If you were to ask me when the Men's team started off 3-6 and the Women started conference play 0-2 that either team would be in the positions they are today, You'd be in your right to call me a damn liar.
Mike Young's team (6-7) sits 8th in the conference with 7 games remaining; 4 games back of the double-bye and 3.5 games above missing out on the tournament completely.
The remainder of their schedule seems very favorable to an extent. Four of the teams we face do not currently have winning records; two of whom will probably not see their seasons continue after March 8th. One of the three teams with a winning record is UNC, a team that for lack of a better word has woefully underperformed this season. And we get them in Cassell.
Of the remaining 7 games, it's not completely outside the realm of possibility that the Hokies manage to scrap together 5 wins against equivalent and poorer performing teams. This would put the Hokies at 16-15 on the season and 11-9 in conference. With that record, I would predict the Hokies to finish 6th +- 1 spot; perhaps two spots better and one full game better than last season. Even potentially finishing .500 in conference feels like a tremendous accomplishment, all things considered.
Megan Duffy's team (7-6) sits 9th in the ACC, with 5 games remaining; 3 games back of the double-bye, 3.5 above missing out. Their remaining schedule is similar, with 3 teams not having winning records, 1 roughly peer team, and 1 team is probably a blowout loss if we're not careful.
If the women can do the same feat as the men, beating all poorer and equivalent performing teams, they should go 4-1 over the remainder of the regular season, finishing at 20-9 (11-7). This will probably put the Hokies at 7th in the tournament. Considering just over 10 months ago we only had 1 scholarship player on the roster and no coaches, I'd say they'd done a damn good job.
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I think both coaches have proven they're worth their salt. They both hodge podged a roster together in relatively limited time. Figured out what they had and coached their way to some close gritty wins. Excited to see both have continued success and growth. IIRC both teams were picked towards the bottom of the conference and we're pretty well cemented in the upper half finishes. (granted the men's side of the conference has been woefully bad across the board).
Women were picked 12th, Men 14th
CMY wrongfully gets a lot of hate directed at him. He's excelled at doing more with less. Would love to see what he could do with the proper resources...
Early returns on CMD are pretty good. Excited to see where she takes the program.
To add, I had a nice conversation just this week with a Wofford alum/former player when Coach Young was an assistant, then head whistle.
He had glowing things to say about him. Player said he HATED Wofford for the first year. Coach Young was tough and demanding and would pick apart every facet of his game. Player would call home weekly and ask him mom to pick him up and she refused. Now, he thanks her for making him stick it out. He said Coach Young ended up being his favorite and gives him credit for developing his game and mind set. He said the attention to detail helps him daily in his job as a banker. Player said he thinks frequently on Coach Young quotes and applies them to daily life.
If Coach Young doesn't get the results we want as fans, I would look first, in my opinion to support issues from the school rather than his efforts.
I would love the athletics department to flip the script this offseason: reward MBB & WBB for doing more with less by giving them more than their share of the financial resources for '25-26, and keep the purse strings tight on football...challenge them to show they can do something with less. Football took a lion's share last season and produced something between a tightly-coiled pile and "meh".
Some court just ruled that schools don't pay NIL- it's separate of course and based on market. So I don't know what is holding Mike Young back there, since VT has nothing to do with paying NIL- its all the individual player. According to a judge. lolololololololololololol.
It's fascinating to examine top level college basketball coaches the past 40 years. The 2 most successful were the absolute most task master asshole types- Coach K and Knight. You won't meet a bigger asshole bully than Jim Calhoun as another example. John Thompson literally would not let his players talk to the media until they were juniors. That is one- and arguably - the best way to build a program- even today. Find guys that want to be coached hard or can handle criticism. If they are good enough at basketball, they will always be tougher than the opponent. To contrast that, absolute clown player coaches like Bill Self and Calipari (who is tough on players for about a week, then backs off) have also won championships. Going further back in history, Tark and Guy Lewis were notorious player coaches that had different rules for stars, etc. I think it boils down to finding actual good players that also fit your coaching. Roy Williams was kind of a mix- he was soft and cuddly with his guys most of the time, but he would get on your ass for not hustling or playing Carolina ball. I think for CMY to win more games here in the ACC than he loses, he needs to find the right guys - tough guys - for his system. He's old school.
Hurley at UCONN is also an ass.
When Young gets the right players, they would die for him on the court.
Both coaches have done an amazing job. I will say that both sides of the conference are down considerably from what they were a year ago- especially the women's side. The mens- with UNC not a factor, and Miami not competitive, etc. has not been as strong as years past.
10 of the top50 are in the ACC WBB conference.. .very down year indeed
Yeah 6 ranked in top 25. Two more receiving votes.
I said down compared to last year. That is what I said. And it is.