Collegiate Times

Finally, Virginia Tech men’s basketball is more than just a whisper in January.

Students and faculty are still talking about it — an unranked Virginia Tech team recorded two of the program’s greatest victories in a span of only eight days.

On Jan. 6, the Hokies were an 8.5-point road dog to a shaky Duke team. After the 69-67 overtime win, Tech head coach Seth Greenberg had his mind set on continuing the newly-earned energy through the start of the Atlantic Coast Conference season

“Beating Duke does not make your season,” Greenberg said. “What it does is give you momentum as you continue through your season.”

After a stomping of UNC-Greensboro 74-51 on the road, the Hokies showed that the win in Cameron was no fluke, as they upset No. 1 North Carolina and earned the respect of the ACC – the same conference that shunned the Hokies in 2004.

Greenberg still talks about the 85-51 loss to eventual national champion North Carolina in Tech’s first ever league game on Dec. 19, 2004.

To make matters worse, the Hokies suffered an embarrassing 100-65 route at Duke later that season. In that game, Tech had 22 fouls before halftime, including four starters with at least two fouls.

“We didn’t feel there was any respect for our basketball program. We weren’t treated like an opponent,” Greenberg said after the Duke win. “We weren’t a full-fledged member of the conference. That’s the way it was. We got thrashed at home against Carolina and we got thrashed here. In the first four minutes, half of my team was sitting next to me.”

Oh, how redemption is sweet. Virginia Tech has gone from a shunned ACC team, to an average ACC team, to a respected ACC team in a three-year span. Tech is now a contender in the best conference in the country.

This is a conference full of history and hall-of-fame players. Tech is now building that history, thanks to the landmark victories.

“They have all of those banners and all of those retired numbers. Carolina is Carolina and Duke is Duke. That’s just the way it is,” Greenberg said. “They’re not just playing for this moment in time. They’re playing for everyone who played before them.”

The current student body may not know it, but Virginia Tech was a major basketball school in the 80s and early 90s. Believe it or not, football took a back seat to the likes of Perry Young, Dell Curry and Bimbo Coles.

In fact, the last time the Hokies upset a No. 1 team was before a vast majority of the undergraduate population here at Tech was even born. In 1983, students camped outside of Cassell in the 20 degree Blacksburg nights for tickets just to sit on the top row to the Memphis State game in the now defunct Metro Conference. Tech won that game 69-56.

Echoes of that past were abruptly woken up only four days ago. The sound level of the crowd during Deron Washington’s dunk and Chris Tucker’s three pointer rivaled NASCAR races.

This current team thrives on the crowd, just like the teams of the 80s. This season is far from over, including six more games inside Cassell. Last year, the league games were close losses. Now they are close wins at home and on the road.

“We can play at a high level consistently now,” said Zabian Dowdell after the UNC win. “A lot of times in the past, we’d get up for big games. Then the next big game we wouldn’t have the energy we needed because we were so wasted from the last big win. The energy these guys came out with today … man, it just feels good.”

The ACC season is still young for the No. 23 Hokie squad. Tonight is a major contest against an angry Florida State team that has yet to win an in-conference game this season. On Dec. 3, the Seminoles upset the now No. 1 Florida Gators at home 70-66.

This game counts just as much as the Duke or Carolina wins when it comes to seeding in the ACC tournament and a birth into the NCAA tournament. Every game from this point will go right down to a final possession nail-biter.

“We don’t have any McDonald’s All-Americans on our team,” said senior Coleman Collins. “We have guys who came in with a chip on their shoulder. We won’t back down and run from anybody. We come into every game expecting to win. That’s becoming more of a reality this year.”

Football season is long gone. This is basketball season at its finest. Each team in the conference is gunning for the Hokies.

And it’s only January.