The Virginia Tech men’s basketball team will be put under the national spotlight on ESPN’s College GameDay — the first time in program history.
The Hokies will meet fellow Atlantic Coast Conference foes, the Duke Blue Devils, on Feb. 26th in Cassell Coliseum. The matchup will be the only game on the program featuring two ACC opponents.
“It’s a matchup that has created some great drama within our league. There’s been some great games between Duke and Virginia Tech since we’ve become a member of the (ACC),” said Seth Greenberg, head coach. “I think it’s a reflection of the tremendous passion and ownership we have from our student body, our community, our alumni, the Hokie nation, and (ESPN) had tremendous success here televising games from Blacksburg in terms of the environment.”
The popular eight-week program returns for its seventh season on ESPN. GameDay will kick off 10 a.m. on ESPNU with the coverage moving to ESPN at 11 a.m. Then a one-hour special at 8 p.m., will be aired on ESPN, concluding with the tip-off at 9 p.m.
“It’s huge, I think it’s big for Virginia Tech and it’s big for the basketball program,” said Terrell Bell, a senior forward. “We have a great team this year and the more we play as a team I think the better we’ll be. College GameDay is just a plus added onto our season, it’s going to be a big day for Virginia Tech.”
Senior guard Dorenzo Hudson agreed, describing the impact it would have on Tech’s basketball program as a whole.
“We’re definitely trying to put ourselves on the map,” Hudson said. “We’re definitely trying to let people know that we’re not a joke. I think last year they kind of took us as a joke because of our schedule. Coach sat down with us and asked us what kind of schedule we wanted to play and we told him we wanted to play this tougher schedule.”
The Hokies finished last season with a 25-9 overall record including a 10-6 record in the ACC, good enough for third in the conference. Nonetheless, the Hokies were snubbed from the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year with most pundits citing a weak out-of-conference schedule as their major resume weakness.
Yet Tech has bolstered its schedule this season with games against Purdue, the No. 1 team in the Big Ten last season, as well as Mississippi State, a game that will be held at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas.
“As a team we all feel the big season that’s coming up,” Bell said. “I feel like everybody’s working harder and everybody’s excited. We know that we’re on the big stage, so we’re preparing ourselves like it’s time to play on the big stage.”
“We think that the exposure obviously is only going to help us continue to build our brand,” Greenberg said. “That’s what we’re doing, we’re trying to grow our brand and I think this is a great stage to be on.”
Last season, the Hokies fell to the Blue Devils 67-55 in Durham, N.C., however Tech will boast an experienced core that hopes to bring the same energy as last season.
Four of the Hokies’ five projected starters are seniors, including guard Malcolm Delaney who led the team in scoring, and key reserve, senior JT Thompson, who will also contribute significantly.
“I think we’ve got a lot of our team returning,” Hudson said. “We did pretty good last year in the ACC and overall. Duke is going to be pretty good, so I feel like that was the best two teams they could have put on there.”
In addition with the upcoming season as well as the GameDay announcement, Greenberg emphasized building Tech’s national reputation.
“Obvious we’re very excited, I think it’s a great reflection on where our program is and where it’s going,” Greenberg said. “We’re trying to brand ourselves as a national program that’s one of the elite programs in the country. If you look at College GameDay per say it highlights and puts on a stage the premier programs in the country.”