Monday, December 15, 2008

Out of Bounds

The Hokie basketball team continued their disappointing season with a 22 point win over Longwood. "Why would a win contribute to a disappointing season," you ask boldly. Well, I'll tell you why. Because VT turned the ball over 23 times in this game. 23 TIMES! TO LONGWOOD! This isn't Duke's vaunted turnover machine or Wisconsin's stout defense that I'm talking about here. This is freaking Longwood, a university whose name is just as embarrassing as the student-athletes who attempt to call themselves a division 1 basketball program. If you close your eyes, you can see them missing layups and getting rejected by the rim as they warm up before the game. This is the team that forced 23 turnovers against Seth Greenberg's squad, who used to pride themselves on their ability to control the ball and force other teams into making mistakes. That is possibly the most haunting factor in the Hokies' early season: the fact that we are no longer winning the turnover battle, even against the mid-majors. Look at the turnover comparisons below:

Longwood 17|VT 23
Georgia 12|VT 18
Navy 11|VT 16
Wisconsin 6|VT 7
Elon 8|VT 10
Seton Hall 9|VT 14
Xavier 16|VT 16
Fairfield 11|VT 10
Mt. St. Mary's 16| VT 20
Gardner-Webb 18| VT 15

As you can see, we have only won the turnover battle in two games this year. We had one less turnover than Fairfield and we had 3 less than Gardner-Webb. This is just unacceptable. I don't know how else to put it. I understand that Seth Greenberg wants to get out and run on offense this year. It makes plenty of sense... transition and fastbreak chances are highly successful, but at what price? The Hokies are keeping their opponents in the game by giving them extra possessions, and I believe that is the biggest reason for this disappointing start to the season for the Virginia Tech basketball team. Come on guys. I've seen a seal balance a ball on its nose... you can at least catch a ball with your hands and keep it from going out of bounds.

1 comment:

glupton19 said...

Four losses by a combined eight points. It's been tough sledding so far for the Hokies in close games against good competition, but let's hold judgment until they get through ACC play. If they can avoid any bad losses the rest of the way and finish 4/5 in the ACC they could have a chance a the NCAAs, which I'm assuming has to be the goal this year.