Terrell Bell (#1) drives the ball around Wichita’s Graham Hatch (#14).
Another year, another NCAA tournament snub.
For most casual observers, that’s all a basketball team’s season boils down to. However, while there may be some truth to that statement, there was so much more to this year’s Virginia Tech team than just being excluded from March Madness.
The cynical fan might point to the lofty expectations for this team that went unfulfilled, and the inconsistent nature of the team. In some respects, it would be hard to fault them for this viewpoint.
Entering the season, Tech was ranked 21st in the preseason AP poll, and senior guard Malcolm Delaney was on a variety of preseason awards lists. Given the void in the Atlantic Coast Conference after the defending national champion Duke Blue Devils, the Hokies were picked to finish second in the conference.
Unfortunately, the injury bug bit Tech early in the year, as sixth man JT Thompson tore his ACL while playing pick-up basketball in September. The team then lost Dorenzo Hudson for the year to a foot injury.
Thompson’s absence helped contribute to the Hokies’ rocky 4-4 start to the year, although tough matches against ranked opponents Kansas State and Purdue certainly didn’t help.
Delaney’s play was especially worrisome in the early stretch. In the Kansas State and UNC-Greensboro games, he turned the ball over nine times apiece, which is more than he ever gave the ball away in his junior year.
Similarly disturbing was the team’s embarrassing home loss to rival Virginia.
Yet, losing to the Cavaliers seemed to jolt the Hokies back into action, as they reeled off four straight wins. As the team moved into conference play, there seemed to be reason for optimism.
Tech then proceeded to play one of its best halves of the season in North Carolina, taking a seven-point lead over the Tar Heels at halftime. However, the Hokies let the lead slip away in the second half.
In retrospect, a win against the eventual ACC regular season champions would have been a huge boost to the team’s tournament chances, but the team was still able to bolster its conference record (not necessarily resume) with wins against Wake Forest and Maryland.
Shortly afterward, the team endured its worst loss of the season, as the Hokies lost by 15 to lowly Georgia Tech. It was clear at this point that this team had lost too much talent to possibly live up to the expectations heaped on it in the preseason.
A pair of disheartening road losses against Boston College and Virginia served only to confirm this suspicion, and although the Hokies scored some wins against ACC bottom feeders, they were just treading water.
As buzz about Duke’s visit to Cassell Coliseum began to build, the perfect upset scenario fell into place for Tech. Not only were the Blue Devils going to be burdened by the pressure of being the No. 1 team in the country, but they had only earned that spot by virtue of the other top four teams losing — not by their superior play.
The game itself was the high point of the Hokies season. By far.
An undermanned Tech squad being able to survive poor 3-point and free throw shooting and knock off the top-ranked team in the nation has to rank among the signature wins in the program’s history.
Sadly, the next two games personified more of what the team had been all about this year. The Duke win was a huge high that was destined to drain the team mentally, but the disheartening losses to Boston College (on senior night) and Clemson to close out the season were disappointments that no one saw coming.
After the suspension of freshman forward Jarell Eddie, Tech was able to gut out wins against Georgia Tech and Florida State to reach the ACC Tournament semifinals against Duke. The Hokies had just seven scholarship players available on the roster.
A version of this article appeared in the Mar 23 issue of the Collegiate Times.
Leave a comment 12 Comments Write a letter to the editor
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I think Greenberg is a great guy, but he has reached is potential as a top D-1 coach. I dont know if its a lack a discipline or what, but it seems to be a recurring theme for the basketball team to not win the games they need and should win. (Seems all too similar to the football team and Beamer's ability to coach in the big games as well)
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Everyone was hurt. Unless you're going to make a claim about that being his fault, give him time. Good recruiting class is incoming.
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So? The guys available were still as highly recruited as the ones who were hurt. Plenty of teams play 7 to 8 man rotations even when healthy. Heck, Greenberg has been known to use a short bench. Injuries and "adversity" are a poor excuse. What you saw out of this team was the same thing we've seen throughout Greenberg's tenure. A good defensive team but a one that lacks any structured offense. Prone to sloppy play and turnovers with a knack for snatching defeat from victory's grasp. Toss in consistently inconsistent as well. Greenberg will be entering his 9th season with a loaded team next year. If he misses the Dance again, his job should be questioned. Don't be fooled. Taking a program from nothing to mediocre is not that large of an accomplishment. There's quite a few coaches who can do it and the AD should look the city of Richmond for starters.
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This athletic dept. has designed all of its programs to win a lot of games, but rarely win the BIG games and more importantly losing games they should have never lost (JMU in football and UVA twice in b-ball). Look around the state and see the young and vibrant coaches that are coming up the ranks and better yet see how successful they are. The football team wins 10 games a year and was an embarraament in the Orange Bowl. This b-ball tean has down what ever other b-ball team since the 90's has done, dissapoint fans. I still love them but they all can be very frustrating. My point; Weaver needs to go, we need change at the top.
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I think looking at the football and basketball programs under the same microscope is the wrong approach here. Football has put forth a quality program since the mid 90's. The basketball program didn't really turn the corner from being downright ABYSMAL until just prior to Coach Greenburg's entrance. In the late 90's, back in the Big East days, nobody went to men's games and the women's team did a much better job of packing the house. They were horrible.
You need to give the basketball team a chance to blossom. Was this year disappointing? Absolutely. But given the injuries to the team this year, they get a pass from me. They showed up for the games that mattered, for the most part, and were completely gassed for the ones that didn't. I'm interested in seeing how the program does in the next 2-3 years.
As for the football team...well, if the changes made recently don't work or turn out to be smoke and mirrors - THEN call for Weaver's head.
But Coach Greenburg should be left out of that equation, altogether. I don't want to see him going ANYWHERE - Coach defines young and vibrant - which is why he's all over ESPN college basketball ads.
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I agree that Greenberg should be left out of the conversation for a little longer. My point is with both the football schedule and the basketball schedule, they are tweaked to maximize wins. A case in point with b-ball. Look at all the top flight programs in Va. Richmond, VCU, ODU and GMU and Seth scheduled Longwood. Not too long ago Tech would play these other schools unfortunately they did not produce wins for the program, so the solution was not to schedule them anymore.
As for football, hopefully these changes made in the coaching staff turn out to be more fruitful to the program rather than symbolic.
GO HOKIES!
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Greenberg dug VT out of a hole. We moved to a tougher conference and our record got better including several 20+ win seasons. He's put us in the top half of the ACC and this year is bringing in a top tier recruiting class. This season is a testament to his success as a coach. Take a 15-point guy, the sixth man, all of the F/C reserves, and a couple other guys off of any team in the ACC and see if they finish in the top half. Anonymous is right, he has reached his potential. He beat the #1 team in the country with half a team and is bringing in possibly the best recruiting class in VT history. The next 3-4 years are what he should be judged on. The last 5-6 years he has passed with flying colors.
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I am not sure why everyone compares the basketball program to the football program, they have nothing to do with each other. What Greenberg did this year is nothing short of amazing, we lost HALF of our entire team to injury and 40% of our starting lineup!!!! Most teams would have been lucky to win 10 games with that happening, but we won 22!!!! Remember, Greenberg is just now starting to get top knotch talent into Blacksburg, maybe it has taken longer than we thought, but he's getting there. We have the #12 class coming in next year and are on the short lists for top top players for 2 and 3 years after that. Remember, although I love our team, Delaney, Allen, Davila, Bell and Green were not highly recruited players, Greenberg's done an amazing job with the talent he's had. Now lets slow down and see what Greenberg can do with some of the best talent in the nation. If we do not get to the NCAA tourney more often than not the next 4 years and at least win a few games in the tourneys, then yeh I'd say he's reached his potention, but the man at least deserves that!!!!!
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I truly sympathize with all the Tech students and fans who have every right to think that this team should have been selected for the NCAA Tournament. On paper, they earned it. But I have to wonder if some important intangibles are creeping into the rejection Tech has suffered several years running now. Namely, sportsmanship. You can say that this isn't, or shouldn't be part of the selection equation, but the fact is that every time tech I see Virginia Tech on TV, they seem to involved in, and usually instigating, dirty play. I like Virginia Tech as a school and I think they were by far the most appropriate addition to the ACC of any recent expansion teams. I would like to be more of a fan. But every time I watch them, I am disappointed in the cheap shots and playground-like harassment. I don't know if Seth Greenburg condones this style of play or if he just turns a blind eye, but either way he is responsible. If I were on the selection committee, I wouldn't favor this type of team to represent the sport in the Tournament. All else being equal, in choice among many bubble teams, this can't help the Hokies. So, clean it up Coach and see if you get better treatement by the selection committee.
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I watched every game and went to quite a few, the only dirty plays in recent years have come from Jeff Allen and he's gone now, I also hate how Malcolm Delaney flops all over the court and complains the entire game and he's gone now too. I love my Hokies, but can understand how Jeff Allen and Malcolm Delaney are not very likeable. I think that changes next year and with the #12 recruiting class coming in I think our days as the nation's bubble team are over, we should be a lock for the next 4 years at least.
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I agree with your comments. I agree that Greenberg is a great coach and has done a great deal to move Tech from a bottom feeder in the Big East to a top 5 team in the ACC, but at the same time, when is the last time you saw a tech game where they weren't in foul trouble early in the 2nd half. And was anyone surprised that a tech player was arrested late on a weekend night. Greenberg is great, but we need a tougha*s in there that will instill some discipline
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I hate to make a compirison between the football and basketball team again... but am I the only person that is tired of this pattern of poor sportsmanship coming from Tech teams. It seems like any time any one of the VT sports teams makes it to the national spotlight, they choke and embarrass themselves, both in talent and in sportsmanship.
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