Hokie Hotline Notes for 1/26/09

The Hokie Hotline (football and basketball season)

When: Every Monday from 7:00-9:00 during football season, 7:00-8:00 during basketball season.

Where: Click here for a list of radio stations, and to find the link for listening to the show on the Internet (look to the right on the hokiesports.com page that loads when you click the link). You can see the show in person at Awful Arthur’s in Blacksburg.


Seth Greenberg

  • Tech still has to keep perspective. They did that when things weren’t
    going well in non-conference play, and they need to do it again now. They
    aren’t going to the NCAA tournament just because of this one week. It’s a
    16-game league schedule.
  • Tech is a tougher basketball team right now than they were at the
    beginning of the season. They have to stay tough. They have to stay in the
    present. They can’t remember the past, and they can’t look into the future.
  • J.T. Thompson’s numbers aren’t great, but he’s giving the team good
    toughness. They are better understanding how you have to compete each and
    every play to give yourself a chance to win at the end of the game.
  • Tech is developing an identity. They are playing hard and playing with
    toughness. They are much better offensively. The flow is better and the
    execution is better.
  • A.D. Vassallo, Malcolm Delaney and Jeff Allen are playing at a very high
    level. Lewis Witcher and Hank Thorns also gave the Hokies great minutes
    against Miami.
  • If the Hokies continue to get better, and they continue to take the right
    approach, Greenberg thinks they have a chance to be very good.
  • Thursday night is
    a blackout game
    in Cassell Coliseum!
    Wear something black!

  • Malcolm Delaney was the ACC Player of the Week. He had a great week. He
    is playing with a lot of confidence. He’s attacking and getting to the line.
    He’s using his jumper to set up his drive. He was excellent defensively
    against Jack McClinton down the stretch. Delaney is becoming a more complete
    player. His feistiness is really good for the team.
  • The Miami game was played at a very high level. Both teams made some
    really tough shots, and both teams answered the other team time and time
    again.
  • A.D. Vassallo has a complete offensive arsenal. He can post up, hit the
    tear drop floater, take it to the basket and hit jumpers. Hanks Thorns did a
    terrific job getting him the ball in good situations.
  • Greenberg didn’t give any thoughts to fouling when Tech was up three in
    regulation because the Hokies were having a tough time rebounding the ball.
    He didn’t want to give the ‘Canes a chance for extra points, but Asbury hit
    the three-pointer anyway.
  • The Duke-Wake game is going to very interesting. The defenses are
    excellent, but they have different philosophies. You can’t run an offense
    against Duke, while Wake plays a containment style. Wake needs to play Ish
    Smith less, because when the ball is in his hands, it’s not in Jeff Teague’s
    hands. Teague is brutal to defense.
  • Hank Thorns made some terrific passes against Miami. He played with good
    pace and he defended very well.
  • With seven minutes left and down five, Tech put Thorns back in the game.
    Greenberg wanted to get Delaney off the ball so he could be a more effective
    scorer.
  • Tech is defending the high screen right now, and a decent job on the
    middle screen. That will be very important for the Clemson game. The Hokies
    need to get better in their post defense. They have to defend the post
    early. You have to give Miami’s Dwayne Collins credit though. He’s a very
    good player.
  • Terrence Oglesby of Clemson is a terrific shooter. He’s really improved
    his ball fake. He has great range on his shot. The Tigers have very good
    team chemistry. They forced a lot of turnovers, and they are the #1 shot
    blocking team in the ACC.
  • In Tech-Clemson games, generally the team that has the lead with 30
    seconds left ends up losing. The games in this series all go down to the
    wire. This game will come down to handling the pressure, attacking the
    pressure when given opportunities, defending high ball screens, rebounding
    and having great communication on defense.
  • Greenberg wrote a letter to the students reminding them that last week was
    a great week, but it doesn’t guarantee anything. He wants Lane Stadium moved
    to Cassell Coliseum for the next six weeks.
  • Bobby Knight will be calling the game on ESPN2. It’s going to be a great
    night.
  • Everyone in the ACC plays a quick turnaround game or two, where they play
    on Thursday and then have to travel and play again on Saturday. It always
    seems like Tech’s turnaround game is against Boston College. The good thing
    is that the Hokies just played BC, so they have a pretty good idea of their
    game plan heading in.
  • It’s really simple. The more you win, the more the next game means. You
    don’t make the NCAA tournament in January. That’s the long-range goal, and
    it’s a process to get there. It’s a journey, not a destination.
  • The contract the coaching staff did with the team really got their
    attention. It didn’t give them any wiggle room. There are only so many
    chances you have to truly get the team’s attention like that, and coming off
    that Duke game was the right spot with three straight home games coming up.
  • This team expects to win. They expected to go to Miami and win. They
    aren’t getting too high after wins, and they aren’t getting too low after
    losses. In the culture we live in today, coaches take losses worse than
    players.

Monday was Day 1,521 of Virginia Tech’s continuous possession of the Commonwealth Cup.