Virginia Tech was humiliated at home in Cassel Coliseum today as the Hokies fell 84-66 to the Baylor Bears. Tech started out shooting 1-17 from the floor with the lone basket coming from a Jeff Allen dunk. The fact that VT was only down 22-5 at that point was a bit of a miracle in and of itself. Tech ended the half being down 20 points and was down by 26 points for a little while in the 2nd half. At that point, the Hokies started to put a run together and got within 12 points, but they never got closer than that. Once again, a cold start doomed the Hokies, which seemed to happen so many times this season and was only fitting in our last game. Terrell Bell had some nice minutes, but this was an utterly forgettable game for virtually ever other Virginia Tech player. I can't even fathom how the Hokies managed to play that poorly at home... it just boggles the mind. There are real mental problems on this team, and I'm nervous that they won't be corrected by next season. There are only two starter spots that are locked down for next season, and those belong to Malcolm Delaney and Jeff Allen. The other guys on the team, including our newcomers for next season, will have to practice hard and really improve during this offseason, or else any one of them could be relegated to the bench.
The pattern at Virginia Tech seems to continue, for both football and basketball, in seasons where our team is expected to succeed, we do not live up to expectations. However, in seasons where nothing much is expected, Tech becomes a dominant force. We are losing a senior who ranks 5th in VT scoring history (Vassallo) as well as an excellent defensive player (Diakite), so the pundits are likely to feel that VT will regress next year and finish at the bottom of the ACC. That's exactly the kind of motivation that Tech players historically feed off of, so I am not worried about next year. Even though there are a lot of questions as to who will fill what role, we can rest assured that someone will certainly step up next year. Another offseason will do our guys some good, and I think they will come back with a renewed vigor when Midnight Madness kicks off in November.
2 comments:
Not to quibble, but we did actually get it down to 12 points. I believe it was just after the technical foul... Vasallo hit two free throws to get it down to 13, Baylor scored, and then we hit a 3 to cut the lead to 12. In an case, it was a terrible performance.
This is the first year I can honestly say that I'm disappointed with Greenberg's coaching job.
Thanks Eric... it has been corrected. I am a little disappointed as well, but I think what scares me most was seeing how mentally feeble this team was. They were easily rattled and couldn't get themselves under control again, especially Jeff Allen. Greenberg needs to find a way to strengthen their mental toughness before next season. Greenberg also needs to do a better job with who he plays and when, but that's a difficult thing to master.
Post a Comment