Season's End

Well, the season definitely ended earlier than I was expecting. I didn't think there was any way the Hokies would lose a home game versus Rhode Island with a chance to go to Madison Square Garden teetering on the brink of destruction and awesomeness. But here it is, several days later, and I'm finally feeling up to writing about the loss. And in fairness, I didn't think VT played a bad game. The Hokies fought hard and the Runnin' Rams fought harder. VT shot the lights out in the first half, but they also gave the ball up too many times. The difference to me in this game was the turnovers in the first half... they proved to be too much to overcome as the 2-point lead at halftime came at the expense of a 60+% shooting effort, and you knew the Hokies would come back down to earth in the 2nd half. VT should have been riding a 10 point lead at that point. At any rate, the season is over and VT ultimately showed that they didn't belong in the NCAA tournament after all.

I am going to call this section "closing thoughts" even though I'm certainly not done blogging about any of the VT teams:

• P@'s game ball would have to go to Dorenzo Hudson (yet again). He may not have had the high score, but he was the one who really kept VT in the game, and he did so on a bad foot.
• P@'s game ball for the season also goes to Dorenzo Hudson. Malcolm Delaney may be the most talented player on the team, but Hudson is the heart and soul of our squad, and the guy you could count on the most in the clutch. I can't wait to see him next season.
• Speaking of next season, the Hokies are looking STOUT. We are returning our top 6 players (I am going to go ahead and call Lewis Witcher our 7th best player... he really upped is stock late in the season). We have a dynamic big man in Allen Chaney who will be eligible to play next season (he had to sit out this season as a transfer from Florida). Greenberg said a number of times that Chaney was the best player in practice at various points throughout the season. Seth Greenberg is not taking the St. John's or Seton Hall job, and he will be back to continue the VT success. We have two solid recruits coming in... Jarell Eddie and Tyrone Garland. The biggest loss to me will be Paul Debnam, who lit a fire under the bench players and led them in cheering on their teammates. His positive attitude was contagious, and I just hope that someone else will be able to pick up the slack now that he is gone.
• MALCOLM DELANEY IS NOT GOING TO LEAVE EARLY FOR THE NBA. I hate to shout, but I think it's ludicrous that people are even talking about this. Delaney is being listed as a late-second-rounder to undrafted by Chad Ford of ESPN and just about every other major insider in the NCAA hoops biz. He has the potential to be better, but right now his slight frame, mediocre passing, and poor shooting percentages are not impressing anyone on the next level. The typical player who declares early for the NBA draft is an athletic specimen... an athletic freak. That is not Delaney. And I, for one, am extremely happy that we'll see him in a Hokie uniform for one more season.