You guys are gonna hate me for this but I can't resist. Hearing some very interesting stuff about VT basketball in past 3-4 days— KipTJam (@KipTJam) February 19, 2016
KipTJam is an VT basketball insider, and I'm kind of surprised he'd throw something like this onto twitter, as it's not really his style. Does anyone have any insights? This could mean anything. Chris Coleman responded "No news would be good news" which indicates to me that something shady could be going on.
Hopefully this is not Buzz/NCAA related, but it really could be anything
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Maybe a transfer or suspension? Who knows?
SCAM! FAKE! J/m, honestly have zero clue.
It's unfortunate that "interesting" from a media perspective seems to be received with a negative connotation. Bad news sells, though. That's all we really expect these days. I guess humans are naturally masochistic :(
I think if it really was something bad they would have just out and said the rumors. I'm not super concerned.
That's not my point. I'm not going to speculate on this news. Just look at the general tone of this thread though. People are concerned. When they know there is news but they don't know what the news is they fear/assume the worst. I'm saying it's unfortunate that we're at a point in our society where people fear the unknown. Why do people always assume news is bad until they've actually heard it?
We literally know nothing about what this guy is suggesting. It could be anything. Good. Bad. Neutral. It's silly to speculate. There may be nothing. But look at us, we're discussing it. Maybe his goal is to rile up fans. He achieved that.
I'm going way, WAY OT here, but fearing the unknown isn't something that we've gotten to the point of. We, and almost all species, are biologically programmed to fear the unknown, because fearing the unknown gives a species an evolutionary advantage. Our cave-dwelling ancestors were more likely to survive and produce offspring if they treated anything they didn't understand as a threat. I'd argue we are just now barely getting to the point where we are starting to evolve beyond fearing the unknown.
Richard Dawkins, the Selfish Gene
So poor use of words on my part. Fear of the unknown as it relates to the decision to go into a dark, unfamiliar, space is one thing. Fear of the unknown as it relates to potential "news" about your basketball program being bad news is entirely different.
I agree that fear of the unknown is preprogrammed into our species.
I am only taking issue with the fact a whole lot of people are just assuming the worst when someone says there is something interesting going on but doesn't provide any specific info to back up the statement.
Buzz leaving to coach Wisconsin next year?
*ducks*
This is along the lines of what worries me. That or NCAA violations. Player specific issues wouldn't be brought up as "VT Basketball" in the tweet
Coleman said elsewhere it's not player-related.
I think Greg Gard, who coached under Bo Ryan, will stay. What if Wisconsin went after Tony Bennett? He was a Wisconsin assistant at one point, and his father coached there as well. That would be awesome!
That has certainly been rumored. No idea if Tony would do it, he's got a pretty good thing going in Charlottesville.
Gard has the job trust me. We love him up here and he's completely turned this team around. It's gards job to lose
Maybe it's something good like plans for a new Coliseum or free season tickets for life for VTMaroonOrange?
Close. They're actually for VTOrangeMaroon.
Damn, I heard that guy is a sumbitch.
Took your mom out for a nice seafood dinner and never called her back! Sumbitch indeed
When I initially read that tweet, I thought through all the bad things that it could be because of "You guys are gonna hate me for this".
But, what if "You guys are gonna hate me for this" references that its a tweet with no followup; that is what we'll hate not the news itself.
So it could be good news.
Yeah, I thought it was along the lines of "you're going to hate me for not being able to tell you this awesome shit way sooner."
Here's to hoping this is the correct interpretation of that tweet.
My afternoon would have been better if I didn't know this tweet existed.
We are officially at Code Yellow. I repeat, we are officially at Code Yellow.
Code (Torrian) Grey: The sky is actually falling?
Doesn't look like anything illegal
The only thing that's really up in the air (that we know about) is the Ty Outlaw situation so this might be some clarification on that. Maybe he's coming back? Maybe he's ruled out for next year too? If that's the case, maybe NCAA is allowing another scholly to take his place. (He would be a senior next year, right?) Honestly, I'm not an insider and I don't know. My guess is just as good, or as bad, as anyone else's.
This seems plausible to me.
Something he has known for 3-4 days, mid season, not legal trouble for a player. So we can deduce that it's not coaching change, wouldn't happen mid season. I'm guessing injury or player leaving the team.
Let's draw ridiculous conclusions from a cryptic tweet from someone outside of the basketball program.
Relevant to motivations?
No, Rev is a good guy who usually knows his stuff. Really shouldn't say this kind of tweet though unless you are willing to give facts. Poorly done on his part and Coleman too.
Yeah, I have no idea who this guy is or if he's credible, so from where I sit, this is just the Twitter equivalent of clickbait. "HEY I KNOW SOMETHING!" Especially bad if you have a following and people believe what you say.
Apparently its Rev Zeke from TSL - and he's very connected to the basketball scene
He has a past of being very knowledgeable before most others in terms of the basketball program. He and I have had many twitter conversations the last three years and I haven't found him to be far off with anything he said. As for him being coy about something, that's unusual but not unheard of. Guess it's hard to be in the know some times and not be able to talk about it so you don't burn relationships.
Also possible the news isn't bad.
Whatever it is, we'll know soon enough. Even if it's worst case and Buzz is interviewing and headed elsewhere, I have full faith in Babcock to find a very good replacement. Though, I can't see him leaving right as the fruits of the rebuild are staying to ripen, so who knows what else it could be.
Yeah, Coleman says he (Coleman) regrets sending that tweet.
I'm familiar with this guy having been a subscriber over in TSL in the past. He is Rev. Zeke Vodka over there and one of the very few who truly does have an in with the Athletic Department. Knowing him, this comment was said with tongue firmly lodged in cheek.
My throught process about insider information is that you shouldn't talk about it if you have no intention of disclosing what it is. If I know something but I'm not going to tell you then I'm not going to hint at it just to stir things up. I think it is in poor taste.
It could also be that you don't have any insider info, and you're just "that guy".
(Not you particularly, just the generall you.)
We've self imposed a post season ban for future potential actions (baking)? /s
My cousin's girlfriend said she heard from a guy who used to go to Tech that his brother who is a towel boy found out that they're building a new Coliseum
I guess it's pretty serious
Thank you Simone.
We hate you so much for this news. /s
Please delete this. I "replied" to the wrong comment.
No
I feel like I have been Bronco'd
Too soon!
No, you've been VonMiller'ed.
Might need clarification. Coach BM recently tweeted "Some big UVA news coming, I will announce it at noon!"
The Sabre was upside down with joy, apparently they were expecting a positive announcement about Taysom Hill was on his way to Hooville.
When noon rolled around, BM revealed that they were going to be playing ODU for several seasons to come.
At that point, some BYU lurker on the Sabre cried "You've just been Bronco'd"
Coach BM is a great nickname for him. Especially when used: "You just got BM'd" or "Man they really pulled a BM".
Or something like:
The whole team listened to a loud BM at halftime today and boy, that stunk.
We don't want to do that again.
Or, "Hey, who wants to make snow angels for BM."
"BM had me at #2."
When he gets fired. ESPN sportscaster-"BM forced out at UVA today."
Uva, apparently
UVA!? Courtesy flush, please!
Are you guys trying to make me think of Bronco every day? Thanks for nothin'.
When at BYU the UTEs referred to him as Roscoe Mendenhall. ESPN apparently renamed him during a game. He does sorta look like P Coltrane. Is it just me or does he sound a bit like Elmer Fudd?
If you want a laugh, Google "Bronco Mendenhall quotes"... He either has some twisted wires or his tongue is too slow. By the time he gets it out the meaning is lost and you are scratching your head.
travis ford probably getting fired....or maybe that was last year's rumor?
Speaking a Travis Ford, if you want a quick laugh check out his Wikipedia page below and look at the information under the "Current Position" tab on the right side. It's kind of NSFWish though...
Travis Ford Wikipedia Page
Ha. Big 12....
Anyone get a screen cap? I don't see anything unusual?
"Coach" had been replaced by "Giver" before it was reversed.
So has anything happened to justify all the speculation?
This reminds me of Dick Chaney's warnings. "We don't know where or what...but something might happen...soemtime..."
Step off the ledge fellas. Yesterday in post game buzz said they had one on one workouts and meetings the past few days. Things were probably pretty rough. I'm sure that's what he was alluding to. Buzz has dug his heels in here. He's staying for a while.
It's about Ty Outlaw
It's going to be announced that he will be cleared to play next year!
just curious, are you speculating or do you have a source? That'd be awesome if true!
Why would we be mad at Zeke for telling us that?
no you're interpreting it differently than I am. I took it as we're going to be mad at him for telling us there is news but not telling us what it is. Not that we're going to be mad at the news.
You know when you were a kid and you saw another kid whisper into some other kid's ear and you know they know something you don't but they won't tell you what it is? Didn't that infuriate you as a kid? It's the same thing. He's telling us there is supposedly something interesting but he's not going to tell us what it is. And he thinks that is going to piss us off...
Didn't CC tweet Zeke about it being player related and he said no?
Correct. It's not player-related. The phone is Buzzing from some B12 schools.
Sources?
Very Good post!
well I don't know who Zeke is. I assumed you were referring to the tweet in the original post. I don't follow your Zeke guy so maybe we're talking about different things.
Based on the original tweet that was posted by the OP I took it to mean we would be mad at him for telling us there is something interesting. Not mad about the news itself, necessarily. There is no indication that the news was good or bad. It could be either. Whether or not it is player related is absolutely irrelevant to what I'm trying to say.
I took the original tweet to mean that we would be mad he wasn't sharing any of the "interesting" info with us. Not that we would be mad about the actual info.
Rev's original tweet said he had been hearing some interesting "things," so both the Outlaw news and Buzz/OSU news could be inferred.
We are just going to have to deal with the Buzz rumors every year, that's the price of having a good coach at a school where he doesn't seem to fit because of our lack of history. Maybe OSU isn't enough to get him, Ford is only making 0.1M more than Buzz is right now. Or maybe Buzz wants to get back to Oklahoma for family, which if that's the case, we can't do anything about.
But Buzz may be on their list, but #1 on their list. A lot of good coaches out there.
I think it will be good news. If it were bad I expect that Zeke could resist.
I agree... and hope you're right.
It seems more like, "I couldn't resist teasing this exciting news," rather than "look out, something bad's coming," given no history of behavior like that on his twitter. Feels like he would have been less vague if it was bad news.
In any case, I'm going to [try to] stop worrying about it, as it doesn't seem to be anything immediately relevant to the program.
It isn't good news. Pretty sure other teams (yes, multiple) have reached out to Buzz. The good news is that it isn't the other way around. Buzz is a good coach. This is going to happen pretty consistently and chances are eventually he'll head elsewhere. Just how the business goes; we won't be seeing another Frank Beamer in major college athletics ever again.
The longstanding basketball coach isn't as dead as the longstanding football coach though.
No, but there are limits to how many UNCs and Dukes there are in the world.
Do you think that Buzz is really even listening yet? He is only in year 2 of the VT rebuild and is just now gaining ground in getting the fan base back. I thought initially that we would be able to keep him for at least 4 years or to the point where VT is at least a bubble team.
Other than Wisconsin/Okie St, what big time jobs are going to be open this off season anyway?
VT fans are about to feel like what VCU fans felt for years before Shaka eventually left. Get used to the rumors about a new school being interested after nearly every season, and that is probably a good thing (unless he leaves, of course.)
Difference is that Virginia Tech is in the ACC, the premiere basketball conference in the country. There's absolutely no reason that we cannot be the Marquette of the old Big East.
Oh I agree, all I'm saying is that new schools will have interest in Buzz after every season because he is a fantastic coach. Fortunately, I get a feeling that he will be here at least another 5 years.
Marquette, the place Buzz just left?
Yeah...the team perennially in the top 4 of the best conference in America.
He left, in some part, because they were no longer a top conference. Spin it how you want with Nova and Xavier and whatnot, but the new Big East is not on the same level as the ACC.
Someone on the TSL MBB Board posted that Ty Outlaw said he about to be cleared to play. Hopefully that's the news.
If that's the case, why would he play at this point in the season? Couldn't he qualify for a medical redshirt?
Win the ACC tourney and then get to the final 4!!!
Dream big!!!
I believe you have to take the regular redshirt first. Medical can only be used for a 6th year.
Medical redshirts and extended eligibility are different processes. Sixth year waivers are for unusual circumstances. There is always the 5-year clock unless this waiver is granted by the NCAA.
http://www.athleticscholarships.net/2012/07/17/how-get-medical-redshirt.htm
I think he qualifies for a regular redshirt. Most JUCO basketball players have three to play two.
This would be huge. I have heard that Outlaw is the best offensive player on the team. I would think he would still wait until next year to play, but he should have 2 years with the Hokies!
Ok, we are all assuming that if Outlaw is cleared to play that VT will clear him to play. That is not necessarily true, Chaney was medically cleared but not by VT. Here's hoping for his sake he makes it back.
I asked around and the general word about Outlaw is he is most likely going to be able to play (Next Year).
Medical stuff is obviously not legally allowed to just float around so I doubt this is the official word but this is just what I've heard
This guy used to know a shitton of athletes while we were at school not too long ago so I believe Mr. jollyman may have some special sauces.
I am thinking that Buzz's emotional response in the post game interview may align with this.
Hopefully its good news for Ty Outlaw.
The tweet had nothing to do with "win a battle, take a bite." My guess is Outlaw or that we're getting a lot of buzz from NIT committee.
I can't see why NIT buzz is the sort of thing that he couldn't directly speak about. I'm guessing, of all the theories thrown out there so far, it's most likely Outlaw news, Buzz getting calls for a bigger job, or an unexpected transfer for next year.
So basically this is what everyone is doing in this thread:
Yeah, but I'm probably the closest. I talked it over with my dogs and they agree with me.
Close. It would be a better representation if the dartboard was on the wall behind him. Photoshop nerds, mount up!
This is what I could come up with in such short notice.
ring ring Will you accept a collect call from...UVA MARKETING...?
Any updates or rumors going around the basketball team? Is Buzz really listening to the supposed "calls" from interested teams? Would he really leave given the deep roots he's established here?
If he's getting such calls, which I assume he is, he'd be crazy not to listen. I hope like hell he answers no, though.
Correct. It's nearly impossible to not hear the offer that Wisconsin (and others) would put on the table. It's going to be a big number. Let's just hope his heart is with the good guys.
But rest assured, Wisconsin is calling Tony Bennett first.
And please, please, pullease, Tony, listen when they call.
Shoot, Wiscy called Tony and Tony's father months ago. UVA oughta be nervous if they don't make a deep run in the tournament this year.
#sauces
hell no is probably gonna be the answer
I endorse this.
I do tend to believe that 2 years is just a touch too quick to skip out. Especially with what we could be returning next year, he does express a level of commitment to the team that would be tough to break so quickly. But if Wisky or Okie St offer him $4m, in two locations that he could call "home," it may be time to rent the uhaul.
If its not this year, it won't be long, We will go through this every year until he does find an offer he can't refuse. Sure, VT is in the ACC, but there are probably 40+ jobs that he should take if offered. The over/under on Buzz's tenure at VT is probably 4.5 years.
When he's gone, VT basketball will be in a much better place and Whit will be able to make a hire that extends that momentum. And we will tip our hat to our eccentric bald friend and wish him luck. The risk he took to come to VT was extraordinary.
It's a great problem to have. Hopefully this happens with football as well.
I agree with your last point. Buzz could leave today for another job and I would still appreciate the hell out of what he did here. Hopefully that won't happen for a few more years, but things like that happen all the time in college basketball. Honestly, I'd love to see Buzz go to the NBA one day, after winning at least four national titles here at VT first. Maybe five.
Don't worry, be happy.
Why are so many people talking about Buzz potentially leaving? I just don't see the reason for him leaving Tech so quickly for a "bigger" job. He was the coach at Marquette and had several NCAA appearances including Sweet 16s. It doesn't make any sense to me that he'd leave a fantastic and established program to go work on a lesser one, just to try and get another job.
I don't think anyone's suggesting that moving on after 2 years here was his plan, but plans often change, and a check with a lot of zeroes at the end can go a long way toward accelerating that change. I personally believe that his intent when he got here was to stick around at least 4 or 5 years, and that he has enough talent on the roster and support from the university that he wants to do that, but I wouldn't be shocked if someone else made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Sure, we all love Blacksburg, and all indications are that Buzz loves it here too, but it's far from a basketball "destination". Heck, even Frank Beamer once almost left for Chapel Hill.
Frank Beamer is from North Carolina though. I know VT was his alma mater but still who knows what is truly in a coaches head.
Frank Beamer is from Fancy Gap Virginia, he was born in NC though.
Kind of like leaving Marquette and his Sweet 16s to come to Blacksburg?
Don't get me wrong, I was thrilled he was hired and love having him here. But I would not call our recent basketball history "Fantastic" or "Established"
No that's my point. Why on earth would he leave a good program to go rebuild only to leave within 5 years?
more money and maybe not such an uphill battle?
It would have to be like an NBA job and more $ to me
I think he was asking why Buzz would leave his established and successful program at Marquette to come to Virginia Tech, a lesser program, just to up and leave before he is done rebuilding the program.
This is the salient point. Buzz has taken on the unenviable job of resurrection, and it doesn't make sense that he would desire to leave before he could satisfy himself that he had accomplished the mission that led him to leave Marquette for the "hinterlands" in the first place. Yes, dream job could call, and I would understand that, but Buzz seems to be about more than money, and I believe he at least "loves the one he's with" right now. I don't look for him to be coach for life or anything, but I'd be surprised if he left before he could honestly feel like he did what he set out to do.
The news is that Okie State is very interested .. Heard it from a reliable source .. That's all I know
Buzz had a multitude of reasons to leave Marquette that were all non personal salary based. New president that didnt support the amount of money spent on the basketball program, new temporary Athletic Director that fired one of his assistant coaches, a new new Athletic Director coming in that would probably be influenced by the new president. There were already funding issues being raised that could have prevented him from giving his assistant coaches raises and he had already lost four assistant coaches in the last four years because he didnt have the budget to match their new offers.
As for why he would leave now? If one of the top jobs in college basketball comes calling you have to at least listen and considering the positive traction he has already been able to show at a program like ours, there are going to be a ton of top schools that view him as a candidate. His contract is also very Buzz buyout friendly. I am not saying that he is going to take the jobs but to not listen might be to burn bridges he needs later on.
Why hasn't anything else concrete come out by now. He reported that he heard stuff the last 3-4 days, and that was a while ago. I feel like by now we should know something more by now. Or at least more solid rumors.
Was reported elsewhere that Ok State and Memphis had reached out to Buzz
Memphis is just sour we took Fuente; they're trying to get even /s
big, if true
lol /s
Read recently an article on Buzz (I think it was an old Washington Post article from last year around ACCT time) with a quote talking about how Buzz no longer defines success by money, that he used to, but doesn't anymore and that he and his family lives only on 500k of his salary. That's not to say that money wouldn't be a strong pull away, but I don't think he'd make a strictly financial decision.
Absolutely no #sauces here, but I think Buzz is in for the long haul. He wanted a challenge. He challenges the status quo. The status quo at Marquette wasn't moving and had maxed out at solid top 20 program that might have an Elite 8 or Final Four run possibility.
He sees VT. The cellar dweller of the ACC. A rebuilding project. Maybe he sees it, can build his brand here, turn VT into that top 20 program. That's a 5-8 year build with the status quo always changing in the best league in America.
Again...no #sauces but my personal theory.
I sure as hell hope so.
Must be rough.
One hell of a retirement fund building up there. Even after taxes.
Oh yeah for sure. All the respect to him for saving up that money. Just saying I don't pity him for only living off $500k/year.
He went to the Carson Palmer school of money management.
the frank beamer of hoops! no way could we possibly be this lucky...again!
One day I am going to get on here and see 30 new posts, and I will be very nervous to open the thread
Must not create 30 new posts to make you fear the post....must not do it......
29
28
Ok I could be on board with this
I believe this would be 26.
Hey, what are you guys counting for?
Not sure... I think it's the offseason?
I see what you did there.
I think I may know you. What's your 20?
TGIF
It's late and I'm bored. My kid won't go to sleep so why not screw with people!
I am now terrified of this thread. And of you all.
This thread needs to die quickly, it is just lingering and toying with my emotions!
Well, this guy has succeeded in generating hype. There is a 154 comment thread on a tweet that contains no information.
I refuse to participate.
Me too.
Here here!
Way to take a stand!
By participating?
I would also like to participate in the not participating thing....
I tried participating in the not participating thing this morning, but did not get as much enjoyment from it as I do from participating, so I am no longer going to participate in the not participating thing, and am now participating in participating.
Aww, don't be that way. I was getting T shirts made up and everything!
Fifteen.gif! ...oops.
lol, well played.
From all of us to you,
Would a stick of dynamite blow this up?
What did I miss? Is Drew Harris joining the basketball team?
In all seriousness, has anything come out?
I imagine if there's anything newsworthy, Joe will have a front-page post within a very short amount of time of anything happening.
Consequently, Joe has already written 6 speculative articles for 6 different situations just so he's ready if/when news comes out.
Any hints?
Yeah, I figured. However, if it wasn't the splash we were thinking, then I would at least like to put this to bed too. I don't think Buzz is going anywhere, but it would be nice to remove any inkling of concerns, haha.
What in this post warranted a down vote?
Don't sweat the incidentals.
Although now I see this one got DV'd so so knock it the hell off, people.
Probably a lot of people are sick of this absolutely useless thread getting bumped back to the top of the tracker. Just leave it alone, everyone.
a lot of people browse on mobile devices. It's certainly possible to accidentally hit one of those buttons with your thumb as you scroll through threads.
I wouldn't worry about random down-votes. They're really meaningless in the grand scheme of things
I think we all know what this really about.
Yes, Buzz plans on growing out his hair.
Why won't this thread just die???
*urges thread to die while commenting on the thread, thus keeping it alive.....
This makes no sense but I love it anyway.
New theory: Could this be related to one of Buzz's assistants getting a head coaching gig? On Tech Talk Live last night, Buzz was talking about his assistants and mentioned that Isaac Chew turned down a head coaching offer last year and that he believes he'll be a head coach sooner within 50 days.
Isaac Chew is a hell of an assistant and this would not surprise me. He's been Buzz's top man for a little while and he's earned his chance to become an HC somewhere. I'll miss him if he chooses to leave, though.
We will all miss his recruiting the AAU circuit if he indeed does leave the program. Chew has a huge network in that world.
I know this board has a strange relationship with #sauces, but there isn't much mystery about this tweet. It's been #sauced in numerous places that Memphis and Okie State probably have contacted Buzz's representation to gauge his interest. The extent of the reciprocation is up for debate and the list of schools will likely grow over the next month.
But this isn't the type of info that will show up in the Roanoke Times. If it is addressed by the "traditional media" on twitter, their sources almost assuredly aren't any better than Rev Zeke's. He works in scouting in D1 as a consultant, he knows everyone and he has a particular connection to VT hoops. He knows what he's talking about.
There may be other issues going on, like you mentioned, assistant coaches will likely be hired away (Buzz said as much on TTL last night), there is the Outlaw situation that needs to be resolved in the next month so we can recruit his scholarship and there will likely be a transfer or two. And those are the obvious three issues on the table. But the big issue is something we just will have to get used to: Buzz is being courted by other schools.