Game day!The No. 4 seed in the @NewYorkLife @accmbbTournament is on the line tonight ✊🏀 vs. No. 14 Florida State📍 Tallahassee, Fla.🕚 7 p.m. ET📈 https://t.co/x0LoDRFkHL📻 https://t.co/Y5WNSie1Vm📺 ESPNU💻 https://t.co/nu8mzaQC3J#getBETTER | #Hokies 🦃 pic.twitter.com/TbPJxBcvDX— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 5, 2019
GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: Mar. 05, 2019 / 7PM
Opponent: Florida State University
Site: Tallahassee, FL (Tucker Center)
Radio: Virginia Tech IMG Sports Network
Talent: Jon Laaser and Mike Burnop
TV: ESPNU
Talent: Rich Hollenberg & Debbie Antonelli
Live Stats: HokieSports.com
Game Notes: Virginia Tech
Sirius: 81 XM: 81 Internet: 81
Wouldn't this have been great to see this season.....Nolley in uniform....
Happy birthday S/O to Landers Nolley (@thatbooych3z)!#getBETTER | #Hokies 🦃 pic.twitter.com/RTSXA3CnWm— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 5, 2019
Bring the Ax, cause those are some Tall Trees up ahead
Buzzketball's chance at a double bye essentially comes down to this game. Win and you're in. That's going to be a TALL task with the Seminoles looming on the road. The Hokies have great momentum after upsetting #3 Duke on February 26th. Florida State has the athleticism and size that have proven extremely difficult for the Hokies to overcome this season. The Hokies must limit mistakes and force the Seminoles into costly errors of their own, especially a high number of fouls in the paint.
Florida State comes riding high, having moved up to 14th in the latest polls after wins over Notre Dame and NC State. This will be the fifty sixth meeting between the Hokies and Seminoles. Florida State leads the all-time series 33-22, starting all the way back in 1968. The Hokies last victory against the Seminoles came in 2016 at home.
The Seminoles are coached by Leonard Hamilton, who has coached FSU since 2002, and before that coached Miami starting in 1990. Hamilton has almost three decades of coaching against the Hokies in all their different forms over the years. Hamilton has enjoyed what many would consider a quiet run of success at Florida State considering the other ACC opponents. He has led FSU to 20 or more wins in eleven of seventeen seasons, including a conference tournament championship in 2012. He has taken the Seminoles to the NCAA tournament six times and the NIT seven times. His Achilles heel has usually been to end up on the backside of the middle of the ACC, finishing .500 or less in nine of fifteen seasons.
Defensively, the Seminoles employ a high pressure man to man defense primarily that varies in its starting point throughout the game. They regularly switch up to full court pressure in order to create turnovers and get easy transition baskets. One thing Hamilton and his staff do better than most is assigning defensive matchups. You may see some unusual pairings but they aim to best utilize their players strengths on the defensive end to cause the most problems for their opponents. Some assignments might be based on strengths to turn the ball over, others might be based on ability to rebound effectively and once in a while they even identify the best chance to score in transition with matchups.
Offensively, Florida State has historically run a motion offense that relied heavily on its bigs to score or distribute but with his current personnel, Hamilton has had to change to a more motion based system that relies on his perimeter players to score for the Seminoles. Guards represent five of the top seven scorers for the Seminoles. Regardless of the change, it appears to be working, with the Seminoles off to their third best start ever under Hamilton.
Seminoles Backcourt
Terrance Mann, (#14), 6'7, 215 Lbs Senior Guard is averaging 11.5 PPG, 6.3 RPG, and 2.4 APG. Mann essentially has taken over the Seminoles leading man role, giving Hamilton a long arm defender with a big enough body to keep shooters off balanced but also able to crash in to provide weak side help. He is hitting 53% inside and has greatly improved from outside at 46% compared to 30% last season. He only attempts 2 three pointers per contest on average though. He also hits 78% of his free throws.
Trent Forrest, (#3), 6'4, 210 Lbs, Junior is scoring 9.1 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 3.8 APG and 2 SPG. He shoots 48% inside and 15% outside. He also hits 77% of his free throws.
MJ Walker, (#23), 6'5, 213 Lbs Sophomore Guard who initially was thought to be a one and done, is scoring 8 PPG, 2 RPG, and 1.7 APG this season. He has struggled to find his shot though, hitting 36% inside but 34% from outside. He attempts almost 4 threes per game. He also hits 77% of his free throws.
David Nichols, (#11), 6'1, 185 Lbs a graduate transfer from Albany, is scoring 6.6 PPG, 1.4 RPG, 1.7 APG, and 1.4 SPG. He manages 45% inside and 34% outside on 3 attempts per game. His free throws are going in at a 69% clip.
PJ Savoy, (#5), 6'4, 210 Lbs Senior Guard is scoring 6.4 PPG, 1.5 RPG, 0.7 APG, and 1.4 SPG. He manages 59% inside and 31% outside on almost 5 attempts per game. His free throws are going in at a 81% clip.
Seminoles Frontcourt
Sophomore Mfiondu Kabengele (#25), 6'10, 250 lbs is leading the team in scoring at 13.2 PPG, 5.5 RPG, and 1.3 BPG. He is shooting 54% inside, 40% outside and 77% from the line. His numbers are becoming very Blackshearish. This will probably be the biggest matchup to watch in this game.
Christ Koumadje (#21) 7'4, 268 Lbs Senior Center is also providing 6.9 PPG, 5.7 RPG and 1.6 BPG. He shoots 62% inside, does not take outside shots and hits only 57% of his free throws.
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Phil Cofer, (#0), 6'8, 205 Lbs Senior Forward was granted an additional year of eligibility due to injuries earlier in his career. He is averaging 7 PPG, 3.6 RPG, and 1 APG. He is scoring 40% inside and 35% from outside so the Hokies need to realize he will step outside to shoot. He attempts almost 4 outside shots per contest. He hits 63% of his free throws.
What to expect from Florida State?
The Seminoles will have several options in this game. I believe they will come out playing their normal game, working inside out to get perimeter shots and getting good looks while creating transition basket opportunities. This is a long fast twitch opponent. A bigger version of the Hokies essentially especially when Cofer and Kabengele are on the floor together. Koumadje slows the post transition down somewhat but makes up with it by deterring or adjusting opponents shots up and down the lane on defense.
One area the Seminoles may focus is just wearing the Hokies out, since Florida State regularly plays 9 or 10 deep and could force the Hokies to adjust their game plan accordingly.
The biggest change has been their steady play on defense this season. That has probably been the most crucial change in the Seminoles and why they are where they are so far. This team averages 4.1 blocks per game so the Hokies have to find ways to avoid having their shot swatted while still scoring inside.
The biggest way to counteract this is turning Florida State over. The Seminoles average 14 turnovers per game, most of that with the starters, so if the Hokies can up that total a bit it will take scoring possessions away quickly. That becomes even more important because this is an opponent that just doesn't foul that much which the Hokies have used time and time again this year to distance themselves.
The Seminoles have however struggled with faster teams more than anything else. One thing that has not happened often this season is the Seminoles getting blown out, as they always manage to play close games, with only one loss by more than 10 points this season. That loss came at Pitt in a game where neither team managed to shoot better than 35% from the floor but Pitt managed 30% from the perimeter to the Seminoles 9%. Coach Hamilton attributed his teams performance to their previous loss to then #1 Duke at home when Cam Reddish hit a three pointer with 0.8 seconds remaining to win 80-78.
The Seminoles are averaging 76 PPG and only allowing opponents 68 PPG. That's an 8 point average margin of victory so far this season. The margin shrinks to 5 points in ACC play, so this is a team well versed in games going down to the last minute. The Hokies need to be prepared to execute at a high level all the way to the end.
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 by forcing Florida State into turnovers.
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 45% from outside to be a factor in this game.
Tech has to still make an attempt at getting to the basket with Blackshear, NAW and Hill. If they forego working the ball inside than the Seminoles will be able to ignore the inside and focus solely on the perimeter. The Hokies dearly need clean looks today to stay in this game.
Last and probably most critical, the Hokies must avoid foul trouble. They can ill afford to have starters in foul trouble since the bench is short and doesn't provide much experience. They make up for it in energy
In Closing
Ideally the Hokies would just keep running but I think with how well Florida State uses their bench and how limited Tech's bench is, it will require them to strategically slow the game at points. Expect to see a fast paced game on both sides in the first half and then watch Tech aim to slow that down in the second half if they are able to develop a lead. The deeper into the shot clocks Tech can take Florida State, the better as they just aren't geared to play half court ball.
Tech has to use its speed and athleticism. They have to find open looks and they have to be able to hit those shots. Defensively they have to be able to limit the number of attempts Florida State gets either by forcing turnovers or bad shots. Do these things and it's a close game. Without them it could be a blowout.
I expect to see Buzz stretch the floor, especially on defense. Buzz will likely have to use some full court pressure in this game as well as some zone defense to counter the Seminoles offense. Force them to eat up a third of the shot clock before they cross the midline.
OKG. 😤#Hokies#getBETTER pic.twitter.com/AFKvV7WiI6— Virginia Tech Basketball 🦃 (@Hokie_Hoops) March 4, 2019
If there was going to be a David vs Goliath game for the Hokies in the ACC, this is much more it than Duke or any other conference foe. The Hokies have always struggled to win at Florida State, even under Buzz' tenure. That ends today. Hokies manage to win with a huge performance by Hill, 74-67.
Happy Friday 😁 pic.twitter.com/srqaLJJCNR— Virginia Tech Basketball 🦃 (@Hokie_Hoops) March 1, 2019
Comments
LET'S GO
HOKIES!
That is not Coach Hamilton. You got that picture from The Wire.
ESPNU? Top 15 matchup of best basketball conference.
Supposedly set weeks if not months ago.
I only hate it because I'm was a dummy when looking at the Xfinity packages and got the one that was missing the U, CBSSN and FS2. Once I realized it, I also realized the only way to upgrade is to get the triple play package and I don't need home phone.
I just switched to Xfinity this week and I can't find ESPNU listed as available in any package.
I like your optimism. I just want any win for the Hokies here. Just like we are the perfect foil to Duke's game, it seems like FSU is ours.
Just wondering...with the lieutenant being the resident hoops wiz, and this being a regular column that he clearly puts a shitload of effort into, why are these never front page articles?
War against basketball
KBJ with the range
Debbie Antonelli is doing play by play?
If they're hitting that kind of range, we're in trouble
I can't stop worrying about what's going to happen in winterfell
Let them keep chucking up 3s. I'll take it.
We got a break there
Nice combo NAW-KBJ-Outlaw
Great start! Keep up the good defense!
NAW's missed layup earlier is one reason I just don't understand how he is anywhere near a first round pick. A NBA player flushes that ball instead of laying it up gingerly.
i dont think NAW is a NBA prospect for his drive to the rim or ball handling, he is a great outside trigger man, not having JRob is really forcing him out of his preferred role.
listening on the radio, but it sounds like the refs are favoring the home team. is that a fair appraisal, TV watchers?
edit: the radio announcer keeps mentioning the FSU players getting away with travels, thats the only reason i ask. not to mention the shot clock bail out.
edit 2: how do you like me now?
No. We have only had one foul called against us. Refs are letting each side be physical. It's been a great game.
Not at all. Well called so far. We only just got our first with less than 10 to go.
They have I think 4 fouls to our 1 so I don't think so
Hill in true acc form
He is on fire, just keep feeding him the ball.
Defense is phenomenal right now. Carrying FSU to late in the shot clock every time.
Damn what defense. Gotta keep it up.
Hopefully a weeks rest allows us to keep it up for the whole game without running out of gas.
3 Shot clock violations already? That's ridiculous defense! Hope they can keep it up.
Other than the missed layup from NAW and the silly turnover by Hill, offense is looking smooth and fluid!
Florida State looks flat, fading away and getting nothing up late in the shot clock. VT going to give them some driving lanes, FSU just pulling the ball up. Hope it stays that way.
Also: crowd is out of it. Tallahassee is not feeling it tonight.
FSU home record is insane.
48-3 at home last 3 years?
Yes. Best among P5.
how do they do that in the ACC? Duke and UVA should be winning fairly consistently.
Buzzwatch is just as annoying as Zionwatch, but way more entertaining
if it is more entertaining is it possible for it to be just as annoying?
It's annoying for the same reasons, shrinking the actual game etc etc. Just stop split screening
I agree 100%. I was just arguing semantics
I wish it was there all game
I'd buy a different TV for buzz watch. Although he's been much more tame this season
Hill can flat out fly.
NAW with the stepback to double up FSU. Love it.
Is the shot clock running faster when Noles have the ball? Wow.
everything is running faster than FSU
If there were any slumps they're gone now (as of 4:10 on my DVR delay)
who is more likely to have a triple double: NAW or KB
Much more respectable score for FSU than last year. Oh wait, this isn't football.
We're a basketball school? We're a basketball school.
Are the FSU students on spring break? That place is dead.
Not for another few weeks, 3/18-22
When I see 19 points in a half I know it was a great defensive effort but then my mind goes to the NC State game. How do you score 24 points in a game? I will never understand that.
Wake's giving Duke a good game so far. 35-34 Duke at the half
#goacc
but really? do we root for duke to keep our win from becoming pedestrian? or do we enjoy the schadenfreude at duke's expense?
A Duke loss puts us in play for the 3 seed.
Also WRT a Duke loss
A Duke loss just legitimizes the Zion Cam. Change my mind.
They shouldn't be in a fight with Wake with 3 5 star players still active.
Is that an indicator of how good Zion was or how bad they are at adjusting without him?
Great first half.
Would have preferred better shots to end the half than those long 2s NAW put up.
How many guys do we have active that are over 6-6? How many does FSU have? How are we outrebounding them by 8?
They're hardly sending anyone for offensive boards and we're getting some great long bounces on our side
Just Blackshear
If Duke loses out and we win out, we get the 3 seed. Is the 3 seed better for us than the 4 seed?
4 seed gets winner of FSU/(WF/GT).
5 seed gets winner of Syracuse/(ND/Mia)
Walker-Alexander getting a lot of love...
Blackshear with the rip. The hustle tonight is apparent.
Big foul call on Komachi
Refs are starting to make some bad calls both ways
Fire up the grill...
Not a good way to start the half
Shots and stops. Let's Go.
Since when did the rule that you can't put 2 hands on an offensive player go away? They are mugging in those traps
Settle down. Play our game. Gotta move the ball and take better shots.
FSU too good to not make a least one run. Time to respond!
I missed the first half. So far the noles are playing like thugs in the second and the refs are ignoring it. Was it this way in the first half as well?
There was a couple questionables but they called barely anything on us. 15 point lead at one point.
Gotta settle into this rush pressure. We're getting real frazzled and picking up the dribble
Really impressive stretch- FSU gets the monster lob to cut it to 4. Most coaches call TO after that play. Buzz doesn't. Two straight baskets and a shooting foul for us afterwards. That stretch demonstrated our mental toughness- most teams fold there. Microcosm of the season.
radio announcer said buzz was calling for the TO, but everyone was ignoring him.
I thought the same thing our team got a little rattled with pressure but NAW then Bede with two smart shots. Blackshear got fouled hard
Love the way we scored 4 quick points when they cut the lead to 4. We could have buckled there but we answered.
Wake up 10 on Duke.
Yeaaaaa that's a charge/$$$
Edit
I hope you aren't serious.
The defender was sliding, not squared up, and took Blackshear down by falling. That is nowhere close to a charge in any basketball league on planet earth.
via GIPHY
Just a brutal charge call there
Anybody else see that charge? Yeah, me neither.
What a ridiculous call
Woooowwwww
Our spacing on offense has not been great tonight.
I think it's been ok but Blackshear hasn't distributed well in the 2nd half. Defense has been very poor closing out on shooters.
ACC refs make their presence known
Now the horseshit starts. Jeez
Sitting on a guy isn't a foul?
I hope I'm wrong but I feel like this game isn't just slipping away, but is lost.
We'll be okayCome on hokies!
This isn't ideal.
Buzz getting out coached hard here in the 2nd half
A downvote for what exactly? Because we have 8 points halfway into the half?
Didn't know we got downvotes for reality
He's getting out reffed.
I mean I don't think he's getting outcoached honestly. what are you seeing to suggest that from a scheme perspective? The refs are allowing FSU to mug our ball handlers from the backcourt all the way to the basket. Then they called garbage fouls on Blackshear to effectively neuter our entire game plan.
These are awful refs at this point.
Mugging us with no calls. Calling that foul on KBJ...
The camera view behind NAW on the one near turnover with FSU backcourt pressure was very telling. The defender immediately put both hands on him and started swiping away. That should be an immediate foul but they are letting anything outside of the paint go
Wow home cooking. No foul there
Honestly the refs have changed this entire game. Atrocious calls over and over
The checks just cleared. Time for the refs to foul out Blackshear.
Ahh, there's the home cooking.
KBJ on the bench for awhile now, we need to spark on offense in his absence or we will lose this slowly and painfully.
Payment to refs cleared at half time apparently. Two bogus fouls on Blackshear in five minutes.
Wow wasnt until he hugged Bede that it got called
NAW gets hit in the face. No call...in fact off him out of bounds.
Blackshear stands straight up, gets called for foul.
This smells funny.
Horse shit call on Blackshear. Not surprising.
Both his last two fouls were horseshit.
These refs. Just screwing us over to make it a close game. No wonder they've only lost at home 3 times in the last 3 years.
I really wish the ACC would work on consistent officiating. So awful over the last 5 minutes.
I mean. It's bit even consistent within games. It's a foul in the first half but not the second? It either is or isn't.
Like that hard foul on KJB. Should've been a F1. Their intent was to hurt him.
When will referees be held accountable? This has been horrendous officiating the last 5 minutes and completely one sided.
I feel like every call for the most part in the second half has gone the way of FSU. Unreal.
Okay, let's see what we can do here. Refs went off the deep end quick gotta adjust
This is next level ridiculous
So... can we stay in it without Blackshear?
Just calling fouls when a hokie gets within breathing space now?
WTF. How does that get called offensive on Hill.
And NAW gets mugged. Nothing. This is fucking stupid.
Might as well turn it off. It's impossible to win with this type of officiating. The referees are sucking the life out of the players.
All whistles all FSU
The refs are bad but we've been outscored 27-3 this half
That's fucking awful
These refs are getting ridiculous
Charges for us, blocks for them?
What a joke. This one's over. Cash the checks, refs.
Lol guess the Florida State donors had a discussion with the refs at half cause what the fuck
The way the game is being called totally changed. Rough.
This is rigged
We look like a goddamn peewee basketball team
Finally even the tv analyst is saying it.
Even the announcers saying we're getting mauled
So honest question. Is home cooking still really a thing? Is there no accountability for the ref crews? I'm not able to watch but from the sound of it there's some serious horse shit going on.
Some dubious calls and no-calls. But didn't you hear? Every time we blow a lead, it's because the refs are being bribed 🙄
Did you watch the game? I don't think the refs are bribed but they are humans subject to making emotional decisions. If you really think that can't affect a game, you are kidding yourself.
Did YOU read the game thread? Check how many "checks have cashed" and "fsu donors" comments there are.
It's an in-game thread where fans want to express their frustration. I'm pretty sure nobody is calling the FBI to report suspected match fixing.
Okay?????? And I was directly replying to a comment that discussed "the sound of it" in the game thread.
Outside of maybe that ND game last season, this is the worst stretch of officiating I've ever seen.
FSU out of control crashes into us. Foul VT. Ahmed turns into a guy moving. Foul VT.
3 charges in the second half.
Foul on every possession. On VT
"A lot of contact"
I want Buzz to go full Bobby Knight on one of these calls
Alright I've made very clear posts that you can't let refs control the game and you have to adjust.....idk what adjustments to make here. What the fuck happened they've called more fouls on us in the second half than total in the first???!
Where is the t for hitting outlaw in the head?
Outlaw with what looked like a flop in my glance but got the call
1/3 is a momentum killer from the line. Need a good offensive possession next time down.
Unforced turnover instead...
this team is fighting hard right now.
Fighting, but sort of feels like a losing battle doesn't it? Not saying it's impossible, but these refs are their 6th man right now.
6th, and 7th, and 8th, and 9th, and 10th...
Shocker both this and the Duke game got officials correction
Refs or no refs, this team has crumbled in an environment that is not that hostile.
Wide open pass under the basket to Horne...turnover
turns out its hard to play when you are worried about getting a foul for breathing.
When they are getting called for fouls they aren't committing, and Fl State is hacking the hell out of them with no call it's a little defeating. Tough to keep grinding when. That happens.
Refs or not, just make a damn shot.
After how bad FSU shot that first half, I wonder if that basket isn't misaligned
Still a close game but an uphill battle asst five versus eight.
Shocked that wasnt offensive
Steal one more defensive possession and get KJ back in
NAW and Blackshear on the bench. Critical stretch here.
We always get burned by BS late second 3's
The constant reminders that the winner goes to the quarter final isn't helping my mood...
Out of bounds no call. Geez
THIS IS HORSE SHIT
Hahaha 25 grabbed KJ and got the foul call. These refs are the best!
Double bye on the line and the refs just totally ruin it
It might have been a decent game with neutral refs, turning into a bad game.
This is laughable. KJ was grabbed.
Just remember the ACC hates us.
Can't believe they put that in KBJ, especially because it wasn't a foul
The fuck did he even allegedly do?
So apparently the refs were paid to foul blackshear out. Those last three fouls were bogus.
The three second half fouls on KBJ were questionable at best.
What. A. Damn. Joke. Hilarious at this point.
Fuck the ACC. Seriously. Fuck em.
I dont even know ....was he even on screen? I just have no words for how this has gone down.
The last three fouls on Blackshear were all crap.
They were total crap! As much as I hate to say it, he should go make some money and forget this bullshit! This is ridiculous
Now why know why FSU is 47-3 at home..... refs just giving them the game.
Props to that one ref hanging out near the VT bench hunting a technical after that bs call
So now U guess "they" want to make us proove we can win without our two best players..
Wonder what it feels like to be a UNC basketball fan? Must be nice...
Throw the chair Buzz, throw it!
We're still in the game so he can't risk it. I suspect he will be sending the entire 2nd half to the ACC HQ for poor calls though.
Best move NAW has made since December
This game so reminds me of the Penn State game unfortunately
Every game has bad calls. The players are so athletic it is a hard game to officiate. Referees in this game are inconsistent and pathetic. Thanks
Even if we win this I'm still going to be livid. One of the least enjoyable halves to watch all season long. So infuriating.
Two players with hands on NAWs arms...turnover...not a foul.....cameras saw it clearly
Two separate fouls not called on NAW on that drive. Incredible.
Legitimately fucking amazed they didn't call a foul on the obvious hard flop
NAW has to go to Outlaw there. Good God he was so open.
NAW got fouled lol what a joke
It's difficult to hold on to the ball when both of your arms are being grabbed..
I have no idea what fouls are. Never have. One minute it's powder puff, the next it's prison rules.
This is epic bullshit. Naw got mugged for no foul.
"Two guys with hands on him." So obviously a missed call.
HILL YEAH
AhMeD HiLl CaNt PlAY AcC BaLl
Chance of ot. Will the refs let it happen?
MED HILL MED HILL
Whistle ready for under a second to secure the bonus deposit
If we win I am worried about Roger Ayers getting whacked.
Worried? That would be a bonus
ACC HILL???
AHMED HILL THE GOAT HES BACK
Fuck the refs. We'll beat them too.
Do we split the double buy? 1/2 day off!
Mann had a really good look at that game winner...
That Hill shot
No no no no. No. YES!
...and he was fouled (minor...but still)
Glad to move to OT, but just means 5 more minutes watching these putrid refs.
Come on hokies! Five more minutes.
Make a statement.
Hey, did you guys know that the winner of the game gets the double bye in the ACC tournament? I'm glad they mentioned it here in OT because I wasn't tracking that.
We can do this
Ron Howard voice: We didn't do it
Playing with a lead would be nice.
Proud of this team, man. In the face of this kind of ( REDIcuLoUS) adversity, to get to OT is impressive.
Agreed, a lot of teams would've crumpled
Our lack of depth may start to show up. Misses short will tell
Fall down get a foul
LMAO he fell over on his own but FoUl
Every time we trap they call a foul on us, but FSU is allowed to hack our players when they trap...
..and the travel
...and they push off on drive pen and rebounds
...and they hit us in the face on drives
Horne gets pulled backwards three feet trying to rebound just part of the game
Turnovers gonna kill us.
They have to stop the bouncing lane passes. We have five turnovers trying that crap
Agreed. As someone who plays as a big man and likes to roll, I hate getting a low bounce pass near the basket. It's tough to take your eyes off the hoop, reach down low and then reorient yourself for a shot that quickly. It's just bad basketball.
Of course MJ Walker drains the three to end it. Fade me fam
MJ Walker? Who's that guy?
Edit: /S
Former VT recruiting target. Everyone thought it was between VT and UCLA, UCLA got all the crystal balls the night before his commitment, and then he committed to FSU. Apparently he wanted to go somewhere he wouldn't start or get enough minutes to be NBA ready.
Except he has averaged like 25 or more minutes all of this season and was getting 25 or more minutes his freshmen year until they got deep in ACC play and finally decided they had other guys that would shoot better than 35% from the floor, which is what he has delivered both seasons so far. Averaging 8 points a game on 26 minutes this year. Hasnt shown to be close to an NBA talent.
Leonard Hamilton: Doing less with more since 2002
1990 ....13 years at Miami
That was before my time. Did he consistently have stacked rosters with NBA talent there?
Pretty regularly. That was the U heyday so everyone had giant bags of cash
He's definitely the Mark Richt of college basketball.
I'm guessing you forgot the /s, but for anyone who forgot, we had the majority of the crystal balls for him back in 2017 before FSU flipped him at the last minute. Would have given us two 5 stars and our best recruiting class in school history.
Edit:
Damn
I love how we can't make shit but every time they need a shot they drill it.
well sure, the refs have made it illegal to play defense.
They drilled shit in the the first half. Could not hit shit.
I hope MJ Walker gets chicken pox.
Big time Hokie Chokie after halftime tonight
get that shit out of here. bitch about the refs if you want, but dont put this on our guys.
Our shooting was atrocious. The refs were bad, but our offense was awful
Both true, but I don't understand how you can use that word. You need to get out of here with that terrible attitude..
and what plan is supposed to over come refs calling fouls on us for their defensive sins?
clearly they were trash, they didnt have flubber on their shoes. /s
Please don't ever use that term. I can't believe you think that's ok to use as a Hokie....shame
no there are definitely games where it is deserved, whether it is used or not, but this game was not one of them.
People don't like when someone accurately points out that their 2nd half gameplan and execution was dog shit
Terrible shooting from 3 again
Downvote away, they were up by 14 at half and will lose by double digits. That's a killer for seeding in several ways
No people don't like derogatory remarks against their own team. You can keep that toxic garbage to yourself (or direct it toward Philly sports together if you so please).
Saying a team played bad is derogatory?
They played bad in the 2nd half. I'm not really sure what else there is to discuss. They came out and gave up a big run to FSU, couldn't hit a 3. Should I pretend that didn't occur? Buzz got out coached and the players played poorly. I'm not questioning their character as men
STFU
you honestly think the issue with that post is that we played poorly? Maybe you are lucky enough to have never been subjected to "Chokies" but it's used in a derogatory fashion by Hoos or Miami fans. Feel free to go join those boards if you want to use it.
By the way, I've seen you say Buzz was outcoached multiple times with zero analysis to support it. In fact you followed it up by saying we missed too many 3s, which really has nothing to do with coaching. So I'm getting very curious what you think Buzz should have done differently. If you don't know enough about basketball to say, how do you know he's being outcoached?
Yeah come on everyone don't you know we're supposed to blame it on the clearly bribed refs!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Only when its legitimate. This game, it was legitimate.
We had some ugly moments, no doubt, but the questionable calls were outside the bounds of normal questionable calls.
It's LEGITIMATE to say that money was exchanged for favorable refereeing?????????????????????
Way to cherry pick wording. Good job!
Anyone who watched the game objectively knows the officiating was out of balance tonight. In a game that went to OT, negating just one of the many "questionable" calls that went FSU's way changes the outcome.
I'm not cherry picking wording, you are. I said "bribed" and you evidently chose to ignore that?????
cher·ry-pick
Dictionary result for cherry-pick
/ˈCHerēˌpik/
verb
choose and take only the most beneficial or profitable items, opportunities, etc. from what is available.
Kind of like, let's say..., focusing on the concept of the officials being "bribed".
Even the commentators were making reference to the ghost calls out there in the 2nd half. I have no idea whether money was involved or not, but I know by what I watched tonight that the officiating was lopsided.
Regardless, I just realized something. Much like my teenage daughter, some folks in today's world just thrive off of drama. That said, I think I'll check out now.
Enjoy the rest of the thread!
not sure what you are trying to say
It has been a long standing joke for every occasion when referees seem to have a clear preference. Otherwise how do you explain very lopsided horrible officiating where they refuse to look at the video?
What a great negative attitude. Really contributing to the thread, thanks.
day late and a dollar short! Out coached in second half?
Did you even watch the game?
Idiot
I didn't downvote but I still don't get the outcoached comments. Florida State is an extremely deep, talented team playing at home while VT is already short handed and then had to go without our best healthy player on the court for most of the second half. There's only so much a coach can do.
Hokies will beat FSU in the tournament unless they have to play with ACC refs...
Of course Hill gets mugged. Eat your fucking whistle.
Buzz is too classy, but he needs to scream bullshit after this atrocity. First half was a different game. The only thing that changed were the foul calls.
Listen to the announcers (ESPN), they were calling BS on all those phantom fouls in the 2nd.
Down seven, I don't think we are coming back.
Very insightful commentary
Awful second half and even worse overtime this one sucks to stomach
despite the atrocious calls, this game was lost in the first 5 mins of the 2nd half. on to Miami, some other team, then FSU again.
We had 8 points in that stretch. FSU had 21...they only had 18 in the first half. 5 fouls on VT. 0 on FSU (had their 1st just after that stretch). 3 VT "turnovers". 0 FSU.
For a while there every vt offense was a foul and there was also a foul on our defense.
That's part of my point.
After the miss,I don't know that i would have fouled.
too many turnovers
Cant wait to beat them in a week on a neutral floor. This wasnt home cooking- it was home broiling.
Alas, what could have been? Oh well. I only hope we get as good home cooking for our senior night.
We won't need home cooking that night. Save it for next week. Neutral cooking.
Well at least our team is good enough for me to get way too emotional in a loss. I used to feel that way only in football.
We missed some easy buckets early. Turned the ball over way too much. Refs were atrocious and FSU hit the shots they needed. I believe we'll stonp their ass in the tournament if 5 is back. Fuck it. Beat Miami and move on.
I can't even believe some of the comments in this thread. Even from TKP members! I would have expected you folks to set the right example on here! I'm ashamed for us as a community tonight.
Lmao. If you think this was bad, I would stay away from this site on football game days.
Ok...don't need the patronizing either..
These game threads are mainly for venting. Don't read them if that bothers you.
Sooo I can't vent about Hokies not even upholding a certain standard? Seems a little hypocritical.
That wasn't a patronizing comment.
You must be a newbie.
You must be new here, welcome.
Good grief, now I'm getting ganged up by TKP members? Good Lord you guys are making me feel bad about even being a Hokie. That's sad. No love here.
I think it's friendly.
You're good man. Chill out. If the bees are stinging just walk away from the hive. Go Hokies.
Wow I welcome you and your month old account to TKP and all I got was snark and a downvote 😔
Gobble Gobble Chumps anagrams to Bombshell Bob Eggcup
And darned if I don't try my hardest to do so!!!
Don't act like you weren't being sarcastic.
Also, yes my account is only a month old, but only because my content was used by a publisher and he called out my user name, so I felt the need to create an account to link that and be proud of it.
You can't leave it there.
Now we needs to know the details.
You can't try to establish the moral high road about comment positivity and then just assume everyone is being sarcastic. Also I might suggest reading the CGs about downvoting. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean downvoting is warranted.
Who set the wrong example? Looks like a bunch of people bitching about refs.
Omg he's one of them!
Lets get 5 healthy and beat these bitches in the tournament.
Yes, I'm referring to the refs.
To answer the earlier question, for some reason I'd prefer to have has this one.
Like rented mules, (or paid-off refs).
Can't wait to see their bum ass walk ons sitting on their asses when we destroy them next week in the ACC tournament. No refs to bail them out this time. Also, I think 5 will be back.
...unless we have the same refs...
Refs were feeding off the home crowd. Also wouldn't surprise me if the league wanted Tech to play an extra game since they'll travel better than FSU fans to the tournament.
With that being said, Tech's play in the second half was unacceptable. It might have been better had KJ not gotten absolutely shafted by the refs, but they need to be better.
The conference can review games, correct? Even though it wouldn't change the result, I would love to hear how bad these officials were.
It means literally nothing. You won't even hear about it even though it's clear they were bad
same thing after *that* sugar bowl game
Can't rag on our guys they played best they could in a game with refs that color blind I don't know how buzz kept his cool through that bull shit
If there was ever a game for Buzz to throw a chair and get ejected, that was it. The refs weren't letting us win that game. Might as well juice up the team and send a message.
Buzz has too much character for that.
You're absolutely right. I know for sure I would have gotten a tech if I was the coach tonight.
I don't know how Blackshear kept his cool. The look in his eyes after that fifth foul (and three awful calls in a row against him) was murderous.
I don't think Blackshear kept his cool at all, and unfortunately it's what led to the lopsided calls and the loss.
After getting fouled hard by 2 FSU players on drive to the basket early in the 2nd he completely lost it and got into a confrontation with them. He's lucky he didn't get a flagrant foul for kicking one of the FSU players as he got up. Before that, the refs were letting both teams play. Lots of minor fouls on both sides going uncalled. From that point on the refs were calling things a lot tighter on us in general (and to some degree tighter on FSU) and extremely tight on Blackshear. His antics after each foul call didn't help the situation.
Blackshear has an issue where he can get overly defensive and over react to being fouled, especially in dangerous situations like that early 2nd half drive. He just completely loses it and lashes out (either physically or verbally) and then all the refs see is an out of control player. Then he gets extra scrutiny and picks up extra fouls or doesn't get calls. This season he's done a much better job keeping himself in check and that has really elevated his game but last night he fell into the old habit and the wrong time.
p.s. I still think the refs were horrible in the 2nd half and expect better of them. They should be more consistent instead of allowing themselves to get influenced by the circumstances and environment the way that they did.
If the reaction of a player to a foul call causes an official to call more fouls on them, then that official has no business calling NCAA games. They are the ones that need to be impartial. Of course every player isn't going to agree to a call. When you get your legs taken out and there's no consequences, then any kid (yes - they are kids) will get upset. Then when you continue to get called for questionable calls you aren't going to be happy.
The officials get paid to do a job officiating a game fairly - not hold a grudge for a player reaction.
I agree 100%, the officials handled it the wrong way. I don't blame Blackshear for getting upset either, but I also think our players and coaches have to be ready to deal with the reality of basketball and control what they can control (themselves and their own actions) to maximize their chances.
Sometimes that means catering to the psychology of officials. I'm not saying it's ideal, nor easy, but it's part of dealing with imperfect (i.e. human) officials.
I go back and forth on bad officiating. One the one hand I demand excellence and fairness from officials, and I'm really upset when they're so clearly favoring one team over another. On the other hand I accept that officials will be human (that is to say, they'll be imperfect and sometimes show favoritism) It's like a zen thing almost. Do you blame the wolf for eating a sheep? The wolf is just being a wolf.
'
Lmao this thread since the game ended
I'm just frustrated
I am just impressed that our guys were able to overcome such a headwind to get to overtime.
Our guys never gave up.
In case anyone wants to know how to controversially stimulate conversation in here, I think I stumbled into it above
Man I swear all of your comments on this site are either plaid, green, or -20.
Go big or go home
I vote for go home!
But why do you insist? We're all obviously upset about losing, no need to go calling our team derogatory names...
You could post the second half on a beastality site, label it "three grown men triple team a group of turkeys" and it would probably have the most upvotes.
TIL MaroonX2 visits beastiality sites that have up and down voting
Hey Guys:
pls
Go back and look at the score with every BS offensive foul. Spread was -4 for FSU. Interesting that every call seemed to be when we were going to make it like a 1 point game. Very "lucky" for people that bet on FSU
Don't be that guy.
Just pointing out how lucky those betters got. I mean so lucky that it's almost deliberate. But no, that has never happened in basketball before
I said it earlier and I'll say again, I wonder if that one basket was off. Both teams shot like ass on that side of the court
For the game...
We outshot them – FG%: 41.5% to 37.9%
3-point percentage was higher: 29.6% to 27.8%
We out rebounded them: 37 to 32
Keys to defeat...
14 TURNOVERS! Unacceptable!
Offensive fouls count as turnovers, right? Because the ~5 BS offensive foul calls and the terrible out of bounds one explain a lot of those
Yes both count towards the 14 turnovers. The turnovers that drove me crazy were the ones trying to force the low bounce pass in the lane. That was five turnovers as well. Many of those involved Horne though with Blackshear on bench so OFFICIALS
If y'all don't think the refs affected this game just scroll through some of the top comments of the Reddit thread...UVA and FSU flairs with some of the top comments saying the refs seem to be favoring FSU
I mean if anyone doesn't think the refs affected the game, they clearly don't know shit about basketball so their opinion is irrelevant
I had to watch the 2nd half on mute so I didn't get to hear the commentary, but I didn't see anything egregious except for maybe the foul on Blackshear that could have gone as a flagrant. What I did see was a frigid cold start for us in the 2nd half, hot shooting by FSU, and running out of gas in overtime after we had a burn everything we had to climb back in to the game.
The Horne foul where he stood there doing nothing and was ran into by Kabengele? The out of bounds call? The other Blackshear calls? Hill and Bede being abused every time up the court
And walker getting repeatedly hacked driving inside? Even the announcers picked up on that more than once. More than once heard "That's a foul" and play on...
Didn't watch and now I'm glad I didn't. 5 gonna get em next week though, Beard ain't shook.
Lol if the refs affected the game blast it on Twitter. There's a bunch of camera angles and a whole lot of people that hate refs. If they threw the game they'll never ref again.
Hot take: won't happen because the reffing was semi okay and we couldn't hit a bucket
I don't even know how to respond to this. You think that if refs affect a game that you can blast it on Twitter and some meaningful change will take place?
I take it you missed the Saints v Rams playoff game?
I think people underestimate how shitty college refs are. That and don't realize conference refs aren't a thing in college basketball. Reffing wasn't as egregious as people are making it out to be as they ignore calls that go in our favor (changing the call on the Bede travel to start the second half that got us a bucket for example). Calls are missed, Blackshear fouls, it happens.
I think what upsets many people in a game like this is that it seemed as if every block or charge call went in FSU's favor. In a fairly called game, those fouls should even out. I don't think the ref's are biased in favor of FSU as much as influenced by the home crowd. And they also blew the flagrant foul call against KBJ and then completely over reacted trying to keep control of the game. Maybe they expected Tech players to try to get even and were watching for that and therefore saw fouls that they would not have called if they weren't looking for them. And since they weren't looking as closely at FSU, did not see those fouls on them. In any case, the way they called the game favored FSU.
I mean I don't disagree if you're saying 50-50 block charge calls should even out. But I wouldn't really say any other than the Blackshear one was. The three I can think of off the top of my head (2 by hill and a block by NAW) were pretty obviously the right calls in my eyes. Not trying to say that it was the best called game ever, because it wasn't, but I think people are underestimating how difficult it is to ref without the benefit of replay and multiple angles like we have at home.
But they do have multiple angles. That's why there are three refs. But I think they are reluctant to overrule a call because egos get bruised.
The Blackshear charge wasn't anywhere in the neighborhood of a 50-50 call. The defender was clearly moving and not set.
I haven't watched the replay of the other 3, but now I need to, since I can't rely your assessments if you're calling Blackshear's charge a '50-50 call'
I wasn't saying that was a charge. I was saying the other three charges called. I worded it wrong though, you're right
I'm going to go ahead and skip the thorough read on everything above (i caught some key themes)... lets look on the bright side here:
I could certainly use the extra bourbon that an extra game will provide. Some of the rest of you may have used up your rations tonight.
People need to stop assuming we'll walk through the first team. This is March and let's stop overlooking Miami and whoever we play on Wednesday. Regardless, this game also really killed our tourney seeding. I bet we'll be like a 6 seed now considering how few quality wins we have and given the past with the ncaa. Our resume was crying for a win like this to be a legit 4 seed
If we won this game we would have likely been a 4 seed. "Killed our tourney seeding" is a big stretch. They were ranked higher than us and we played them on their court into overtime. Zero about this game is killing our tourney seeding.
Just watch, we'll get a 6 seed in March. We would have had a good argument for a 4 had we pulled off the win. The committee will hate how few Q1 wins we have (3, same amount as Wofford).
I think this is an overreaction at this point. We actually have 4 Q1 wins (Duke, Purdue, NC State, Washington). Duke and Purdue are elite wins and every one of those teams is rated higher than any of Wofford's Q1 wins (which were all away games against SoCon opponents ranked 44, 58, and 66). Wofford lost to every major opponent except for South Carolina, who has a NET ranking lower than Miami.
It's completely possible we could lose to Miami or our 1st ACC tournament game and then be looking at a bigger hit to our resume though.
There is a huge difference between being a 4 seed and a 6 seed in the Dance.
VT will get no love for this loss, and quite frankly the odds are they will lose seeding position because of it. Finishing top 4 in the ACC regular season may have helped out.
We just took #14 FSU to OT on their court. Where they've lost 3 games in the last 3 years. Without JRob. And with KJ out half the game. We had 4 guys play 40+ minutes. That's absurd. While I won't qualify that as a moral victory, that's an incredibly impressive feat for these guys while being both undersized and undermanned. Learn from it and on to the next one.
Unfortunately most "experts" wont look that deep. They will catch sportscenter where it will play as Florida State seniors overcome massive halftime deficit to beat the Hokies in Overtime on Senior Night.
See Duke falls to Hokies without Zion. Zion one two three Zion, Zion, Zion
Hopefully the "most experts" you talk about are the talking heads and not the committee heads. Regardless of this loss it shouldn't hurt us in seeding too bad....the committee has to see it was an overtime loss to a higher ranked opponent on the road.
Edit: if JRob doesn't come back at all this season I hope we lose first round of the ACC tourney. Need to save the legs and the last few years tourney victories haven't meant much in seeding. If JRob is back then I hope we get a couple of games in to gel as a team. If we win the ACC tourney great, if we play two games and get our legs for the stretch run....might be better.
Losing is never better.
This game should provide VT with increased motivation if/when they face FSU again, so the loss is not all that bad. I thought that Debbie Antonelli (any relation to the ex Boston Braves pitcher Johnny Antonelli?) did a nice job as an analyst. Not just because she agreed with me that the officiating, on a number of occasions, was pretty pathetic.
Blackshear was just whistled for another foul putting on his socks this morning
It was upgraded to a flagrant one
Jalen Hudson is going berserk against LSU right now