Recent Comments
So we want the Bucks to lose right?
Penn State's ZPain Retherford has beaten Iowa's Brandon Sorenson. Convincingly. VT is now locked in to 3rd or 4th place, depending on how the two Buckeyes yet to wrestle perform.
Came to ask who I should pull for. Thank you!
Hate. Hate. Hate.
Two down.
And Cornell's Garrett has defeated Iowa's Clark at 133. That's 2 of the 3 results we need to hold on to the lead over Iowa and guarantee a third or fourth place finish.
Decided to start watching wrestling tonight. No Hokies in finals.
Now cheering for #EveryoneButIowaOhioState
I bought a football jersey when Eddie Royal was #4. If Evans is as good as we hope he will be, just another entry in a long line of excellent #4s.
And yet nobody punched him in the face. I wish Epperly would punch him in the face.
Debatable? Nothing there? Not a blatant trip? What are you all drinking? If he didn't have a history of tripping opponents this year, I might be able to ignore him sticking out his foot/leg, but he has been caught twice this year. Was he called for the foul? Usually it is an automatic foul call if someone gets tripped up and there is any contact from an opponent.
PSU's Megaludis has beaten Iowa's Gilman for the title at 125. We need all 3 Hawkeyes to lose tonight to hold on to our lead over them in the team standings.
669TH MEMBER OF TKPC
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10 years 3 months
# | Way Too Early and Optimistic Look at Hokie Hoops '16/'17 And in a good amount of cases, the recruits just follow wherever the coach go like Pierce and Hill.
That AA count is really impressive, not just for VT, but for the ACC as a whole. We only have six teams, whereas I think the Big Ten has 14 and the Big 12 has 10.
I'll try to make this as short as I can. I thought year 3 would be the breakout year where we made the tournament and Buzzketball announced itself. Now I'm thinking that not making the tournament would be a disappointment. I don't want to judge the whole season on what they do in the ACC or NCAA tournament, however I do think a Sweet Sixteen trip is likely. Overall outside of March I think we can be high in ACC standings, consistently ranked in the Top 25, and get a top 6 seed in the tourney. The ceiling next year is ACC Championship and Final Four/National Championship. Seriously. I believe we can be that good. To do that, or even just be a good ACC team, a few things need to improve:
1) Inside presence on both ends, Blackshear needs to be able to play 20-30 minutes per game and be effective on both ends. Another big needs to step up and be an effective backup. LeDay should be playing almost all of his minutes at the 4.
2) Overall defense. Much improved this year (kenpom 75th this year, 245 last year), needs to keep improving.
3) Three point shooting. During the ACC losing streak, only Bibbs and LeDay were shooting well and LeDay needs a ton of room to get his shot off. Teams packed the paint and limited our ability to drive or post up. Improved shooting was important on our win streak. Allen needs to shoot at career averages, Blackshear should improve, and Clarke needs to become enough of a threat from 3 that teams don't sag on him defensively.
4) Free throws. See last night.
This could be an all-time year coming up for VT basketball. My expectations are high, but they were high coming into this year and they were exceeded. All aboard the Hype Train. Choo-choo motherfuckers.
I think I heard on one of the streams during the wrestlebacks that it was a rib injury, but they didn't really specify what exactly. Glad he gutted it out though and showed well.
Debatable. Also maybe he wasn't trying to trip him but was trying to hip or knee check him.
It'sAnEvansJerseyISwear
I was looking for a rich rod reference
Not a blatant trip but he is a punk none the less.
The rumors have little to none meaning with recruits unless he actually leaves (same deal with every coach.)
They didn't say it but I think Chisko was injured during the tournament. He looked hurt in most of his consolation matches, wincing and grabbing the right side of his chest. It would explain why he didn't ride very hard when his opponents took the bottom position. Regardless he had a great tournament.
Penn State, Oklahoma State, Iowa, Virginia Tech all tied for most All Americans with 6. Hokies had 6 of the ACC's 11 total All Americans. NC State had 3, Duke and UNC had 1 each. That put the ACC in third behind the Big Ten with 31 and the Big 12 with 13.
Big men usually need a few years to develop. Our one recruit this year so far is Sy, who doesn't seem ready to play as a freshman. Next year Blackshear will need a consistent back up so the door is wide open for both Satch and Johnny. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them transfers and we get another recruit, but I don't think that's very likely. We need at least one of them to step up, and Buzz even said he designed this team to have a low turnover rate for next year, making it sound like he doesn't expect anyone, or at least a lot of people, to leave.
I don't quite understand the obsession with getting blue chip basketball recruits. What is considered blue chip? If we're talking 5 star or top 15-25 guys a lot of them end up being one and done. I'd be interested in someone taking an in-depth look at top schools, excluding recent iterations of Duke/Kentucky, in the one and done era and see where their recruits ranked.
ESPN top 25 recruits from this years 4 number one seeds (not including transfers)
Kansas: Wayne Selden (14th Jr), Cheick Diallo (7th, Fr), Carlton Bragg (21st, Fr)
UVA: None
UNC: Marcus Paige (22nd, Sr), Isaiah Hicks (18th, Jr), Justin Jackson (8th, So), Theo Pinson (10th, So), Joel Berry (17th, So)
Oregon: None
USA Today First Team All-American this year and their rankings coming out of high school according to ESPN
Buddy Hield: Unranked, 4 stars, #20 Shooting Guard
Brice Johnson: #34, 4 stars, #8 Power Forward
Jakob Poeltl: No information coming out of Austria
Tyler Ulis: #25, 5 stars, #4 Point Guard
Denzel Valentine: #98, 4 stars, #26 Small Forward
And for good measure ACC POY Malcolm Brogdon: #73, 4 stars, #19 Shooting Guard
In comparison our top 5 in minutes played this year plus Clarke and Hill (includes transfers)
Zach LeDay: Unranked, 2 stars, #52 power forward
Seth Allen: Unranked, 3 stars, #42 shooting guard
Justin Bibbs: #70, 4 stars, #14 shooting guard
Justin Robinson: Unranked, 4 stars, #20 point guard
Jalen Hudson: Unranked, 4 stars, #19 shooting guard
Ahmed Hill: #54, 4 stars, #13 shooting guard
Chris Clarke: #54, 4 stars, #10 small forward
Getting good recruits is important, but building a program requires seniors (outside of a few schools who can do it with one and done freshman). Most consistently good teams have older players and are not usually made up of more than a few top 25 recruits. Getting one top 25 guy here every couple years would be beneficial, but overall our recruiting the past two years has been phenomenal. This is the type of HS recruiting that builds competitive teams. Add in a few JuCo or college transfers and you're set. Compare UNC and UVA, UNC won with a bunch of highly ranked guys, UVA was right there with them with significantly lower ranked players. Buzz knows what he's doing, we have good players right now, and I don't doubt that we'll continue to get good players in the future.
Yes