HOKIES HOOPS CENTRAL: NIT Opener VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES (19-14 (8-12, 11th in ACC MBB)) AT CINCINNATI (21-12 (11-7, 4th in AAC MBB)) 9PM ESPN2
Round 1️⃣ against the Bearcats!🆚 Cincinnati 🕘 9PM📺 ESPN2🏟️ Fifth Third Arena pic.twitter.com/rGU0eZ91dF— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 15, 2023
Cincinnati (22-9, 12-8 ACC)
vs. Virginia Tech (19-13, 8-12 ACC)
March 15, 2023
Fifth Third Arena
9 p.m. ET
ESPN2
Virginia Tech Sports Network
TV Broadcast
ESPN2
Play-by-Play: Mike Corey
Analyst: Perry Clark
Local Radio
Virginia Tech Sports Network
Play-by-Play: Zach Mackey
Analyst: Mike Burnop
Current Spread: Hokies +5
Over/Under: -154
Injuries/Absence:
Cincinnati: None
Virginia Tech: Darius Maddox (Forward) Personal - 2/27/23 Out Maddox is idle with a personal issue, and he is expected to remain sidelined for the rest of the season.
Effort? Desire? Drive?....
The Hokies go into the first round of the NIT with more questions than answers. The biggest one on all fan's minds is which team shows up when the game starts. Is it the focused defensive effort combined with rapid passing on the offensive end to create open looks or easy buckets under the basket.... Or is it the team that seems a step slow defensively and unable to stop anything from outside combined with turnovers and lackadaisical passing using up the entire shot clock before heaving a prayer?
The Bearcats are coached by Wes Miller. He began his college coaching career at Elon as an assistant coach in 2008. Cincinnati is his second college head coaching job, taking over the job in 2021. He is 39–27 overall after two seasons.
This team is led by former Hokie guard Landers Nolley joined by David Dejulius, who combine for 31 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists. This has all the earmarks of the duo the Hokies squared off against in NC State. Nolley is lighting things up from outside at 42% while his counterpart hits around 36%. Off the bench look for Jeremiah Davenport to take as many looks from outside as Nolley.
Defensively, Miller's teams are known to play half-court, man-to-man defense while mixing in some half-court zones as well. His teams tend to mix in a 1-2-2 zone press, which isn't necessarily designed to force turnovers in bunches (though it can), but it does make it difficult for offenses to get into their sets. They also strongly focus on REBOUNDING. Miller kept it simple when discussing his teams' style of play: "Guarding and rebounding wins.. the teams that guard every single possession, that play together, and the teams that rebound the ball on both ends, those teams win."
Offensively, Coach Miller wants to go fast on both ends of the floor to keep opponents off balance. His teams alternate between a three guard/two forward look, to a four guard/one forward approach, constantly looking for an open perimeter look. They emphasize transition basket opportunities and beating a defense down the floor. The perimeter shots represent 40% of the Bearcats's total shots. Cincinnati shoot 51% from inside the arc and also are shooting 36% from outside.
The Bearcats Backcourt Starters in Bold
Landers Nolley
2 SR G 6-7 220
Fairburn, GA Langston Hughes HS 72 (2018)
16.6 Pts, 5.6 Reb, 2.6 Ast
David Dejulius
5 SR G 6-0 195
Detroit, MI East English Village HS
14.5 Pts, 2.1 Reb, 5.2 Ast
Jeremiah Davenport (Situational Starter)
24 SR G 6-7 205
Cincinnati, OH Moeller HS
9.5 Pts, 4.2 Reb, 1.6 Ast
Mika Adams-Woods
3 SR G 6-3 185
Syracuse, NY Bishop Ludden HS
9.3 Pts, 2.4 Reb, 3.3 Ast
Daniel Skillings
0 FR G 6-6 205
Blackwood, NJ Roman Catholic (PA) 83 (2022)
5.3 Pts, 3.3 Reb, 0.6 Ast
The Bearcats Frontcourt
Viktor Lakhin
30 SO F 6-11 228
Anapa, Russia CSKA HS
11.6 Pts, 6.9 Reb, 0.5 Ast
Ody Oguama
33 SR F 6-9 225
Raleigh, NC Woodstock Academy
5.2 Pts, 5.1 Reb, 0.5 Ast
Kalu Ezikpe
1 SR F 6-8 235
Lawrenceville, GA Discovery HS
3.5 Pts, 2.4 Reb, 0.2 Ast
What to expect from Cincinnati?
This Bearcat's team is eerily similar to NC State in terms of overall production, style of play and end results. Unfortunately this is a very bad thing for the Hokies. You might not have been able to pick a worse first-round opponent for the Hokies.
Cincinnati wants a fast paced contest and bring an in your face defensive approach that starts at or before mid-court. Cincinnati makes you earn every foot of the floor and shortens the time to run a set offense if you manage to get the ball across mid-court and the Hokies should expect some 1-2-2 press sporadically throughout the game. This is especially troublesome for the Hokies as they have struggled with set play execution and having less time to do so likely leads to quite a few lost possessions or last second heaves.
This is also a very experienced roster with six of the top eight guys being Seniors. They are bought in to their coaches intent and style. Cincinnati excels at rebounding on both ends of the court and every player is actively involved. This has led to them averaging double digit second chance points all season.
Perimeter shooting is a major part of the Bearcats strategy. It is better to risk a forward having a good day inside than to play off the perimeter. That said, you must position yourself defensively to prevent easy offensive rebounds leading to gimme lay-ins. NC State burned the Hokies with that multiple times.
🔭👁️📐#StoneByStone pic.twitter.com/OZt4mMCQk7— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 15, 2023
The Hokies
Can Cattoor and Mutts rally this team so they don't go out with a whimper on absolute huge careers overall. Yes, Cattoor could come back but this could be it. How do they want the end to be defined?
This game should focus on finding the open man down low as the Hokies should have a significant size advantage underneath regardless of which rotation of players is on the floor. Cincinnati has been decent defending the inside but pretty lights out defending the perimeter. Opponents shot a lowly 32% this season and only took an average of 18 attempts.
Can the Hokies disrupt the Bearcats shooting/scoring? Almost all their losses this season were more tied to poor performance on the offensive end. The Hokies biggest challenge will be not getting caught up in the run-n-gun back and forth game.
Can the Hokies avoid taking possessions off either physically or mentally? Too often this season we have seen sporadic effort or just flat-out mental lapses. The must play like a team and avoid Heroball.
In Closing
𝙇𝙤𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙄𝙣 🔒#StoneByStone pic.twitter.com/F9ErAfPuNs— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 14, 2023
Win each possession. Treat this game with the respect of it possibly being your last chance to don the Maroon & Orange. The Hokies need big games from both Mutts and Basile. They need defensive gems from the guard trio.
Comments
Let's goooo
Hokies!
Just missing wide open looks over and over.
Second easy put back we have allowed
I'll say it, I HATE the slow pace. There's no reason we should be outside the top 250 in tempo. Just medium pacing would be fine. We start every possession sluggish and tiptoeing into what honestly guys is not that great of a halfcourt offense. We also hardly every show any urgency on the offensive end
Yeah we are offensively challenged, that is the main problem with this team
Cattoor has to find his shot if we have a chance.
0-6. Damn.
Rice with some beautiful passes so far, man we could have used him this year if not for injury
We're up and have been clunky on O all game. I'll take it. Nolley a non factor.
3 of 11 from 3. That has to chance for us to have a chance. I like the defensive effort so far. Some lapses but they appear to be much more engaged tonight.
Agree, good effort on D, hopefully some 3s start falling but it's alright.... let's just stay calm and play our game
They are o-fer from 3. I'll take that all game.
I wish we weren't allergic to rebounding
Not a foul on cattor
Also wish Cattor wasn't allergic to hitting a wide open 3
He needs to turn it around. He is also the only shooter on our team I don't mind taking those shots when he's cols.
I'll take that drive 😤
The pace of our offense runs quicker with Rice running point vs Pedulla, and hi is on ball defense has been better.
1000th career Hokie point by Mutts
3 for 12 from three and we're leading. I like our chances.
Mostly because they are 0-5 from 3
Nolley in foul trouble now
Man, Cattoor draws the 3rd foul on Nolley with a charge then gets the tough bucket as time expires! 4 point play that feels like even more. What a player
Pretty good half. Glad Nolley had all of their three fouls.
I'm fully expecting there to be at least five fouls called in the first 5 minutes of the second half.
How was there not a foul on that last play? Catoor got mauled.
Should of been an and 1 to go into the half
Nolley appears to be trying to big dawg Cattoor in the post with little success. I'm loving the intensity of that match up tonight!
Yeah, pretty sure he has been jawing at Cattoor a couple of times as well
Catoor might make Nolley transfer again.
Got to get those defensive rebounds and stop the second/third effort opptys and points. We would have a small cushion lead right now.
Sean Pedulla... is not good when pressured.
Well - we just did our best to let them back in and ignite the crowd.
Pls put rice back in at PG
MY really gotta start calling timeouts to try and kill runs
This team just does some dumb shit sometimes, and CMY let's them keep snowballing for some reason
We are shooketh
Good time for a tv break.
The Pedulla/Catoor/Rice/Mutts/Basile line-up is too small and too soft to be effective on defensive...
Agree. Except Rice's speed jumps off the court. They try to run on him and he has his man covered like glue.
Oh yeah, Rice isn't the problem. He's playing really well tonight for a freshman.
Giving up 2 consecutive Offensive rebounds on missed 3's...really inexcusable.
It's like when Pedulla feels pressured and fails he tries to chest up and play hero ball to show he's not a chump and almost always looks like a chump. Then momentum heats up the other way and we all try and help off ball too much to get it back and leave shooters wide open. Been the same pattern all year on runs for the other team
Man. They have shifted this game momentum to Cincy. Letting them jaw and push off (especially on rebounds). We need to get our most athletic giard lined up with Nolley and drive him down. He's playing too free with three fouls.
Lineup we need now is Rice, Collins, Catoor, Kidd and Basile.
Wow. They missed a bunny. Thought only we were allowed to that.
Kidd where the hell were you at
Trying to intercept a pass outside the 3-point line?
#5 has been grabbing at Pedulla the entire game. Not one call. It's constant.
100% charge. Pedulla was set with the cert outside the ring.
Nolley looked like he stepped on the line
Nolley was on the baseline and that was offensive. No wonder these refs are not in the big dance
OK... I haven't complained about the officials too much this year because of how awful we've been. But damn... these officials SUCK
Can't be as bad as Pedulla getting the foul doe taking an elbow in the jaw. But somehow was a flagrant foul on the other guy, too.
Remember, we're in the NIT. These are not the best refs and that's saying something with the poor officiating across the board in college basketball.
I was at the game and those Cincy fans rivaled Duke in whining about the officials while getting very favorable treatment.
Finally they whistle the leg kicks that Cincy has been doing on their screens all night nolley got away with one two possessions ago
The following two things are true:
Cincy getting away with a lottt of contact
We are soft and complain instead of playing to the whistle
What else are we going to do? If we push through the contact they'll call foul on us.
This is the exact mentality I'm talking about! Make hard cuts, box out, play hard. At least make them call fouls, dont fear contact
Seeing Ace with a grey beard makes me feel old.
Lowers shoulder into Catoor. Foul on Catoor.
what a terrible call lol
Like that coach called it a "good call". While ignoring the should to his chest.
Payback blocking foul there.
Honestly amazed we are sticking around. With that big momentum shift and the crowd getting into it, feels like we should be down by 20
Suddenly they can't miss from 3.
Ok here we go with Cincinnati making every 3
What is it with us and turning the opposing team into 3pt sharpshooters?
But we held them 0-5 in the 1H. How did they suddenly start hitting from the logo?
Padulla entered the game?
Actually think it was Collins. Pedulla pretty solid on D the 1H.
Tradition.
Cattor 😤
4 fouls on Catoor is not good.
...and bullshit.
That one official had a hard on for him. Since Catoor got slammed down and picked in the eye at half, he said something to him. He's been watching shunter ever since ready to ring him for being close to anyone.
No way Nolley got 3 I. The first half and not even a look in the 2H.
How we haven't gone at nolley on 3 fouls this whole half is disappointing
He's committed several. Two leg hooks/knees on screens and three push off on rebounds.
Unfortunately this game is playing out like too many this season. The other team makes their shots and we don't. They make contested shots and we miss open looks. It's infuriating to watch game in and game out. This game will either remain the same and we lose by 4 or they pull away and win by double digits.
Davenport is shooting 33% from 3 on the season. He's 2 of 3 with a hand in his face on the two makes.
That baseline slash has been open all game. We've only used it twice.
Sweet!
Rice didn't know what to do 😂
He tried really hard to miss.
Jesus. He banks in a brick from 3. You can't defend that.
Pedulla is just not the same shooter he was to start the season.
He's played too many minutes. It has clearly affected his jump shot. So it's really frustrating to watch him continue to take deep shots instead of trying to get something going to the basket or finding an open teammate on the dribble drive.
Notice how much smaller he looks than at the start of the year?
I'm getting old and maybe can't see the player movement as clearly as once could, but man Cincy is man handling us on both ends. Constant arm grabbing and setting hip check/moving picks. No calls. If there was a such thing as quad bonus, we would be in it if they properly called this cheap ass grabbing bullshit.
That missed bunny by Basile was a great example. Guy arm barred him in the back as he went up. Not only is that illegal, it's dangerous. But no way they are going to call that in this game.
Nolley should have fouled out in the first half. in the stands you could see it. Every time he caught the ball he was extending his arm on Catooor. You can get away with some shoulder, but the arm extension should have been called.
...I just posted below. He didn't get called for a single foul in the 2H. Different ref on that side...hmm.
Not gonna win games when we are missing from point blank
Basile needs to practice lay ups and foul shots all summer jesus
Offensive GT?
Absolutely should have been
I saw it from there other end of the court. Should have been basket interference, was surprised none of the coaches were on the refs to look at the monitor.
Need a stop
We get it. Then miss an open 3.
...and we get a stop. ...and miss an open 3.
Basile🥺
Why is it that our entire teams clears out whenever we shoot from deep and not even think we might have to rebound?
Mike young has to fix some of his Philosophies
Tell me about it. I have been sentenced to watching the games in the basement by my wife from screaming at the TV that they need to rebound. Too many times there is nobody even in the vicinity of the basket before, during, or after the shots.
God
No more 3s from Basile
Wasting. Two possession shooting threes when all we needed was two twos Jesus
Someone take the ball away from Grant please
He was our best shooter today. We just went flat ass cold down the stretch.
Hell even Perry can see it.
Offensive goaltending much???
#33 hand was on the rim before the shot went through. That's GT.
Well a win on the road was always a long shot. Shots just not falling.
Bro Cincinnati is not any good though lmao
To be fair we aren't either.
Hard to win when you can't hit a shot.
A forgettable end to an immensely forgettable season. To be honest very unimpressed with the roster construction this year too.
Immensely forgettable
Wow... out rebounded... shocked
Terrible lmao. Cincinnati is not good either. They kept getting lucky breaks and throwing up crap that just went in, somehow still close enough for us to take it and we say "no here you go"
Cincinnati guy clearly had his hand on the rim when the shot went in. Pretty sure the officials in a kids game could see that one.
Two open look 3's back to back. We make those and the game would be tied right now even after #5 dribbled in with no pressure and laud in an easy 2.
But we shouldn't shoot them.. if we get two's there it's either tied or we're down two now
We don't make the layups either. Which is more infuriating.
Welp..there's the theme of the season..no 3 pt shooting
Frustrating to lose this and sucks if this is it for hunter and mutts two absolutely legends. Someone get the ref a new set of glasses he's blind as a bat
What a trash season.
Perry is saw lost. He keeps referencing guys not in the game.
Basile single-handedly took this from a 1-possession game to a 3-possession game
Think Pedulla shot one, but yep. Jacking threes and zero penetration has been a theme for most of Mike Young's teams, for a supposed "offensive genius".
We really haven't had solid consistent penetration since the Radford and Mutts duo in 20-21
A fitting end to a very disappointing season. Horrifically undisciplined at every level. Absolutely atrocious on the defensive end. 3 ball or nothing all season long (minus 3 games). CMY has some significant work to do this off season. If Maddox doesn't hit that 3 last year against Clemson I think CMT's seat is pretty warm right now.
Our team is so not clutch. Especially Basile. We lack players who can buy a bucket in need.
By the way, that's why our kenpom "luck" rating is bad for the 2nd year in a row. We do worse than we should in close games, but not because of luck, because we don't have a player to buy us a bucket in need. Just firing threes and Basile missing layups at the end. Not for the first time this year.
Cincinnati fans suck hard
Need taller and more athletic players next year
And a PG that can play PG
We need to get penetration and not have 3-4 players sitting at the top of the 3 point line at all times on offense.
Missed 3. Quite a shocker.
I expect some major re-tooling this off-season.
I'd like to see a stat of the second half fouls (on us) by official. Bet you it's severely titled to one ref.
...and Nolley didn't have a single foul in the 2H.
Last four 3 pt attempts, none under pressure, all clanked off the rim.
Don't go out like this Catoor.
I think he'll come back. Could make more NIL that in minor leagues. Plus sure CMY would make him a player coach and put him in staff after next year.
Nah, he needs to go get paid somewhere and not waste a year on what will likely be a similar season next year.
Get paid less? I said he could get an NIL deal making more than he could in Europe or Middle East (plus that's not really his personality).
Hunter wants to be a coach. He should take the extra year, get a hood NIL deal then roll into coaching the following year.
I wasn't responding to your comment I was responding to the same general post about him staying.
NCAA wrestling tournament starts tomorrow. Early rounds are on ESPN+
I want the refs to count one two three four five.... more like 8.
I'll miss Cattoor but honestly other than that I'm ready to get some new faces on this team
Rice is good, Collins will be solid. Pedulla is a good ball player but he needs to have is role redefined as a distributor primarily and not have too much pressure to score each possession.
Basile I wish would embrace his role as 2nd post option and spot up shooter. He probably needs to the the 6th or 7th man if he's still on the team next year
Pedulla's role is fine (evidenced last year). He needs to have his minutes reduced. He averaged over 37 min pg. that's just way too many. It effected his decision making. But really showed up in his defensive dead legs. I mentioned above, look at his body. He was jacked at the start of the season. Looks like he lost 15-20 pounds by the end. We had. O choice. Rice was out. Collins was already playing way more than he should've at this point. Catoor was hurt. Maddox left the team.
I disagree with you on Basile. He was an our best offensive player this year. In fact, I think he was under utilized. That second half at ND should been his season. He was asked to step up during our losing stretch and boy did he. He became our only all-ACC player. He needs a complimentary players to work inside-outside and get him open looks. Kidd and Poteat both regressed through the season. Mutts was good at times and a turnover machine at times. When we couldn't hit outside shots, Basile stepped up and got points down low (did you notice how many 20-point games he had?), and that's not his strength.
His role has been completely different from last year though. He was the 4th or 5th scoring option at any given time, and this year he often put himself first or second. Very clearly felt pressure to score while he was on the court.
Did we win many games when he scored all of those points. Is it worth him being soft on defense and rebounding? I'm not saying he shouldn't touch the ball, but the offense clearly did not gel and *my theory admittedly just based on the eye test* other players were not as productive when he was the 1st or 2nd scoring option
As for Pedulla, that's what I'm saying. His role is fine. He just needs to play fewer minutes to keep him fresh. Remember how we all said Storm wasn't an ACC PG until he played great down the stretch and we won the ACCT? Pedulla needs someone like he was last year to give him breaks (physical and mental) both in games and through the year.
Basile - okay we remove his 2.0 pig and then we lose by an average of 24 in those games? Embrace his role as 2nd post player? Who would have been our first? You make is sound like he took the role and refused to pass/hero ball. He was the most selfless guy on the team. I can tell you (personally) he a nice, quiet guy. He's not (and has not) gone around clambering for the ball or demanding his points.
I agree on Basile, he was quietly our highest scorer tonight. He needs to work on his feet to be in better position on defense and I would love to see him work the post to hold down in the lane a bit more to improve spacing for shooters, otherwise the guy was a major get for this team.
Basile needs to definitely work on his footwork and ball handling in traffic. I think he is good for at least 2 turnovers a night from sloppy play.
Didn't watch him that much but Pedulla seemed to overplay guys, then get beat to the overplay side. Just a sophomore, can be overplaying dominant hand, weak leg, position on court to name a few. But bottom line is it seemed he couldn't play with correct leverage on one side. Guys can work on this figure it out, get quicker in hips, play with higher leverage both directions etc. Had an amazing offseason. Another amazing offseason, if we find some solid tandem guardplay to help him, I think he will surprise next year, and 15 ppg pg in acc as a sophomore is a decent place to be.
He is out of place as the primary ball handler. I think he will improve next year just from having Rice bringing the ball up the court half the time. He had shown he can drive it and catch and shoot, he will be great at the 2 next year.
6-25 from 3.
When you have no one on your team that can drive and create their own shot, that's just not tenable.
Young has to do some real work this Offseason finding some new pieces.
This has been such a frustrating season, seems like the same themes and problems just replayed over and over. Thre lack of any real change or progress is the biggest concern for me.
CMY seems lost right now. If we aren't hitting 3's we aren't winning. I think he caught lightning in a bottle last year and that's terribly unfortunate because he's a Blacksburg guy. Not only is he awful on the defensive end, he makes zero adjustments if we aren't hitting those outside shots.
Gonna have to hit the transfer portal extremely hard to field a halfway competitive team next year.
Not gonna happen. We've got an outstanding class coming in. Very good base. Keep in mind CMYs system is hard to learn and takes a couple of years. Revolving door will lead to a much worse season.
Only transfer I see is chasing is a PF to take Mutt's place (don't see anyone who can fill that role). Maybe a film in for a loss (heard one-two are going to shop around).
Outstanding class? I see two 3* guards. Who is going to man the front court, Kidd and??? I know rice didn't play much but he doesn't pass the eye test of an elite ACC guard to me (I hope I'm wrong). Guessing Maddox is gone as well.
Okay...watch. Collins is going to be very good. He was just trust into a roll playing too many minutes too soon. His head was spinning until about a week ago. You could send the game slow down for him a bit. Add those guards is going to give us some solid depth. Which we desperately needed.
I said we needed a transfer PF to take Mutts role. Kidd and Poteat showed potential but regressed. I'd say Kidd has the athleticism, but he still looked too lost and a beat slow. Hopefully a solid offseason will turn the switch on for him.
Sorry but Rechsteiner and Young are far from an outstanding class.
The only outlier are the Redshirt guys in Buchanan and Wessler.
If one or two shop around, Mutts is gone and depending on Cattoor, you are looking at needing a stretch 4, a defensive shooting guard and bench depth in the form of a defensive wing. I don't see Camden as a good fit, hopefully Buchanan gives us some of the Wing/D and honestly no idea what to expect on Wessler at this point.
Honestly want some staff shakeup to bring in a hard nosed defensive guy. Looks like we could lose one or two assistant coaches this offseason.
If I had a name to consider right off the top it would be Kevin Sutton, an assistant at Florida Gulf Coast. He played a major role in the University of Rhode Island being a consistent top defensive team from 2018-2021. Last season opponents shot 39% overall (17th Ntl), year prior 41% and before that below 43% in prior two years. He has been a coach consistently called on by USA basketball the last decade.
If Hokies land Juke Harris the 2024 class is looking really good
While this is true, due to the instability of college basketball right now I am not counting on the 24 class until we hit summer of their entrance. If Mike Jones leaves that will have a major impact on the 24 class.
This is also true
Mutts lackluster finish to the rim and loses the ball is our season wrapped up in one play. Just hate it that his last play as a Hokie was that one. A dunk would have been nice for him.
Frustrating end to a frustrating season. Loved the stat between Maddox, Cattoor and Rice they missed over 46 games.
Tyrece Radford, Nahiem Alleyne, and David N'Guessan are in the tournament at top 7 seeds. Meanwhile we're losing in the NIT first round. I'm happy for them, but it's interesting if nothing else
Yeah *if* we ran Alleyne off last that is a terribly dumb decision at best. I have no idea if we actually did but I get the vibe we weren't exactly begging him to stay
Alleyne is basically riding the bench at UCONN
We didn't run him off. He was welcomed back and had a solid secure place. Was a shock to the staff when he entered the portal.
Radford is only one of these three that had a significant impact on their team getting there.
N'Guessan is a solid option as K State's 6th man. Alleyne doesn't have much of a role there but undoubtedly could be use here in place of Collins and Maddox
N'Guessan left because he didn't want to be a 6th man. Funny enough. That's exactly what he is. If he had stayed and we wound up playing him as a starter we would have been screaming for him to be benched.
We're all pining for Radford to stay. But keep in mind, he could not (he had to leave school). Losing him was not on the coaches.
K State early on was using him as a starter to create matchup issues but sat for more than half the game on average. Much as he did at Tech, he was not a big contributor offensively. His efficiency was off the charts but only had four games with more than five shots. To be fair he transferred there before they got Keyontae Johnson medically cleared to play which dropped him back to a bench role.
Well...hopefully the ladies don't put up nearly as embarrassing a showing
Welp....just too many things to list since I don't want to give this "team" more of my year at this point. Been the hardest season to keep any kind of positive perspective of any in the last ten years.
It really is difficult to put a finger on one (or a couple for that matter) thing, but the entire team is broken. CMY has some serious work to do this offseason IMO. Way too much talent for us to go out like this. On the other side of that coin however is the fact that even though we have some quality basketball players we are lacking severely on athleticism... Even Cincy outclassed us in that regard.
What is it with MY's system and having 3-4 guys sitting at the top of the key, while getting zero dribble penetration? It looked like his first year here when "he didn't have the guys to run his system"
Too much reliance on shooting the three and drilling into these guys to Fire and Forfeit coupled with a complete lack of athleticism.
Just an unbelievably poor year. A bigger disappointment for me because of expectations than the football season.
Hope for better next year. Oh wait! This is a Hokie team. Never
mind!
Utah Valley St upset #2 Colorado tonight, so VT would have likely hosted the 3rd round game as well. Sigh, what could have been...
This assumes Tech would have beaten Hofstra which is a big. Hofstra won 12 of 14 games until Cincy sent them home. Sad that this is even a thought but more so that it's the first thought.