Greenberg Wonders if There's an Agenda Against Virginia Tech
by furrer4heisman on Mar 14, 2011 12:40 AM EDT
in Virginia Tech Basketball
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Seth Greenberg's opening statement from Kyle Tucker's Blog:
"Just disappointed. You almost wonder if someone in that room has their own agenda and that agenda doesn't include Virginia Tech. Just plain and simple. I totally wonder it, if someone in that room has an agenda. The explanation was so inconsistent with the result that it was almost mind-boggling."
You can understand Greenberg's frustration with the selection committee and its decision to leave out the Hokies, but at the same time I'm disappointed in bringing up agendas and conspiracy theories. It reflects poorly on coach Greenberg and the program.
Virginia Tech's non-conference schedule was poor in 2010 and that's what was pointed to as the reason Tech was left out of the NCAA Tournament. So in 2010-11, the Hokies improved their non-conference schedule. However, they didn't win any of those games. Their biggest wins were over No. 10 seed Penn State and fellow NIT participant Oklahoma State.
And while Tech beat Duke and Florida State in ACC play, those wins were negated by two losses to Virginia and a loss to Georgia Tech. Most bracketologists had Virginia Tech in the field and certainly I thought the Hokies were in the Tournament, but as one of the perceived last four teams in, nothing was guaranteed. There's nothing to suggest that it was a conspiracy against the Hokies.
The resumes of most of the bubble teams were nearly indistinguishable. Other bubble teams like Colorado have just as much of an argument for being in the Tournament as the Hokies. Tech's argument isn't any more special than CU's or Alabama's or even Boston College's. After all, BC beat the Hokies twice in the regular season.
This isn't a conspiracy or an agenda against coach Greenberg or the Hokies. I hate that Tech is being left out of the NCAA Tournament again and I felt like it had done enough to be included in the field. But the Hokies weren't included because someone had an agenda.
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His comments won’t help marketing the Virginia Tech brand.
"When I put on my uniform, I feel I am the proudest man on earth."
-Roberto
by blackjackfishtaco on Mar 14, 2011 12:45 AM EDT reply actions
Seth Greenberg
needs to be careful about how open he is about his feelings about not being let in the NCAA tournament. I mean we pride ourselves in Hokies Respect. Those kinds of outbursts are going to get him into deep crap with Weaver. I understand that he is defending us and making a case for us, but I agree we didn’t beat Purdue, UNLV, K-State. We needed those wins and losing those two games after Duke killed us. We should have a great team next year getting everyone back and adding the likes of Rankin and Dorian Finney Smith. We have a bright future, we just have to give it some time.
Everyone Back?
I think approximately 50% of VT’s scoring and rebounding is graduating…
by Chazz Micheal Michealzz on Mar 14, 2011 1:45 AM EDT up reply actions
As Chazz points out, we lose quite a bit. Our two best playmakers, our best defender, and our two best rebounders. Still, I too am excited about what we’ll have next year… if (and that’s a big if) we get everyone back 100% from their injuries and the freshmen bring it in year 1. We shall see. High hopes, tempered with realistic concerns.
No good could come out of it
I was hoping that Seth Greenberg wouldn’t say anything after our snub since there would be nothing good to come out of it but not his personality to not say anything. I think it will be a comment that will just get glossed over and hopefully not receive a lot of press.
Definitely frustrating but all that we can do now is just move on and hope that VT puts in a good showing in the NIT. Hopefully the positive play and development from Erick Green and Manny “Fresh” Atkins continues through these games. If MD and Jeff Allen want to show they have the maturity to be pros then they should be able to get up to play in the NIT.
Mature
Not a word I would describe the NBA…
by Chazz Micheal Michealzz on Mar 14, 2011 1:47 AM EDT up reply actions
Couldn't agree more...
If Greenberg doesn’t start watching his mouth, there will be an actual conspiracy.
Of course there’s no conspiracy. I think it’s stupidity. IF you hold UAB and VCU’s resume up against Colorado’s, VT’s, or St Mary’s, there’s no contest.
by Leonard Thompson on Mar 14, 2011 8:22 AM EDT reply actions
I think Seth is right but I think some of it is his own fault
I love Seth. He can be VT’s basketball coach for life as far as I’m concerned. However, I don’t think that his mouth is helping any. He needs to be locked in a room for a couple of days so he doesn’t let the shit tide rise any higher.
However, Wellman needs to go as the ACC rep. Only getting 4 teams in the tournament is inexcusable.
Alec: Chris, did you really buy a $1400 toilet?
Chris: Yeah, it's great. It's Japanese and has those little warm water jets that clean the undercarriage.
Eric: Chris, it's a toilet, you shit in it.
RPI, RPI, RPI
UAB and VCU clearly know the system better than the Hokies…. will our program ever learn?
Year in and year out, the “bad wins” against the Longwoods of the world have ultimately killed our RPI in the non-conference portion of our season.
We’re then forced to try and make up lost ground in conference play, and the margin for error is just way too small….. especially when we (a) play a super-soft ACC schedule and (b) don’t really have the talent or the depth to make us THAT much better team than the worst teams in the ACC.
On a side note, wtf is up with the grammar in this article? Can we go through the lessons on " their / they’re / there ", " its / it’s ", etc?
Amen
The man does it to himself, so as a neutral party, I personally find his sympathy stampede every March pretty hilarious. It’s quite clear RPI and respectable non-conference schedules are heavily rewarded by the committee, year-in and year-out, and it’s his own fault for the complete lack of an ability to recognize that and adjust so it doesn’t continue happening.
All that being said, my apologies to all of you Va Tech fans, as you all deserve better and are (along with the players) the victims to these continued bursting bubbles. It’s definitely got to be rough. Best of luck finishing out your season and in the future.
I was in a hurry and it was late.
Sorry. Will fix tonight.
A bullhorn, a bottle of whiskey and a dream. Gobbler Country | Twitter | Facebook
by furrer4heisman on Mar 14, 2011 9:44 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
ha, no prob, was just joking anyway....
seeing as i am a regular reader of these articles, and i pay nothing to read read and/or post, i should probably just keep my mouth shut about grammar anyways….
No way
Keep letting me know so it can be fixed.
A bullhorn, a bottle of whiskey and a dream. Gobbler Country | Twitter | Facebook
by furrer4heisman on Mar 14, 2011 11:57 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
so sick of the RPI
There seems to be pretty broad consensus that the RPI is terrible. When will the committee start using better ratings systems? Sagarin, or kenpom, for example. At least look at them as well as the RPI. I don’t think it’s necessarily that UAB and VCU know the system better than VT does, but the RPI is setup in a way that more easily benefits mid-majors.
you're 100% right, but the committee doesn't understand that.
In fact, the general misconception is that RPI is geared towards the big conferences, which couldn’t be further from the truth.
I think the #1 reason mid-majors tend to have higher RPI than their Big 6 counterparts are the balance of home/road games in their schedules.
The big time schools constantly max out the # of home games they play — and often it’s not because they “refuse to play good mid major teams on the road”, but because there’s 3rd party pressure from the ADs, Boosters, etc. to put asses in the seats as many nights as possible, generate revenues, get your arena on TV as much as possible, etc. So in fact, big conference schools are at a TREMENDOUS disadvantage when it comes to RPI rankings.
Do the mid-majors deserve to get rewarded for that? Maybe yes, maybe no. But as long as these fundamental RPI rules remain, it makes it tough to be ranked high when you play too many games at home:
- A home win doesn’t count as 1 win – it counts as 0.6 wins.
- A road win counts as 1.4 wins.
So UAB’s shitty road wins against UCF, etc. count more than our home win vs. Duke.
The bottom line is this:
- We need to play more road games.
- We need to play mediocre teams, and not AWFUL teams, in those road games.
- Losing to ANYONE at home (especially ACC bottom feeders like UVA) will continue to completely destroy our RPI.
Instead of complaining about conspiracies, how about taking a long, hard look at your coaching abilities and your team, Greenberg. When you can’t get into an expanded NCAA tourney in a weak year, that says something really bad about your program.
I’m as disappointed as any, but blame lays at the feet of the team and their coaches for NOT WINNING games they should have won, not some suits in a conference room.
Exactly
Greenberg’s agenda in claiming an agenda is deflecting the blame
A bullhorn, a bottle of whiskey and a dream. Gobbler Country | Twitter | Facebook
by furrer4heisman on Mar 14, 2011 10:46 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Still though...
While I frown on Greenberg’s handling of the situation, it is enticing to wonder about how this team could be in basically the same situation for four years in a row and not get tipped into the tournament once in those four years.
by Leonard Thompson on Mar 14, 2011 11:34 AM EDT up reply actions
In the end, if comes down to wins and losses, and they just aren’t doing what needs to be done to win – be it lack of coaching or lack of ability. Yeah, it’s easy to think that there’s some vast conspiracy, but every season, there are a couple of losses that shouldn’t happen. Whining about it only makes him (and by extension) the university look like a bunch of crybabies.
Also...
Seems to be a lot of talk about our playing some of these in-state teams that got in to improve the RPI. I have to agree with that.
Why doesn’t VT play Richmond? VCU? ODU? George Mason? There would definitely be local interest.
by Leonard Thompson on Mar 14, 2011 10:44 AM EDT reply actions
+1
See my note on RPI above. Advisable not only to play those teams, put play half of the games on the road every season.
Seems like...
a no-brainer to play Richmond on the road. Boost the RPI and not have to travel that far, and possibly have some of your fans in the bldg anyway?
Duh…
by Leonard Thompson on Mar 14, 2011 11:30 AM EDT up reply actions
Total no-brainer.
Note to Seth and the athletic department: This isn’t football. In football, I’m all for flexing our muscles and giving Richmond, JMU, App State, etc the whole “2 games at Va Tech for 1 game at your house” run-around.
In hoops, all that does is hurt your RPI. If anything, we should be agreeing to play ODU, Mason, Richmond on the road in consecutive years because (a) They’re all better programs than us and (b) it would HELP our always crappy computer numbers.
read this. I can definitely see arguments on both sides of this one. I think we probably should schedule one of those teams a year, in home-away series. Which we’ve done in the past, too, so some of the hammering on this is a little unfair. My preference would probably be Richmond or VCU over the other two.
We also don't play
West virginia, gtown, tenn, or vandy though I don’t know if weve ever tried.
A bullhorn, a bottle of whiskey and a dream. Gobbler Country | Twitter | Facebook
by furrer4heisman on Mar 14, 2011 2:25 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
I would imagine...
VT has never tried. I can’t imagine GTown or UT not giving VT a home game. I understand the philosophy of an easy OOC schedule in football, but in B-Ball your program needs to take a more “anybody, anywhere, anytime” approach.
by Leonard Thompson on Mar 14, 2011 3:21 PM EDT up reply actions
Finally...
I just hope that Coach Greenberg has gotten some meds in and is ready to dial in on this NIT thing. The absolute best way to show the committee that they were fools is to do some serious damage in this thing. That and root for VCU and UAB to get their doors blown off in Dayton.
by Leonard Thompson on Mar 14, 2011 3:25 PM EDT reply actions
Frustrated
I can’t be mad at the committee because everytime the Hokies had a chance to make a statement during the regular season (other than Duke) they failed. Losing twice to UVA, at home to Purdue, and getting blown out by B.C. and Clemson did them in. Greenberg’s frustration is a product of that seat he’s sitting on getting a bit hotter. He has not been good at developing his players. Malcolm D. and Jeff Allen are good players, but they are now what they were 2 years ago. A streaky shooter who can’t seem to create his own shot, and a player who is always on the brink of a bonehead play. Next year will be the test as far as I’m concerned. Green, Davila, Atkins, and Eddie (if he gets his act together) will be a year older. Combine them with a good recruiting class and the returning injured players. That will determine if Greenberg must go.
developing players
I think MD has improved in the last couple years. His FG% and 3P% were both up this year, and he just seemed to play a little more maturely (except with last-second shot opportunities). Allen may not have improved much in his 2nd or 3rd years, but he was clearly improved this year. And let’s look at some of the other guys on the team. Bell and Hudson took BIG steps up last year. Green and Davila both took BIG steps up this year. I think Atkins improved a good bit as well. Go back further and you’ll see past players improved over their careers as well. I’m not saying someone else couldn’t have done better than Seth has done (who knows… I tend to agree that recruiting is a bigger strength for Seth than his coaching), but it’s not like we’re not seeing any player development.
Same old song
Remember Dickie V emphatically claiming to Seth after the Duke game that “there is no way they can leave you out now, baby!” Good times. Seth claimed at that interview that we still had two games to go and that that’s what mattered…apparently he himself forgot he said that. Yes, we could have been in, but this team can only blame themselves. Getting blown out to BC on senior night and losing at Clemson, two games you HAD to have, is inexcusable. However, its commonplace with this team that just can’t seem to put the pieces together at the end of the season. I’m sorry, but I can’t wait for the Delaney/Allen era to be over. I respect what they’ve done for the program, but I’ve had a tough time rooting for these two these past four years. Malcolm is about as expressionless as they come, and Jeff Allen’s bonehead plays over the years were hard to watch. I will miss Terrell Bell’s quiet leadership and MD and JA’s contributions to the scoreboard…but this team will be better off without those two. Excited to see the Dorian Finney Smith era begin next season.
As always…Go Hokies.
by steelhokie03 on Mar 14, 2011 9:03 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
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