Clemson 69, Virginia Tech 60: Another Poor Effort Puts Hokies Squarely on the Bubble
by furrer4heisman on Mar 6, 2011 12:19 AM EST
in Virginia Tech Basketball
Email
PrintIt was less than a week ago that Virginia Tech knocked off the No. 1 team in the country and seemed to finally be on the verge of getting over its NCAA Tournament hump. Two lackluster performances and two losses to fellow bubble teams later, Tech finds itself with work to do yet again to get into the NCAA field of 68.
That's because the Hokies yet again failed to match the intensity level of their opponent and were beaten Saturday at Clemson, 69-60. The Hokies shot 30.5 percent and committed 18 turnovers while playing sloppy defense against a Tiger team that came out ready to prove it belonged in the NCAA Tournament.
Tech played poor defense throughout, allowing wide open threes and easy dunks, especially in transition. It allowed Clemson to build a 15-point lead before the Hokies finally woke up and took advantage of some of Clemson's mistakes to crawl back within four.
However, Tech stopped making shots and the Tigers build their lead back up finally winning by nine. It dropped the Hokies to 19-10 overall and 9-7 in the ACC, guaranteeing the Hokies will play in the first round of the ACC tournament next week. Tech's opponent on Tuesday will be decided by the result of Sunday's game between Boston College and Wake Forest.
If the Eagles win at home against the Demon Deacons, who are 1-14 in conference play, Tech will be the No. 6 seed in the conference tournament and open with Georgia Tech at 9 p.m. EST Thursday. If the Deacs upset the Eagles, Tech will be the No. 5 seed and play Wake at 2 p.m.
The loss to Clemson puts pressure on the Hokies to win at least two games in the ACC tournament to at least have a shot at making the NCAA tournament. Three wins in the ACC tournament would mean the Hokies wouldn't have to worry nearly as much about what other teams do during championship week.
All of this could have been avoided had the Hokies stepped their game up in either of their last two games. The question is whether nearly three months of playing with eight scholarship players has taken their toll on the Hokies. Are they capable of winning three games in three days with only three bench players? Probably not.
So welcome back to the bubble, Hokie fans. If there was any team that could completely dissolve any good feelings from a huge home win over the No. 1 team in the country in the span of a week it's the Hokies. It's still completely possible for Tech to still make the NCAA tournament, but they're probably going to need some help. Help they haven't gotten the previous three years.
13 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
We Just
completely crapped the bed twice. We have no leadership whatsoever and it looked like Allen and Atkins were the only ones who gave a damn today. Our 3 point defense is abysmal, and it needs to be fixed for next season. I’m surprised Greenberg didn’t blame this loss on the fans because he couldn’t feel our energy through the television. Don’t get me wrong I love this team, I’m just sick of the team crapping the bed in the games that we should win.
Need a lot of help now
2 wins in the acc tourney probably isn’t going to cut it….. Unless nobody steals any bids during championship week (unlikely).
A win vs unc and a tourney final appearance is the only way this team is getting in. Sound like a familiar scenario?
likely semi opponent
Would be duke. Bc should beat wake, putting us on duke’s side of the bracket
A bullhorn, a bottle of whiskey and a dream. Gobbler Country | Twitter | Facebook
by furrer4heisman on Mar 6, 2011 12:07 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Gotta Beat FSU...
on short rest. Doesn’t look promising for a team with a bench that plays less than 10 mins/game. VT can’t say they didn’t have their chances… But now they’ll need superhuman effort (or extreme luck) to get back into the tourny.
by Chazz Micheal Michealzz on Mar 6, 2011 1:59 PM EST up reply actions
Squarely in the NIT
I have been a Greenberg fan since his first season with us. He has passion for the job and he represents the school with class. He’s a very likable guy but he really seems to have hit some sort of ceiling. It’s just amazing how predictable our team has become. We get into ACC play and get a bunch of decent wins and manage to pull off one or two impressive wins, but in the process we lose way too many games we should win. It only makes sense to me that if you have the players who theoretically should win those games, the only reason a team would lose so many of them is that the coach is not getting the team ready. I guess I am wondering if Greenberg really is part of the problem? Until recently I thought it was more of a player talent issue…
most brackets
still have us in the tournament because of how other teams have fared. however, that doesn’t factor in a loss in the acc tournament or what teams are going to do in the conference tournaments. so it’s a perilous position, but right now we’re still in. gotta beat fsu and gotta get help, though.
A bullhorn, a bottle of whiskey and a dream. Gobbler Country | Twitter | Facebook
by furrer4heisman on Mar 6, 2011 3:20 PM EST up reply actions
it's a little of both.
there’s no doubt that our talent level has been wildly overrated by analysts, fans, etc — there aren’t a lot of coaches out there that could turn what we have into a 9-7 ACC record year in and year out.
But if there’s one thing we’ll remember about this class: time in and time out, in the games they absolutely needed to win, not only did they fail to deliver, they completely failed to play team basketball. Greenberg deserves a LOT of the blame because of that.
I keep seeing the bracket predictions
that still have us in, but I just can’t make myself believe they’re accurate. We have so few quality wins and so many bad losses this season. It’s going to be hard for the selection committee to look at our schedule and point to anything really impressive besides the Duke win. It just “feels” ripe for an NIT invite. I suppose if we win 2 or more ACC tourney games and turn things around now I could see that last minute momentum putting us into the NCAAs. But if we only win 1 game, I think we are in trouble.
expanded field, bad bubble
now that 68 teams get in everything’s going to be more watered down. bad teams are going to be dancing.
A bullhorn, a bottle of whiskey and a dream. Gobbler Country | Twitter | Facebook
by furrer4heisman on Mar 6, 2011 4:51 PM EST up reply actions
If we do make it
I sure hope we get a couple wins that will quickly overshadow the embarassment that the end of the regular season has brought.
What are the prospects for 2011 and 2012 with the recruits we have?
bad bubble
I read something about the bubble teams the other day, and, honestly, Tech actually is better on paper than a lot of them. Two losses at the end of the season suck, but, if the selection commitee goes with the “body of work”, Tech has, suprisingly enough, a better resume than a lot of other “bubble teams.”
Still.. very frustrating how many wins Tech seems to leave out on the court each season. Wins @ UNC and @ BC (which were both there for the taking) would have had us a lock (and possibly a decent seed).
Purdue game too
I’ve watched a good bit of big 10, and the game Purdue played against us was the absolute worst game they’ve played the entire season…. they completely handed us that game. And we refused to take it – at home, nonetheless.
Don't deserve it...
These guys do not deserve a tourney invite right now. It’s that simple.
by Leonard Thompson on Mar 7, 2011 9:16 AM EST reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanShots on Gobbler Country
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
