That's What I'm Talking About!

Virginia Tech ended up beating UNC-Greensboro 92-70 yesterday, and I'm a happy camper. This was the kind of beatdown that I expected VT to lay on Campbell. Here are some notes and thoughts from the game:

• Malcolm Delaney only had 6 foul shots, and 4 of them happened after the game was way out of hand. He was 8-12 from the floor with 23 total points. What that tells me is that Delaney was trying to score and wasn't as worried about drawing fouls.
• Dorenzo Hudson finally got his act in gear and scored 17 points on 6-10 shooting.
• Jeff Allen also put in 17 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. Frankly, there weren't a lot of rebounds to be had in this game because UNCG turned the ball over so much. The Spartans handed the ball over 29 times, almost doubling VT's total of 15.
• A nice surprise in this game was Erick Green putting up 10 points and 5 steals. He looked tough defensively and was really moving his feet to stay in front of his man. I'd definitely like to see more of this once we play some tougher teams.
• Victor Davila also looked better. He was boxing out well, grabbed 6 rebounds, and scored 9 points. He had a solid block on a baseline jumper and somehow managed to grab 3 steals. His free throw shooting still leaves something to be desired. I have no idea how a guy with a shot that smooth ends up being a 50% foul shooter.
• Unfortunately, this win doesn't mean too much. UNC-Greensboro probably won't be a factor in their league play, and I expect them to have one of the hundred worst RPI rankings in the country when the season is finished, for sure. All this game did was boost our players' confidence, which might help more than we think.
• The next game for the Hokies is Thursday, i.e. Thanksgiving Day, against Cal State Northridge. This game is part of the 76 Classic tournament in Anaheim, CA. VT should roll this team... they are really not very good. They have already lost to UCLA and the Cal Golden Bears (they're not just good, they're golden!). They have one win against mighty Vanguard, who I think is a division 2 team. Their top player is 6'5" guard/forward hybrid Rashaun McLemore. McLemore is from Richmond, VA (shout-out!), but I have no idea how he ended up out in CA. Maybe it's a misprint... because of the movie "Coach Carter" with Samuel L. Jackson, I know that there's a city near Oakland called Richmond. Rich-what? Richmond! Rich-what? Richmond! It would be an easy typo to put a "V" instead of a "C" as the first letter in the state abbreviation. Otherwise that's one heck of a recruiting trip by the CSN coaches.
• If VT wins against CSN, they will play the winner of the DePaul-OK State matchup. Neither team has played a decent opponent yet, so it's tough to predict the outcome, but you'd have to think the Cowboys are the favorite. The Blue Demons have already lost to Western Carolina, which probably makes their fans wretch at the thought of it. You probably won't find this very shocking, but I think I'd rather VT had to play OK State. Not just because I expect them to finish higher in the RPI rankings, but also because DePaul's new coach is Oliver Purnell, whose pressure-packed full-court defense usually gets picked apart by the Hokies, and then somehow Purnell's team always climbs back into the game and challenges for the win.
• OK State's big men are pretty tough. Virginia Tech will definitely need Cadarian Raines for that game to provide some depth, so I hope he's healthy. OK State has 3 players who account for 2/3 of their total rebounds. To compare that to VT, our top 3 rebounders contribute about 54% of the total. 6'6" forward Marshall Moses is the high scorer for OK State with about 17 points per game and also chips in 8 rebounds per game. I'd imagine that Terrell Bell will be guarding Moses, and that should be a good matchup. VT needs to be competitive on the boards to challenge the Cowboys, although they don't have a lot of depth at the post positions either. If Delaney and Hudson can be intelligent about drawing fouls in the lane (especially against Darrell Williams), that should really hurt the Cowboys.