Hokies moved down from #10 to #12 after another mixed week. A road blowout by UNC, who moved up to #9, was partially negated by a home trouncing of Syracuse. The only true marquee win of this season was Purdue who find themselves back in the rankings at #17.
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Love that Purdue is white hot. They're on the front page of ESPN right now. Keep winning Boilermakers, keep winning...
No issue with this at all really after the two stompings we took from better teams.
A fair drop in my opinion. I love watching this team play, but our two blowouts against the traditional big boys speaks to where we currently stand. It's difficult not to lament the loss of Nolley and Clarke to non-injury, non-basketball related things. Our depth is paper thin and we have no size options. Such a terrible year to have all these things arise.
I think that's a good result. We got trounced twice in nationally televised games.
The old narrative may have been "pretenders".
But then we smoked Cuse, and the AP clearly thinks we are a really good team that lost to two really really good teams on the road. Even Bilas was still giving us love after those 2 losses when he did his weekly round up of the top 64 teams.
We need to handle our business against Miami though. 2 tough road games. 1-1 is needed at least
Assuming you are referring to UVA as one of those, then I don't think that game was nationally televised at all. I remember the gnashing of teeth (understandably so) leading up to that game. A top-10 matchup, not on any of the 25 ESPN channels. It proved to be a bit of a blessing in disguise that no one could find that game on tv.
Fair point. I was able to watch the game here in AZ, so subconciously I think of that as nationally televised.
Have a big opportunity to make some road statements this week against an in conference 1-6 Miami squad who hasn't been able to find its footing this year and a ranked NCSU program in what is a sold out PNC Arena.
Considering I am going to the State game, I'd very much like a 2-0 week, thankyouverymuch
Historically VT hasn't done well in the PNC Arena.
And State fans are the worst...
Well aware. The ass whuppin last year is going to e seared into my memory for a very long time, mainly because of the eclectic personalities that were surrounding us that night in the upper deck.
Even at $5, we overpaid to watch that shit.
We beat State last year. The Dennis Smith triple double slam dunk contest was 2 years ago.
was it
Geez, that butt whipping was so severe it wrecked me for 2 years instead of just one
Yeah, it was brutal. I went with my State alum coworker/cubicle mate who begged me to bet desk space on it all week (L-shaped desks that are mirrored with the small ends touching; he wanted to bet at least a linear foot of desk space where the two desks met). I was very thankful that I didn't take him up on it.
coworker/cubicle mate who begged me to bet desk space on it all week
Corporate America at its best.
Tee Hee. Guide humor.
poor cube hamster
Purely out of curiosity, why are they the worst?
I've heard this from multiple people (which surprised me because I always assumed their fanbase was similar to ours) and my brother used to live in Raleigh, but I never went to any State games at PNC or Carter-Finley. Been to plenty of Tech home games at Wallace Wade but never anywhere else down there.
They're one of the more in your face fanbases. Walking through tailgate lots in 2010, I was called a 'fucking faggot' more times than you can imagine, and had more than 1 say that the 2007 massacre didn't take enough of us out. Also heard stories from people at the game who had State fans trying to literally pick fights in Carter-Finley. I ended up at Rudino's down the street on Edwards Mill for the game and had endless amounts of shit talked to me during the first half. The second momentum went in our direction, those a-holes tucked tail and ran. I was one of about 10 people left by the end, when there were 300+ at kickoff.
Damn. That's brutal.
Success tends to draw the cockroaches out of hiding, especially for teams that aren't used to winning. That hasn't been my experience with State fans, but I can imagine people going nuts that particular season.
Can concur. Was in Carter-Finley that day in 2010. Surrounded by "in your face" people who wanted nothing other than to talk crap. Once the Hokies came back, everyone left before that had a chance to face the music.
I live and work less than a mile from PNC/Carter Finley with about 30-40 State grads. I've also gone to VT games down here and wear my VT gear around town a lot. They really aren't that bad. They have their walmart fans, but so does every fan base (VT included). However I will say that they might be the most delusional fan base in existence, especially in football. They have one 10-win season in program history, but they see themselves as being in the same tier as VT. They haven't won a conference title since 1979 and have never played in a BCS bowl. They also have little brother syndrome in basketball. A lot of them believe that they are UNC's main rival (not Duke). LOL
To be honest, I forget NC State is in the ACC at times...
They have been the definition of mediocre in both sports since 1983.
They have "little dog" syndrome. Duke and UNC couldn't care less about State, but State fans think they are part of that whole Tobacco Road rivalry (though technically from a geographical standpoint they are). They have this weird entitlement mentality... It's almost UVAesque in some State circles.
On top of that, in both football and basketball, they legitimately think they are a National Title contender EVERY SINGLE YEAR... And are terribly obnoxious about it.
In my experience good State fans are the nicest and most plentiful you'll meet in the Triangle, but their bad apples are just really really really bad. I've always cheered for State over UNC and Duke.
You'll meet a few nice UNC/Duke fans and some terrible ones, and in the middle are a bunch of ok people who have a few arrogant/fair weather qualities that show up more often than not.
Many of them are fans of a school in eastern NC that isn't on our football schedule next year...or they didn't get into State and went to said school and well, there you have it. Just my two cents.
Seems fair - now lets take care of business the rest of the way
ESPN is touting Purdue as a national title contender again. That win will be key for us by season's end
False. It won't matter because conference tournament champs get in regardless...
It will matter for seeding. But I like your view of the world.
When was the last time the ACC Tournament Champion didn't get at least a 3 seed?
Probably the year VT wins it.
2004 Maryland was seeded 4. Before that, 1990 Georgia Tech was also seeded 4. (sauce: Wikipedia)
We better get the double bye then because it's hard to fathom winning the conference tournament with our depth otherwise.
Washington is doing extremely well. 9 wins in a row and 7-0 in PAC-12 play.
Washington will finish well - they're a tourney team. With Perdue...this makes two solid out of conference wins for the Hokies this year. The ball is bouncing our way. I guess the harder you work, the luckier you get.
The Pac-12 is terrible this year. Washington is the only team that received votes this week. So, yes, we may have beaten the best team in the Pac-12, but that's not saying much.
Washington has been the only Pac-12 team to receive votes for a few weeks now.. One week, the Pac-12 had exactly one vote, and it was for Arizona State. The next week, Arizona and Washington each got 8, but Zona dropped a couple games and UW keeps winning. I wouldn't be surprised if the Pac-12 only gets one NCAA bid this season, they're that bad.
Edit: ESPN's Bracketology currently has UW as an 8-seed, and ASU as an 11-seed and one of the "last four in". Not too hard to find a scenario where they drop a couple spots.
Don't really have an issue with dropping 2 spots. Hard for me to understand MSU not dropping at all and for Louisville to move up that much after some home wins.
When is the next game?
Wednesday at 7:00 pm eastern at Miami on ESPN2
The fact that this title is a thing just reminds me how far this program has come.
How awesome is it that we "drop" to #12 and very likely could be top 10 AGAIN within a week
:D
A win at Miami is a must, they are down and we need to kick them further. I think a win at NC State is do-able, they are another mystery team in that they seem to be capable of picking up a first round bye in the ACC tourney, but can't seem to keep it together. I think if we get off to a hot start in Raleigh, they will start to fret and collapse under the miscues.
The tough thing about NC State is they have a deep bench and they can run out gobs and gobs of players against you in waves. A J-Rob, or KBJ foul situation is 911 for the Hokies, and the Wolfpack is going to know that going in.
I remember starting the supposed to be 30min drive from my parents house to rbc for a U2 concert several years ago. 2.5 hrs later, we got to the stadium, missing the entire Muse set as opener. I will forever remember the ineptitude of that athletic complex with handling parking. It's like they never had a crowd before.
We are going to beat the shit out of NC State
bump
Well, you were half-right. It's less that we "beat the shit out of them", and more that we took advantage of them tripping over their own feet for 40 minutes, but a 23-point win is a 23-point win.
No, I was right.
Okay. You changed my mind with that convincing argument.
NC State should have lost to Clemson on Saturday had that Clemson guard not had a complete meltdown at the free throw line in the last 30 seconds. I'm not sure what to think of the Wolfpack.