The Downside

[SWC75]

- You would think a visit by the second ranked team in the country would draw better than a half-filled 10,000 seat arena. I’m not sure the size of the market there but they fill their football stadium so I’d think they could fill that arena. People were talking about this place as being like visiting the RAC to play Rutgers. It was more like visiting the ballpark to play the Chiefs. Even when the crowd was “in it”, it was mostly polite applause. So much for the difficulty of ACC road games, if this was supposed to be an example of it.


- Still, we let these guys hang around way too long. We finally closed it out with a 16-0 run starting with 14:44 of the second half when it was just 44-40. And they were a three point shooting team so who knew when they would suddenly go off on them.


- I would not have wanted to come back to the bench with the look on JB’s face when Jerami Grant failed to cover Adam Smith when he hit a trey late in the first half.


- They had a C.J., too and for while there C. J. Barksdale had the best of our C. J> He scored 12 points on 5 for 6 shooting inside among out big men.


- Jerami Grant had a good game but was only 4 for 12 from the field. And our CJ was only 2 for 7 in the first half.


- Without Coleman we are thin inside. Who is our emergency center if Christmas and Keita both get in foul trouble? Put that with our thinness at point guard and we seem a bit fragile.

 

[CaptainJ]

Good analysis, a lot of the not so good stuff is getting overlooked on here tonight, and understandably so. In defense of their crowd, they said the students weren't back yet and that it was uncharacteristically cold weather there.

Sometime(probably after a win) when I see "The Upside" and "The Downside" come out, I would like to have a pre-composed thread called "The Payside" to come out right after it. We often look at things in twos, but I think it would be like "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly".

 

[Entropic]

If Coleman doesn't play and we get in foul trouble I think we will be in trouble. Moral of the story is Coleman needs to play and BMK and RC25 need to be smart and not foul.

 

[SoBristol]

Lose some depth if Coleman is limited, but how many teams (or SU teams of the past) play 3 centers?

In a pinch, SU could play a back line of Fair, Grant & Roberson (or Gbinije) and be OK.

 

[jordoo]

They had no students and it was cold I guess that keeps the Virginians away. I have seen that place rowdy before. I think we catch a scheduling break to have this game when the students are off.

As for letting them stay in it too long a lot of things contributed to that but mostly the ball bounced there way a few times, we missed assignments on shooters a couple of times and they banked in a few crappy shots plus we had a could period to end the first half, no buckets for 4 or 5 minutes I believe. I think we lake a bit of the killer instinct and that might be tied to the team being so calm and in control. Missed defensive assignments happen much more frequently when we have a comfortable lead than when the game is tight as do the few offensive miss steps we make. Its certainly something to keep an eye on.

I think we are a bit spoiled at center as far as depth but I do feel Rak and Baye each waste at least 1 foul a game needlessly usually its more than that. I suppose Grant would play the middle like Warrick in 03 in an emergency situation or late game special situation. I wouldn't want to see that for very long at all. I do feel Roberson will continue to earn more PT because he's looking better and better and he gives us that true 3rd forward which JB loves. Even though MikeG can play the 3 JB seems to prefer playing him only as a guard unless we are in a late game FT shooting situation. Still against certain teams like UNC we will most likely need that 3rd center.

 

[FreeFries100]

I'll add another bullet to your downside list: another scoring drought of over 5min to end the first half. I hope this isn't a pattern going forward.

 

[pfister1]

I was surprised we didn't try to use our press more. I know most feel it isn't very effective and the one time I remember us using it we were beaten for a quick layup. That said, I think the quick layup was more due to our poor decision making then an indicator of what Va Tech was consistently capable of. Statistically have a difficult time managing their turnovers which would suggest that speeding them up might have been a good way to pull away earlier.

 

[djdan]

As a former upstate New Yorker now living in Maryland, I cannot overstate how poorly folks react to winter weather in this area. Last night was the coldest night in Virginia in almost two decades and that was certainly a factor.

 

[jordoo]

As a former upstate New Yorker now living in Maryland, I cannot overstate how poorly folks react to winter weather in this area. Last night was the coldest night in Virginia in almost two decades and that was certainly a factor.

They didn't even let the kids go to school yesterday

 

[tbonezone]

they could pack em in cassell with the promo free "Hokie Spit Cup" night.

 

[Dave85]

I'll add another bullet to your downside list: another scoring drought of over 5min to end the first half. I hope this isn't a pattern going forward.

We are hearing so much about Ennis going into the NBA after this year. He still seems like he's tentative to take 3-point shots. I am glad he made three this game. Hopefully, making 3 for 6 will improve his confidence. When Ennis started making 3s it broke down VT defense.

 

[SWC75]

As a former upstate New Yorker now living in Maryland, I cannot overstate how poorly folks react to winter weather in this area. Last night was the coldest night in Virginia in almost two decades and that was certainly a factor.

Did they actually sell out the arena and people with tickets didn't show up or did they fail to buy them to begin with?

 

[FreeFries100]

We are hearing so much about Ennis going into the NBA after this year. He still seems like he's tentative to take 3-point shots. I am glad he made three this game. Hopefully, making 3 for 6 will improve his confidence. When Ennis started making 3s it broke down VT defense.

Indeed. I caught myself talking the TV telling him to shoot it. First off, he's a good scorer, second, even if he misses, the defense still has to adjust to him which opens other things up.

 

[djdan]

Did they actually sell out the arena and people with tickets didn't show up or did they fail to buy them to begin with?

Your point is well taken that it was a poor showing by their fans and my guess is that it was more due to poor sales than actual no-shows. The game would obviously not have sold out had it been a decent night weather-wise, but the combination of the students being on break, a 9:00 Monday night game, and the bitter cold probably cut the crowd in at least half. But with that said, I can't remember exactly why I'm making excuses for friggin' Virginia Tech and their 65 fans. I think it was more of an indictment of Southerners who can't handle the cold but I'm going to stop now!

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Grant seems to be attacking the rim at will, but doesn't really have a good plan once he gets there. Just careening into defender's bodies and hoping that the ball miraculously goes in or he gets a foul call. I have a feeling he will pick up a few charges this year. Really wish he had slammed that one take down when he got the rim later in the game.

 

[RoysRunts]

- You would think a visit by the second ranked team in the country would draw better than a half-filled 10,000 seat arena. I’m not sure the size of the market there but they fill their football stadium so I’d think they could fill that arena. People were talking about this place as being like visiting the RAC to play Rutgers. It was more like visiting the ballpark to play the Chiefs. Even when the crowd was “in it”, it was mostly polite applause. So much for the difficulty of ACC road games, if this was supposed to be an example of it.


- Still, we let these guys hang around way too long. We finally closed it out with a 16-0 run starting with 14:44 of the second half when it was just 44-40. And they were a three point shooting team so who knew when they would suddenly go off on them.


- I would not have wanted to come back to the bench with the look on JB’s face when Jerami Grant failed to cover Adam Smith when he hit a trey late in the first half.


- They had a C.J., too and for while there C. J. Barksdale had the best of our C. J> He scored 12 points on 5 for 6 shooting inside among out big men.


- Jerami Grant had a good game but was only 4 for 12 from the field. And our CJ was only 2 for 7 in the first half.


- Without Coleman we are thin inside. Who is our emergency center if Christmas and Keita both get in foul trouble? Put that with our thinness at point guard and we seem a bit fragile.

 

[RoysRunts]

Students remain on break, temps dipped to single digits, and tipoff was after 9 p.m. So even with undefeated and second-ranked Syracuse in town, Cassell Coliseum offered negligible homecourt advantage to Virginia Tech on Tuesday. Comment in Va Newspaper.

 

[RoysRunts]

- You would think a visit by the second ranked team in the country would draw better than a half-filled 10,000 seat arena. I’m not sure the size of the market there but they fill their football stadium so I’d think they could fill that arena. People were talking about this place as being like visiting the RAC to play Rutgers. It was more like visiting the ballpark to play the Chiefs. Even when the crowd was “in it”, it was mostly polite applause. So much for the difficulty of ACC road games, if this was supposed to be an example of it.


- Still, we let these guys hang around way too long. We finally closed it out with a 16-0 run starting with 14:44 of the second half when it was just 44-40. And they were a three point shooting team so who knew when they would suddenly go off on them.


- I would not have wanted to come back to the bench with the look on JB’s face when Jerami Grant failed to cover Adam Smith when he hit a trey late in the first half.


- They had a C.J., too and for while there C. J. Barksdale had the best of our C. J> He scored 12 points on 5 for 6 shooting inside among out big men.


- Jerami Grant had a good game but was only 4 for 12 from the field. And our CJ was only 2 for 7 in the first half.


- Without Coleman we are thin inside. Who is our emergency center if Christmas and Keita both get in foul trouble? Put that with our thinness at point guard and we seem a bit fragile.

 

[RoysRunts]

Barksdale must have attended the Marco Baldi school of Offense "Put head and shoulders down and knock defensive player out of the way"

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Barksdale must have attended the Marco Baldi school of Offense "Put head and shoulders down and knock defensive player out of the way"

And yet our bigs didn't realize this and still tried to rush him. As much as we all now dislike Fab, he was fantastic at recognizing guys like Barksdale and letting them charge right through and quickly onto the bench to watch the game. Both Baye and Rak need to go back and watch tape of Fab to see how its done.

 

[SWC75]

Barksdale must have attended the Marco Baldi school of Offense "Put head and shoulders down and knock defensive player out of the way"

If they wore helmets, it would be a flag.

 

[SWC75]

And yet our bigs didn't realize this and still tried to rush him. As much as we all now dislike Fab, he was fantastic at recognizing guys like Barksdale and letting them charge right through and quickly onto the bench to watch the game. Both Baye and Rak need to go back and watch tape of Fab to see how its done.

Baye and Rak need to look at Fab Melo tapes and DC2 needs to look at A.O. tapes. I'm sure there are some up at Manley.

 

[OttoMets]

A little bit of Downside in Cooney's 5-20 start in conference play. Bummer that he's hurt his average. Hope he's due for a big game on Saturday.

 

[SWC75]

A little bit of Downside in Cooney's 5-20 start in conference play. Bummer that he's hurt his average. Hope he's due for a big game on Saturday.

I'm sure UNC has plans for him.

 

[SU_Fan_in_VA]

Students remain on break, temps dipped to single digits, and tipoff was after 9 p.m. So even with undefeated and second-ranked Syracuse in town, Cassell Coliseum offered negligible homecourt advantage to Virginia Tech on Tuesday. Comment in Va Newspaper.

Football school, late game, very cold temperatures, students still on Holidays, Blacksburg (Country Folks); take your pick.