Grant Duncan, Associate Director of Marketing and Promotions
Duncan’s job is to find ways to serve the fans. There are extra benefits to being a season ticket holder this year. If you renew early, you will have a chance to view a practice or closed scrimmage.
Tech will recognize a season ticket holder for each game this year. They will get dinner at the Inn, and it will be a big weekend for the winners.
As a season ticket holder, you will get better prices, and you will be first in line for bowl tickets and for any individual game tickets that become available.
The Tech Ticket Office has assigned a staff member to each season ticket holder. If a season ticket holder ever has a question, he can contact his own personal representative directly.
Renewals over the last two days have gone great. In just 24 hours, they have gotten more people renewed than they did in the first two weeks last year.
Season tickets for those who didn’t have season tickets last year will be available for purchase around April 20.
Buzz Williams
Williams needs to diagnose Tech’s issues against BC better, because it obviously has something to do with something he has done. The effort level was like a December game. It took Tech too long to find their energy. Once they found it, they were fine, but it didn’t come soon enough.
Tech struggled with inbounding out of timeouts last night. That has been a strength for them this season, but they were bad on Monday night. The ball was rolling on the floor much too often. The bottom line is that the Hokies didn’t do the things they needed to win the game. It’s disappointing.
The team will take Tuesday and Wednesday off. Buzz hopes the time off will rejuvenate the team.
Devin Wilson took a great charge against BC, but it was called a block. The ref told Buzz at the next timeout that he got the call wrong, and Buzz said “I know you got it wrong.”
Seth Allen is a really good player. He’s good with the ball in his hands and he makes his teammates better. He’s probably the best perimeter scout team guy in the country right now. He’s the type of player who can go get a basket when the play isn’t working. He’s a very good kid, and he’s been the host of every recruit they have brought on campus. He’ll be able to play professionally, and he’ll have a job with Buzz Williams down the road if he wants one. He just gets it. Williams has never had a guy who gets the business as much as Allen. In recruiting, watching film, on the court, etc. He just knows what’s going on.
Williams had a chance to take a graduate student transfer or two in the spring, but he didn’t. It all depends on how you want to build the foundation of your program. It adds maturity to your team, and it means you know exactly who you have to recruit to replace them the next year. Buzz didn’t feel like it was in the best interest of the program when he arrived last spring. He wanted to sign guys who would be playing multiple seasons at Virginia Tech.
Tech might try to take a foreign trip over the summer. That would be very good players, especially since they will still be young next year. They are still working on next year’s schedule as well.
Tech has had to do a lot of different things to give them a chance, and the players have bought in all year. That was the most disheartening about the first 20 minutes last night. The team was starting to get an identity when it comes to how hard they have to play, but they didn’t play that way to start off the game against Boston College. Overall though, Buzz admires and respects the way the team has continued to fight this year.
There are issues going on in the ACC right now regarding sexual assault. Tech has had specialists come in and talk to the team about that specific subject. It’s an issue that has far reaching implications. You try to spend a life building something, and you can destroy it in five minutes. Explaining that to an 18 year old kid can be difficult. Buzz makes his players read a lot so they can educate themselves in a variety of subjects.
Tech didn’t guard Miami well enough in the second half in the first meeting, and they got crushed on the glass. They never got into a groove, and overall it was a bad game. They are going to have to play better than they did in the first meeting, and they can’t play with the energy level they had against Boston College.
Buzz can’t wait to honor Will Johnston and Christian Beyer on Saturday. They are great people.
Dennis Wolff
The women’s team will play NC State at 3:30pm on Wednesday in the first round of the ACC Tournament.
NC State is a very well-coached team, and they are guard oriented. They have three players who are quick off the dribble. The Hokies will have to do a good job of staying between the ball and the basket.
In the first meeting with NC State, Tech did a good job of getting touches around the basket. Unfortunately they had a lull before halftime, and they weren’t able to get over the hump in the second half. They need to play a complete game tomorrow.
The Hokies have to do the right things for longer periods of the game to have a chance to start winning games in the ACC Tournament.
Virginia Tech has held the Commonwealth Cup for 3748 days. #Hokies
— Commonwealth Cup (@CommonwlthCup) March 3, 2015
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Buzz’s comments on Seth Allen really have me looking forward to his play next year.
I personally heard Buzz say that Seth Allen has the best basketball IQ on the team. Said he’s like an “extra coach” at practice. I too am looking forward to seeing him on the court next season.
Disagree about comment about Mr. Weaver
Then back it up… Why do you feel the basketball situation is not due to the Weaver administration?
It is possible that hokieman842 just disagrees that it ALL Weaver’s fault. Weaver was a lot of things and he was not a lot of things. And, yes, while I agree he made some pretty big blunders regarding the bball programs, and he has more than a fair share of the responsibility, I do not think 100% of the blame should be his that the bball team is where it is. I like some things I see going on with the bball program under Buzz, but for me it is a wait and see…..when the results start coming in then he’ll get every bit of my credit….but if we are here 3 years from now still struggling to get in the top half of the ACC, we’ll that is a different story.
He could, and I would like to know his reasons why…
Although I have no optimism about winning on Saturday, (You can bet Miami will be well-prepared by a very good coach) I am optimistic about the future. We will likely go through another year next year just like this, but perhaps in 2 or 3 years we should escape the cellar. Again, this is all a result of the Tom Gabbard/Jim Weaver administration.
I partially agree with you about next year. However, I think the latter half of ACC play next year will be different (and better) than this years. We’ll have key players with experience under Buzz’s system with new talent (no offense to the likes of Beyer, Johnston, Donlon, etc.) coming off the bench. The first half should be similar with growing pains as the players learn their new roles and adjust to the speed and talent of the ACC. But I think in the second half they will gel better and be able to turn some of these close losses into wins. I think we have a good shot at being the best of the “basement” next year, not the worst of the basement like this year.
And off-topic to your comment, Archdale, Buzz can’t do enough to thank Beyer and Johnston for what they’ve done through 2 different coaches!
Buzz sees what we saw vs BC – but I still love the team and where we are headed. IN a yr or two the stands will be packed again…sorry team – bburg is a little fickle on its bball team right now…
The ref told Buzz that he incorrectly called a block against Devin Wilson and that he got it wrong. Buzz told the ref I know you got it wrong.
I love Buzz. This man makes me laugh everytime he talks with the media.
Buzz is not only a great coach, he wants the best for his players…off the court!