FanPost

I can't be mad at Seth about this year but a trend continues

[Ed. Note: Bumped from FanPosts.]

I'm not going to go crazy over VT basketball this year.  After the first UVA loss (and Hudson and Raines going down for the season), I had given up.  February gave me some hope but no reality seems to have set in.  VT had a fine season considering the loss of such a significant part of the team. 

I know that VT can still make it but past experience needs to be the guide here.  The ACC being down is not going to get 6 teams in.  Just not going to happen. 

There is one trend that continues and I think Seth needs to find a way to address it.  He rides his starters too hard.  This season, he kind of had to but he could have gotten Eddie and Atkins more involved.  Eddie showed he could score points off the bench but he wasn't given a ton of minutes to develop consistency.  I know Atkins was hurt.  Both of these guys are 3/2's but really 3's and pulling Bell off the court would have taken the best defender off the court. 

However, I feel like I'm watching a repeat of 3 years ago when VT rode Zab, Gordon and CC.  Zab was always the scorer and no one took the pressure off of him.  I remember a few games before the ACC tournament, Zab torched BC for 30+ points.  After that game, he was never the same.  He might have been hurt or sick but something went out of him.  He couldn't get it going again and VT went out in the 2nd round of the NCAA after having what I would consider the best season ever (with 2 wins over UNC and 1 over Duke).  He was like a horse that had been ridden too hard and too long (anyone see the new "True Grit"). 

This year it was Delany's turn.  He looks worn down.  Other teams have figured out his game and they are running him hard.  No one else is stepping up their game.  We need another player on the squad to provide some points and it's not coming.  It's easy to stop a team with two options (Allen and Delany).  It's much harder if there were someone else who could fill it up. 

I think Seth coached his best season ever but the tendency to burn his players out needs to be addressed.  Next year, he will have more options with all the guys coming in and back.  It will be a challenge to find the right mix of players and rotations though.  I just hope he doesn't find one he likes and then runs it into the ground.

Go Hokies.

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