Its probably fitting after the season the Hokies have had to finish up with a nooner on the internet. The only drama left in this game is that Miami actually comes in with something to play for, sitting squarely on the NCAA bubble. Right now the pundits have them as one of the last four teams out. They need the win today to put them over 20 total and 10 in conference. 10 used to be an automatic entry from the ACC until our Hokies of a few years ago ruined that. Since then its been hit or miss.
Since this is our second time playing the Canes, I will give you a refresh of who their top players are but will also touch on what happened the first time around and how we need to improve if we want to have a chance to win.
Miami is still led by the same group of transfer students in McClellan and Rodriguez. The Canes are led in scoring by Sheldon McClellan, (#10) a 6'5, 210 lbs junior guard who transferred from Texas. He is giving the Canes 15.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg, and 2 apg. He is coming off several 20+ point performancesa 24 point. He is also clutch at the free throw line, shooting 81% and can hit from outside.
He is joined in the backcourt by Angel Rodriguez, (#13) a 5'11, 181 lbs junior point guard who is averaging 12.3 ppg, 4.2 apg, and 2.5 rpg. Rodriguez comes to the Hurricanes on a transfer from Kansas State. Rodriguez had seemed to have found his touch in recent games, steadily scoring in double figures in eight straight games, until he hurt his wrist against Floriday State last week. It is unknown whether Rodriguez will be able to play today due to the injury.
Down low, the Hokies still face the stout task of trying to slow Tonye Jekiri, (#23) 7', 235 lbs junior Center, who is averaging 8.7 ppg to go with his 10.5 rpg. He also adds 1.6 bpg as well. He is a rebounding machine and could prove our undoing underneath unless Pierce can find a way to play a solid game. Henry and Beyer just don't have the size to keep Jekiri off the glass. He shoots 50% from the field and a solid 73.2% from the free throw line, so essentially he scores about 80% of the time he touches the ball in the paint.
The hit or miss player for the Canes seems to be Davon Reed (#5), a 6'6, 208 lbs sophomore guard. On the season, he averages 7.9 ppg, 3.4 rpg but it definitely comes in spurts. In his last three games he went for 18, 2 and 19 points respectively. The Canes just dont know what they are going to get from him game to game. Tech has to hope he has an off night, especially around the perimeter as he shoots almost 48% from beyond the arc this season.
In the last game against the Hurricanes, Tech suffered its worst loss of the season. 76-52 after playing an extremely close first half. The Hokies couldnt hit a shot to save themselves in the second half, going 10-33 from the floor. We were also crushed in the rebounding department 40-19.
I would like to think that today is going to be different, that the home crowd, it being senior "night", and the last game of the regular season. I dont expect to see us get blown out again but I dont have faith that the Hokies can manage to win this game. Too many times this year we have failed to respond, and in this case our opponent has their post season aspirations riding on beating us, so Miami will be motivated to win.
Miami 74 - Virginia Tech 62
Comments
Rodriguez is out.
Too bad their 3 point shooting is in.
That sequence, right there, is satchel Pierce in a nutshell. Unreal.
Wait if its only online, why is it blacked out for me? Espn3 blackouts are the worst
Waaayyy too late to help anyone, but the game was televised on CSN by Direct TV.
Comcast sportsnet
Again, not a coincidence. Worst 3 pt shooting defense in the country
It may not be socially acceptable for me to crack a beer this early in the day, but VT's defense in this game isn't socially acceptable either.
40 to 16 Miami with 3:09 left in the first half
The Jim Weaver legacy lives on
What defense? We haven't covered the perimeter the entire game. Its not often I point the finger at the coaching staff but this is ridiculous. No attempt to cover threes while they drain them all day. Just ugly.
I am getting the feeling this team has mentally checked out on this season. The absolute lack of perimeter defense is telling. The lack of effort and lack of caring is... its not good.
I didnt think we would see it under Buzz but I have to agree
Games like today are what will separate the men from the boys on the team. Better believe Buzz is paying attention and mentally noting each and every guy out there who isn't giving this game his all, because he's going to make the preseason workouts that much harder on them. As we have seen throughout the year, he has no problem with stripping playing time from guys who don't bring it every night, because that honor is not given, its earned.
I am more convinced now than ever that we are going to see multiple transfers after this season.
And at this point, that probably isn't a bad thing.
And when that happens, lots of cynics will use that as an excuse to berate Buzz for trying to develop a winning culture in the program. The same cynics who do not belong to the Hokie Club, do not buy season tickets, and only are interested in attending the home games against Duke, UNC, & UVa.
The last time Miami played in Cassell they scored 45 points in the game. 46 in the first half.
Good news is maybe Texas won't go after Buzz if they fire Barnes after the year!
46-18 Miami at the Half
Ugly, ugly, ugly performance on Senior Day. The lack of effort on the defensive side of the game is appalling and we have very much earned this thorough beat down.
Games like this are why I will never forgive Jim Weaver for what he personally did to our basketball program. That last year under Seth, sure, we lost a lot of games, but at least we put up a fight most nights. Now we're getting embarrassed on Senior night at home by unranked Bubble teams.
I really, really believe that Weaver never expected Greenberg to have the success he had against UNC & Duke. I think Weaver thought he had hired a guy who was a .500 level coach, who would only have us embarrassed when we played the top teams, and otherwise keep us close enough to not get humiliated.
Once Greenberg won some games against #1 teams, home and away, and had us in the top half of the ACC, things became troubling. Factor in that Greenberg never knelt before the football staff in obeisance like James Johnson would later be hired to do, and the issue worsened.
Weaver was left with the problem of having to actually fund the basketball program on an ACC level - imagine the irony of even considering that, 'Should we fund our hoops program in the ACC?' - or finding a way to urinate on the campfire. We all know he took the latter route, considering his humblebrag was - 'We're now going to fund our program at a level to match Clemson (a bottom half ACC program)'.
Miami may have decided to take the second half off...
I know. This run has almost given me hope, and then I look at what the score is and realize Miami can check out for a good ten minutes and still have a comfortable lead going down the stretch.
And to be honest, they probably can and we still likely won't have enough time to climb back into it with the hole we dug ourselves in that first half.
I don't think we will either. It's just easy for a team of young guys up 20-something at half against the worst team in the conference to check-out at halftime. It looks like the second half will at least be more interesting, and less painful, if only slightly.
Pierce still gets embarrassed a few times a game, but he's been showing some positive signs more often throughout the second half of conference play.
Him and Hill have definitely started coming along the past couple weeks, and that makes me happy.
82-61 Miami Final
Hokies finish the season 10-21, 2-16 in ACC play, losing 7 straight to close out the season. Of those final 7 games, 4 were losses by more than 15 points. Of those 4 blowouts, none were against a ranked opponent, and 3 were by more than 20.
The remaining 3 games were a OT loss to #4 Duke, a 12 point loss to #2 UVa, and a 7 point home loss to the team who was in the basement of the conference at the time.
Right now, this is not a program that can compete in the ACC, and the results have shown it. For the second straight season, we finish with only 2 conference wins. Since the moment Seth Greenberg was fired, Virginia Tech has won 8 ACC games over 3 years. We are proving everyone who wanted nothing to do with us back in 2003 when the ACC wanted to expand correct in their worries.
And the worst part is.... it didn't have to be like this. Thanks, Jim.
Looking to next year, we will have some serious depth at the guard spots. A lineup with 3 guards would give us
1. Seth Allen, Justin Robinson/Devin Wilson
2. Justin Bibbs, Adam Smith, Jalen Hudson, Malik Muller
3. Ahmad Hill, Chris Clarke
I'm high on BIbbs and Hill.
It'll be interesting to see what Allen, Robinson, Clarke bring to the table.
Where do we go from here? It seems like there wouldn't be enough minutes to share amongst this stable of guys.
We'll still be short on size, so I think most of the guards will still get decent minutes. We'll only have Pierce, Henry, and Blackshear around to play the 5 spot. If Buzz signs Levi Cook then the dynamic changes some.
Edit: I forgot about LeDay. With him we may be able to play two big men just by virtue of having the bodies to do it.