Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski confirms Zion Williamson won't play Tuesday night at No. 20 #Hokies.— Mike Barber (@RTD_MikeBarber) February 25, 2019
K said Williamson is getting better, but won't play at Virginia Tech. Going through four steps of rehab prior to return. #TrustTheProcess (seems I've heard that somewhere before)— Stephen Wiseman (@stevewisemanNC) February 25, 2019
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Well, I'll be honest, I was looking forward to seeing him play.
Yeah.. It would have been a solid consolation if we lost. To at least get to see him play in person. Now, I'm just gonna be really frustrated if we lose, especially because Duke lost their #1 ranking. Playing the #1 team at Cassell with the #1 draft prospect would have been crazy.
Yeah, now we get to play the #3 ranked team with only the #2 and #3 NBA draft prospects... sucks! Thanks for screwing us over again Nike!
Lol. Reddish is far from must see TV though. And I'm not feeling sorry for Duke, I just mean I thought it would be an even bigger and more electric game than last year. Now it's about the same - which is still great
I agree and I would have loved to see both Zion and Robinson suit up. Not meant to be patronizing.
I was heavily thinking about getting tickets and traveling for this game before Robinson went out. A no-brainer not to go on a Tuesday night with both those guys out though.
You must not watch ESPN /s
Takes it from "snowball's chance in hell" to "once in a blue moon".
I agree almost everything has to go right for VT to win this game.
But Vegas only has Virginia Tech as a four-point underdog. So the people with money on the line think we have a realistic chance.
Here's to hoping we can capitalize
This is your reminder that UNC scored 62 points in the paint against the Devils.....
Yes but Syracuse only scored 30 in the paint against them in the next game. I am sure Blackshear will have a great game and can hopefully get Barrett in foul trouble, but lets be realistic comparing our big versus the fleet of bigs UNC brings to bear. That was also with no preparation for Zion missing 98% of the game. Regardless of Zion being out, if the Hokies cant manage to come close to their normal percentage from the perimeter, it wont matter.
We haven't hit our normal percentage from the perimeter since Robinson went out... :(
This is a key statement. Duke game planned for Zion not to be there on defense for Cuse and expected him to be there for UNC. Zion and the next guy are not interchangeable so that has an impact. Agreed we have to shoot in the 40% or better range from 3 and Blackshear has to stay out of foul trouble for us to have any chance.
UNC has a point guard.
Can you not let us just enjoy the pregame koolaid??? It's so good, when it hits your lips...
This is the kind of "logical" response perfect for halftime when we are sobering up!
via GIPHY
Not-so-hot take: 5 is more important for us than Zion is for Duke
Makes sense. Isn't most of Duke's team more talented on paper than all but two or three of our guys?
That's why it's a not-so-hot take
Believe it or not, without Zion we match up with Duke a lot better than UVA. They aren't a great 3 point shooting team and if Blackshear can stay out of foul trouble he should have another big game.
With or without Robinson, we have a shot.
Duke is something like 320 in the country in 3 point shooting. They are BAD at it.
That's not something I would have ever expected to read about any Duke basketball team.
Which means they'll light it up from behind the arc. 😥
We gotta be careful with O'Connell. He is an elite three point shooter but doesn't play all that much usually. In Zion's absence on Saturday, he played 34 minutes and made 5 threes.
Seems to always be the case!
I guess we'll find out...
...Do you have any idea what you've done?
We're getting 15 minutes from Blackshear before he fouls out and Duke is going to hit a season high for 3s.
Guys I have a foolproof plan.... can we redo the floor in Cassell to include this in the lane? Then during halftime, strip it real quick and redo the other lane.
Was actually really looking forward to seeing him play against us, but that was back when we had 5.
I think if we can make it difficult for Reddish to get good looks and attack the paint hard and often, we've got a chance.
Reddish has been struggling lately. Let's hope it stays that way. Barrett on the other hand has been almost unstoppable since Zion went down.
He didn't have great games against NC State and Syracuse, but he put up 27 against UNC. Just scares me that after a cold shooting night against Syracuse (5 points) that he's going to explode against us. But ya, we definitely need to contain Barrett; he's a beast.
I hear the folks about Williamson and all. It is true, there's zero denial he's a champ. That said, with where we're currently at, I care just a smidgen more about our W potential being increased than watching Zion shred us like parmesan.
I have to agree with this. If we steal a win, it is huge for ACC and NCAA seeding.
We need to put Med on RJ and try to contain him. Reddish struggling and the Duke offense relies on getting to the rim and the Hokies do a great job in help D, and the only games we have lost this season are because of teams hot from 3, unless Jack White goes off I smell an upset.
I would be more worried about Alex O'Connell than Jack White. He went off from three against Cuse.
Yeah, O'Connell shoots 49% from deep. White had missed his last 24 three pointers or something ridiculous. That would make me scared that he'd finally go off against us, but he didn't play at all against Syracuse.
So you're saying White:
Is the equivalent of our Ahmed Hill lately:
Hill has been ice cold since Robinson's been out, but Jack White is making even Med look red hot by comparison
more like equivalent of Bede.
If the was ever a night for a surprise comeback for 5, this is it!
Bah gawd that's Justin Robinson's music!
BUSINESS HAS JUST PICKED UP!
Area man confirms return of 5 is possible...but sources indicate no real news is available.
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Please don't mistake my shitposting for a news report.
The news is...that there is no news to report - That's how Buzz rolls. That's the joke.
I would sag in the paint and take Drive lanes away. You aren't going to beat Duke playing man. Make them chuck it from the cheap seats.
It sucks that the best player in the country and the most important player for the other team are not playing in tomorrows game.
Yeah the world's smallest violin is playing just for Duke. I want to crush them but to be honest it will still be an upset for us to beat them. But the chance has gotten bigger.
Well it sucks that our most important player isn't playing in tomorrow's game either. That's sports man, you try to beat the guys in front of you with the guys you have.
All I know is that if we go 3-0 to close out the season, we get that double bye no matter what everyone else does. Even if that comes against a Duke team only starting 3 top recruits, I'll take it.
#ControlYourOwnDestiny
We aren't getting respect in the polls either. We stayed at #20 at 21-6 in the best conference, yet 20-7 Purdue team (who we beat) is #14 and 19-8 Wisconsin is #18. I know what everyone is thinking, just win and it won't matter. Still pisses me off
We also played a hilariously soft non-con schedule outside of Purdue and (maybe) Washington. And Purdue has been a lot better since mid-January, going 11-1 in that stretch, compared to our 7-5 record over the same span. It's hard to argue that we are much better than #20 in the nation right now.
In any case, all of that will change with a win tomorrow.
At this point, a soft OOC schedule must just be Buzz's approach. He knew this year's team was experienced and could have added a couple more difficult games OOC.
I just do not understand why we don't schedule a home and home with VCU, who seems to always have a solid RPI and would offer a competitive game.
When your conference schedule is as brutal as the ACC with Tier 1 games available like the lazy neighbors who leave the bowl out on Halloween, why make the rest of the schedule any more difficult than it needs to be. We already have the matchup with the Big Ten, and any preseason tournament to further bolster things, let the play in the ACC speak for itself.
It certainly doesn't have to be #300 level bad, but I wouldn't necessarily challenge ourselves, either.
Except some of the other top teams in the conference play hard schedules. Even a marginally tougher schedule would bolster our resume against conference losses.
Those other teams (Duke and North Carolina) have been consistently recruiting full classes of Blue Chip recruits for decades so they count on having at least two or three kids from the Top 20 kids in each class and many times get approached by preseason events that are willing to foot the bill for them to participate. As for the rest of the conference, outside of historic matchups, most of them play pretty weak OOC schedules. Even Virginia's OOC schedule is pretty weak if you go look at it.
Buzz has consistently upgraded the opponents in the tournament we play in almost every year he has been with, capped with next year we will be in the Maui Invitational, which by most accounts is the premier in season tournament there is. We will be facing Georgia, Kansas, Michigan State, UCLA, Dayton, BYU and Chaminade. That's three Blue Bloods in Kansas, Michigan State, and UCLA. Georgia is on the rise since they hired Tom Crean, who has the 12th ranked recruiting class coming in next season, including Anthony Edwards, the #2 Player in the Class of 19. Dayton and BYU are consistent NCAA appearance teams. Chaminade is the home team for this tournament.
Buzz cant be doing things that badly, considering we are still #12 in the NET rankings.
Per this site:
https://www.teamrankings.com/ncaa-basketball/ranking/non-conference-sos-...
The Hokies OOC schedule ranked 32nd this season.
CBS Sports shows the Hokies at 76 this season.
You are also forgetting that Buzz did everything he could to have Kentucky on the schedule this season but Kentucky backed out late. Tough to pivot to another top program once that happened.
J Rob though? 🤔
Give me wins or give me death
Duke had the #1 recruiting class BEFORE Zion committed. O'Connell, DeLaurier, and Bolden were top 100 recruits (Bolden was a McDonald's All-American). They have no excuse to struggle. I have no sympathy for them.
LFG!
Great. Now how am I gonna get any work done tomorrow?
I love it, but it seems to be missing a certain dunk
Script could've been better.
1 Year ago today, the Hokies beat #5 Duke 64-63. IT IS DESTINY, prepare yourself for a victory in 21 hours