Wake me up before you go-go

Another ACC showdown; another ACC win. Virginia Tech took down Boston College in the Cassell on Saturday afternoon to improve to 2-1 in the ACC. It was a productive 3-game homestand where VT beat UVA, Richmond, and Boston College to improve their record to a respectable 12-5 on the season. I'm going to go ahead and make a prediction that if VT goes at least 9-7 in the ACC, that should be good enough to get into the NCAA tournament... even if VT doesn't get a signature win against UNC, Duke, or Wake Forest. I know it probably seems like I'm taking crazy pills, but I think the ACC as a conference is that much stronger this year, and we would have virtually the same resume as last year except with more respectable losses. Our out-of-conference losses aren't as bad this year as they were last year. But Tech can avoid all of that mumbo-jumbo (you love that phrase, admit it) if they can beat Wake Forest in Winston-Salem this weekend. Well I think they would still have to finish 9-7, but you can smell what I'm stepping in.

Make no mistake, this is a TOUGH task. Wake Forest has 4 players averaging double figures in points, and their fifth starter is just under at 9 pts/game. Likewise, those 4 players shoot between 50 and 55 percent from the floor with that same fifth starter shooting 49.5%. Their bench players are fairly productive as well. Another scary stat is just how well this team rebounds... their 3 low-post starters average over 7 rebounds per game apiece. Compounding the scaryness is the fact that freshman Al-Farouq Aminu is probably going to be an NBA lottery pick in this summer's draft, and sophomore point guard Jeff Teague could be as well.

Wake is tall, athletic, and deep. The only thing going against them is that they aren't a particularly good 3-point shooting team with the exception of Jeff Teague at 52%, but he only shoots from behind the arc about 3 times per game.

Jeff Allen really picked up his game against Boston College on Saturday and managed to drench the Eagles with 30 points and 9 rebounds (5 offensive). He also managed to pick off 3 passes and stuff 3 shots. You could really point to a bunch of his plays as "best play of the game", but some suggestions are his dunk in traffic late in the second half or his sweet/unselfish pass to Witcher for another dunk. Vassallo also had a monster slam up over two of BC's forwards, and he had a solid night shooting the ball. Delaney was less impressive shooting the ball from the field, but racked up 11 of 12 foul shots and had an incredible no-look, behind-the-back pass to Dorenzo Hudson for a 3-pointer in the first half. Check out all of VT's offensive plays here. I really believe that if VT plays with that kind of intensity all 40 minutes against Wake, they will walk out of that building with a victory. It may take a perfect storm, but as long as Mark Wahlberg is there in spirit, this game is going to belong to Tech!

In other news, just up the road in Washington, DC the nation is welcoming Barack Obama as our 44th president. Personally, I'm of the mindset that it doesn't matter who our president is, the country basically will act the same and that the economy operates outside of the control of the president, but I am happy with Obama as our president as long as he doesn't try anything outlandish and stupid (read: Freedom of Choice Act). Sorry, this isn't a political blog, so I won't go into that any further, but look into it so you know how wrong it is. Otherwise, I think Obama can do some great things for this country (as long as it is God's will for him to do so... oh wait, this is now a political AND religious blog... run away!)