IT'S GAMEDAY! #BeatGT Cassell 9 PM RSN pic.twitter.com/cZtdT45v8N— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) January 18, 2017
GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: January 18, 2017 / 9 p.m.
Opponent: Georgia Tech
Site: Blacksburg, Virginia (Cassell Coliseum)
Radio: Virginia Tech IMG Sports Network
Talent: Jon Laaser & Mike Burnop
TV/Internet: Regional Sports Networks
Talent: Justin Kutcher & Jason Capel
Live Stats: HokieSports.com
Game Notes: Virginia Tech
XM Radio: XM 84 (Internet 84)
Where can you watch the #Hokies tonight vs. Georgia Tech? It's on a new #HokieHuddlehttps://t.co/nmCTrXi2Ra pic.twitter.com/hRMjHcOdY6— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) January 18, 2017
Always Be Closing, Forget the T
Hopefully Buzzketball can take a page from the football coaches tonight. The Hokies get a third straight game in the comfy confines of Cassell Coliseum with Georgia Tech coming to Blacksburg. Georgia Tech has won three of its ACC contests so far, with two losses to start the conference slate. Those include wins over #7 UNC, Clemson and NC State. Their losses have come at #8 Duke and #9 Louisville before Duke imploded. The Hokies need to be prepared for a much different Yellow Jackets team than in years past.
GET YOUR TICKETS NOW! Use promo code 'FlashB16' to get half off & see you tonight!#BeatGT https://t.co/CdPjFyZ9SL pic.twitter.com/aKthCz3zEJ— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) January 18, 2017
Wednesday at 9 PM, cold and breezy outside but at least the students have returned. The sales for tickets for this game were lagging so much that Tech had to offer tickets half price for the last 24 hours in hopes of filling the stands. Hopefully people cram in and make it a rowdy environment. Georgia Tech enters this game 11-6, with other losses to Ohio, Penn State, Tennessee and Georgia. They have no P5 wins outside of conference play. One thing of note on their losses so far, four of their six losses were on the road or at a neutral site.
This will be the twenty third meeting between the Hokies and Yellow Jackets. Virginia Tech leads the all-time series 16-6. Virginia Tech won last years matchup at Georgia Tech 78-77. Lets hope the Hokies focus on beating Georgia Tech on the court rather than protecting the T's across campus for this one.
Virginia Tech seems intent on not letting Georgia Tech fans steal the T this year. #Hokies pic.twitter.com/yjQY88U1su— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) November 11, 2016
The Yellow Jackets are coached by Josh Pastner, in his debut season at the helm of Georgia Tech. In his seven previous years as the head coach of Memphis, his team has won 20+ games five times. He led Memphis to the NCAA Tournament four times. Georgia Tech has responded well to Pastner's coaching though. Pastner took over a team that graduated five seniors that contributed 55.8 PPG of the Jackets 73.3 PPG overall, or just over three quarters of their offense.
His rotation of returning players have made incredible improvements in their offensive games. In many instances, they have doubled or tripled their point production from last season, although their minutes have not changed by the same multiplier. Especially productive has been Junior Center Ben Lammers, whose time on the floor increased from 14.8 MPG to 34.4 MPG but his scoring increased from 3.6 PPG to 15.1 PPG. Across the board he has shown massive improvements, rebounds jumped from 4 to 9.9, assists from .5 to 1.9, blocks from 1.3 to 3.3. Even his steals have more than doubled.
Defensively, the Yellow Jackets have used a variety of defenses, especially zone defense to confuse opponents so far this season. Earlier this season, they used a 1-3-1 zone that completely threw UNC off. Other times they are found in a more traditional 2-3 zone. Defensive pressure though is what they really focus on. They are top 50 in scoring defense, field goal defense and blocks per game. This is a team that relies on its defense to make its offense go. Creating turnovers and limiting possessions is what keeps this team in games.
Offensively, Georgia Tech runs a constant motion offense but with more traditional size on the court than many of the 4 out, 1 in offenses the Hokies have seen recently. They rank in the bottom 100 in multiple offensive categories. Scoring, 3 pointers attempted and 3 point shooting all are worse than 300th. One thing Pastner teams are usually noted for is assist to basket ratio but so far this season, the Jackets have struggled even there.
What does that mean for the Hokies?
The same boiling water that softens the potato, hardens the egg.#GamedayGuide: #BeatGT pic.twitter.com/nPIZ8O362J— Buzz Williams (@TeamCoachBuzz) January 18, 2017
The Hokies need to determine early what going inside is going to be like. The Jackets come in third in the country in blocked shots per game at 6.6. If the Hokies are not able to get the Jackets bigs off the blocks than they will need to focus on finding offense through their mid floor or perimeter shooting. This is another heavey dose of zone defense, which fortunately the Hokies have managed to break in the past. Clarke will spend a majority of his time on the high post and forcing the Jackets zone to account for Leday or Sy on the blocks. This should collapse the zone inwards, allowing good open looks outside. If they are going to over pursue scoring down low than they need to ensure they get fouls called rather than throw away possessions.
The Hokies have an opportunity to essentially lock down a team tonight which will force all kinds of issues offensively for the Jackets. They struggle mightily when given a dose of their high paced defense. I would hope that Buzz has his guys turn the pressure all the way up, especially coming out of the gate.
I would expect a moderate pace to this game, especially if Georgia Tech is struggling to score. They are going to want to limit scoring to give themselves an opportunity to get back into the game. The Hokies can ill afford to be lulled though or they will find the Jackets running by them on transition offense. The Jackets are constantly trying to find quick ways to the basket if possible. One thing though to keep in mind is that even the Jackets big are long lean players that move up and down the court with ease.
If the Hokies can establish and maintain a larger lead in this contest than they should not be extremely challenged in terms of a comeback, simply because the Jackets offense isn't really built for making large comebacks right now.
Yellow Jackets Backcourt
Josh Okogie (#5) 6'4, 207 Lbs Freshman Guard is averaging 14.8 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 1.6 APG and 1.3 SPG. He is shooting 36% from behind the arc and 43% overall. Okogie is the guy you have to always know where he is because he can go games of moderately impressive play and then boom, blow the doors off. Since ACC play started he has scored 27, 13, 15,11, and 26 points. He is playing close to 29 MPG so far this season.
Tadric Jackson, (#1) 6'2, 209 Lbs Junior Guard comes in averaging 10.9 PPG, 2.7 RPG, and 1.3 APG. He is the biggest threat the Jackets have outside, shooting 43%. He is a prime example of how playing for Pastner this season has upped his stats. Playing time moved from 13.8 to 20.9 MPG, but his scoring went from 4.7 to 10.9, same with rebounding numbers. He has already set a new career high for scoring so far this season.
Justin Moore (#0), 6'4, 162 Lbs Freshman Guard is averaging 6.1 PPG, 2.3 RPG, and 3.5 APG. Moore comes in averaging 25 MPG. He is almost no threat to score from outside currently, shooting 17%. Expect to find Moore working his way inside to do most of his scoring.
Josh Heath, (#11), 6'2, 175 Lbs Senior Guard is giving the Jackets about 27 MPG while averaging 5.5 PPG, 1.8 RPG, and 3.6 APG. Heath is as much a point guard as this team has. He also is their best defender with or without the ball.
Yellow Jackets Frontcourt
Ben Lammers, (#44), 6'10, 227 Lbs Junior Center is averaging nearly a double-double with 15.1 PPG, 9.9 RPG, 1.9 APG, 0.9 SPG, and 3.3 BPG. Lammers is going to be difficult to deal with down low all game. Sy needs to be able to play his most minutes of the ACC schedule so far. Lammers does not bother to shoot from outside but his interior scoring is at 55% while shooting over 81% from the line. He can however be forced into foul trouble, with four personals in three of the Jackets last six games.
Quinton Stephens, (#12) 6'9, 196 Lbs Senior Forward, is averaging over 33 MPG and comes in putting up 10.6 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.2 SPG and 1.1 BPG. He is shooting 35% from the field, 30% from behind the arc and only 72% from the line. One critical piece on Stephens is that he likes to step outside to shoot the three. He is averaging over 4 per contest and if his numbers stay consistent than the Hokies should let him shoot out there.
Names the Announcers will Butcher
Abdoulaye Gueye seems to be the winner on this roster. Beyond him, no one seems to rate even an honorable mention.
What to expect from Georgia Tech?
The Yellow Jackets rely on a rotation of about nine players experienced. Pastner continued his reputation for solid recruiting by bringing in Okogie and Moore to bolster a lineup that lost three quarters of its scoring. He has coupled that with absolute dedication to defense, demanding his players give 100% on that end of the court.
Georgia Tech's rotation of nine players, while slightly bigger than Tech down low don't really have the size to dominate Tech. Expect them to feed the ball down low to Lammers and allow him to work with his back to the basket. Lammers on Sy will be the matchup to watch most of the evening if Sy can stay on the floor.
Expect to see Georgia Tech switch defenses several times. Hopefully this game goes more like the Hokies beating the Orange in the zone compared to not being able to solve Notre Dame down low. I expect to see a 1-3-1 zone to start with unless the Hokies begin hitting perimeter shots.
Offensively, expect to see the Jackets move with or without the ball, especially around the perimeter. Pastner is a big fan of pick and rolls, and a high assist to basket ratio. This is still a work in progress with this team so the Hokies need to take advantage of this inexperience to force mistakes and change the possession game.
The Hokies
Tech should aim to keep this game as high paced as possible because it is when this offense is at its most effective. They need to take advantage of transition basketball but not out of control. The bad, rushed passes after defensive stops have to be limited to allow the Hokies to build a solid lead in this contest. We continued this unfortunate trend, especially early and late in the game against the Irish. One led to the Irish building a big lead, the other led to them building their final lead.
Tech needs to be ready to utilize the baseline and the dribble drive pass to keep the ball in an open Hokies hands. Don't succumb to allowing the Jackets to clog the lane and then block shots over the top. If you are going to drive, do so, do it and draw contact without allowing the Jacket bigs to get their hands on the ball, if you aren't going to commit, then at least kick it out to an open man rather than waste a possession.
Justin Robinson bounced back nicely albeit in a loss to the Irish. He needs to continue this trend to keep the Hokies in games. Tech can ill afford to have Robinson on the bench for long stretches.
Khadim Sy needs to be able to hang with Lammers in this game, especially if Leday has a second game where he is off. Sy showed some solid play towards the end of the Notre Dame game and hopefully that will continue in this contest.
Maybe I overestimated the home effect on Bibbs. Bibbs disappeared again against the Irish. He managed just 25% from the field and struck out entirely behind the arc. I don't know if he is dealing with an injury or if he has had his confidence shaken or something but the Hokies need it to stop because there isn't another guy to plug in, especially defensively. If he isn't going to score than he needs to get inside and provide more in terms of rebounding and drawing away opponents for those that are.
Highlight of the Notre Dame Game
You want to point to the comeback as the answer, the toughness and tenacity the team showed in clawing back into the game, its about the only thing there without just lazily giving it to Clarke or Allen, or both combined. The tough part about that then is the biggest let down was blowing that comeback when it mattered most.
In Closing
Georgia Tech will look to funnel offense through the Hokies mistakes. The Hokies have to find a way to play a clean bill of a game. Don't give the Jackets the momentum to stay in this game. Take them apart systematically the way Duke did by playing hard-nosed defense and then not making mistakes on the offensive end to get them going.
This is a game that talent wise the Hokies should be able to run away with it. That's if they come to play 40 full minutes of basketball the way they are capable of. If they don't, than this game could change entirely.
Georgia Tech may win the lane in this contest both offensively and defensively. That can still happen and Tech wins the day by getting clean perimeter looks, knocking down mid-range shots, and realizing when driving in isn't going to be effective. Stay out of the trap the Jackets regularly set down low and everyone should do well.
#BeatGT Rewind | @Zo_Hudson5 buzzer beater @HokieVision pic.twitter.com/e2K43TE9JX— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) January 18, 2017
The Hokies win 88-65 by coming to play defense today like their opponents do. The Hokies have shown they can dissect a zone defense and offensively as much as their individual players have improved their performances under Pastner, its still not enough to be competitive night in and night out in the ACC, especially on the road.
Communicate the RIGHT things... to the RIGHT people... at the RIGHT time...— Buzz Williams (@TeamCoachBuzz) January 18, 2017
Comments
*double checks to make sure the game is still at 9 on a Wednesday night*
Hmm.... nope.
I hate it, but offering half-price tickets to non-students isn't going to fill the seats. Give the tickets to students for free. They will take free tickets to most any game, and they're the ones capable of changing plans last minute for a late night start.
Do they still have the line on the Washington St side that they hand out tickets to students at tip-off?
Nope. They have a lottery system where if you win a ticket in "Wave 1", you can choose to accept the ticket or say you can't make it. Then in "Wave 2", any student that didn't win in "Wave 1" has a chance at a ticket.
Back in 2010-ish, even after they handed out the tickets in "Wave 1" and "Wave 2" there was a stand-by line at the side of Cassell for students to get in free to fill any unused seats I think about 5 minutes after tip-off.
Maroon Leader standing by.
I warn everyone to check your local listing early so you can find your channel. When I saw RSN or ACCN I immediately checked the "My20" channel here in Northern VA and then CSN with no dice.
I have COX and it seems to be on some sort of CSN Alternate channel, which will also have the ND@FSU game on before. It's channel 1119 for me and is labeled C119H as the short description. I've never watched anything on this channel, but I guess it's because the Wiz game is on at the same time.
If you look in the OP you will see a tweet below the game information from VT Basketball that has a link to Hokie Huddle with the T.V. listings
Ahh you're correct, my fault ltrepeter. I guess I am getting the Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic Plus channel.
I sure hope we win
We need this game badly, have to defend home court well to stay competitive for March Madmess. Getting back to .500 in conference would be critical too.
Tadric Jackson is the brother of our Tyree Jackson, correct?
Yes
Looks like Sy, Bibbs, Outlaw, Robinson, and Hill starting
Anyone have a link to the game since I am in the blackout area and FSU running over?
I'm not even sure why I pay for Sling anymore with all of these blackouts.
Dang I'm blacked out too. I think this is the first time I couldn't find it one way or the other. Hmm well I guess Laze and Burnop it is.
We need to come out hot and crush the Jackets will to live.
FSU ND is running long, but ESPN game tracker says Sy just made a dunk assisted by Robinson, so I'm feeling pretty good.
Being forced to watch the end of FSU and ND
So this is on the play-by-play:
Another cold start
It's on here in SC on my yankee tv station again.
4 turnovers already? Just playing into their hands
Game just went live on WatchESPN.
No Clarke to boot? WTF
Will be interesting to hear the reasoning in postgame presser. Assuming it was disciplinary.
Pretty sure it was the way Burnop was talking
Five turnovers now hard to score that way
Lots of standing around on offense
Yeah can't do that if you want to break a 1-3-1
Good thing Clarke is in, have to have him to stretch this zone defense
Jackson abusing Robinson right now. Second time he has gotten that little six foot jumper in the lane
They don't have an answer for Clarke right now
Wait so I can watch BC-UVA, but not GT-VT on network TV living only 35 minutes away from Blacksburg. That's fucking great Swafford. #GOACC
I'm in the same boat. I'm in Roanoke and it's not on cable and I can't watch on the WatchESPN app because it's blacked out. That's bullshit!
If you have Verizon cable in the Richmond area its on channel 78 or for HD 578.
Leday seems out of sorts again, wonder what got in his head. Hopefully it clears up quick
Damnit Bibbs shoot the ball. Hate when he passes up on open looks
Starting to look like the secret is out on us this year. Just overload your lineup with big men and it'll not only completely shut down our offense but you'll get easy looks down low.
Gonna be an ugly remainder of the season for us in this conference if we can't figure out how to beat size.
We are playing right Into their strength by continuing to force it down low.
And we are so concerned with allowing the ball low on defense we are leaving 3 point shooters wide open... Just all around frustrating basketball being displayed by the good guys tonight
Block party
Can we cover Stephens please
That's at least the 2nd or 3rd time we've been burned by the defender thats supposed to cover him pinching in to double Lemmers leaving Stephens wide open for an uncontested 3. Not ideal for a good 3 point shooter
Keep Allen sitting. His on ball "d" sucks and he's forcing stuff on offense.
I really despise ESPN and the ACC Network. It is blacked out and not available on TV.
Anyone else watching on watchespn on AppleTV but see a Fox Sports West Logo in the top right corner? Weird...
One foot off the ground and it's still a charge?
Yeah what the fuck was that call
This team is not even fun to watch anymore. I don't understand how we can shoot so poorly on wide open 3s at home.
Yeah 2-11 is not going to get it done
Something is seriously off with this team. I don't know if it's confidence, fatigue, or leadership. If nothing changes, we'll be lucky if we win 7 or 8 acc games.
Do you still feel the same way this morning, or were you just being overly pessimistic last night when we weren't winning for a few minutes? This team might just win 8 or 9 ACC games, but that will most likely be enough to get into the NCAAs in March with the ACC looking as strong as ever. This team will be just fine.
9-9 puts us on squarely on the bubble unless we win 2 games in the tourney. I think it takes us finishing at 10-8 to get in without sweating on selection sunday.
I still feel the same way. I still think there's something wrong - there's a lack of confidence on some level. Maybe it's the pressure of expectations. Maybe they really are tired. Even when certain guys finish with decent stat lines, they don't look the same.
I will say that if our 3 point shooting becomes more reliable it's going to cover up a lot of other issues. I wouldn't be confident in getting into the tournament at 9-9 unless that gets us a top 6 finish somehow.
The little jumper by Hill towards the end there is what we need more of if we are going to continue to drive in like this
The game is on Comcast sports net here in the valley
Tech has to find a steady mid range shooter. Shooting under 40% is unacceptable for a half.
It doesn't help they think it's a good idea to continually feed it down low where we are at about a 8 inch or so disadvantage when you consider Lammers' wingspan.
They got better when they started moving around on offense and making GT continually shift the defense, but for far, far too long in that half we were just standing around on O expecting us to win 1 on 1 battles to score. Not going to happen when you have the size mismatch they have over us.
Yeah I talked through this nightmare in my writeup. Unfortunately expected it. Wish these guys would get back to making the one extra pass, especially when it's too an open perimeter shooter
Outlaw should not be on the floor and Robinson getting beat like a drum
Lammers went over the back three times before that three
Are you kidding me? No foul on that Robinson drive gtfo
Looked like Bibbs' arm was hit after swishing this last three. Awful tight whistle against our guys but I'm not seeing it reciprocated for us.
Boy if we could hit even half these open and uncontested shots from 3 we'd have this game well in hand
Wasn't the best shot, but I don't mind the miss by Bibbs on the long 3. I'll take him shooting confidently since he's bound to drain a few as long as he's taking them.
Chris Clarke is our mojo man
Oh wow how did LeDay muscle that up and in
Clarke and LeDay just out toughed 4 guys.
17 point swing in the good Tech's favor since Clarke entered the game at 8 minutes into the first half.
Yeah he's pretty good
Clarke is another level offensively and defensively compared to rest of team now.
Wish list for next season: he improves free throw shooting (actually want this immediately), develops midranges jumper, and plays with slightly more control.
Can't have a shot clock violation.
I'm convinced Seth Allen meant that shot as a pass to Clarke!
Now that Vikings is over time to end the day hopefully with a hokie win!
Jesus how many fouls went uncalled in that sequence? Allen smacked in face and about four others
Our guards are so soft.
And takes the charge as I say that.
Wow Robinson just got trucked
They have been credited with nine blocks so far. Yet we still swing our sword at windmills.
What did Clarke do? Crappy camera angles all around
Soft forearm pushoff that happens on almost every possession. Right in front of ref tho.
Oh fuck off, refs
Such an on again off again feeling with Allen. The dude carried us with some big threes and good plays earlier and has now carelessly turned it over two or three times as the jackets responded to our run. Why can't he be more consistent??
It's his mentality/personality. Just carelessly aggressive. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't.
Here's to hoping he is on down late and pulling this thing out for us, assuming we can overcome these crappy refs.
Refs blowing the whistle like
How many times are we going to fall for the cross court pass for an open three. Fourth time today.
Ffs refs. Good bs chant by the students, followed by ball dont lie
Apparently if you have size in this Conference you're allowed to rough up the offensive player as much as possible but if you are undersized any play on defense is a foul
Fuck these refs. I'm so fucking tired of this horseshit reffing in this conference.
Wow that should have been offenaive. Clarke had both hands up
This game changed when the refs got whistle happy on us on defense. GT is allowed to do what they want on defense which is killing us and we can't fucking breathe on defense without a foul.
This is so frustrating to watch. Even with the bad whistles we are not taking care of things on offense again or we would already have this game in hand.
Nobody's going to want to hear this, but we look like a poorly coached team.
So sloppy and a lack of discipline.
This is why we can't have nice things, like early bed times because we can't take care of the ball or hit the easy shots
Lammers eight blocks is the tale. You can't continue to beat yourself that way
Guys standing around on offense again. Have to keep moving to break the zone
A loss here significantly hurts tournament chances. This is absolutely a must win
Why are there so few rebounds on offense after a long shot? There is not a single Hokie going for them, them entire TV screen is empty.
Alot of times this is a Buzz call. He wants the guys set up on defense rather than try to get the rebound
Not going for the rebound on the missed FT almost cost them, go for it and those 4 seconds may have gone away.
Chris Clarke spin cycle?! Chris Clarke spin cycle.
That commentator is killing me "Leday for the 50 foot putt"
I was just about to post that haha I died
All I heard was bill Murray talking to himself in Groundhog Day
Edit of course I meant caddyshack I'll go in the corner with my cone of shame now
The announcer with the golf voice was funny.
Once again, the importance of shooting well from the stripe is obvious.
Allen gets hit by three different Jackets and no and 1. Huge impact on game
Foul and hope for a miss or give them a chance last second?
That looked like a flagrant. Clearly excessive.
Maybe jrob sold it.
Howe is that not a technical on Lammers?
How is Lammers' foul not flagrant??
So that's not an intentional foul?
"T Him Up" chant is awesome.
That had to at least be an intentional though, right?
Wow what a finish. Take it though
I'LL TAKE THE W FAM
My feed on the yes network just dropped for the first time all night as jrob was set to shoot free throw. Wtf
He missed
They missed
It's over
Thanks. Can't believe it. Feed came back in for commerical and then handshake line.
What was the final sequence?
J rob missed, their small forward iso'd and took a contested jumper around the elbow and missed.
Phew
Damn I need a drink
Not a good win but a win and we had serve at home. I'll take it
Wow.
Thank god.
Nail biter, but happy to get the win. Sometimes you gotta win the ugly ones.
Too close for me. Had to follow the score only and listen to radio. We need to be better if we want to dance.
Watching it in slomo made me think Robinson jumped that way to try to sell it. Still has to make his free throws though.
Oh mah heart.
Way to overcome some crappy refs and dodge a bullet late. Good D by Bibbs to make that last shot a tough one!
Well a W is a W regardless of how it looks. Starters only combined for 17, while Leday and Allen had 17 a piece. We've got to find consistent scoring and consistent play in general if we even want a chance to keep pace in this conference.
We didn't shoot bad from the line tonight, but making free throws late in the game is critical to us being able to salt the game away especially in close games like tonight. All around tough win...it was gritty not pretty, but a W nonetheless.
Edit: 22-55 (40%) FG; 6-25 (24%) 3FG =
Trying to track points based on Starters with Buzz almost never works. It's standard for Leday and Allen to come off the bench. Add to that Outlaw starting in place of Clarke and three of your top scorers were coming off the bench. We finished this game about 15 points below our average, so that's Robinson and Hill combining for 4 points. Tough sledding when they go 2-14 shooting.
Lol, ACC basketball tests my heart wayyy more than ACC football, and that's saying something.
Never a flagrant. Tourney teams win these games...also...Georgia Tech is not bad.
Yep, gotta be able to win the ugly ones. Important conference win, and probably more important, avoided another blemish on the record.
Awesome win, but I'm tired of not being able to watch games. Whit needs to know that his "customers" are upset.
What, you don't get Fox Sports West in Roanoke? That's like the frontier, right?
Nope. And I wasn't the only person this happened to. I spoke with several friends. Each of them on different cable companies and two of them that have much better sports packages than me and they couldn't get the game either. It was also blacked out on WatchESPN for all of us.
Still a bit frustrated I couldn't watch the game last night, largely because my work schedule is such that I'm usually working during games. Actually had last night off and was looking foward to being able to see the team play.
The game was blacked out on watchespn and on the ACC network extra channel on sling. Also, as I mentioned above, it wasn't on local network TV either. I never had issues like trying to watch basketball games before the new deal. Why can't the ACC at least stream games on their own site or app if they really want to blackout ESPN locally?
As has been mentioned, ESPN sold the rights to the game to a series of Regional Broadcasters so technically they are not allowed to show it in the coverage areas where they have a channel that is already carrying it.
The ACC doesnt have any rights to any of the games at this point. Their deal with ESPN sold first second and third tier rights to the network so they dont have the right to show it in any format other than authorized replays and highlights and those probably have to be provided by ESPN. First tier are games being put on the ESPN channels, Second tier are those selected for WatchESPN, third tier are those deemed sellable and not worth carrying on the network.
Thanks for explaining, and I pretty much know all that. It's more of a comment on how terrible of a set up it is. There's no reason to have such restrictive contracts at this point in time. The ACC needs to do a better job of getting the brand visible instead of passing off rights to channels that are hard/impossible to legally access.
Well they can renegotiate that in 2037 or something unless the membership changes
I'll be shocked if the contract goes unchanged for more than 7 or so years. Technology changes too quick to have game rights settled 20 years in advanced. As soon as both sides realize they can get more views/money doing something else it will change.
I'd be happy never to see that starting lineup again.
I know there is a lot of talk about being unable to watch it, but I think the issue is that it isn't being communicated properly what this whole new "ACC Network" is right now.
There's a difference between games under the ESPN umbrella and the RSN umbrella. ESPN keeps the rights to bigger games, and then sells the lower tier games to the RSNs. For example, tonight's game was on the RSN's, whatever they may be for your area, for me living in Los Angeles it was Fox Sports West. If your cable package or SlingTV or whatever you use doesn't haven't the package that includes the RSNs then you're not going to be able to watch the game. You cannot skirt that with the WatchESPN app, because at that point, ESPN doesn't have those exclusive rights. The WatchESPN is another outlet if your cable subscription has the RSNs. These games won't be on your local Raycom/ACC Network affiliates like the CW or My20 or whatever they may be.
When it says "ACC Network" such as the UVA game, that means it's with Raycom and you'll find them on your ACC Network listed channels. It's all very confusing and poorly communicated. I believe the linear network with get rid of that. No longer will the RSNs have secondary rights, ESPN will just bump those games to the linear network and then exclusive on WatchESPN.
At least that is my understanding of these rights as they were explained to me about a year ago.
not a pretty game but i'll take the "W." i hope the team gets its mojo back and finishes strong to end the season.
meanwhile, i'll just leave this here:
Back from Cassell. What a stressful game.
I think the main thing I took away from this game is not that we're worse than expected, it's that Georgia Tech is better than expected. They remind me of our first year under our new coach -- took a lot of teams by surprise, pushed them to the brink, but couldn't close out the close games. There were also some blowouts, but in general, Hokie fans were optimistic after a single season with Buzz.
I think we're seeing the same thing here with Pastner and the Jackets. No one gave them any chance at being competitive in any ACC games, but yet here they are, pesky and tough to put away.
So many people around me were saying "if we lose, we don't make the tournament." I really disagree with that. It wouldn't have helped, but it wasn't an elimination game.
These next 3 games are huge. If we can 2-1, it would be a giant step towards March.