It was a team loss Sunday at Duke. The Hokies didn't shoot well. They didn't rebound well. They were in foul trouble. They had four assists to 11 turnovers. They let their emotions get the best of them. The way the Hokies played Sunday night they wouldn't have beaten Duquesne let alone Duke. They now face a Boston College team that isn't very good, but is very competitive at home. The coaching staff can't let Sunday's loss carry over, but I wonder if that will be easier said than done with this group.
Links after the jump.
Duke 67, Virginia Tech 55
Mainstream Media
Frustration boils over late in Tech's loss against rebound-happy Duke (Norm Wood)
"As the final minutes ticked off tonight at Duke in what wound up being the conclusion of Tech's school-record five-game ACC winning streak, the frustration started to show. With 2:15 remaining, and Duke leading 61-53, Tech's Dorenzo Hudson and Duke's Nolan Smith got into what appeared to be a minor verbal spat after both teams battled for a loose ball and tied it up in the lane. Hudson took it to another level when he placed his left hand in Smith's face to push Smith away."
Tech loss etched on glass (Aaron McFarling)
"And a stunner it would have been. The Hokies kept this one closer than any ACC visitor to Cameron Indoor Stadium had this year. With a 12-point margin of defeat -- 67-55 -- the Hokies beat the Vegas spread by a half point. Considering they led this game with less than 10 minutes to play, it's fair to say they outperformed the expectations of many."
What does Hokies' loss to Duke mean? (Mark Viera)
"But while Virginia Tech is still very much in the hunt for an NCAA tournament berth, it does not have control of its own destiny in the Atlantic Coast Conference. With a win over Duke, the Hokies (21-5, 8-4) would have been in the mix to win the conference in the regular season. That seems like a long shot now, with Virginia Tech having only four games remaining."
Quick thoughts from Duke 67, Virginia Tech 55 (Darryl Slater)
"Twenty-seven. That’s how many second-chance points Duke had in tonight’s 67-55 win over Virginia Tech, which snapped the Hokies’ five game winning streak and further established the Blue Devils as the ACC’s lone elite team. None of those second-chance points were bigger than center Brian Zoubek’s put-back layup—and ensuing free throw, after a Jeff Allen foul—which put the Blue Devils up 52-47 with 7:09 left tonight here at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The play highlighted an 11-2 run."
Foul trouble costs Hokies on road (Kyle Tucker)
"Duke shot poorly, Virginia Tech wasn’t much better and nearly the entire Hokies basketball team found itself in foul trouble Sunday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Tech took an early lead, surrendered it before the break and surged back briefly before finally collapsing in a 67-55 loss to the No. 6 Blue Devils"
No. 6 Duke hands Hokies loss, 67-55 (Collegiate Times)
"With Allen’s fourth foul, which occurred against Duke center Brian Zoubek on a made layup, the Devils (23-4, 11-2 ACC) quickly stretched their lead from two to eight in just 20 seconds, deflating the Hokies just after they had taken a 45-44 lead with 9:54 left in the game."
Kuiper’s 3-Pointer: Duke-Virginia Tech (ACC Sports Journal)
"When teams don’t particularly care for each other, what you usually get in a basketball game is great defense, a lot of fouls, poor shooting, and a few minor altercations. That is exactly what we got on Sunday night. You wouldn’t think that Duke could shoot 29 percent from the floor and win the game, but that’s what happened. Also, Duke’s "Big 3" - Kyle Singler, Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith - scored all but four of Duke’s points. It is hard to win games when you basically have only three guys scoring points. But in this game, it was enough for the Blue Devils to win."
Bloggers
OTB’s ACC B-Ball Weekend Wrap-Up (On The B.Rink)
"Bell was obviously frustrated and its just another interesting mix of social media and sports with the ability to get in the players’ heads right after the game with the thoughts that don’t come out at a press conference. This was a game that Virginia Tech should be kicking themselves for losing with how poorly the Blue Devils were shooting in the second half. They couldn’t take advantage and broke down defensively leaving Duke shooters like Scheyer wide-open for soul-crushing 3s down the stretch."
The Hood on the Flats (The A-Line)
"Seth has a compulsion to play the victim card, over and over and over, even to the point of making up perceived slights. He has done it everywhere he has been, at least until he runs away in the middle of the night via a back door seconds before the whole house of cards comes crashing down. For all of the good Seth has done for Virginia Tech basketball, which is a lot, his ‘they’re all out to get me’ means of drawing attention to himself is very off-putting. So is the gang-fight method in which his teams play."
Niemo’s Notes (Tech Hoops)
"duke as a whole had 23 offensive rebounds. VT had just 23 defensive rebounds, meaning duke got the ball back on 50% of their misses. This was one of my 2 biggest keys to the game, and VT got a ‘D-’ in this area. Tech could not get stops as a result and this is what killed them ultimately. It almost seemed as if duke intentionally missed to certain areas."
Hokies Battle, but Fall at Duke (Tech Sideline)
"The Hokies got a bad shooting night from both Malcolm Delaney and Dorenzo Hudson. Delaney scored 19 points, but was only 5-of-19 from the field and 2-of-9 from three-point range. Hudson was 3-of-12 from the field and 0-of-4 from the outside, scoring 12 points. They combined to go 13-of-14 from the free throw line, but they couldn't hit enough jumpers for their team to pull off the upset."
Hokies Unable to Control Duke's Big Three (Fight For Old DC)
"The Hokies got off to the good start that they needed, but unfortunately couldn't hang on to the momentum. With Tech up 14-11 7:30 into the game, the Devils took over with a 23-9 run to take an 11-point lead. Being the resilient bunch that they are, the Hokies clawed their way back into the game with a 6-0 run to end the first half. Still, though, the Blue Devils had a five-point advantage at 35-30, despite making only one two-point basket and shooting 23% overall."
Welp, That Sucked (The North End Zone)
"32.8% from the field. I'd like to blame last night's loss on the ridiculous referees, but shooting 32.8% will not win you many games. Since Duke shot even worse, the game was a lot closer than it should have been. Hell, if we had shot 41% we'd probably have won. And we weren't just missing contested shots, either. We missed EVERYTHING. Wide open looks clanged off the back of the iron. Layups and putbacks wouldn't drop. Nothing was hitting."
Virginia Tech's Winning Streak Ends (VT Fan)
"The Hokies came out on a mission on Sunday night but just couldn’t keep up the tempo for the entire 40 minutes. Tech did everything they needed to do to win. They held Duke to less than 70 points, less than 30% shooting, and the Blue Devils had stretches where none of their shots would fall. All of that should have equaled a huge upset on the road but it just wasn’t meant to be for the Hokies."
Around the ACC
David Wilson Talks Redshirt (College Game Balls)
"For what it’s worth, as long as Williams, Evans and Josh Oglesby are healthy in 2010 then I think Wilson should redshirt. The Stinespring Screenfense can barely accommodate one dynamic playmaker in the backfield, let alone two or three. If Wilson doesn’t redshirt there will be no creative package designed for/around his speed, he’ll have limited carries and his major contribution will only be on special teams."
On Vasquez, Delaney and the ACC player of the year race (D1SCOURSE)
"But I can promise this: The best way for either of those guys to have a chance is to lead their team to a top-two finish in the ACC. That's because individual awards too often are reduced to selecting a talented option on a conference contender. Or, more to the point, a team that at some point looked like a conference contender."
ACC's toughest 10 in 2010 (Annette)
"3. Virginia Tech vs. Boise State, Sept. 6: The preseason rankings will likely have the Hokies as the underdogs heading into this one, and they’ll face a team that returns 21 of 22 starters. That includes everyone on the offensive line, which allowed the fewest sacks in the country last year."
Clemson Marketing - Money Left On The Table (Shakin The Southland)
"Though all hard working and decent people, Clemson’s group in charge of marketing is simply not qualified to do the things that Clemson needs to do. They are well equipped to continue Clemson’s long standing relationships with companies like Bi-Lo and Naturally Fresh, but one can see how it would be difficult to market the Clemson brand more than regionally with a group of marketers that don’t have that type of experience and expertise."
Assessing Maryland's Longshot Push for an ACC Title (Testudo Times)
"Maryland has slowly but surely separated themselves from the ACC pack, jockeying for position with just Duke and Virginia Tech in the top tier. But no one plays for second or third place - you play, to paraphrase Herman Edwards, to win the league. But what exactly is the probability that they pull the unlikely and win the ACC? I got intrigued and starting punching numbers."
Florida State Spring Football Positional Preview: Quarterback (Tomahawk Nation)
"The 'Noles feature Christian Ponder. Before separating his shoulder against Clemson, Ponder was arguably playing better than any quarterback in the country. Ponder had shoulder surgery around Thanksgiving. He'll participate in Spring practice, but the clear goal for him will be to continue his rehab. His work will be very structured and limited as his focus is on being in top condition when Summer passing drills begin."
RJKarl grades the Deacs (Blogger So Dear)
"If we finish the season with a flourish, his grade will go up. His work on defense has been excellent. Our offense against zones is mediocre at best and I believe that is all coaching. The fact that we lost two games due to not boxing out on oppsition's FTs is inexcusable, and Wake has an ongoing problem with FTs and on the boards in general."
Kellie Harper -- Dancing In Year One? (Backing The Pack)
"The Wolfpack Women (16-11, 6-6) came through big time this weekend, knocking off Boston College on Friday and North Carolina on Sunday. As of now, those go down as wins over RPI top-50 opponents. Prior to the weekend's games, State was hovering around #40 in the RPI, among the last four out according to this guy and the last eight out according to Jerry Palm."
Something I Wonder About, But Have No Interest in Ever Seeing (Carolina March)
"A thought occurs to me. Ever since the ACC expanded to 12 teams, the last-place finisher is the team left out of the following season's ACC-Big 10 Challenge. The eleven matchups, however, are chosen by ESPN to maximize viewership. Should UNC finish dead last in conference – not likely with State, but sadly still a possibility – would ESPN leave Carolina out next season, or would that policy suddenly change?"
Argh (From Old Virginia)
"Oh, and in case you're wondering, no, I'm not going to use the three-games-in-five-days excuse. Was it a factor? Maybe it was. Me, I hope it wasn't, otherwise we can forget about ever winning an ACC tournament."
Because I Can: USA 5, Canada 3
Ryan Miller's Heroics Lead Improbable USA Win Over Canada (SB Nation)
"For the USA to have any chance at continuing this magical run, then Miller will have to continue to be the best player with a USA jersey over his pads. His saves were not only incredible to watch, but would come at the most important times in the game as well. After each USA goal, the Canadians would fight hard to get right back on the board and Miller would be forced to make several acrobatic saves to preserve the US lead."
Did you watch that hockey game last night? (From The Rumble Seat)
"So looking at the salaries head to head gives you a little perspective but when you take the sum of the whole and the average of each team's NHL payroll, you kinda see where the term "upset" came from. Was it an epic America-Soviet Union-Greatest Upset-Of-All-Time? No. But it was definitely an upset. We had 62% of the Canadian payroll playing for us. It also didn't hurt that Ryan Miller was AMAZING."
Ryan Miller Shows the World What We Already Know (Die By The Blade)
"Canada was clearly the more talented hockey team but Ryan Miller was clearly the best player on the ice. Miller played like we have all seen him play before and the United States now find themselves in a great position to medal after beating Canada 5-3."
Canadians, Americans -- There's More to Play (From The Rink)
"The Americans don't necessarily have an easy path either. Even the quarterfinal between the winner of Switzerland/Belarus is no cake walk. We've seen how difficult the Swiss can be, especially with Jonas Hiller in net, and Belarus has played giant slayer before. All of the media attention that Ryan Miller is getting will be for naught if they fail in the quarterfinal."
Team USA's first win in 50 years over Team Canada? (Behind The Net)
"So while the US had a rough stretch from 1976 to 1991, their record against Canada over the last 14 years is 4-4, and they've outscored Canada 27-25. That's a lot more honest than including past Olympic results where Canadian semi-pro teams played US semi-pro teams just five times in almost 40 years."