Hey everyone!
Buzzketball is coming! Get hype! So VT Hoops doesn't really tailgate quite like the football side of things, but that shouldn't stop us all from pregaming and drinking anyway. Me and Magic Rat (Chris) are going to the first game of the season against Maine this Friday and should be in town early enough for some downtown beer and pool. If anyone wants to meet up and hang over beers before tipoff, post here and we will get up with you.
While it's no Lot 18 FAM party, it'll still be fun to round up some members of the TKP community and talk hoops and football over a rail or two before tipoff.
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I sadly won't be able to make due to work, but hope you have a blast! Let's Go Hokies!
Friday can't get here fast enough. My Buzzketball hype is at max level.
Buzzketball is bak!
There are very limited tickets on HokieTickets left... it would be so great for our first game of the season against Maine to be an official sellout.
Pass the word around!!
Season Prediction: 9-11 NCAA Tourney seed and Top 6 in ACC
Boy top 6 in the ACC better get ya better than a 9 seed in the big dance!
I have no historical reference on this one, it just seems like the ACC is stacked this season.
EDIT: Notre Dame was 6th last season, we were 7th. ND got a #6 seed in the tourney and made it to the Elite 8. Pitt and Syracuse tied for 9th at 9-9 in conference, both got #10 seeds. Pitt lost to Wisconsin in the first round and Syracuse lost to UNC in the Final Four. Times like this are where I reflect on what could have been if that Alabama St game was cancelled.
RPI matters. VT needs no bad losses, and hopefully wins against Mich, Tex A&M, and UCLA. Loss against UCLA would still look favorably in RPI calculations (assuming they're near as good as projected).
Will be neat to see how much the team has progressed since last year.
Also nice to have another Hokie team to root for as the football season
gets toward the end.
Enjoy the game! I am guessing no TV for this one?
I think you can watch it on WatchESPN.
It is part of the ACC Network Extra which is indeed available through WatchESPN
I will be enjoying a Maine Beer Co Dinner IPA and watching Buzzketball tip off on Friday.
Some of those Maine Beer options (e.g., Peeper, Lunch, Tiny Beautiful Something) are excellent!
I'm a fan of Allagash Brewing out of Portland, Maine. Their white beer is pretty damn good.
Two interesting excerpts from SI's Expert Preseason Predictions:
Breakthrough Team: Virginia Tech. The Hokies made a massive leap from Year 1 to Year 2 under new coach Buzz Williams. After recording only 11 wins and finishing 175th in adjusted efficiency in 2014–15, they recorded 20 victories and closed at 63rd in adjusted efficiency '15–16. The Hokies are ready to make yet another leap this season. Virginia Tech probably won't compete with Duke, North Carolina, Virginia and Louisville at the top of the ACC, but expect senior guard Seth Allen and senior forward Zach LeDay to lead a team that made the NIT last season to the Big Dance for the first time in a decade.
Not buying the hype on: Virginia. This could be the year that Tony Bennett's seemingly imperturbable program stumbles just a bit. There's London Perrantes (11.0 points per game) and talented 6' 9" transfer forward Austin Nichols (13.3 points per game at Memphis in 2014-15) . . . and a lot of unknowns after that. Isaiah Wilkins and Marial Shayok are veterans of 60-plus college games and must be rotation stalwarts this year, and they've been underwhelming to date: Both averaged fewer than five points per game last year. The frontcourt, beyond Nichols, is a mystery. The pack-line defense will give the Cavaliers a chance against virtually anyone they play, and no one is saying they will plunge to irrelevance. But this doesn't look like a top-15 team.