Lot's a goings on around Blacksburg this week with a big hoops win over Miami, fresh blood on the football team and a coaching carousel that is effecting several 2010 opponents. Let's get to the links.
Virginia Tech 81, Miami 66
Dominant first half leads Hokies past Miami (Collegiate Times)
"Coming off only its second loss of the season, the Virginia Tech basketball team wasted no time in disposing of the Miami Hurricanes Wednesday night in Blacksburg. Thanks to a 50-23 lead at halftime, the Hokies (13-2, 1-1) cruised past Miami in Cassell Coliseum, winning by a score of 81-66."
Tech silences Hurricanes with 1st half of highlights (Aaron McFarling)
"It's all there. And the best part is, there's a highlight for just about everybody who played in those first 20 minutes. Starting with Dorenzo Hudson's 3-pointer to open the game -- made possible by several crisp passes -- the Hokies quickly got one basket from each of their five starters."
Mangling Miami (Kyle Tucker)
"The Hokies hopped on Miami QUICK. They hit 5 of 6 shots, three of them 3-pointers, to open the game. They forced eight turnovers in the first 14 minutes. They out-rebounded the Canes 23-13 in the first half. Five different players scored the first five buckets."
Gotta Play for 40 (Norm Wood)
"After going seven of nine from 3-point range in the first half, Tech missed all seven of its second-half shots from the perimeter. Miami also took advantage of foul issues (Tech forward Victor Davila fouled out and forward Jeff Allen finished with four fouls) to cut Tech's 27-point lead at the break nearly in half (down to 14 points in the second half)."
Virginia Tech beats Miami, 81-66 (Darryl Slater)
"The shots kept falling, and the lead grew and grew and grew some more – 15 points with 13:07 left in the first half, 27 with 5:43 left, 35 (yes, 35) with 2:17 left. And by the time Cassell Coliseum’s halftime horn sounded last night, 51 minutes after the 7 p.m. tip-off, the game was essentially finished, the second half academic, Virginia Tech’s basketball win over Miami as certain as the sheen on Hokies coach Seth Greenberg’s bald head."
Hokies Smash Miami with Huge First Half (Tech Sideline)
"Malcolm Delaney has answered all questions about his injured ankle over the last two games. After dropping 26 points at North Carolina, Delaney scored 28 points against Miami. He was 6-of-14 from the field, 2-of-4 from three-point range and 14-of-16 from the free throw line. Delaney also dished out nine assists in 38 minutes of playing time."
VT 81, Miami 66 (Tech Hoops)
"The second half, like the unc game, was a completely different story. Tech went ice cold and shot just 29 percent from the field. They also got caught up in a faster pace game and instead of taking their time and controlling the tempo, they tried to run-and-gun with miami and it failed. The canes cut the Hokies’ 23-point halftime lead down to 15 points in the second half. But that’s as close as they’d get."
Six Freshman Report
A few extra bodies at spring football practice for Tech (Norm Wood)
"If you're looking for immediate impact out of anybody in this group of players, you may be asking a lot. Gibson may be the most talented, but a redshirt year is always an advantage on the offensive line. The same situation applies for Strauss at U.Va.'s quarterback spot. Norman, Williams and Perez-Means all have possibilities to move up quickly on Tech's two-deep at their respective positions, but they have a lot of ground to make up and would have to impress coaches in a hurry."
Six football newcomers arrive in Blacksburg (Mark Viera)
"Six scholarship football players will enroll at Virginia Tech when classes begin on Tuesday. Two players originally signed with the Hokies last February and deferred their enrollment, two went to prep school for a semester and two graduated early from high school. All six have signed their offers of admission and are now enrolled at the university."
Hokies welcome six freshman football players (Randy King)
"Kory Gough, Duan Perez-Means and Theron Norman all signed with Tech last year. Gough took a grayshirt, while Perez-Means came to Tech in the fall, but left to have surgery on his shoulder and also deferred his enrollment. Norman and Laurence Gibson went to Hargrave in the fall, while Chase Williams ands Ricardo Young graduated high school a semester early."
Early enrollees could provide a boost (Kyle Tucker)
"Perhaps no player in the group has a more impressive pedigree than Williams, son of former Buffalo Bills head coach and Redskins defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who is now with the Saints. The younger Williams, a star at Loudon County, is 6-3, 240 pounds and ranked the No. 11 inside linebacker prospect in the nation by Rivals."
Six freshmen will join football team next week (Darryl Slater)
"Virginia Tech’s football team will welcome six freshmen when classes begin next Tuesday, including two who graduated high school a semester early. Their arrival enables them to participate in spring practices, which begin March 31. Three of the six originally signed with Tech last February: offensive tackle Kory Gough, defensive end Duan Perez-Means and free safety Theron Norman. The latter two are from Hermitage High."
Virginia Tech adds six to roster (Annette)
"Kory Gough, Duan Perez-Means and Theron Norman all signed with Tech last year. Gough took a grayshirt, while Perez-Means came to Tech in the fall, but left to have surgery on his shoulder and also deferred his enrollment. Norman and Laurence Gibson went to Hargrave in the fall while Chase Williams and Ricardo Young graduated high school a semester early."
Six Freshman Football Players Enroll at VT for Spring (Tech Sideline)
"Six new freshmen football players have enrolled at Virginia Tech for the spring semester. Three of the players originally signed letters of intent with the Hokies in February of 2009 and either grayshirted or attended prep school. The other three players are commitments for the recruiting class of 2010 who either graduated high school early or left prep school after one semester to enroll at VT."
Around College Football
2004-09 Aggregate Wins, Losses, etc… (College Game Balls)
"It’s numbers time again. After the jump there’s a whole slew of aggregated statistics over the last six years (note that the left hand column ‘1-120′ is not a ranking system, but merely a row label) . Have fun. Here are a couple of observations, feel free to leave yours in the comments."
The Apocalypse May Be Upon Us (The North End Zone)
"We don't spend much time over at Rivals.com. That would count as "conducting research", which goes completely against The North End Zone's mission statement. However, we were notified that they have announced their 2009 All-Bowl Team. The "team" includes coaches... We hope you're sitting down..."
The ACC Bowl Ratings Game and the Orange Bowl (BC Interruption)
Jeff and Brian take time away from being told, "Omigosh we haaaaave to go see Valentine's Day when it comes out!" ... "Heading into bowl season, I thought all of the bowls got good matchups and should do well relative to last year and an average year for each individual bowl with the possible exception of the Chick-Fil-A Bowl and definitely with the exception of the Orange Bowl. I'm glad to see that my thoughts became a reality but I do not think anything significant enough happened for there to be any effect on ACC bowls in the future."
A word about college coaching (Eagle in Atlanta)
"The lesson in all of this -- and the reminder from last year -- is that just because these guys are in the spotlight and make big bucks doesn't mean their office politics and work drama are all that different from yours or mine. Insecurity, burnout, pettiness, inappropriate behavior, meddling, micromanaging, jealousy, control and money are dynamics of any job regardless if you are a CEO of a fortune 500 company, a coach or day 1 as an intern."
Musings (From Old Virginia)
"I want to try and do up a little something something for him and DC Jim Reid, but man is this OC hire taking forever. Doug Doughty tosses out two names: Craig Johnson and Kevin Rogers (Ed note: You know what would piss me off? That.), quarterback coaches for the Titans and Vikings, respectively."
The Pendulum Swings in Knoxville (Rocky Top Talk)
"But the odds Hamilton goes far from the norm are much lower this time, especially as far from the norm as Lane Kiffin was last year. Thanks to Kiffin, the pendulum has swung back towards tradition, stability, and integrity. The next move is Mike Hamilton's, who has to find a way to play it both safe enough and right enough to keep his job."
Skippin’ town… (200 Years Too Late)
"I didn’t think Skip was going to do it. His twitter posts all day yesterday just toyed with my emotions. I know that this was a tough decision for him to make but he made me feel like we had him locked down. I wasn’t worried at all and then was just hit with this devastating blow. It is painful because he has been such a huge part of the rebuilding of our university and our football program."