A Good Win Over Miami...?

One thing is for certain... Seth Greenberg owns Frank Haith. Going back to the 2004-2005 season, Haith's first year in Miami, Virginia Tech is 8-2 against the Hurricanes. Last night did not veer from the norm, as the Hokies jumped to a 35 point lead at one point in the first half and closed with an 81-66 win in Blacksburg. Miami's team doctor should check the Hurricanes' asses for hand prints. It was a day of offensive efficiency and defensive fortitude for the Hokies. We shot the ball better. We stopped them from shooting well. Only 2 factors in the game went Miami's way. They had 5 more offensive rebounds. They had 2 fewer turnovers. However, they could not overcome their scoring deficiency and deservedly lost last night.

Malcolm Delaney looked good, despite still feeling pain from a sprained ankle. He had a career-high 9 assists and put up a solid 28 points with good shooting percentages across the board. Dorenzo Hudson continued his poor outside shooting, going only 1-5 from the 3-point line, but he played well otherwise and was stout defensively. Jeff Allen was very good, putting up a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. He got extremely careless with the ball though, giving it away 5 times in the game... he had as many turnovers as the rest of the Tech starters combined. JT Thompson also had an excellent game off the bench... he racked up 8 rebounds and 8 points. Terrell Bell should get to share the game ball with Delaney for having one of his best games in a Tech uniform. Bell shot 3-3 on his 3-pointers and had 13 points overall. He grabbed 8 rebounds and led the team with 3 blocked shots. Bell is one of the best shot blockers on the perimeter that I've ever seen. Most guys come over in the paint on weak-side help to get blocks... Bell goes straight up with the jump shooter to get his. Most wing players will get called for fouls when they try to block jump shots, but Bell is rarely in foul trouble proving that he can do it and do it cleanly.

So the good news is that we won, and beat a ranked team no less (#23 in the nation). The bad news is that this win won't hold up by the end of the ACC schedule. Miami's best wins this season are against the good-but-not-great Wake Forest Demon Deacons, which was a 1 point home victory, and mediocre Minnesota and South Carolina teams. The other teams that Miami beat are laughable at best. Virginia Tech's wins aren't any better, but the difference is that we dominated Miami, and I think that we are a better team overall. I guess the rest of this paragraph is just speculation, but I think we are far better suited to play well in the ACC than Miami is. They have a favorable schedule, only playing Duke, UNC, Clemson, and Georgia Tech once, but they don't have anyone who can score in crunch time when the team really needs him. This is also a team that lives and dies by the 3-pointer, and if it's not going in (like last night), they can't win. The ACC has much better defenses than Miami saw in the first half of their season and you can expect their three-point percentages to drop, which also means their losses will pile up. So once again, I don't see this win as being a good win for the Hokies when tournament selection time is upon us (it's the most wonderful time of the year).

However, our game on Saturday has a better chance to be a good win. FSU is #25 in the rankings right now and they have decent wins over Marquette and Georgia Tech. Florida State is a better team than Miami. They have better players than Miami. So far, those players have not been able to gather a signature win for the Seminole faithful, but I think they will in the next few weeks. Florida State has one of the best frontcourts in the ACC and their backcourt has progressed a lot despite losing Toney Douglas to the NBA/graduation after last season. Wins away from home are also helpful for the selection committee. I am a little scared about our frontcourt going toe-to-toe with Solomon Alabi, Xavier Gibson, Chris Singleton, and the rest of the talented 'Noles, but I like our backcourt much better than the Seminoles, and as we saw against UNC and Miami, it's usually backcourt play that either helps or hurts the Hokies (from either team). FSU has lost back-to-back ACC games, so I do think they will end up winning this one. I will definitely be cheering hard for the maroon and orange though.

Now let's get to my final point... can we get some TV coverage for these games?? The game against Miami was nowhere to be found. The game against FSU is not being shown either nationally or locally in Richmond (although you might be able to find it at a bar because I think it's being shown locally in Florida). And, of course, the game on Monday against North Carolina-Central will not be shown on TV because they suck. From that point on, we have at least 11 straight games with TV coverage and possibly the remaining games will be on TV if someone picks up the game against NC State in Blacksburg. I find it hard to believe that the viewership would be lower for these games that aren't slated to be broadcast on TV than some of the other crap you see. If any of you participate in the Nielsen ratings, make sure you're tuned into whatever Hokie basketball games are on... I want to have total ACC coverage next season.