to Syracuse by 2 points and everyone was praising this team for almost winning. One month and everyone seems to think that this team is going nowhere. Give it more than a months time and be excited about the future.
I'm way more disappointed in some of the comments on here than how the team played last night.
Keep in mind, the past 2 years, this year, and probably next year's team belong entirely to Jim Weaver and Tom Gabbard. James Johnson and Buzz Williams were thrown into a very unfair situation. The good news is that, we can be very optimistic about the future of Tech basketball.