Tech Talk Live notes for November 25, 2013

Chugger Adair

The NCAA Tournament experience has been great, especially for the team.  They are now in the Elite 8.  The team has put a lot of work into it, and it’s paying off.

Frank Beamer and Jim Weaver called Adair as soon as they advanced to the Elite 8.  It’s a great feeling knowing guys like that are paying attention to their success.

Tech beat a good West Virginia team on Friday.  Two years ago in the NCAA Tournament, WVU didn’t seem to respect Tech too much.  On Friday, they seemed to respect them a lot more.

The Santa Clara game was great.  It came down to penalty kicks, and the Hokies pulled it off.

Every team is good at this point in the season.  There is no easy out.  Duke will be a very tough game on Friday.

Tech can definitely win the National Championship.  They are the only team to beat UVA this season.  That says a lot.  They have competed with everybody they have played.

Making the college cup would be huge for the program.  They are already well-known on the east coast, but this would open doors in recruiting all across the country.

Jim Weaver

Chugger Adair has been great this year.  They have to keep it going for the next 10 days.

Weaver has always said that Tech isn’t just a football school.  They are a well-rounded athletics program.  They took that into account when they started expanding their facilities.

Weaver chose Chugger Adair because departing coach Kelly Cagle thought he would be the right guy.  The Hokies had already recruited two classes of good players, so losing Adair could have hurt.  If it wasn’t broken, there was no reason to try and fix it.

Shane Beamer

Tech practiced three days last week.  The energy was good.  Beamer wishes the Hokies had played this past week, just to get past the Maryland game.

The coaching staff had a big recruiting day on Monday.  On Friday, several coaches went out on the road to recruit.

It’s frustrating to have an inconsistent season.  Tech played great against Miami, but they were disappointed in their performances against Duke, BC and Maryland.  They didn’t play as well as they are capable of playing.

Tech has to understand that they get opposing teams’ best shots.  A Jacksonville Jaguars assistant who used to coach in the ACC told Aaron Moorehead last week that his team used to be more ready for the Hokies than other teams in the league.

Beamer is expecting to see UVA’s best performance since their win over BYU. They have good players.  Their season hasn’t gone the way they wanted it to, but they can make things better by beating Virginia Tech.  Last year’s game was tough, and there’s no reason to expect that this year’s game won’t be.

Tech has certain running backs for certain personnel groupings.  J.C. Coleman and Trey Edmunds are alternating right now.  Beamer doesn’t mind Coleman being in the game on a short yardage situation.  He’s very strong pound for pound.

Beamer thought the running game would be better this year, but it is a young group of backs.  J.C Coleman was hurt for most of the year, and Trey Edmunds, Chris Mangus and Joel Caleb were all r-freshmen.

Beamer heard that the UVA offensive coordinator said UVA should never lose to Virginia Tech.  He especially didn’t like his comments about being on both campuses, because that’s a shot at the school itself.  The whole Tech team has heard the comments, and they are ready to play the game on Saturday.

The Hokies had a lot of recruits on campus for the Maryland game and they all had a great time.  Tech isn’t quite done for the 2014 class, but they are close.

It’s exciting when there is something to play for during the UVA game.  If Tech wins on Saturday, they’ll play for the ACC Championship if Duke loses to UNC.  There have been a lot of great memories in this rivalry.

Andrew Miller

It’s hard to describe the VT-UVA rivalry unless you’ve been on the field in one.  There’s a lot of passion.  It’s a game you have to win.  He’s got to make sure the younger players on this team understand that.

All Tech is thinking about right now is UVA.  It doesn’t matter what Duke does.  Whatever happens, happens.  Tech only needs to have one focus on Saturday.

It means a lot to play for Tech.  You spend so much time with the other players that you develop close relationships.

Miller told the fans that he’s really enjoyed playing for Virginia Tech.  It’s been a great ride, but the ride isn’t quite over yet.

James Johnson

The team learned a lot from their trip to New York.  They hung with Michigan State early, but the Hokies let it get away from them towards the end of the first half.  They put the last game behind them against Seton Hall, but it was still a disappointing loss.

Jarell Eddie probably had his best back-to-back games, but he had a rough stretch to end Saturday night’s game.  He felt terrible about it.  They went back through the film, and Eddie knew exactly what he did wrong.

Overall, Eddie has been very efficient and very productive after that first game.  He has a green light, but he has to take good shots.

Ben Emelogu isn’t doing too well physically.  He is questionable for tomorrow’s game against Furman.  If he can’t play, the Hokies will use Will Johnston off the bench.

C.J. Barksdale did a good job shaking the rust off after missing the first three games of the season.  He did a nice job in New York over the weekend.

Tech has to be more productive up front.  They are fouling too much on the defensive end, and nobody is getting into the flow of the game.

Tech did outrebound Michigan State, which is something that doesn’t happen much.

It was great to play in the Barclays Center.  It’s possible that the ACC Tournament could be played there one day.  It’s a great arena, but Johnson isn’t sure if there’s enough right around the arena in terms of hotels and restaurants to host the ACC Tournament.  It’s mostly a residential area around the arena.

Jaylen Hudson plays at Lebron James’ old high school.  It’s a winning program.  He’s 6-5, and he could play point guard, shooting guard or small forward.  He can score and he’s really athletic.

Justin Bibbs is originally from Dayton, OH.  He is an exceptional scorer.  He’s a really good passer.  He’s about 6-5, 205.  He’s got a college ready body right now.

T.J. Lang is the son of Duke standout Antonio Lang.  He has a great pedigree.  He’s a 6-7 guy who can shoot the ball.  He’s skilled, but he’s got to get a little stronger.

Johnson wants players from winning programs.  He wants guys who know how to win.  He wants guys who can get up and down the floor.  They need to be able to put the ball in the hole.  He feels like they are getting more guys who are able to do that.

Johnson likes the basketball IQ of the freshman.  It’s better than some freshmen of the past.  That’s because they played for winning high school program.  It was never about them, it was always about the team.  That has carried over to them as college players.

Furman has a good point guard.  It will be a tough matchup for Devin Smith.  He accounts for 75% of their offense, whether he’s scoring or handing out assists.  This game is about Virginia Tech.  They have to respond from two tough losses.

It’s good to start a new series with Radford.  The schools are only 15 minutes apart.  It’s a good traveling situation for Radford.  It will be good for both teams and both fanbases.

Frank Beamer

Tech got one extra practice in this week.  They normally gameplan on Monday, but they had already done that, so they were able to get in an extra practice for UVA.

The Hokies need to be 100% focused on their game with UVA.  That’s the only thing they can control.  They can’t control the Duke-UNC game.

Beamer wishes the Hokies could have had some more consistent players around Logan Thomas over the last couple of years.  That really changes how a quarterback plays.

Tech had a lot of recruits in town for the Maryland game.  Beamer feels like the Hokies have a good recruiting staff.  Jeff Grimes and GA Ryan Pugh really took it on themselves to take over offensive line recruiting.  They have a good offensive line class coming in, and Beamer feels like they are getting more athletic up front.

Eric Kristensen did a good job kicking on Monday.  He will probably be Tech’s kicker again on Saturday.

Beamer doesn’t think Antone Exum will play on Saturday.  They will have to rely on their young guys in the secondary again.

UVA has some good players.  They are really good up front on the defensive line and at linebacker.  The Hokies tried to recruit some of those guys.  This is a very capable team.

There have been some great memories in the rivalry with UVA.  The comeback in 1995 was a great memory.

Tech has the longest winning streak in the VT-UVA series.  It’s now at nine games.  UVA won the first eight games of the series.

Beamer likes Thanksgiving Week.  All the coaches and players eat together on Thursday.  He loves to play UVA this week.  That’s the way it should be.

Turnovers will be key this week. The Hokies have a good defense, and they can’t give UVA chance to score.  Tech has to take advantages of their opportunities.  It will be a tight football game.

Monday was Day 3,286 of Virginia Tech’s continuous possession of The Commonwealth Cup.