As expected, 0 votes for the Hokies. ACC teams in the rankings:
3. Dook
6. UNC
8. LOLUVA
9. Louisville (#goacc newbie)
24. Syracuse
VCU also coming in at #16
http://sportspolls.usatoday.com/ncaa/basketball-men/polls/coaches-poll/2...
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Wow. Our conference/state isn't stacked at all this year lol
I am surprised that NC State isnt in the high teens on this list. They have a ton of young talent that is going to surprise alot of people this season. I will be especially interested to see how the Martin brothers do now that they are playing for the Wolfpack. Guess we will see how things play out.
Pittsburgh is 29th, Notre Dame is 41st, Florida State is 46th, and Miami is 49th as far as the other ACC teams receiving votes.
They have some good recruits, but unless you're getting the one and done guys the polls don't usually take note in the preseason. Also, losing TJ Warren is gonna hurt in the early going.
How many years out of the past 5 has Kentucky been preseason #1?
Kind of surprised to see Nebraska ranked.
The better question would be where would the Wildcats second string rank as a separate team? Still probably top 5 is the scary answer.
I wouldn't go that far but top 20 for sure. Either way that's just crazy.
Dude I would go that far. If I remember correctly, they have 9 McDonald's All-Americans on that team. Literally, half those guys could start anywhere else in the country
Maybe top 5. Definitely top 10. I would rather watch a full scrimmage than most of the games they play against other teams. The amount of talent is incredible.
The real question is how does having Drake at their Midnight Madness help their chances of winning a national title?
Yes.
Holy shit, is that from Degrassi?
The only surprise there is that Buzz Williams is not on the list of voters. If he was, the Hokies would get at least 1 vote.
As much hope as I have for the season, I think buzz realizes it may be a few seasons before the Hokies deserve preseason votes. I hope it's the 2016-17 season
Having VCU ranked is not helping us, Buzz has an uphill battle for sure.
Why does them being ranked hurt us? If you're trying to imply that it hurts us in recruiting then I think you are wrong. Buzz has been on fire recruiting since he got here despite UVA and VCU being legit top 20 teams.
I found it interesting that the 2015 guys we've gotten or are close to getting don't have any interest in VCU. I don't follow recruiting closely enough to research it, but it could very well be that Buzz likes a different kind of player than Shaka. We certainly know that Tony Bennett recruits to a certain 'type', quote, unquote. Shaka actually does, too. And, we'll probably find out that Buzz does as well. What could result is that the players will have a natural tendency to go this way or that, with little interest in both, or all three schools at once.
It will be interesting, for sure. For the first time in years, I feel like we actually have ammo in our guns when hunting prospects now.
Shaka and Buzz actually recruit very similar players. They like lengthy, fast paced defensive minded players that have the ability to create their own shot on the offensive end. That said, the lack of cross over of interested players isnt that surprising considering how many high school basketball players there are for such a limited number of college team slots. There are also the politics of AAU and whom each coach has strong ties to. Buzz has a great relationship with Boo Williams and I have never seen much of a connection with Shaka and Boo Williams.
Ah, so the lack of a Shaka/Boo connection as solid as the Buzz/Boo connection is probably the answer then. As you said, though, there's plenty of guys to go around for everyone.
I always had the opinion that a VT head coach could recruit the region from Balt/DC down to ATL and get all the players he'd ever need. That's obviously not an ironclad deal, but it practically could be once you got your system working. I know Buzz will cover far more ground than that, & I'm perfectly fine with it. I just always thought you could focus well that way. The problem would probably be that it might limit your national exposure, which is an issue for a Power 5 team far more than a mid-major type mindset.
I dont think that getting national exposure will ever be a problem while Buzz is the head coach here.
Nor do I, that was just a general observation about strategic recruiting for teams in the Mid-Atlantic. You could adopt that strategy for a number of teams that are Power 5 to Mid-major to small conference guys, really.
As for Buzz's national recognition, I think we will be blessed with his presence making us much more noticeable. I never had a bit of a problem with Greenberg being an analyst for the tourney or doing the interviews he did, because it was very helpful in raising our profile. We needed something aggressive like that to wake us up. Near the end, it probably became an optional strategy, but that's an entirely different subject, for which I still don't blame him. Back to the point - I think Buzz is so consumed, that his media appearances will be nothing if not promotional for VT as a viable hoops option.
I'm just really afraid that the excitement about Buzz will die down too much during the season. This year is gonna be rough, we're not going to be a very good team. To the diehard VT basketball fans that's not news, but this is a football school where most of the basketball fans are casual fans. Hopefully those people understand that we're 2 or 3 years away from putting a very good product on the floor.
The problem is that much, much of our internet fan base has the football game mentality - which means any time you lose ANY game, it's a big deal. That ignores the math and realism of basketball, but that is the way the internet fan base tends to remain. The saving grace on that is that Whit isn't so irrational, so Buzz will have time to build his program.
There's no telling what our final W-L record will be this season, but when we beat UNC or Duke again, people will jump on the wagon. It doesn't bother me that much, because people will eventually come around.
I kinda hate how many people in the Richmond area in particular root for VT football and VCU basketball. You can't really call yourself a true fan if you do that stuff. I had friends last year who I thought were Hokie fans make fun of me for how well their team beat us in basketball. Granted, Tech definitely got crapped on by VCU last year, but come on. You can't have it both ways. Yeah, you've got a tough life bro: root for the best football team in the state and the best basketball team. Just kinda makes me mad. Alright, I'm done
Yes, you can. The same way you can be a fan of teams in different locales in different sports. You also have to realize that VCU doesn't have a football team. There are lots of VCU students and alumni who are fans of their team and need to pick up a football team. What are they supposed to do, not pick a team to root for? They could choose any team they want, be glad they want to support our Hokies and not those pesky Wahoos.
True. I have lived in the Richmond area my whole life so the classic "VCU Football: Still Undefeated" gear is frequent around town. I guess what I was saying was I hate when you make fun of the school you also root for in another sport is what really gets me. I wish VCU would just get a football team already so it wouldn't be a problem