Another week, another pair of utterly deflating losses for a Mike Young-coached Virginia Tech basketball team.
They didn't have the horses to keep up with Duke at home, as the Blue Devils kept Sean Pedulla in jail while the rest of the Hokies were on the wrong side of their jekyll-and-hyde shooting.
Five days later, the team unequivocally fell apart at Miami. They conceded a 10-point lead with 11 minutes to go in Coral Gables, and blew it so hard that they actually ended up losing by eight. You don't have to know ball to understand that an 18-point swing in 10 minutes of play isn't exactly what you want.
The losses looked different on the scoresheet, but were basically the same. Tech played well enough for 30 minutes but didn't have the legs to close things out (or keep it close, in the case against Duke). On Monday their threes betrayed them, on Saturday it was their free throws and decision making. All things in which fatigue can play a big factor. In both, they couldn't get to the rim, shake perimeter defenders or stay in front of their man for the full two halves.
Tech now sits at 13-9 on the wrong side of the wrong side of the bubble. Again. With a roster that doesn't have enough ACC-caliber ball handlers to win. Again.
And here we are. Near the end of year five of the Mike Young era, stuck with a sloppy group who should really be closer to five losses than 10 — both Miami games, FSU and South Carolina should have all been wins but were bungled down the stretch — and a growing vocal minority doubting the prodigal son's ability to have anything more than the seventh-to-eleventh-best team in the conference.
I don't know if it's time to have THE conversation about Young. The guy is two years removed from an ACC Tournament win. But it's fair to look at his resume and have a conversation about the conversation.
Mike Young's winning percentage at Virginia Tech: .589
In case anyone was curious, here's how that ranks with every other coach since the turn of the millennium:
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