Cleansweep

That's 2 for 2 against the hated Hoos of UVA, and 5 out of the last 6. Maybe our nickname should be the Hoo-daddies instead of the Hokies? Done.

The defense on Saturday night was STOUT. I was planning to watch the game on DVR about a half-hour in so I could forward through commercials, but I accidentally caught the score of the game. It was 14-11 at that point. I remember thinking, "Man, we must be ice cold, but at least UVA is ice cold too." Then after watching the game, I realized it wasn't so much a factor of VT or UVA shooting poorly, it was more a testament to some amazing defense. These players just couldn't shake their opponents. The few open looks we got, we tended to make them. Ditto for UVA. The second half was a little different. Both teams had stretches where they were hot... we just had the last hot streak. Jeff Allen was so clutch with the dunk/and-1... then after that he hit that huge 3-pointer. He seemed well rested for the second half, and he should have been having only played about 3 minutes in the first half because of foul trouble.

Malcolm Delaney continues to struggle with the referees. In the last two games, Malcolm has looked for the foul instead of looking for the open shot. This isn't necessarily a bad tactic if the refs are giving you the calls, but the last two games suggest that the referees are not planning on giving Delaney the foul shots that he deserves for drawing contact. I think that Malcolm may have to adjust his game if this keeps up.

Dorenzo Hudson continues to carry the Hokies through ACC play. He might not always be the high scorer, but he is the team leader and the loudest voice in the huddle. He's finding ways to contribute even on the rare poor-shooting night. He was the most consistent player on the court for the Hokies against UVA, and his foul-shooting turnaround has to be one of the most mind-boggling stories of the season, anywhere. Seth Greenberg says we can thank the new practice facility for that... players now have more than 2 baskets to use for free throw practice, and everyone on the team has to make 100 after each practice. It's paying dividends not just for Hudson, but for JT Thompson, Jeff Allen, and Terrell Bell. Heck, let's just say that it's good for everybody.

The UVA game was kind of a lose-lose situation. Or really, more like a tie-lose situation. There was no benefit to beating UVA besides the benefit of boosted pride (hence the "tie" reference, and any "kissing your sister" comparisons you might want to make). The win did absolutely nothing for our NCAA tournament resume. Even if we played UVA in every game to finish out the season, if we won all of them we would still be a bubble team on selection Sunday, so you can see just how little a win mattered here. A loss, however, would have certainly hurt our tournament bid and put us in a position where we needed to win another game somewhere down the line. That's what happens when the Selection Committee weights "good wins" higher than "bad losses", which they do. You can lose to literally anyone as long as you beat a few good teams and show that your team can play with the other teams in the tourney. However, if you go through your schedule beating all kinds of teams, but don't really have a signature win, you will probably be a 1-seed in the NIT.

Cue the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, who will be gracing Cassell Coliseum with their presence tomorrow night. Wake comes in ranked #11 in the RPI... a strong team with a strong ranking. This is the optimal team for VT to beat in order to assure a bid to the Big Dance. Unlike Duke and Georgia Tech who are terribly hard to beat on their home courts, we play Wake Forest in Blacksburg. Unlike Maryland, Wake is almost certain to remain a top-notch team (particularly in the RPI rankings, which the Selection Committee uses as a guide). If the Hokies win this game tomorrow, they will likely only need one more win to go to the NCAA tournament, and it could come against a bottom-dweller (in other words, Boston College or NC State). There's a possibility that they would need to beat both BC and NC State, but that would only happen if Wake Forest went on a losing streak after losing to VT. Naturally, I'd love for VT to not only win tomorrow, but win every other game they play for the rest of the season. I'm just trying to look at this from a least-amount-of-effort standpoint. People can argue all they want about needing more ACC wins, but they won't be what matters. What will matter is having a top-25 RPI win and no bad losses. That's enough to punch your ticket if you've also won 20 games, which the Hokies already have. Even if we're supposedly "on the bubble" as far as ESPN is concerned, I can guarantee you we'd end up in the tourney.

So you can see why I'll be sweating bullets for the next 28 hours. A win puts us just a short hop away from our first NCAA tournament appearance since 2006! A loss makes our road that much more bumpy. Delaney, if there was ever a time for you to go 6-6 from the 3-point line, tomorrow would be it. LET'S GO... HOKIES... LET'S GO... HOKIES. (Cue "Enter Sandman", and fade to black)