How bad is Tech basketball?
Bad enough to cause the ACC to not schedule us for a matchup in the ACC-B1G Challenge. (TheACC.com)
With ND, Pitt, and 'Cuse getting added and only 12 B1G teams, we can't all be in the challenge. Missing the cut with us were Wake Forest and Clemson, the bottom three teams in the league.
It would've been interesting if they put Maryland on the B1G side to get more matchups/TV money.
Any thoughts?
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Comments
Oof. Can't say it's surprising, though
I'm fine with it. It's not like we are going to be worried about our strength of scheudule this year.
I say fix our football woes first, then worry about our basketball program.
That's been our mentality for too long and the product that we're putting on the court shows it. Look at Texas, they had a terrible basketball program until about 1990 and then turned it around while keeping a great football program. There's no reason we can't put a better product out there.
since we were the 12th seed last year and the acc is adding new teams this year, there was never any chance we would've been included. even though we would've been matched up with one of the b1g's lower tier teams it still sucks.
I don't have any energy to expend on the basketball program anymore. If you can't hire a coach who focuses on fundamentals, then I can't commit to your program. If you are the coach and you can't get your guys to play defense or protect the ball, then you don't have my respect or attention.
I expect next year will be an epically awful year, like sub-10 wins type of year. And, frankly, we deserve it.
Next year will be worse than last year. Having been to nearly every game for the past 4 years, this will be the worst VT basketball team in years. I've played with some of the players in McComas lately - Quis is barely 6 foot, Marcus Patrick is maybe 5-9, and our "big" guys aren't even that big. We will have the smallest team in the ACC and be absolutely destroyed by most if not all ACC teams.
Obviously this is a reflection of where our basketball program has fallen.
If JJ isn't able to rattle off some wins early, both in the season, and during ACC play, then things could really spiral out of control. Unlike football, the majority of hoops fans are fair-weather, and I say that as someone who never paid attention to the basketball team until my senior year (2004-05). Cassell was pretty empty toward the end of last season, and I'm afraid that's only going to get worse if the team doesn't show improvement.
I have hope that JJ can get the job done, and at least trend us in the right direction by season's end. At this point, I'm 100% behind JJ, because he's trying to change the culture, bring in, and develop talent. No coach can work through that overnight. If we only win a few ACC games again, don't see better defense, improved fundamentals, then it's going to be harder to defend him.
A blessing in disguise, we have an extra spot on the schedule to play who we want, either a winnable game or something to boost our RPI in the non-conference, so it's not all bad.
Honestly this doom and gloom crap is depressing. Adam smith is a sharp shooter. I see him replacing greens points almost by himself. Robert Brown is gone so should be less wasted possessions with the ball in his hand and I think CJ is gonna impress some people. He has been working on his outside game and I think has the potential to be the player Jeff Allen wished he was. I don't expect it to completely turn around in one off season but as long as fans show up and actually cheer this team will feed off that and pull off a respectable record for a team in transition.
Adam Smith averaged 13.1 ppg in his only season at UNC-Wilmington, there's no way he can replace EG's 25 ppg. I know he's had a season of practice since then, but what Erick did last year was more than just score. He scored efficiently. CJ was good last year, he'll definitely be an improved player.
I didn't say the whole 25, I said most of it. Like in the 17-20 range. Smith is in the mold of eg and doesn't really look streaky like guys like Eddie and Brown were last year. This isn't going to be a one man show like last year. It's going to be a guard heavy, press and run type team. Look at LaSalle and VCU and that's the mold JJ is going for.