The Men's Team
My pessimistic view of the previous window was that we'd go 1-2 with an inexplicable road loss to the Yellow Jackets, and a heartbreaking loss to Miami.
I hate being right some times.
On the bright side, we knocked Pittsburgh out of the top spot in the ACC to give Coach Young his 70th win in Blacksburg.
Scoring
Basile is continuing his torrid scoring numbers, putting up 18.67 over the last 3 games. Joining him in double-figures are Pedulla (13.33), Cattoor (12.67), and Mutts (11.67). Poteat (6), Kidd (5), and Collins (4) provided the bulk of the remaining scoring, while Camden (0.5) rounded out all scorers.
All told, scoring 71.33 isn't the worst, but I for one would have liked to see us average about 75.
Rebounding
Mutts hit the boards the hardest, pulling down 7.67 per game over this frame. Cattoor (6), Peudlla (5), Basile (4), Kidd/Collins (2.33), and Poteat (2) also pulled down at least 1 per half over the 3 game set.
Assists
This confuses me. Three Hokies players (Pedulla, Cattoor, and Collins) finished with AATOs of 8:0 or better. As a team, the ATO was 44:33, but when factoring steals, it adjusted to 44:17. We were much better at taking the ball away than in previous windows.
Experience/Depth
All five Hokies' starters put in 30 or more minutes, led by Pedulla's 38.33, followed by Cattoor (37.33), Mutts (33.33), Basile (31.33), and Collins (30). The bench went 4 deep, with Poteat (11.33) taking the most minutes from the bench, followed by the return of Rodney Rice (11 mpg), Kidd (10.67), and Camden (5.5)
Next Window
Well, we're on our last regular season window, and I think we're all ready to say "Bye Felicia" to this year. On Saturday, the Hokies make the trip to Durham to take on the Blue Devils. A few days later, they make the trip to the only venue VT hasn't seen victory, in Louisville. Finally, the 4th of March, the Hokies will take on Florida State on Senior Night.
Prediction
I'm hoping for 2 wins. I want to end the futility in Louisville, and I always want to send the seniors off with a W. We can't earn the first round bye without two of the four BC, UNC, Syracuse, or Wake losing out, happening above us and us winning out. That doesn't seem feasible, so O&M glasses are staying in the drawer.
The Women's Team
Coach Brooks' squad rattled off 3 critical victories in as many games to clinch the double bye in the ACC tournament next week. The Hokies are, to quote legendary fashion icon Jacobim Mugatu, so hot right now.
Scoring
None are hotter than Liz Kitley, now Virginia Tech's All-Time record holder for points in a career, who called "game" with the buzzer beater down in Chapel Hill, and as a result, she paced the Hokies with 21.67 ppg over the previous three games. Only Amoore (15) and Traylor (10) joined her in double figures. Soule (8.33) was the only one to average more than a bucket a quarter, while Gregg (6.67) was the only other to average more than one bucket per half. King (3) and Geiman (1) rounded out the Tech scorers
Rebounding
Still so hot, Kitley averaged 10.33 boards over the frame, followed by Gregg (6.33), Soule (5.33), and King (4) in averaging at least one per quarter. Amoore (3.33) and Traylor (2.67) averaged at least one per half. Vejsicky (1) and Owusu (0.5) rounded out all rebounders.
Assists
All Hokie 11 Hokies who saw at the court finished the window with an AATO of even or better, with Kitley having the best margin at 4 assists, 3 turnovers, adjusted by a team leading 4 steals. Amoore finished with the most assists (16) and the most turnovers (13) with nearly half coming against the Tar Heels.
Experience/Depth
Like I said 11 Hokies saw the court, with Kitley leading the way again (that's a clean sweep of the four major categories for the 6-6 Sr Center) with 38.67 mpg. Joining her getting more than 30 were Amoore (38.33), Soule (32), and Traylor (30.33). Gregg (26.33) and King (25.67) were the only others with more than 2 minutes per quarter. Geiman (6.33) filled in as the only other player to average at least a minute per quarter, while Owusu (3) was the last one to record at least a minute per half. Dunn, Ford, and Vejsicky all registered that they were on the court, but did not receive a full minute of court time for their effort.
Next Window
Well, the only fixed game on the schedule is the season closer in Atlanta. This game doesn't have as much pressure behind it, as the Hokies cannot win the regular season title and cannot move higher than their current 3rd seed and they cannot fall lower than their current 3rd seed. As much as I hate to say it, this isn't a game that the Hokies need to win for any reason. I doubt a loss would result in not earning a top 4 seed to the NCAA tournament, although it shouldn't be in doubt at all.
Looking ahead to the ACC tournament, the Hokies will receive the #3 seed, which means they will see either Miami or North Carolina as the 6 seed or whomever manages to get the 14 seed out of the 4 that are within a game of it.
Projecting a win, just to do so, the Hokies would then face off against likely 2nd seeded Notre Dame, who bested the Hokies waaaaaaaay back in game 11 against a 6 player rotation. The Hokies are much deeper now, with Owusu, Geiman.
Projecting a win, because this is my post, the Hokies would then face off against the winner of Duke and Louisville, I'm gonna say Duke and the rubber match decides the ACC Championship
Prediction
Georgia Tech is bad. Like really bad. To quote one of my favorite movies of all time, they "can't hit their plate with their fork" (269th in FG%, 299th in 3pt%, but somehow 45th in FT% ) and when looking for a shooter can't "find the bathroom" (218th in assists, 135th in TOs, 178th in ATO margin). This game should be over in the third quarter and the starters should be able to take the fourth quarter off to rest for the tournament, as they'll need it. Amoore is fourth in the conference in minutes played at a little over a thousand, Kitley 7th, King 18th, and Traylor 20th.
I think I'd rather see Miami than UNC, but the Hokies have proven that they can beat either.
Like I said in the section above, I am going to project a win over Notre Dame to get to the title game against Duke.
I will add a second championship banner to my classroom this fall.
Comments
Tough that the ladies lose all the tiebreakers to ND and Duke. Duke has the harder last game facing UNC at Chapel Hill vice Notre Dame going up against Louisville.
Going to be an interesting couple weeks.
Not sure how we lose tie breakers to Duke. We went 1-1 against them and outscored them by more points.
Head to Head W-L then goes to record against highest ranked other ACC team. Duke beat ND. Hokies didnt.
Yeah but we beat NC State, Florida State, and UNC (2) when Ranked. Duke lost to UNC and FSU in their ranked games. My point is that we have 5 wins against ranked ACC foes, they have 3.
Of course we lose the head to head against ND, but we should be second...
ACC Tiebreakers:
c. If three or more teams are tied in the standings, the following procedure will be used:
1) The combined record in conference games between the tied teams involved will be compiled. Ties will be broken and seeds assigned based on the winning
percentage of the combined conference records. The higher winning percentage shall prevail, even if the number of games played against the team or group is
unequal (e.g., 2-0 is better than 3-1; 1-0 is the same as 2-0; 2-0 is the same as 4-0; 2-1 is the same as 4-2; 1-0 is better than 1-1; 0-1 is the same as 0-2; 0-2 is the same as 0-4).
2) If procedure (1) fails to break the tie, then each tied team's record shall be compared to the team occupying the highest position in the final regular-season
standings, continuing down through the standings until one team gains an advantage by a higher winning percentage.
3) If the tie is broken by (1) or (2) regarding one or more teams, but three or more teams remain tied, then procedures (1) and (2) will be re-applied among those tied teams only.
4) If two teams remain tied, procedures (a) and (b) will be followed.
We would tied with the teams for first, we lose based on #1.