Buzz Williams
It was a great weekend for all Tech sports.
Williams saw a lot of good things on Friday. He was pleased with how hard his team played and how they shared the ball. He is disappointed in how they shot free throws. The game was shortened by Maryland Eastern-Shore because they didn’t initiate their offense until around 13 seconds left on the shot clock.
Tech had a lot of new faces on the court on Friday night. Justin Bibbs is a really good player. He played at a high level in high school (#1 Montverde). He has great parents and a great demeanor. He’s a guy you can count on.
Greg Donlon wants to redshirt this year so he can be around the program for another year. That says a lot about him. Williams was about to put Donlon in on Friday, but Donlon reminded him that he was redshirting.
Malik Muller played well. Ahmed Hill wasn’t bad, but Williams feels like he’s better than what he showed on Friday.
All of Satchel Pierce’s fouls came because he was behind the pass, behind the play, and behind the possession. That’s typical for a 7-footer’s first game. He and van Zegeren have to play before the catch and can’t get caught out of position. Tech needs both of those guys to play a combined 40 minutes.
Tech is playing four perimeter players, except when Shane Henry is in the game. Henry is a “4”, and he brings a more typical alignments.
Williams kind of likes playing a four-guard lineup. There are advantages and disadvantages. They have trouble guarding a traditional power forward, but a traditional power forward will have trouble guarding a Tech wing as well. The game has evolved, and the guys who can pass, dribble and shoot will play the most. The problem is when you run into a true power forward who can pass, dribble and shoot.
Williams doesn’t think we’ll see van Zegeren and Pierce on the court at the same time. Nobody would guard those two guys outside the free throw line, and that would limit Tech’s driving opportunities.
Liberty’s opening game was against a Division III school, so you can’t take much out of that game. The Flames are bigger than the Hokies, though.
Tech had yoga on Saturday, and then they watched film and did skill work. The Hokies have to make free throws. Tough guys make free throws.
Dale Layer is Liberty’s head coach. Buzz has coached under Layer, and Layer has coached under him. They have a great relationship. Buzz coached under Layer at Colorado State, and Layer coached under Buzz at Marquette. Williams would prefer to not play this game, but that would have meant the Hokies couldn’t take part in the Cancun tournament.
It’s important to Buzz that Tech be respectful to the National Anthem, so he actually had his team practice lining up for the National Anthem. He also made the team learn the words to Tech Triumph.
Frank Beamer
Tech has beaten two top 20 teams on the road in the same year for the first time in school history. They have been inconsistent, but this is a very young team that has had a lot of injuries.
Improving this week after such a big week is critical. If they don’t, they are the exact same team that has been up and down.
Duke is a good football team that has won a lot of games this year. David Cutcliffe and his staff have done a great job. They are legit.
Tech’s defense has done a great job against Anthony Boone. The Hokies were much better on first down after the first quarter, and that put Duke behind the chains. Those are good situations for Tech’s defense because they can bring different pressures on the offense.
Dadi Nicolas played really hard and with great effort against Duke. He was the ACC Defensive Lineman of the Week.
The punt fake was a miscommunication between Beamer and Derek DiNardo. That’s not going to happen again.
We’ll probably see more of the Brenden Motley package more down the road. It’s the same package as the Bucky Hodges package, but Motley is a much better threat to throw the football.
They haven’t gotten the results of the Marshawn Williams MRI. They are hoping for the best. It’s been a tough year for tailbacks. They’ll know more about Trey Edmunds later in the week.
J.C. Coleman delivered with a big game on Saturday. Running up the middle isn’t his greatest strength. If you can get him out in space with good blocking, he can be effective. He was also able to get into a groove because Tech was down so many backs.
Beamer talked to the team about how the last two times they beat a ranked team on the road, they lost the next week. It’s all about getting better from week to week. Wake Forest is a dangerous football team. They played Louisville, Clemson and Boston College tough. They have a good defense with two excellent cornerbacks.
Isaiah Ford is a very talented player. His six touchdowns is the most ever by a Tech freshman receiver. He handles himself very well. 80% of Tech’s scoring this year have come by freshmen.
Virginia Tech has held the Commonwealth Cup for 3642 days. #ItsGood2Be #Hokies
— Commonwealth Cup (@CommonwlthCup) November 17, 2014
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TSL Staff;
Is the TTL notes any different than the Beamer PC transcript you guys post? I mean, other than having Buzz on?
Not really. He pretty much says the same stuff at his Press Conference.
Frank really doesn’t change, in case anybody didn’t notice that in the last 28 years 🙂
I was going to say that he says the same thing every time. It is not worth even reading.
Chris,
I meant is it literally the same event but you guys have two articles on it, and that one just focuses on Beamer and the other article has Buzz / any other guests on the show?
Is the yoga something new for the basketball team or have they done it in the past? Hopefully some added flexibility will help cut down on injuries. If it works, sign up more of the football guys as well.
I do Yoga once a week at work; no joke it’s an excellent work out and really helps your flexibility!
New under Buzz.
Tough guys make free throws! I love Buzz.
I liked that also.
Should be on a t-shirt.
why did they give it to pickle on 4th down a few years back? naturally he didn’t make the first down either.
I believe that BM should have gotten more playing time earlier than the tenth game it would have at least given the team the option of a better running game, I don’t believe MB is big enough for the running game jmho.
So if the coaches know JC isn’t a good idea straight ahead, why was that the playcall on 4th and 1?
Because this team has really struggled running slower-developing outside zone and power plays this year. The idea was to get JCC going north-south and squeak out a yard before the defense got to him.
We need to start thinking “play action” in situations like that!
We did that later and it got intercepted.
A jump throw off the wrong foot by a panicked QB was more the reason than the call.