IT'S GAMEDAY! #BeatDuke Cassell 12 PM ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/gzlGzksO7e— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) December 31, 2016
GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: December 31, 2016 / Noon
Opponent: No. 5/5 Duke
Site: Blacksburg, Va. (Cassell Coliseum)
Radio: Virginia Tech IMG Sports Network
Talent: Jon Laaser & Mike Burnop
TV/Internet: ESPN2
Talent: Mike Couzens & Cory Alexander
Live Stats: HokieSports.com
Game Notes: Virginia Tech
XM Radio: XM 194 (Internet 956)
Getting the ACC started with a Bang
Buzzketball has started the season about as well as they could, now its time to face the big boys of ACC play. #5 Duke comes to town for a New Years Eve day tussle. If this was later in the day I think the crowd would play a bigger factor but it's a nooner. The Hokies have to come out steady against the Blue Devils, definitely avoiding Duke jumping out to a big early lead. This will be a tough test, especially with the size of the Blue Devil roster. If you thought the Hokies faced a tough challenge when they went up against the Texas A&M bigs, this is a whole different level. Duke sports nine players 6'7 or taller that play enough minutes to cover almost three spots on the floor for the entire game. Let that sink in, roll it around, realize what the predicament might be for the home team.
This game is listed as a sellout but I fear the holidays and the impact it may have on attendance, even with such a high profile opponent in town. This team could really use a solid crowd to help it bounce back if Duke manages to get out to a lead. Duke comes in having only lost to #7 Kansas by two. They have wins over four Power 5 or Ranked opponents. They are coming in after thrashing Elon College but running into the media embarrassment that is Grayson Allen, with his third documented tripping incident in the last two seasons. Allen is indefinitely suspended, so Duke will be missing their second leading scorer coming into this game against the Hokies.
This will be the fifty fourth meeting between the Hokies and Blue Devils. Duke leads the all-time series 45-8, starting all the way back in 1912. The Hokies last victory against the Blue Devils came when Duke was #1, 64-60 in Blacksburg back in 2010. Tech has managed two overtime affairs since then but no success in finishing off a win.
The Blue Devils are coached by Mike Krzyzewski, who has coached Duke to a 982-263 career record, an almost 80% winning percentage. In the 36 years that Coach K has been at the helm, Duke has only managed to not make the NCAA tournament four times, and barring the year he had surgery, and relinquished the helm in 1995, it was only his first three years as head coach that they didn't make it.
One thing to keep in mind when facing Duke is a Coach K mantra, "A winning basketball team makes the opponent react to them, whether they are on offense or defense"
Defensively, the Blue Devils employ a high pressure attacking defense that varies its form and style based on opponents. This season it seems a two three zone with two guards harassing the perimeter ball handler by shifting into passing lanes and making it difficult to get a clean shot or pass the ball. A couple other tenets of a Coach K defense are that his defenses involve getting all five players to play together: talking on defense, seeing the ball, and moving as the ball moves. He expects all five guys to play for the charge as a standard. He also coaches his team that defense continues until the ball is in Duke hands.
Offensively, Duke usually runs a three out, two in Motion offense, which involves the perimeter players looking for bigs at the free throw line to create space, open up driving lanes, or allowing for kickout shots from the corner. The Blue Devils excel at moving without the ball so they are in the right spot to take advantage of a defensive miscue. Duke isn't exactly the fastest paced offense so the Hokies should look to speed them up if they can.
What does that mean for the Hokies?
The Hokies need to come out realizing they are not on the floor with those 300+ pushovers from the last two months. This is big boy ACC basketball at its best so Tech needs to be prepared to force the pace of this game. Duke is not exactly burning the nets down this season so far, shooting only 35% from behind the arc and a mortal 48% from the field total. The Hokies need to try to protect the paint and make Duke earn it hitting jump shots or long range bombs.
This should be a high paced game if the Hokies want to have a chance to win. They need to run the legs off the Duke bigs. They cannot afford a letdown like they had against A&M either, as Duke will much more easily recover. Duke will outsize the Hokies at three of the five spots on the floor for a majority of the game. As we saw against the Aggies though, Tech has the ability to open up a significant lead on a team if they come out fast.
The Blue Devils unlike most of Tech's opponents so far, do not rely on the perimeter shot to score. They much prefer to work the ball inside. The two keys for Tech here is that Leday and Sy have to stay out of early foul trouble and Tech needs to have hands up in a more collapsing style defense today.
The Blue Devils heavily rely on their starting five, four of whom play thirty or more minutes per contest, two others that are above 27 minutes per contest. Tech must find a way to get to the line early and often, hitting their free throws while also getting their opponent in early foul trouble.
Blue Devils Backcourt
Sophomore Luke Kennard, (#5) 6'6, 202 Lbs, Guard, comes in leading the Blue Devils in scoring, putting up 20.4 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 2.8 APG and 1.1 SPG. He is the only one of Dukes top five scorers that is averaging over 40% from outside. This is a complete change from last year, when he was the only one of Dukes starters with a terrible outside shot. He also has a deadly short range jumper, accounting for him shooting 52% from the field and is shooting 88% from the line. Many were surprised that Kennard chose to return this season rather than take his skills to the NBA but it definitely has been to Duke's benefit and likely made Kennard a lottery pick in the upcoming draft. Kennard is averaging 36 MPG of playing time.
As mentioned above, Duke will be missing Grayson Allen, (#3) 6'4, 195 Lbs, who was averaging 16 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 3.5 APG, all while shooting 81% so far from the line. Behind Allen are two other Blue Devils guards averaging in double figures.
Freshman Frank Jackson, (#15) 6'3, 205 Lbs is averaging 12.3 PPG, 2.2 RPG, and 1.7 APG. Jackson comes in shooting 48% from the field, 39% from behind the line and 83% from the line in about 27 MPG. His role will dramatically increase for the duration of Allen's suspension
Matt Jones, (#13) 6'5, 204 Lbs Senior Guard is averaging 7.8 PPG, 3.2 RPG, and 2.2 APG. He is being called on to score a lot less than he was last season, when he averaged double figures. That will likely change during Allen's absence as Duke looks for another shooter to step up. Jones is already averaging 34 MPG of floor time so don't expect to see more of him, just him doing more on the court. Jones is one of Duke's top defenders though with 2.2 SPG and expect to see him covering Chris Clarke when Duke is not in a zone defense.
Blue Devils Frontcourt
Freshman Forward Jayson Tatum, #0, 6'8, 205 lbs is the leading scorer down low for Duke. Tatum is putting up 15.4 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 2.2 APG and 2 BPG. He missed the first eight games recovering from a foot injury but since returning his numbers have surged. He shoots a surprisingly poor percentage from the field, at 39% but does manage to shoot 92% from the free throw line. He is now averaging 27 MPG since returning.
Senior Amile Jefferson, #21, 6'9, 224 lbs missed last seasons matchup with the Hokies due to an injury. He has returned this season with a vengeance, averaging a double-double with 14.2 PPG, 10.8 RPG, 2 APG, 1.9 BPG, and 1 SPG while shooting 65% from the field. His one weakness is the charity stripe, where he is only managing to hit 59% so far this season. Jefferson is averaging 30 minutes a game of floor time.
After these two gentlemen, there are a handful of bigs that collectively play what amounts to the Center position for Duke. First among those is Antonio Vrankovic, Sophomore Center, #30, 7'0, 261 Lbs, that plays 11 MPG, averaging 4.1 PPG and 3.9 RPG.
Teaming up with him is Sophomore Forward Chase Jeter, #2, 6'10, 230 Lbs. who is playing 15 MPG and contributing 3.1 PPG, 2.6 RPG, and 1 BPG. Freshman Forward Jack White, #41, 6'7, 215 Lbs gets 8 MPG and contributes 3 PPG and 1.8 RPG. Freshman Center Marques Bolden, #20, 6'11, 245 Lbs has been playing 7 MPG while contributing 2.6 PPG and 1.2 RPG. Freshman Forward Javin DeLaurier averages about 10 MPG, putting up 2.1 PPG and 2.9 RPG.
The numbers above are slightly misleading, as this group of bigs has been used in a hodge podge sequence so far this season by Coach K to cover for injuries among their projected starters. Only Jeter has played in every game. That said, the other scary piece is that not accounted for above is Duke phenom Harry Giles, Freshman Forward, #1, 6'10, 240 lbs who will only be in his third game back from injury. I would expect to see him get about 10 minutes in this game as they work him back into game condition. Center Marques Bolden is another phenom that missed the first the first eight games of the season due to a lower leg injury.
Names the Announcers will Butcher
Coach K is obviously first on this list, even after 36 years of being the Duke coach, trying to say Krzyzewski is a tongue twister. Nick Pagliuca or Antonio Vrankovic would be my honorable mentions in this category.
What to expect from Duke?
The Blue Devils play predominantly a half court high pressure defense in either man to man or zone geared towards making opponents make mistakes. Their goal is to take the ball away any way possible, limiting the number of shots that an opponent takes to instantly give them an advantage on the other end. Relentless attack on the ballhandlers so that they move from defense to offense.
Expect to see a team that is just not touching into all of its potential but also dealing with the suspension of Grayson Allen. There could be some confusion with Allen not on the floor to handle the ball at the top of the key. Also keep in mind that Duke has three freshman phenoms that are all recently back from injury. Only Tatum seems completely back but do expect to see more out of Giles and Bolden in this game as they have had another couple weeks to get better prior to this game.
The Blue Devils are averaging 83.5 PPG and only allowing opponents 61.8 PPG. That's a 21 point average margin of victory so far this season. There are a few extreme blowouts that contribute to that but for the most part Duke has won by double digits in almost all its games. Why is this important? With the number of freshman on this squad and Allen out, if Tech can make this a close contest its not something Duke has had to deal with much and could work in the Hokies favor. Duke has only been within double digits twice this season, once in their loss to Kansas and the other in a nine point win over Michigan State.
Rebounding wise, the Blue Devils may be a nightmare scenario for Tech but so far this season they only average 40 rebounds per night. A team with this size and depth I would have expected to see averaging in the high forties. Part of the explanation though is that they don't miss as often as other teams so there are not rebounds to be had. Duke comes in as a team shooting 56% from inside the arc.
Duke is fairly average when it comes to fouling opponents, giving up about 18 personal fouls per game but no one player stands out as consistently in foul trouble. Hopefully the Hokies ability to speed up the game and stretch the opponent will lead to a few more opportunities as they force defenders to reach.
The Hokies
Tech needs to be ready to keep a high paced tempo the entire game without letting up if they want to win this matchup. They have to be able to get a high number of transition baskets while forcing Duke out of its comfort zone in methodically attacking the ball. Essentially force Duke to deal with their own medicine when they are on offense.
Tech will have a tough time winning the lane so it has to be able to hit its jumpers, especially critical is hitting its perimeter shots. Tech likely needs to shoot better than 50% from outside to be a factor in this game.
#WednesdayWisdom pic.twitter.com/cilWEoX8aU— Buzz Williams (@TeamCoachBuzz) December 28, 2016
This may seem counterintuitive but they still need to Pound the Paint, as both Leday and Sy need to play a major role in this game. Getting the ball inside and forcing Duke's bigs to adjust to the Hokies challenging them inside. Allen should also play a major factor in possibly getting the Blue Devils in some foul trouble. One thing to remember though is that Duke is averaging almost five blocks per game as a team so the Hokies need to make sure that they get quality looks at the basket.
Highlight of the UMBC Game
The continuing evolution of Chris Clarke. This was a second straight double-double that followed a triple-double. Total for the last three games from Clarke is 52 points, 35 rebounds, 14 assists, 2 blocks, and 7 steals.
In Closing
Less talented and completely outsized. Those are the words many are using to compare Tech to Duke for this matchup. I would argue that they are of a differing talent but the size aspect will play a factor. Tech has to use its speed and athleticism. Draw on Buzz' bootcamp. Be ready to go for forty minutes of non-stop high pressure basketball. Welcome to the ACC schedule.
The Hokies have to work the ball to the open man and hit those shots when they get them. One of the main reasons that Duke has won by such big margins this season is that they have kept opponents shooting percentage down to about 40% from the floor. That gives them almost a 8% edge compared to how Duke has done on the offensive end and that's barring making opponents make other mistakes with the ball before they even manage to get shots off.
I expect to see Buzz stretch the floor, especially on defense with Allen out. They will try to attack Duke before they even manage to get across half court so they are able to limit Duke's time to set up offensive plays but also hope to create transition baskets or foul line opportunities.
I really wanted to be able to say that Tech would win this game in an extremely close affair but I think that Duke's size will come into play at some point and the way Tech responds will likely decide this contest. That said, lets throw caution to the wind and go Tech wins 85-83, with overtime possibly needed.
Greatness is always preceded by separation. Your separation is preparation for your purpose. What separates real people, is the middle.— Buzz Williams (@TeamCoachBuzz) December 30, 2016
Comments
Watching VT beat Duke would be a great way to bring in the new year.
Duke's bigs are way too much for Tech I'm afraid. I don't expect this to be close.
You must not remember February 26, 2011.
I member!
That was the day I crashed my motorcycle, broke my shoulder blade, my wrist, and was concussed.
On the bright side, my dad got to tell me that we beat Duke and see how happy it made me every 5 minutes for 4 hours.
You were right. It wasn't close...
I'll be there! Can't wait! Go Hokies!
I wonder if Grayson Allen made the...trip.
That buzz tweet, more than most, is a riddle. I've read it 8x, can't figure it out. It should say "Greatness is preceeed by separation. Separation is defined by your ability to understand this riddle. If you don't get it, you're not great."
I had a certain gut feeling about the 2011 game. I've got that same feeling today.
Can't wait to be there in a couple hours.
Just caught a little bit of sports center... Might have to watch this game on mute, as it's alllll about Duke and how Allen being out impacts them and how they're going to be OK regardless of who plays and blah blah blah Duke Duke Duke. They essentially called our game a layup that they can afford to not have him play and still win relatively easily before they get into the hard part of their schedule.
Yeah hope the team caught a little bit of that.
Tech is currently a 5 point underdog against the Blue Devils today, for those of you interested in that sort of thing.
Loads of Puke fans here...
This game will be 40% Duke fans.
Was 90% or more VT
And like I've been saying for weeks, this student section is weak. And unless it gets drastically better in the next 25 minutes, the entire game thread is going to be complaining.
Why would it be full? The students aren't even close to coming back from break.
Everyone on this board doubted me and were telling me that people would travel back.
This is just my "I told you so" post
It looks pretty good on tv
Sounds good too.
I think they said it was sold out.
The game threads are mostly complaining anyway unless we dominate every possession.
Devin Wilson leads the team out for warmups. Complete with cornrows.
Still can't understand how the ACC allows student break (edit) conference games to happen.
Cause they need to get the full schedule in by March?
No other P5 conference is playing conference games today. #GoACC
Ok but Winter Break isn't just New Years Eve. All conferences are playing conference game over break. Villanova and Creighton play today too. Yeah it sucks we got Duke on NYE but this isn't an ACC sucks at scheduling thing. Everyone plays games over breaks.
Also, it's #goacc, no caps. Caps make it seem like the ACC is competent.
Then schedule out of conference games, don't schedule on major bowl game days, Clemson is playing a playoff game and their basketball team is going to play a game. Makes sense.
ACC Schedule is done before bowl games are finalized. Come on man.
You just don't schedule games on playoff dates, you try and schedule games on break for larger metro areas so fans can attend, you spread out shitty holiday games to every team. That didn't take a lot and it's already better schedule.
I'm not sure you understand all the factors that go into scheduling.
Lots of factors, that's why I'm ok with Whit football teams OOC schedule. But the ACC who doesn't get the football schedule out till Febuary at the earliest and is ONLY P5 conference to have games today seems to be behind every other P5 conference.
Why are they behind because they're playing a conference game on New Years Eve? At this point, you're just looking for an excuse to bitch about the ACC. Looks like it's a good turnout. Time to move on and work with the hand we're dealt.
Dude, his point is everybody is playing over winter break. Lots of teams played yesterday and lots will play tomorrow. It's not some injustice, it's getting eyeballs on your conference's teams.
Did the ACC overall possibly do us some injustice in terms of total schedule with students on break? Maybe. Was yesterday the ACC screwing things up? No. The #1 and #10 teams in the country played each other yesterday (Villanova vs Creighton) and it got huge run on Sportscenter, as did the ACC, because they were the only ones playing meaningful games in a national perspective.
#16 Indiana played #6 Louisville in an OOC matchup yesterday as well and that game also was front and center on ESPN. #7 Gonzaga, #17 Xavier, and #19 Saint Mary's also played yesterday. ACC had #5 Duke, #9 UNC, # 12 UVA, #20 FSU and #24 Notre Dame playing as well. By my count that is 12 of the top 25 teams per the AP poll that played yesterday.
In my opinion the ACC made a great move scheduling games yesterday because they were competing with no NFL, very little NBA or NHL, and a couple of college football games(important ones but still a small quantity). There are other nights where they would have been competing with all three professional leagues with full slates. It also didn't hurt that they had three upsets to give the media even more to talk about.
Would you rather that Tech gotten hosed like GT did? Their bowl game and their matchup with UNC were at the same time.
Or would you have rather had the ACC schedule games for today, like four ranked teams have(from three P5 conferences)? Those teams are going to have to fight the NFL during it's final playoff push for coverage. They can expect almost nothing on Sportscenter going up against the shield.
Maybe Chris Clarke can play a little QB if Jerod declares.
Hell of a start
Keep it up men
Great defense so far
I'm surprised the refs are letting them play this hard. Expected a lot more Duke barely touched him calls against the Hokies.
Have you all heard, Grayson Allen is suspended for the game... I wish ESPN would mention it sometime
Is he at the game?
I wish they would put it on the screen of he was... Seems like a completely missed opportunity
He's on the bench.
Annndddddd cue the Grayson Allen life story segment.
Meh they're not really siding with him. Hitting him pretty hard.
Like Seth said, he needs to get some counseling, and then be given a chance to play.
As much as I love watching Grayson Allen watch basketball...
Huh, sounds like a student section chant.
"We want Grayson"
Can we move on from Grayson!
If we win there will be a new narrative that his actions cost his team a game
Sad, but true.
I'd take a win, though, regardless of the media narrative.
Come March the selection committee really doesn't look at who played and who didn't.
I'm with you, give me a win over #5 and a name that will always garner respect for a victory over
Exactly. The win is more important than the excuses.
Did Coach K actually lose the jacket before Buzz?
Donlon may get some minutes today just to have a bigger body out there. I for one think he would do well against these Duke bigs the way they are playing.
Hahahahaha can't embed from mobile but....
It's easy to get tripped up and say something stupid on Twitter...
His bio says "Duke Blue Devils and Miami Hurricanes fanatic". That says it all
"He wont make it" chant actually works!
Just got back from brunch. I am please by this.
There have been some awful calls the last couple possessions... Refs have tightened the game up, gotta get Duke back into it
Coach K is sweating like a whore in church. I like it.
I love the student section heckling Duke with the "We want Grayson!" chant haha classic
I want a "Sweep the Leg!" chant.
Only thing better would be if he was playing and got teabagged by our boy Clarke
Hokies getting lots of easy buckets taking it to Duke!
Duke having a meltdown...
Wow this team is countering every run Duke is throwing with a bigger one...
Keep up the pressure guys! Great energy by the Hokies. We can do this!
Coach K looking a little ill.
BREAKING: ESPN Reports Grayson Allen's suspension lifted during halftime
Watching Duke in the first half of this game was punishment enough, according to team officials.
Did they just chant "Please don't trip us"?
Yes they did and it was beautiful.
Go Hokies! Excellent first Half, now Finish!
Up 16 at half.... Wow!
Halftime report:
If we can find a way in the second half to avoid foul trouble this could be a statement game. Worried that if Kennard keeps getting the whistles Duke will have no one left to face the last five minutes
Some of those calls late in the half were iffy at best. They were letting them play early on and then all of the sudden every hand check down low gets called. The inconsistency is frustrating.
You KNOW a 10/12-0 Duke run is coming. Winning this game will come down to if we can rebound when it does.
And if it does we'll still be up 4-6 points
Hah, you're right but we seem to be doing a great job of quickly countering and extinguishing their runs
Other than Grayson Allen who plays for Duke?
Pretty sure they have a whole team of Plumlees they cloned that will walk out at half.
On TV it looks like a very pro-Hokie crowd. Love seeing the energy and hearing the noise rocking Cassell!
We were getting whipped on the glass without Sy in the game and it didn't matter.
Get him back for 12+ minutes in the 2nd half and continue scoring and we could win by 20.
Let us not forget the Belk Bowl...
But holy shit if this stands up...
Tech walking off the floor at halftime like
i hope the cameras got some close-ups of Coach Buzz because he's been very animated on the sidelines...would make for some amazing new gifs!
p.s.--love the shocked look on the faces of Duke fans in attendance; keep the foot on the pedal Hokies
espn only has time for multiple cams on greyson allen
I swear ESPN is using at least one camera to be zoomed in on Allen at all times. Their ability to hyper focus on one person is nauseating... Glad I am at the bar and not able to listen
To ESPN's credit, their announcers have been uniform in their scorn for Allen's actions, going so far as to say that Coach K acted too slowly and that the ACC should have imposed a suspension. So it's not the "woe is Duke" narrative that many expected. Allen is getting torn apart pretty uniformly, and halftime commentary opened with the (amazing!) notion that VT is a talented team, one that Duke can't rely on cruising past.
We are shooting 68% in first half! (12 of 16 in the Paint) Duke 43%.
First 4 minutes of the second half are critical. Duke will respond and we need to counter. Keeping Clarke on the floor will be key.
I think 7 am shoot-arounds before noon games should be the norm, the way we came out in the first half.
"A winning basketball team makes the opponent react to them, whether they are on offense or defense"
Doing just this...
Not sure what it looks like & sounds like on TV, but the atmosphere is pretty good today!
Let's finish this!
agree; i was scared the attendance would be half Duke fans but my fears were unwarranted when ESPN panned the audience. glad to hear the students came back for NYE and are making their presence known...love them
Reach in 6 second into the half on Sy, really dude?
That was a terrible foul call on Sy
No way that block was clean
Buzz head pat.gif
The game is not being called equally on both sides of the court the second half
I normally disagree but this, its a little ridiculous. Breathing a little too hard in their direction is getting a whistle.
At least buy us a drink first, zebras
I was trying to keep an open mind about the officiating...but that foul on the fastbreak ended that. Screw this.
I'M ON THE ROAD BUT I JUST CHECKED THE SCORE AND HOLY SHIIIIIIIT
We need to be smarter on defense, refs will make mistakes if you let them. Don't reach or contest when you have 2 fouls already.
Let's be real. Sy and Clark are likely fouling out. They need to be a presence while they are in.
Every time they get close we put our foot on the gas again. This is awesome
Now sweep the leg...
The call and response Let's Go Hokies chant is awesome during a basketball game.
Jeff Capel is showing the team's frustration ATM
That's a nice season, Duke's built so far. Would be horrible if someone
tripped them up.
holy crap--20 points! on Duke, too!
Bibbs almost blew all the doors and windows out of Cassell.
Bibbs is FIRE tonight
Oh man, the look in their eyes is fantastic. LeDay is of course intense, but Hill, Bibbs and the rest of the team are right there with him. I love it!
Let's finish this!
FULLY DIPPED
If we finish this as strong as we have played this far we better be ranked next week.
We've been like 27, beating the #5 team will certainly put us in t25
Go Hokies Lets Do This!
Hot damn we've scored more than Kansas
Gotta close out, we all saw on Thursday that no lead is safe. Love what I've seen so far from this team... beautiful, passionate basketball
Never have I been more nervous to be up 15 with less than 4 to go in basketball....
I just wanna be lit with my fam.
I'm scared that we will blow this lead when we try to slow it down here. I almost feel like we need to keep playing fast and going for transition baskets. That's our bread and butter, and going away from it cost us one game and almost a few others.
Time to take some air out!
Just heard that Blacksburg and Christiansburg Fire Departments are being staged in case Cassell catches fire like our team has.
What a way to end the 2016! Hokies going out on Top! I'll never forget these wins by Football and Basketball Team!
Clarke blew past him like he was standing still. Chris is an athletic freak.
SPORTSCENTER
OH THAT WAS VICIOUS.
If anyone else plays Rocket League:
Calculated.
Calculated.
Calculated.
I have no idea what this is but I'm going to +1 you because OH MY GOD THAT DUNK
Savage.
Savage.
Savage.
Wow statement finish dunk
They put the freaking bow on the win!
FAM CHRIS CLARKE THO
Off the backboard FAMMMMMMMMMM
"Over rated" chant followed by Enter Sandman. Damn I wish I was there!
I will admit I was jumping up and down during that last timeout by Buzz, and I am old enough that enter sandman wasn't a thing at VT when I was in school.
Never liked the over rated chant. Implies that your victory wasn't as important as it really was.
UNC is about to go down to GT too. Go nerds!
Sometimes the stars align and living in Raleigh is awesome... This is one of those times
That alley was pretty neat.
GT is up 14 on #9 UNCheat!
It's starting to look like a Happy FAM Year, folks!
ACC on notice!
great way to start 2017
I knew outr offense could put up points on this team but I totally underestimated our defense Glad we finished them off. Hopefully ESPN doesnt try to spin it as Allen was missing woe is Duke.
You know they will though. lol
They already were trying in the post game interview with Seth Allen, last question was specifically how much different was Duke without Allen. Seth had a nice answer that didn't answer the question so ESPN will have to get their soundbite for that spin somewhere else
Yeah I saw that. God forbid they ask Seth any reasonable question about his or the Hokies play during the game.
The TV announcers spent waaaay too much broadcast time opining on the Allen situation. It got ridiculous. They split the screen and yakked right through several exciting plays and generally gave Allen more face time than any other person during the broadcast. It got almost ludicrous after a while, annoying to say the least.
We finally got a 40 minute game out of this team and boy did it show what we are capable of.
Every hint of a run by Duke was stopped and then answered. Early in the second half Duke got the lead down to 11 and then we went on a 7-0 run.
This has been a great couple of days/games!
Did anyone see anything about Kennard bumping into Buzz during one of the 2nd half timeouts? My sister was at the game and say the crowd was going nuts over it but I didn't see it on TV.
OSeth Allen with some solid answers there after the game
Loved the way he didn't bury Grayson, but still talked about how good Duke's other players were.
ESPN noted that this is the first time since 1989 that both Duke and UNC have lost on the same day when each was in the top 10.
Coach K putting credit where it was due. He said we are a really good team that played our defense better than Duke played offense. No soundbite there for the Money Network to spin.
Anyone have any insight on what Buzz was referring to in his post game interview regarding that last TO situation?
ref questioned why he would call the timeout.
Buzz did not like the ref becoming involved with his decisions as the coach.
Buzz wanted to remind the guys to win with class and to remember to handle the inevitable defeat in the future with class too because every day will not be like this.
Buzz addressed that directly, but then said he was made aware of other things that went on during that timeout but left it at that. I didn't see anything overly dramatic on the court so best guess some guys were verbally getting chippy.
Rocking the Buzzketball shirt at Smartmouth in Norfolk to celebrate