So: is JJ a fool for not trying to slow the game down and go for the sneaky upset (lots of 3s and rebounds), or should he be commended for refusing to abandon his play style? (up-tempo, attacking offense)
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If the Hokies get back on defense it would not be an issue but MSU isn't a run team even if they are trying to fool people by trying to be one this year. Those guys are going to wear down fast and they only go 8 deep with serious minutes.
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Nice start by the Hokies - need to drive the ball more on offense and get MSU into foul trouble. They are not a deep team so that could be something to watch. It's crazy that VT is still in the game with 5 turnovers.
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Just noticed the WVU player is wearing Rec-Specs (sports prescription goggles). Probably so he doesn't get all that Emelo-man-gu, all over his face, in his eyes.
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Game of runs so far....glad to see them being competitive though. And I second the frustration with the turnovers....lack of discipline so far has probably made a 15 point difference in this game.
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How this VT 3-point shooting so far is making me feel: (Stole the gif from Hokies semper liberi but it seemed inappropriately appropriate for the situation.)
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Nice steal by VT but the Refs suck. They are allowing MSU to play football..I hate the big 10 style of play and the refs just let it go. If you foul everytime the refs won't call them all and get use to how your playing.
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If Emelogu can keep out of foul trouble, he needs to take some of Wilson and Smith's minutes.
For that to be viable, we need Rankin back.
Rankin, get sorted out and come back
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I just want to say...whatever pep band that was playing at the end of that commercial break, please don't do that again. Whatever it was, it wasn't good.
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The Wilson kid i can tell is a young player, all of his turnovers are on bad passes he has to learn to pass to the outside shoulder away from the defender because MSU is playing the passing lanes aggressively.There's a lot of opportunity for backdoor cuts. Were playing a good game overall but we need more offense.
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I agree there's much ball to be played. But we need a few runs and we need to score more with our half court sets, because were not capitalizing on our fast breaks. Wilson is playing scared a little. He just needs to settle down and know where he's going to go with the ball.
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I know very little about basketball, but from what I can tell:
1. Turnovers are killer
2. Jarrell Eddie is a beast tonight
3. Payne is an even bigger beast
Things I learned tonight:
1. It's totally cool to hang on the rim and flail your legs, but God forbid someone put a hand on him, because that's clearly a foul. Basketball is silly sometimes.
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i feel like at some point in this game the announcer is going to say "and payne looks like he's in a ton of pain" ... and then we will cruise to victory
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I think this makes feel better as to who is beating us.....Preseason First-Team All-American as selected by Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook Rated the nation's No. 1 center by Lindy's College Basketball Magazine Preseason first-team All-Big Ten selection by both Lindy's and USA Today Extremely long athletic power forward who opted to return for his senior season rather than enter the NBA draft Owns a team-best 7-foot-4 wingspan His 38 inch no-step vertical jump is the best of the Izzo era Ranks third in MSU career blocks (113), needing 22 blocks in his senior season to become MSU's all-time leader Versatile offensive player with an unblockable jump hook as well as range out past the 3-point arc Runs the floor extremely well in transition.
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Does anyone else find it really odd that MSU is still playing up-tempo and trying to hit threes? You'd think, when up by 20+ with 2:00 or less to go, you'd just try to control the clock. Going for style points here, or what?
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I know I expected to lose this game, but we can't defend ball screens. It's incredible how many wide open looks they got off a simple ball screen. Those aren't mistakes even freshman should be making. If they don't get that fixed up we're gonna lose more games than I expected this year (and I expected around 20 losses).
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That made me mad as well, but I think they will get better as the year goes along. I originally at the beginning of the year thought we would lose this game by 40 but only losing by 19 and playing them straight up for most of the 1st half has me very pleased.
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They really do take forever to get around simple screens and have trouble rotating, but I think some of that is the way JJ and Kanaskie tell them to go under the screen and not switch.
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Good showing, they play hard for JJ..I think JJ should look into hiring an assistant coach who can teach defense. The up tempo is good for recruiting..no one wants to play in a slow down system anymore.
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Let's not over due it JJ is doing the best he can with what he's got. I think he needs a better point guard than Wilson. I mean this is the first time I've seen Tech play and they wasn't all that bad. There's some positives this in loss. We just played the number 1 team in the nation that from what I could see have more experience and more depth. They fought hard, but I think they should work more on passing and handling the ball better. We weren't going to get a post game going against Michigan State, I could tell that from the beginning our big men aren't that good and MSU has a potential NBA draft pick for a big man so no one could even get a body on him. Our post moves weren't very creative either I think they got intimidated when Payne got to them earlier. But the most frustrating thing that I saw last night wasn't the effort, it wasn't the talent gap that MSU had over us. It was the lazy passing by Wilson when he attempted to pass into the lanes and into the post. When you play teams like that you have take care of the ball not doing soft one hand or two handed passes. He made some passes at some points in the game. He has to also be a scoring threat as well as a facilitator. But overall there's promise and I like that.
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Wilson is a good player- He had a bad game and appeared intimidated a bit. Very timid on O. He can play; he smoked a pretty good wvu backcourt. We need Rankin for depth and his experience
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It's the first time in years we've had depth in the frontcourt too. I think Thompson is already better than JVZ, and it looks like JJ is slowly pushing JVZ down in the rotation.
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Seem to almost be identical to us in that they were supposed to be near the bottom of the new Big East. Of course now we are starting to hurt ourselves with turnovers and poor shot selection.
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What a way to waste such a great effort.....such a poor showing in the last sixty seconds. Emelogu makes two amazing threes at the end to make it look really close but poor ball control and failure to hit free throws at the end cost us the win.
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Yeah, you kind of expect a lot of losses this season, but to lose it that way is a little absurd. For me it started with CJ missing the free throw right after the announcer said he hadn't missed one all year. As soon as he said that and he missed, I said we'll find a way to lose this one. Emelogu had me standing on my feet at home even when I knew we couldn't win just because that range was redonkulous.
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Comments
That's an impressive record vs #1's. As unlikely as it would be, I'd like to the Hokies add another win to it tonight!
Well Seton Hall choked pretty hard there.
And to OU. I've really hated Oklahoma ever since they knocked Hokieball out of the tournament and snatched up coach Hughes.
Yeah they did..at least the Big East lost or is it the American conference that the Hall is in lol
is it televised?
It's on TruTV. Tip-off is pushed back to 10pm though.
Yup, it's on True TV - game hasn't started yet but it should here shortly.
Let's GO HOIKES!
Anyone have a link? Apparently we don't get TruTV at home.
Edit: Found one, posted it in case anyone wants it.
http://www.freevip.eu/basketball/192374/1/virginia-tech-vs-michigan-stat...
Good game so far.
So: is JJ a fool for not trying to slow the game down and go for the sneaky upset (lots of 3s and rebounds), or should he be commended for refusing to abandon his play style? (up-tempo, attacking offense)
Shoot, they look like they're just hanging on.
If the Hokies get back on defense it would not be an issue but MSU isn't a run team even if they are trying to fool people by trying to be one this year. Those guys are going to wear down fast and they only go 8 deep with serious minutes.
This team is not afraid of anybody, I love it.
Just watching the game in a box seat at the Verizon center. Nbd.
post-Caps game?
Hahaha yeah. Just got kicked out by security
AJ Hughes was at the game too.
That's some TKP Champaign Room shit right there.
Haha. I call it being friends with someone whose company owns a box. All the booze and food were free, so that was awesome.
Emelogu!
Nice!
How in the world is Emelogu a captain and NOT starting?
Sometimes your 6th man and energy guy is an excellent player. That said, I think he will start eventually.
OK....respectable
Nice start by the Hokies - need to drive the ball more on offense and get MSU into foul trouble. They are not a deep team so that could be something to watch. It's crazy that VT is still in the game with 5 turnovers.
5 turnovers right now for the Hokies.
The turnovers are driving me nuts
The fact that we aren't down by double-digits right now has me all giddy.
Wilson is out of control.
He is a freshman playing the #1 team in the country in front of the biggest crowd he has seen
I'm not a bball guy, but doesn't this remind you of our football team? D is playing well, and O is somehow keeping us in it?
Dayemn!
deleted for jinx fear and layup miss.
GO TECH GOOOOOOOO
And one!
Emelogu gets buckets while blindfolding himself because he's just that badass.
Just noticed the WVU player is wearing Rec-Specs (sports prescription goggles). Probably so he doesn't get all that Emelo-man-gu, all over his face, in his eyes.
I shouldn't, but...
Hokies are up 6 over #1!
Hokies playing strong.
Woah.
Game of runs so far....glad to see them being competitive though. And I second the frustration with the turnovers....lack of discipline so far has probably made a 15 point difference in this game.
How did he miss that layup!?!
You can tell our freshmen are nervous. But some of the older guys look cool, calm, and collected. Go Hokies, up 1 at the under 8 TO!
We have more depth than the #1 team in the country?
This is the most fun I've had watching a basketball game since Gary Neal going ham in the NBA finals
Keep it up Hokies!
Was that a "let's go - hokies" chant after the break?
How this VT 3-point shooting so far is making me feel: (Stole the gif from Hokies semper liberi but it seemed inappropriately appropriate for the situation.)
Refs bailed out State there.
Nice steal by VT but the Refs suck. They are allowing MSU to play football..I hate the big 10 style of play and the refs just let it go. If you foul everytime the refs won't call them all and get use to how your playing.
at least JJ is pulling in some big bodies so hopefully we can outmuscle some teams in the future when the whistle isnt blowing
They called a touch foul on a dunk then didn't call hanging out the rim..refs were paid off lol
Why can't we finish a dunk?
Starting to play harder defense on our end
Need to close out the half strong.
Payne is so good.
good god
Shut up refs leave JJ alone.
I bet JJ was complaining about the "foul" call on the Payne dunk against Barksdale.
Dang it.
Eddie with the answer!
And then Payne answers right back...
#5 is a pain in my ass lol
Refs favoring MSU, as expected though.
Payne is a beast.
If Emelogu can keep out of foul trouble, he needs to take some of Wilson and Smith's minutes.
For that to be viable, we need Rankin back.
Rankin, get sorted out and come back
That HS band (according to @hokiesjournal) sounds AWFUL
Edit: @hokiesjournal says its a HS band, i say they sound bad
If we can keep them under 45 before half we can win this game.
I just want to say...whatever pep band that was playing at the end of that commercial break, please don't do that again. Whatever it was, it wasn't good.
It's getting to be embarrassing...
It's just everyone in the pep band blasting their lungs out. Everything is fuzzy and out of tune.
And a lot of straight missed notes. I wonder if they have a director there... Either way, I bet they all get offers from another school on 81
Terrible decision by Wood.
Need to score here.
The calls are one sided and not being called the same at both ends..still a good half of bball by VT.
Devin Wilson has got A LOT to learn
Holding them here would be huge.
Eh, MSU pulling away.
One guy us beating us......get rid of him and we probably have a better team ........and we are so young
I don't know about a better team, but taking away Payne would definitely help. If only he picked up a technical when he hung on the rim...
I'm sure he "didn't want to land on people below him"
The Wilson kid i can tell is a young player, all of his turnovers are on bad passes he has to learn to pass to the outside shoulder away from the defender because MSU is playing the passing lanes aggressively.There's a lot of opportunity for backdoor cuts. Were playing a good game overall but we need more offense.
This game isn't over yet. Need to get on a little run to start the second half to gain some confidence back.
I agree there's much ball to be played. But we need a few runs and we need to score more with our half court sets, because were not capitalizing on our fast breaks. Wilson is playing scared a little. He just needs to settle down and know where he's going to go with the ball.
I know very little about basketball, but from what I can tell:
1. Turnovers are killer
2. Jarrell Eddie is a beast tonight
3. Payne is an even bigger beast
Things I learned tonight:
1. It's totally cool to hang on the rim and flail your legs, but God forbid someone put a hand on him, because that's clearly a foul. Basketball is silly sometimes.
Yeah, basically..by rule he was hanging on the rim and it wasn't called. I'd like to see James Gayle whip the grin off Payne's face.
i feel like at some point in this game the announcer is going to say "and payne looks like he's in a ton of pain" ... and then we will cruise to victory
Which benchwarmer does the best Hanson brother impersonation?
I think this makes feel better as to who is beating us.....Preseason First-Team All-American as selected by Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook Rated the nation's No. 1 center by Lindy's College Basketball Magazine Preseason first-team All-Big Ten selection by both Lindy's and USA Today Extremely long athletic power forward who opted to return for his senior season rather than enter the NBA draft Owns a team-best 7-foot-4 wingspan His 38 inch no-step vertical jump is the best of the Izzo era Ranks third in MSU career blocks (113), needing 22 blocks in his senior season to become MSU's all-time leader Versatile offensive player with an unblockable jump hook as well as range out past the 3-point arc Runs the floor extremely well in transition.
OK, "Cidarius" Raines is getting on my nerves. Somebody hand him a note
start up the block party, Joey
where did these fouls come from? ugh
I think VT has lost their confidence, doesn't seem like they even think they can hang with Michigan State anymore.
The game is getting away from the hokies..
could JVZ look any weaker when he takes it to the basket?
states bench players are literally jumping out of their seats when they score and they are up by a million
No quit!
That was very sportsmanlike...
Yeah that 3-pointer on the last MSU possession was kind of a dick move, but we played fairly well aside from the turnovers so that's a positive.
you have to limit turnovers against a #1. We have 17 so far. We also only have one block
Does anyone else find it really odd that MSU is still playing up-tempo and trying to hit threes? You'd think, when up by 20+ with 2:00 or less to go, you'd just try to control the clock. Going for style points here, or what?
I thought it was really odd too. They could have just used up the play clock. Maybe they just wanted shooting practice.
It was their backups and if we can't stop it then go ahead. It's our fault for not being able to stop them, not theirs for playing the game.
They just hate the Acc and tried to run it up.
Barksdale should start instead of wood, also Adam smith can ball when he gets hot
Michigan State wins 96-77. Hokies will play Seton Hall tomorrow at 7. Should be a good one.
I know I expected to lose this game, but we can't defend ball screens. It's incredible how many wide open looks they got off a simple ball screen. Those aren't mistakes even freshman should be making. If they don't get that fixed up we're gonna lose more games than I expected this year (and I expected around 20 losses).
That made me mad as well, but I think they will get better as the year goes along. I originally at the beginning of the year thought we would lose this game by 40 but only losing by 19 and playing them straight up for most of the 1st half has me very pleased.
They really do take forever to get around simple screens and have trouble rotating, but I think some of that is the way JJ and Kanaskie tell them to go under the screen and not switch.
Good showing, they play hard for JJ..I think JJ should look into hiring an assistant coach who can teach defense. The up tempo is good for recruiting..no one wants to play in a slow down system anymore.
Let's not over due it JJ is doing the best he can with what he's got. I think he needs a better point guard than Wilson. I mean this is the first time I've seen Tech play and they wasn't all that bad. There's some positives this in loss. We just played the number 1 team in the nation that from what I could see have more experience and more depth. They fought hard, but I think they should work more on passing and handling the ball better. We weren't going to get a post game going against Michigan State, I could tell that from the beginning our big men aren't that good and MSU has a potential NBA draft pick for a big man so no one could even get a body on him. Our post moves weren't very creative either I think they got intimidated when Payne got to them earlier. But the most frustrating thing that I saw last night wasn't the effort, it wasn't the talent gap that MSU had over us. It was the lazy passing by Wilson when he attempted to pass into the lanes and into the post. When you play teams like that you have take care of the ball not doing soft one hand or two handed passes. He made some passes at some points in the game. He has to also be a scoring threat as well as a facilitator. But overall there's promise and I like that.
Wilson is a good player- He had a bad game and appeared intimidated a bit. Very timid on O. He can play; he smoked a pretty good wvu backcourt. We need Rankin for depth and his experience
One thing this team does well is they hit the glass hard. Best rebounding Tech team I've seen in years.
It's the first time in years we've had depth in the frontcourt too. I think Thompson is already better than JVZ, and it looks like JJ is slowly pushing JVZ down in the rotation.
This is a good recovery opponent considering they lost a heartbreaker and eddie and smith look good so far.
Everybody's looking solid on offense so far, is Seton Hall good this year/projected to be good?
Seem to almost be identical to us in that they were supposed to be near the bottom of the new Big East. Of course now we are starting to hurt ourselves with turnovers and poor shot selection.
When was the last time anyone scored? Smith and Eddie need to be shooting and they need to take this game over.
Eddie showing that senior leadership
What a way to waste such a great effort.....such a poor showing in the last sixty seconds. Emelogu makes two amazing threes at the end to make it look really close but poor ball control and failure to hit free throws at the end cost us the win.
Thanks Eddie.
I think one thing we can take away from the Seton Hall loss is that Ben Emelogu is descendant of god who will be an unstoppable force
That inbounds play is a candidate for Trojan's boner of the week award.
I'm not really upset when we lose because we aren't very good. But Emelogu, that was absurd range at the end!
Yeah, you kind of expect a lot of losses this season, but to lose it that way is a little absurd. For me it started with CJ missing the free throw right after the announcer said he hadn't missed one all year. As soon as he said that and he missed, I said we'll find a way to lose this one. Emelogu had me standing on my feet at home even when I knew we couldn't win just because that range was redonkulous.