Early post today because the grand kids are here and there won't be any time later. I may get to watch the game if nap time works out. The men play Notre Dame today at 2 PM at South Bend. Notre Dame is favored by 7 points. Game is on the ACC Network. Notre Dame is 18-12, 14-4 at home and 4-7 away overall and 9-10, 5-4 home and 4-6 on the road in the ACC.

Notre Dame is going to be a match up problem for the Hokies 6'9" Senior John Mooney is their best player, shooting 47% overall and can shoot the three with 29% average. He averages 16.8 pts and 12.8 rebounds per game. One of the things that makes guarding Mooney a challenge is he is not their tallest player. 6'11" senior Juwan Durham also starts. The Hokies will have their hands full underneath. To win today, we have to find a way to defend their big men or stop everyone else from scoring. They have four players averaging more than 10 pts/game.

Could not find conference stats; so you get full season. Somewhat surprising to me is that they have been out rebounded slightly this year. They lead the nation in assist to TO ratio and in fewest fouls per game; but they have had four players foul out of a game this season. They are second in the nation in fewest turnovers per game. The Hokies cannot afford to be careless in this game. They lost their last two games to Wake Forest and Florida State. Here are the stats:

Notre Dame is probably on the bubble for the NCAA; so this game is important to them. And it is very important to the Hokies also. I think a win today guarantees a bye for the first round of the ACC Tournament. A win would either give us the 9 seed if BC loses to FSU(FSU is 16.5 pt favorite) or a tie with BC if they win and the 10 seed. If we lose, we could end up in a 2,3 or 4 way tie for the 9th or 10th seed with BC, Miami and UNC. But I think all those possibilities result in the 10 seed if Miami loses(Syracuse is favored by 1) and the 11 seed if Miami wins because we lose all the tiebreakers with Miami and BC and UNC(Duke is favored by 11) loses all the tiebreakers with everyone. Seems like I say this every game lately; but it sure would be great if Nolley can find his shot this game.
Go Hokies!

Comments
First round bye would be nice. Not sure how much it'll matter in the long run, but if there's a team that is built for tournament play, it's this one. A hot shooting team that doesn't turn the ball over is the one that always gets circled as a problem in March.
Part of me wants to get another shot at UVa in the tournament but then another part of me doesn't want to lose to UVa 3 times.
Yes, I agree we have that potential, but we have to start playing like that again. Lately we've been cold shooting, and way too many turnovers. Nolley has to get his shooting mojo back, and it would be nice if Bede would decisively take the ball to the rack a little more often - if anything, it forces the opposition to guard all his options, instead of knowing he's always going to be kicking the ball back out once he's in the paint. That would benefit both our inside and outside shooting.
How can we end up as the 9 seed? Clemson currently has that spot with 9 wins. 8 wins can only get us to the 10 seed.
Georgia Tech is ineligible. So bump each team up a seed.
LET'S GO
HOKIES!!
WHERE TF IS EVERYBODY TODAY?
I was out playing golf, it is spring, and am now watching my recording. After the 0-16 streak, thinking maybe should have played an emergency nine. Stopped it at halftime to walk the dog and now trying to slog through the second half.
I was at my daughter's swim meet. Sorry, trying to accomplish anything the weekend of a travelling swim meet is an exercise in futility. But hey, she dropped time in both of her events!
Pflueger and Mooney have been there for like 10 years right? I think I remember Jeff Allen fouling one of them 25 ft from the hoop.
So we gotta watch a nonconference lacrosse game instead of ACC basketball?
Great. Notre dame screwing us over before the game even starts. Screw you lacrosse! Get off the lawn on my TV!
The game has been decided and should get kicked for a revenue sport. No way should lacrosse be aired over a basketball game
Hey ACCN......nobody gives a fuck about lacrose. Put the BB game on dipshits.
Sticking around during timeouts with 30 sec left and the game is over....
Also, why is their no alternate channel on dish network for the ACCN like there is for the other conferences? I should be able to hit channel up and see the damn game
There is. ACC extra on the espn app. I was able to see the start of the game.
That's not on my TV. Which means I have to go get a device out and pull it up on that.
Every other conference I just tune to a different channel that is held open for that exact purpose.
try watch espn
1-9 from three 2-14 overall.
Nolley needs to sit. Hes done got nothing.
It seems every game, I have to worry that we'll score less than NC state did against us last year...
Now 1-12 and 2-18. Are our freshmen feeling the pressure?
They are getting good shots. Just can't make anything.
I love nolley...but hes not an NBA pick this year. I dont know where that came from. Hes got a ton of stuff he needs to work on.
I'm not sure he's an NBA pick period. He is playing soft on both ends of the court and the NBA is significantly more physical. His legs are gone in just 30 games. That's just a third of an NBA season. He needs to really work on strength & conditioning.
Defense has been great. Active hands. If we can keep it up and shots start falling, we should be in it. We are down 6 points after missing 16 straight shots.
Down 11 at the half. Hope CMY can get them settled down and shoot like they normally do in the second half. They can still win this one.
Gibbs should cool off. He is normally a 41% three pt shooter. He is 4-5 so far and hitting from way outside the three pt line.
Welp here come the bullshit calls against us but can't get a foul on Nd for same contact
Yep.
hey would you look at that we have been called for 2x the foul ND has
Can we shoot some fucking layups
At this point I don't whether to root for Syracuse or hope we get someone we can beat on the first day of the tournament as the only way we are likely to get another win this year.
How has Notre Dame ONLY "fouled" once in 17 minutes of play
They did, just wasn't called #ACC
I cringe every time see Lee Cassell officiate one of our games.
Of course ND doesn't get called for fouls, but, our crappy shooting in first halt really hurt. Not to mention that Nolley has disappeared since the report of his dad saying he's going pro, which clearly he shouldn't. The young man clearly has hit the wall.
Couldnt even get the backdoor cover at +7.5
final count Hokies fouls 8 in 2nd half and ND 1 foul
So whether Miami wins or loses tonight, we finish 11th, right?
From the seldom reliable ESPN stats, it looks like Ojiako didn't play. If he didn't play, did they mention a reason?
Foul count in the second half was 7-1... Compare that with the other night when close to 40 fouls were called. Some sort of consistency in officiating would be helpful.
Someone mentioned his name above but Lee Cassell is genuinely awful - maybe the worst ref in the game. He made several terrible calls (all against us) in the game vs uva, including incorrectly overruling one of the other refs twice. He has been publicly called out by Mick Cronin and Frank Martin. Dude is just incompetent.
I'd have to go with Jamie Luckie. He's out of shape, can't get in position and is just generally awful.
Good game from PJ again. Radford, Alleyne, and Cattoor had respectable showings too.
But overall there was a lot of bad basketball - like some dumb passes that broke up what could have been a run.
Too bad Cone was ice cold (0-8). A normal game from him could have given us a shot. And sadly Nolley's endless struggles continued. Hopefully he can get his confidence back next year, he's got the talent.
Hope everyone comes back, Ojiako develops and we find another big man. Horne would be a really good 4.
6-9 Keve Aluma isn't big enough for you?
What's our possible seeds in the ACCT now?
10 if Miami loses. 11 if they win.
Syracuse is up by two with 14 min left.
1st round bye opportunity saved by Girard for the moment
Annnnddddd it's gone.
Was gonna get tickets for Tuesday, but cheapest is $300 as of now. I'm assuming people just bought them all up this afternoon and more will be available soon.
Im seeing 6 bucks right now on StubHub
Yes StubHub saw that shortly after posting. Got two general admission for $30 after fees
Gametime was out and Seat Geek was $300.