The Hokies earned their sixth ACC victory of the season this afternoon with a 83-73 victory over Florida State. Following the win, Buzz Williams spoke candidly about the emerging atmosphere of Cassell Coliseum and went on to express his discontent with his team's February schedule. Williams' full quote is below.
"I think the best part of today was that our fans were rewarded again. Fourth sell-out. I think in some ways we're ahead of where anybody would have thought. But I would say if there's one category where we're further ahead than what anybody would have anticipated, it's the groundswell of support that our program (and) our kids are receiving. So in a selfish way, relative to the building of our program, I like it when the people that show up that are showing up for the first time wondering, 'Is this gonna be worth my time?' when they're rewarded. Not that winning necessarily is the reward, but when we play hard. When we play the game the right way. When the atmosphere during timeouts and halftime, I don't even know what all that is. I think that's big. Coming to Cassell needs to be something that everybody outside of Cassell goes, 'Man, it's hard to win.' Because that's a step in doing something. That's a step in becoming relevant. The next step is we got to win on the road...I know that comes across kind of arrogant. I've had nothing to do with that. That's the marketing, that's the associate and assistant AD's doing all the stuff to pump it all up. That's the students getting involved. That's the Cassell Guard. It's all those people, most of which I don't even know. But I know the ambiance changes. And I know the ambiance has continued to change in a positive way over the last couple of months. It's a shame that the league scheduled two home games for us in the month of February. But that's part of being last. You're gonna get the short end of the stick. I try to be so politically correct even though I have no politicalness in my body. Tired of being disrespected by those that are supposed to be justifiably fair. At some point, somebody needs to be the adult. So, they can fine me, Whit can tell me to be quiet, they're wrong. They're wrong. You don't play five games on the road, two games at home in a 27 day stretch. You don't do that. But that's what they assigned us. That, in some ways, makes it even sweeter."
The relevant portion of Virginia Tech's schedule is below.
| Date | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Sat., Jan 16, 2016 | at Georgia Tech | W, 78-77 |
| Wed., Jan 20, 2016 | at Notre Dame | L, 81-83 |
| Sun., Jan 24, 2016 | #2 North Carolina | L, 70-75 |
| Wed., Jan 27, 2016 | #16 Louisville | L, 83-91 |
| Sun., Jan 31, 2016 | at Pittsburgh | L, 71-90 |
| Tue., Feb 2, 2016 | at Syracuse | L, 60-68 (OT) |
| Sat., Feb 6, 2016 | Clemson | W, 60-57 |
| Tue., Feb 9, 2016 | at #7 Virginia | L, 49-67 |
| Wed., Feb 17, 2016 | at #11 Miami | L, 49-65 |
| Sat., Feb 20, 2016 | Florida State | W, 83-73 |
| Tue., Feb 23, 2016 | at Boston College | |
| Sun., Feb 28, 2016 | at Wake Forest |
Comments
Edit: Another video. Full credit goes to TechSideLine. The Buzz interview. Wow. I'd be happy being half the man he is.
To be honest, I don't agree with Buzz here. Sometimes, the way scheduling works, you have tough stretches of games. It happens to every team, and it just happened to us during this February stretch. It's a tough part to play so often on the road, sure.
Duke played 5 games away from home in January and 3 in Durham. It happens to them too.
UNC has 5 road games in February. The list goes on.
Today was a good win, but let's not act like the schedule is extremely unfavorable to us. Is it a tough stretch and we got a semi-short stick? Sure. But it's not like VT was thrown to the wayside here.
It's just tough the way our breaks work out. We play 3 of our first 4 conf. games at home, but the students are on winter break. After 2 road games, they come back for the home UNC and UL games. After that VT has to play 6 of 8 games on the road. We'll get a nice crowd for Pitt, but no one will show up for the Senior Day Miami game because that's when Spring Break starts.
So we have 18 conf. games, 9 of them at home. But we only get a true home court experience in 5 of them. That's a tough break.
Yep, and our home heavy schedule was a huge benefit early in the year and two home games in March may yield a great ending.
But if he complains about and it creates more balanced schedules in the future, then great.
I think it was one ofthe announcers earlier today that said that Pitt has only played 7 games away from home so far this season. Now, that is not fair on any level. Great victory today. They toughed it out.
Pitt is known for setting up a schedule in order to game the RPI.
http://www.cardiachill.com/2012/10/3/3420824/jamie-dixon-rpi-pitt-basket...
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/64576/how-to-g...
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/Pitt/2015/12/18/Jamie-Dixon-makes-his...
What do you expect when you are the bottom for so long. You want a better schedule then you have to win and have a venue that looks good in tv. Love Buzz and we will get there sooner than later
This sort of reminds me of the days when Seth would bemoan our NCAA snubs and have to settle with the NIT. But then we would end up turning in poor performances in the NIT. Kind of proves the NCAA's point when we can't even makes any waves in the NIT. So I agree with you, Beamer's Auto Garage, that we need to be an attractive product in order to complain about our scheduling.
i expect no one in the conference to get any preference, or any slight, in balancing home and away games. TV is by and large going to determine TV.
a stretch of 2 away, 1 home, 2 away, 1 home, 2 away is totally avoidable
>>You want a better schedule then you have to win and have a venue that looks good in tv.
Just need TV eyeballs. I refuse to believe VT fans across Maryland, NOVA, DC have suddenly stopped watching our team... if anything they have been looking to watch more often. I expect us fans to not get the economics of sports.
But for the ACC to not do everything they possibly can to make a strong show in the Balt Wash TV market. We are ending up on ESPN3.
Buzz needs to get this personal like with the ACC guys. If these rumors are true, lets tell the story and ask the questions about why the ACC network is being mismanaged.
Someone should be fired / commit hari kari / etc.
F*** Carolina... F*** the ACC... the good old boys ain't doin their jobs as usual. (Well they are evidently lining their and their families pockets.)
This is why Plank and UMD left. Tired of being treated like 2nd or 3rd class citizens by the a**holes from Carolina. Now that we've signed their stupid breakup fee provision, they feel like they don't have to be responsive at all.
Last thing these Carolina p***ies want is for our team to get some media attention and some eyeballs of the kids who are playing in HS now. A few more recruits, a few more wins, and who do you think kids are gonna want to play for?
Dresser and Buzz are right... we deserve and should demand respect.
JMHO
edited 45 times each with increasing systolic
We were the back to back worst team in the league, who had an empty coliseum for several games, when they made the schedule. I am not a fan of fixing schedules for marketing purposes, but I can't rant about it. Screw us after we earn it and I'll buy a pitchfork, build a torch, and help you carry signs to ACC media events.
Back to back to back to back. I agree, we have to earn it, but if they still dis us, I'll join you and we can get up a crowd and maybe a discount on pitchforks and kerosene.
Respect is earned, not given. In recent years, we have been hands down the most irrelevant program in the conference. You don't get preferential treatment by annually coming in dead last, most nights being cannon fodder for the ones who matter.
Things are getting better, but we're still a far cry from being relevant in this conference. They're not going to do us any favors until those favors can pay off for the conference with a high NCAA seed.
He's right though...Id bet NO team plays 8 road games and 4 home games in any 12 game stretch. Only us and Cuse had 3 home ACC games while students were on break
This is similar to complaining about touch fouls when the game is 6-6. You are looking to gain an advantage/favorable call later when it really matters. This year it makes no difference Tech is a .500 team and no chance of meaningful postseason play. But next year or the year after, Tech will be fighting for an NCAA bid and needs a more favorable home Feb schedule to close out on.
Our in-state rivalry game was scheduled while our students were on break. I don't see that flying for the NC schools. And I don't think I'd characterize it as whining when it seems like he is trying to point out something that is seriously flawed in his belief. Finishing last means you won't get the best dates & timeslots, but there should always be a level playing field. You have to fight for that in the ACC sometimes.
Like when we were ACC elite in football and got a bye before GT and were spoiled with prime time games and better other division foes at home? Or more like how we were really screwed when new to ACC in BBall? ACC has never been fair to bad teams, but they are consistent about it.
Hahah you have a point about consistency. ACC doesn't choose the TV time slots, I wasn't referring to that. And bye's happen before Thursday games pretty regularly, but all I'm saying is I see Buzz's point. Two home games in Feb seems avoidable, accompanied with the 5 or 6 games while students were away.
Buzz has got a little Kevin Dresser in him
I agree with BW 100% and I am glad to see his fire and speak out. Happy for what he is building at the Cassell.
In Buzz I trust, and He's 100% right on the way VT has been scheduled . For the Cassell to be filled for Games, Have some when the kids are on Campus ..
Not to mention that it is flat out unfair to the students as well. Ultimately, it is their team and they should be able to see as many games as possible.
The way to get it changed is to be vocal about it, and to win games.
In Buzz We Trust.
So I wanted to look at this a bit more. Just looked at the last six games of the schedule across the ACC. Here is how it plays out. Seems Syracuse is the only team to finish four away of their last six and FSU has four home games. Everyone else is 3 home and 3 away. I can understand the frustration of the early home games but I would be interested to know if when school starts back is even a factor in scheduling. Maybe it needs to be but I doubt it is right now.
UNC 3 and 3 home and away
Miami 3 and 3
UVA 3 and 3
Louisville 3 and 3
Duke 3 and 3
ND 3 and 3
Clemson 3 and 3
Pitt 3 and 3
Syracuse 2 and 4
VT 3 and 3
FSU 4 and 2
GT 3 and 3
NC State 3 and 3
WF 3 and 3
BC 3 and 3
A big part of the attraction of CBB, especially the regular season, is the atmosphere, which is created by students. There has to be a way to limit the amount of games played when students are on break and ensure that the majority of games are played with students on campus in order to create that atmosphere. This goes for every school in the conference, but we get especially screwed because we have a longer break than most.
At some point though the ACC has to schedule games and play ball. If we have a longer break than everyone else than thats what the conference is likely going to point to although only one of the home games in question came during that extra week. Not all schools spring breaks are that early either, many come after basketball is in tournament play so that again is a school issue.
Reality is that conference play starts at the beginning of January every year, slightly scheduled around the final couple college football games but its a pretty consistent start period every year. They cant push that back because the schedule runs right up to the conference tournament and then the NCAA tournament. There is no give there. The only way they could work around this is to change the format entirely and go away from the OOC slate to start and then all conference. You would have to start conference play and OOC at the same time and work them in which could prove to be a nightmare to get the necessary OOC games.
This year, Tech started conference play with 3 home games and 3 away games. I imagine if I go look there will be at least three other teams in conference that started with three of four at home to start the year considering how the end of the year schedule went. I am just not seeing the slight here that many others seem to see. The only real game that bugs me is the UVA home game when the students werent on campus. That should be a no brainer but it also depends on who the conference is scheduling as our rival game.
Is there a bad stretch of games in February, sure but thats bound to happen sometime during an 18 game stretch for everyone. Its never going to work out Home, Away, Home, Away, Home, Away.
Agreed, it's just not that big of a deal. And if we were slighted, we deserved to be. We were the least relevant team in the league coming into this year.
Considering Wake/VT and BC/VT are both on national TV this week, I tend to think we've been handled favorably in regards to scheduling and TV. With what I expect we will return next year, it could be even more so.
I'm not saying it's completely avoidable. We played 5 games before the semester started up: 2 Home, 1 Away, 1 Home, 1 Away. The last one was the weekend before the semester started. Everyone will play home games without classes in session, they should try to limit it. When everyone is on break the schedule could be pretty even, once classes start up again, the schools still on break would play away. The weekend before classes start could be counted as classes in session, so that Georgia Tech game could've been played at home. I just think it's avoidable to play 3 home games during break, when there is a limited number of ACC home games to begin with. Example: Wake Forest classes began on Jan. 12, we played them in Cassell on Jan. 13 before our semester started, then will play them away on Feb. 28. You can switch those up and both schools will have students in session and we would have only played 2 home games during break.