Collegiate Times

It is August and the Virginia Tech men’s basketball team has already had four practices.

The team is working in preparation for a trip to Canada on Aug. 17-18 against the University of Windsor.  The NCAA allows teams to make these types of trips every four years and it serves as a team builder more than a competitive event.

Coach Seth Greenberg says that he’s using this time to find out who they are as a basketball team.

“We are using this time to get a feel for who they are offensively, what they’re capable of defensively, and getting a good solid foundation,” Greenberg said in a press conference Saturday, Aug. 6.  

With five new freshmen, as well as some new staff members, Greenberg says he thinks this trip to Canada is “huge” for the development.

“What happens with freshmen is you give them so much in the first two weeks, and they get frozen,” he said. “So instead of playing on instinct, they look frozen and moving in slow motion.”

Now, the team will be beyond that when practice begins in October. 

As far as new staff, the only new member in terms of on-court teaching is Rob Ehsan who comes from Maryland. Greenberg says one thing he has done great is “connect with the kids.” Greenberg also noted there are also some minor differences between how Maryland did things and how Tech runs their program but that has been an easy transition thus far.

The group of players that will benefit the most from this trip is certainly the new players. 

“The freshmen have been a pleasure to be around,” Greenberg said. “All five freshmen are qualified and cleared by the NCAA clearing house so all five freshmen will go to Canada.”

The most anticipated freshman of the group is certainly forward Dorian Finney-Smith, nicknamed “Doe-Doe,” who was ranked as high as the number 17 spot in the ESPNU top 100.

“Doe-Doe’s just an easy guy to get along with,” said Greenberg. “He’s just a nice kid so he’s integrated nicely. He’s a guy that just wants to be a good teammate.” Greenberg continued to speak highly of Finney-Smith referring to his unselfishness and coach-ability as his greatest attributes.

The biggest surprise of the freshmen, according to Coach Greenberg, is guard Marquis Rankin.

“He can guard the ball and he’s fast,” said Greenberg. “He’s really an aggressive point guard. I’m really pleased with him.” He also stated that it is possible Rankin could wind up being the team’s best on ball defender.

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A version of this article appeared in the Aug 11 issue of the Collegiate Times.