"Timeout, Virginia Tech."
You could hear the Greensboro Coliseum PA announcer roll his eyes as he said it. Buzz Williams stopped the clock with just over a half minute to go, his team down nine against Miami in the second round of the ACC Tournament.
Miami waited patiently as Williams drew up his last out of bounds play of the season. In what was possibly the most fitting end to his first year in Blacksburg, Williams' play worked to perfection, right up until Adam Smith had the ball taken away at the rim.
The final moments dripped away and Tech finally succumbed, 49-59.
As the final score indicates, there wasn't much offense to be found in the greater central Carolina area on Wednesday night. The Hokies came out looking tired, understandable after their racetrack worthy photo finish the day before. Their opponent came out looking like a nervous bubble squad who knew exactly what was on the line. Even the crowd was subdued, giving about as much fanfare as this brick-fest deserved.
It wasn't for lack of effort, though. The men in orange did their best to keep themselves within an arms reach of Miami at all times. Christian Beyer came up with a big series of post buckets in what turned out to be his final performance, and Devin Wilson had a handful of fast break layups that kept the Hokies in the game.
That being said, there were plenty of mishaps to go around. Tech turned it over nine times, only made eight trips to the free throw line (and only hit four of those) and couldn't buy a bucket from behind the arc. The last point is what did them in the most.
The best three point shooting unit in the conference only hit 20 percent (3-15) of their deep balls, and for one of the first times in months were seemingly never able to capitalize on open opportunities.
Buzz's bunch did what they had to do on defense and didn't let the Hurricanes beat them at their own game. In last Saturday's shellacking, the Hokies gave up oodles of points off long range jumpers and had to correct that if they were to have any chance to win four days later. The team was able to do just that, but it still wasn't quite enough.
And now we're staring in the face of Buzzketball volume two. The feel good initial showing has officially come to a close, and we all must move forward. While this scrappy, never had a chance roster was fun, now is when the real basketball begins.
Next season, Buzzketball won't be a program on crutches, and we won't evaluate them as such. They will have all 13 of their scholarships filled, and with the additional recruits comes a talent boost. All of the freshman who have been topics of conversation over the last few months will be older and will (hopefully) show signs of maturity and growth.
There will be about 10 players who already have a working knowledge of Williams' system, and more importantly who know what he expects out of each man. The "let's get to know each other" aspect of this experience is over, the roster is full of guys whom Buzz brought to Blacksburg.
For the fans, the hard part is over. Watching these dudes, brimming with potential and more raw talent than we've seen in a long while, slog their way through a tough 2015 is behind us. It's time to raise our expectations and actually look forward to what will happen next year with more than just morbid curiosity.
I know with this loss means that 99 percent of us will turn our full attention to spring football, and probably won't give the basketball team more than a passing thought until November. It's understandable and I wouldn't expect anything less.
But you know who's going to get to work tomorrow? You know who's hitting the gym in the months between now and next winter? The guys who are in the process of turning this program around.
The 2015-2016 Virginia Tech men's basketball season starts today, and I, for one, can't wait to see what happens.
Comments
Did you check the weather in BBurg for tomm?
too easy
Great write-up to close out the season. Looking forward to seeing what he can do during his first off-season!
I wouldn't say it was a good season, but there were good things within this season.
Congrats to Beyer and Johnston, two guys who battled through the worst of VT hoops and made the best of it. Memories for a lifetime for those two. And I'm sure they picked up skills that will help them for a lifetime.
One thing to keep in mind is defense. We often get caught up with offensive abilities like Hudson showed Tuesday (what a dunk last night) and the number of good shooters we have. And it's clear that we don't have the size to even balance out the rebounding deficit we faced every night. But, defensively, is where this team needs to (and I think, will) make the most strides. So much of good defense is playing together, like good OL play. And if we just found a post player who was a defensive presence, it would go a long way towards tightening up our perimeter defense. I know we are looking for another post to bring in next year, but most of the names I have heard are shooting/Euro bigs. I wouldn't mind a shot blocker, a 5ppg guy. With Allen likely taking over for Wilson at the point, we have what should be elite scoring ability at 4 of 5 spots. The #5 slot may be best for an elite defender.
Anyway, thanks Buzz. We were better than our record, that's for sure. We saw actual coaching. We need to get the kids to Cassell next year, need to get some excitement in the program. We're not that far away.
It will be interesting to see how the off season plays out from an personnel standpoint. Do we have transfers? If so, who and how many? Do we sign Levi Cook to add some size behind Pierce? If we do, who leaves?
I haven't been this excited for the next basketball season since, well, this season.
For the first time in a while I can say, as a Hokies Basketball fan, I am proud of our team. The fight, the determination, and mainly the heart that was brought each night was everything you can asked from such a patch work team of youngsters.
Today a the next chapter starts in Hokies Basketball. The ACC is now on notice, be ready for a fight because the BUZZSAW is coming next year!
Honestly, thank the Lord this season is over. I am tired of watching this team keep games close up until the last minutes where they just throw the game away.
Can officially add Seth Allen and Zach LeDay to the mix. Excited to see what these two can bring. I remember watching Allen at Maryland and was very excited he chose to transfer to VT. He was a 13 PPG guy for the terps. You could see both of those guys chomping at the bit every game on the sideline. Can't wait for next year. WEIGHT ROOM TIME FOR SATCH! Please!
I would add Ballet and Passing drills to his off season workout to help with his movement and decision making. He just looks uncomfortable out there when he has the ball in his hands. #TippyToeSatch2015
And Henry! Dude is listed at 190 which means he probably plays at 180, needs to be 230.
I agree with Satch needing some footwork and passing drills. Every time he tried to pass in the interior it was a TO. Get him out in the football practice field doing some tire and sand pit work and he won't be a step slow and pick up all those fouls when he gets out of position on drives from 10 ft out.
I hope we go after some Grad Transfer and/or JUCO big men that will eligible immediately. Either way we need to get bigger down low and have more of a post presence on offense next year.
all scholly's are taken up ATM, unless we have attrition. Buzz sort of questioned his decision to offer Hill and Pierce last year and I think this was why.
Right, I understand we are over the limit currently, but we are still actively recruiting Levi Cook, a 2015 player. Therefore I feel like Buzz is planning on "losing" a player or two. If this is the case I would rather use a scholarship on an older, more mature player with some college experience.
"Buzz sort of questioned his decision to offer Hill and Pierce last year and I think this was why."
Huh?
Buzz has said repeatedly how much he loves Hill and how he has a hard time taking Hill off the floor as he is too valuable in his eyes. And Pierce, if everyone gave up on college big men as freshman, there'd be a lot of current NBA centers selling cars. Its similar to being a CFB left offensive tackle. I remember an analysis of NBA level senior big men from several years ago looking back at their freshman years and how ineffective they were.
He said after the Wake game that he didn't know how smart it was to offer them given the lack of spots.
It don't think wasn't directed at them in terms of whether or not they were talented enough, I believe it was whether or not it was wise to use so many scholarships that early on in his tenure before he had much time to really evaluate the roster. Now he is seeing a big lack of depth issue at the F/C positions and has not available scholarship to fill it. Not to mention having 5 scholarship players in one class creates another issue in 4 years.
A spot or two will open up between now and the end of the summer, and Buzz will pick up one more big guy at least.
We lived by the three most of the year, and last night we died by the three. We just could not drop them in at our normal rate. If we had the game would have played out a lot different.
Great effort by the players especially by our seniors and the coaching staff who actually coached!
Miami is a very good perimeter defensive team. We got very few good 3 point shot looks throughout the game. Miami has done this to us every game we played them this year.
My comment was based more on the percentage hit versus attempted. We have been a close to 40% 3pt team, and last night wasn't.
We will still need one more season to overcome the damage done by Tom Gabbard and Jim Weaver. Hopefully, better times are ahead.
You can say that again!
"We will still need one more season to overcome the damage done by Tom Gabbard and Jim Weaver. Hopefully, better times are ahead."
Again and again!
Someone will undoubtedly leave. the question is who? We have to have another center Levi Cook come on down ur the next contestant on Buzzketball 2.0
Great write-up! Can't wait to see next season's team.....Go Hokies!
Not that this matters, but it's amazing how good Vegas is at setting a line. I believe I read on here last night that the line was VT+10. And....
More importantly, I am really impressed with Buzz. His intensity, coaching sense, decision making. I believe he made the most out of this season's patchwork team. Can't wait to see what he can do with a full cupboard.