ACC/SEC Slaughterhouse.
The ACC went 1-9 yesterday in the challenge. Clemson upset #4 Kentucky.
Tonight the ACC is favored in two of the remaining six games. If that holds it will be a 15-3 blowout. But the ACC is a basketball conference. RIGHT?
Back at the crib for the SEC/ACC Challenge π°π₯π VanderbiltπΊ ACCNβοΈ 9:15 p.m. ETπ https://t.co/Ypqs6c7UWE pic.twitter.com/rK1eQFuGxpβ Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) December 4, 2024
Vanderbilt (7-1)
at
Virginia Tech (3-4)
Cassell Coliseum
915pm
ACCN/ESPN+
Familiar Faces
Hokies come home after extending their non-conference losing streak to four games. That is the longest streak since the 1952-53 season. Yes it had two Big 10 teams and a SEC team which is unusual for non-con play. It was more how they lost than who they lost to. In the last four games we witnessed one, maybe two good halves of basketball. The first half against Jacksonville and the second half against South Carolina.
The Hokies just can't seem to avoid the scoring droughts and turning the ball over. The last four games they have turned it over 68 times and shot 38% from the floor. Their perimeter shooting was 32% over that span. Between turnovers and scoring, the Hokies score on only 30% of their possessions. I am honestly surprised it's that high.
All of that said, the Hokies are currently 233rd in NET rankings which is the lowest of any P4 team by almost 30 spots.
This leads up to this tweet showing the availability of seating for tonight's game.
VT Men's team plays Vandy in a big matchup in the ACC/SEC challenge. The commodores have two former Hokies on roster. Here are all the available seats for the game tomorrow less than 30% full. Doesn't help season tickets don't include non conference games and a 9pm start.... pic.twitter.com/KydgvZYYpMβ Nathan Gray (@nathangray_1) December 4, 2024
As of last night, there were nearly 70% of the tickets for this game available. It's a confluence of bad basketball, not including the OOC tickets as part of season package and making the ticket price for this game $50 each for non-season ticket holders. Our Athletic Departments continues to make compounding errors.
As a basketball guy, all of the above was hard to write, let alone digest. We are a couple years removed from an ACC Championship run only to have been shoved off a cliff. At this point I really hope Coach Young focuses on youth development rather than final results. You should always aim to win the game but getting the young guys minutes will also be critical. In all of this, I feel bad for Poteat, who clearly invested extraordinary effort to be stronger and more durable for this season.
Somehow after all this Vandy is only favored by 5.5 points.
On to Vanderbilt, who comes in 7-1. After last season, the Commodores focused some of that SEC money on buying a new team. They got Coach Byington from JMU. He then got McGlockton from Boston College, Nickel and Collins from the Hokies, Hoggard from Michigan State, Manon from Cornell, and Huffman from Davidson. Eight of the ten top scorers for Vanderbilt are transfers or freshman. Three of the six transfers are grad transfers bringing four years of experience with them to this lineup.
Their top win is over Cal, who is 6-2. They also beat a mediocre Seton Hall team. Their only loss is to this seasons early Cinderella favorite Drake. Drake is 7-0 with wins over Vandy, FGCU, Miami, and FAU. All but FGCU were by double-digits.
Vanderbilt has blown out most of their Buy games. The only close one was a two point win over Nevada. They are led by point guard Jason Edwards. He is putting up 18 points per game on 45% shooting. Familiar Faces Tyler Nickel is adding 10.3 points per game as one of four double-digit scorers. Other familiar MJ Collins has once again found himself the 6th man. He is adding in 7 points in about 20 minutes per game.
The Commodores focus on ball movement and spacing to create open shots. They rely on penetrating the defense to either score or kick the ball out for three-point shots.
The team often utilizes pick-and-roll plays, which enable the Guards to find defensive weaknesses and penetrate the lane.
Key players in this strategy include Nickel and Edwards who can stretch the floor. This not only boosts their scoring options but frees up big men in the paint.
Defensively, Vanderbilt employs an aggressive man-to-man scheme complemented by pack line zone tendencies. This strategy focuses on pressure, aiming to force turnovers and create transition scoring chances.
The team also focuses on defensive rebounding to limit opponents' second-chance opportunities. Coach Byington expects his players to be able to guard multiple positions.
Hokies Starting Five
Toibu Lawal
1 JR F 6-8 200
12.7 Pts, 6.9 Reb, 0.4 Ast
Mylyjael Poteat
34 SR F 6-9 260
11.0 Pts, 5.3 Reb, 2.0 Ast
Tyler Johnson
10 FR G 6-5 215
5.9 Pts, 4.9 Reb, 0.9 Ast
Brandon Rechsteiner
7 SO G 6-1 185
9.1 Pts, 1.7 Reb, 3.1 Ast
Jaden Schutt
2 SO G 6-5 185
8.6 Pts, 3.3 Reb, 2.0 Ast
Key Bench Players
Jaydon Young
3 SO G 6-4 205
9.7 Pts, 2.3 Reb, 1.7 Ast
Ben Burnham
13 SR F 6-7 200
4.6 Pts, 3.4 Reb, 0.7 Ast
Ben Hammond
11 FR G 5-11 170
3.3 Pts, 1.0 Reb, 1.4 Ast
Patrick Wessler
5 SO C 7-0 245
3.3 Pts, 3.4 Reb, 0.0 Ast
At least the students will get free wings.
π π²πΎππ π²ππΉππππΉπΆπ π₯π VandyβοΈ 9:15 p.m. ETπ Free chicken wings for students while supplies lastπ Wing-eating contestsποΈ https://t.co/7cCkqR4WjG pic.twitter.com/TLJfcWllfrβ Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) December 2, 2024
Commodores Starting Five
Jason Edwards
1 JR G 6-1 170
17.9 Pts, 2.0 Reb, 2.0 Ast
Devin McGlockton
99 JR F 6-7 220
11.9 Pts, 8.6 Reb, 1.0 Ast
A.J. Hoggard
11 SR G 6-3 220
11.7 Pts, 3.3 Reb, 4.3 Ast
Tyler Nickel
5 JR F 6-7 200
10.3 Pts, 2.9 Reb, 0.9 Ast
Grant Huffman
4 SR G 6-3 185
5.0 Pts, 3.1 Reb, 2.9 Ast
Key Bench Players
MJ Collins
2 JR G 6-4 190
7.0 Pts, 1.6 Reb, 0.8 Ast
Tyler Tanner
3 FR G 6-0 170
6.8 Pts, 1.9 Reb, 1.8 Ast
Jaylen Carey
22 FR F 6-8 245
6.6 Pts, 6.3 Reb, 0.6 Ast
Chris Manon
30 SR G 6-5 195
5.6 Pts, 3.1 Reb, 1.1 Ast
Comments
LET'S GO...
HOKIES!
Did not find it on ESPN+ but found it on YouTube TV.
As if it couldn't get worse, we have TV Teddy tonight as a ref.
Hokies just letting Vandy have open perimeter shots at will
I don't think Wessler would start at Roanoke College. We had better big men come thru.
Year away from being a year away like a lot of big men
Collins looks better on offense this year than he ever did for us
He's not the first...
Does anyone else think (like myself) that Poteat plays way too often with his center of gravity outside of his feet?
I think they need to do lots of drills to get him to have better position with his feet under his weight so he can control it better...use it to his benefit more.
Yes but at this point not sure they can fix him in season
Such a shame
Poteat ball awareness down low bothers me more. That turnover right there is a perfect example
Yup exactly. I also feel like the entire team has bad court awareness. There will be a loose ball and none of our dudes will have a clue what's going on
Reichsteiner has yet to improve on his massive turnover issue. We are seven games in and not sure how that hasn't improved.
Surprised to see Brown. Been a while since he got in this early
Not their worst half but a lot of missed chances in close.
Whew...the halftime show detailing 16 of Vandys points off turnovers. Ugly
34 points at the half. Let the offensive genius cook!
I mean, I'm a broken record but anytime Wessler is on the floor it's 4v5. No recovery defensively and no offensive IQ.
Patented session of turnovers and nine missed shots in a row to give opponent a runway to break open game.
I think it's crazy underrated how important a player finding their role is. I feel like this offense sometimes forces guys into roles that they aren't best suited for. Example making Pedulla the primary scorer last year.
All that to say I don't think this can all be put on the talent. The staff has to adapt. Imo This team could be a scrappy 14-17 ish this year if guys were put in the correct spots to succeed. Unfortunately I see us finishing with around 9 wins. Maybe 10 if we're lucky. (But unfortunately the floor is literally 6. That is not out of question if we truly bottom out)
I am closer to the floor. This team is slow moving the ball around, don't move as much as prior Young teams and sloppy with the ball. They also are not great jump shooters but can't get to the rim either.
Can some of the slowness be attributed to head tying up the feet? I just have trouble believing we're that outmatched talent wise. These guys were all mid to high 3 star recruits, most are just young
I've been watching VT hoops for 20 years and this is the second-most painful team to watch that I can remember after that second James Johnson team. Not sure it gets any better next year either unless we get some big fish in the portal.
2000-01 team and 2013-14. Even those teams though played closer games, were in better control of the ball and didn't just give games away.
This Hokies team is BAAAAD. Can't defend can't score off the dribble can't do anything really.
And the defense is not going to get better when teams start figuring out their offenses getting into conference play. We're in a tough spot, it's
up to Young to keep the guys improving and hungry to win. If he can't do that he shouldn't be the head coach
Young can coach x and o's- he just can't keep players around. Imagine this team with Kidd, Maddux, Pedulla, Buchannan and Collins starting? and have Rech, Poteat, Schutt, Barnham on the bench to play 10 mins a game at most? Totally different scenario. That will be young's undoing.
It would be a lot better, but I question if MY would even make the tournament with that roster, I think it's up for debate but I lean hard no.
I struggle to see the vision. After his 2nd year it wasn't unreasonable for our aspirations to be competing for a title. If Young gets exactly what he wants now do we have a top 20 team? Is there even a version of his team that's top 5 in the ACC?
If those are unreasonable goals then are we going to spend money on NIL for a team thats ceiling is 7th or 8th in the league?
How much of the current problems are because they stripped the NIL money from the program.
When you lose 80% of your roster and all of your starting five you are going to struggle regardless but in the NIL landscape it's compounded because if you don't have money, you aren't going to be able to compete to replace that 80%.
Well it takes us from a team fighting to be on the bubble to a team that will struggle to win 9 games total and 3 or 4 in the ACC. We know NIL accounts for that.
My question is if NIL is fixed, where is the program under this staff? I think the answer is consistently between .500 and a 2-3 seed in the NIT. Is that worth spending a lot on NIL? I don't think so but it's up to the athletic department to determine. Can we beat that with an up and coming coach? Absolutely yes, but of course there are no guarantees the guy you pick will be better
What motivation would an up and coming coach have for coming here in this world of NIL if they clearly see they aren't going to receive the support necessary to build a competitive roster?
1. Cassell Renovation, shelved
2. NIL, Stripped
3. Coaching staff, funds short to be able to hire full complement of five assistants.
4. Administration, buffoons
Up and coming coaches aren't looking to step in to dead ends.
Left off David N'Guessan and Rice. Rice probably was gone regardless of NIL/playing time.
N'Guessan is probably a better big than Kidd now.
14.1 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 1.9 apg, .8 spg. Shooting 71% from the floor and is making 3-pointers now too. Takes about 1 per game but is shooting 66%. He has Kansas State 6-2.
Miami is almost as bad as the Hokies. Both are 3-5. Kidd is only managing 10.6 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 1.4 apg. Miami lost to Arkansas, Drake, Oklahoma St, VCU, and Charleston Southern.
I have never seen more lazy, predictable, uninspired passes to just gift breakaway layups over and over and over again
This. Telegraph Tech.
To me that's coaching
Seems like any decent defense knows our offense better than our own players do.
I gotta admit I'm a Wessler fan lol. He might not always make the right play, but he hustles and does a lot of the small things right, like setting screens and boxing out. He has a soft shooting touch too.
I lol'd earlier in the first half when he flattened that dude on a screen and then tripped over him, resulting in the defender getting a foul. Let the man cook π₯
That Rechsteiner turnover was the epitome of this game
Untalented teams still occasionally find ways to win basketball games. Untalented teams that are badly coached will lose almost every time.
We'll find out towards the end of the season which one we are
Feels like Burnham and Johnson should be getting 25-30 mins a game from the hustle alone.
SEC wins the challenge 14-2. Christ.
They've been putting a bunch of their warchest towards basketball in the last 5-6 years+ its starting to show up on the court across their league now.
Yep, they built a revenue advantage with the football contracts and then dumped that cash into other sports as well. They have been outspending everyone except the basketball blue bloods for years. Basketball you can buy a contender for a few million and that is pocket change for the SEC.
And one of those was Brownell - who can't coach at all
The ACC is fully dead. Cannot compete in any revenue sport head to head and it's only a matter of time before we get overwhelmed in the on revs as well
John Swofford and Jim Phillips destroyed us. And there is no coming back
Agree- but hoops is a little different. Duke and UNC will get top notch talent - no matter the TV contract. Louisville prints their own money as well. UCONN has been dominant recently. Gonzaga gets pennies in TV money. Hoops can be competitive. Football is 100% dead. FSU - not UCF- was undefeated and left out of the playoffs.
Jim Phillips has said some dumb things, but he should not be in the conversation with Swafford.
Phillips increased ACC revenue by ~30% by getting Comcast to carry the ACCN - something Swofford could never make happen.
Phillips took over a sinking ship. Not much he could do differently that would result in more than marginal improvements.
Duplicate β please delete
Darn, we had a game yesterday? Looks like we lost. Shucks.
I'll say it right now, if Mike Young finds a way to win 12 or more games this year he's a genius and should have plenty of job security. However I don't think that's possible I'd put the number around 9 right now.
If he can't win 9 or the guys aren't showing improvement he should be fired. Full stop
Count the number of times this year we are going to shoot 50% from 3 and the other team can't throw it in the ocean? that is your number of wins from here on out.
I actually don't feel like firing CMY solves the issues. I doubt any other coach can do significantly better given the shoestring NIL money and resources. I mean...we took on a player we knew could be implicated in a point shaving scandal because they were cheap.
Would love to see some of these kids develop and grow into fun players to watch by the end of the year, even if they inevitably continue their college career elsewhere because we can't afford them anymore.
I agree it doesn't solve any of the NIL issues, I don't think anyone could be above .500 with those issues. And you'd need to be a miracle worker to get anywhere close to .500 with this team.
I also think there are issues with Mike Young and staff that won't be fixed by going all in on NIL. He significantly underachieved the last 3 seasons and was bailed out by the late ACC tournament run. Point is if we want to be a top half ACC team and make NCAA tournaments we're gonna have to fix both issues
Coach Young deadpanned Mark Berman.
Obviously this is just a sound byte but that shit pisses me off. You're the damn coach. It ain't the reporter's job to get guys to score. Side note, I bet Berman's got suggestions for you, coach... Tis the season.
Mark Berman has posed essentially this same question after each game. Young has answered him in detail up until last night. Last night was a message to Berman that he was tired of the same jab.
is mark berman the guy Andy Bitter always made fun of for being short and didn't have a sense of humor?
Yes
Gotcha. See context is important! Thanks for the additional nuance
The team sucks, plain and simple. No need to beat around the bush. Most of these guys playing and especially starting wouldn't be playing (let alone starting) on most other P4 teams.
I don't have an answer to how to fix this but if this team gets into double digit wins, I will be shocked. Thanks Whit.
Mike Young is going to hate me for saying this, but we have to start teaching and playing a zone defense. We don't have the athletes in this NIL world to play man against the ACC.