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, and you can also watch the archive on hokietv.com.
Hokie Hotline Notes, sponsored by Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech
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Jim Weaver
- Weaver is very excited about the men’s soccer team. That have performed
brilliantly. Their defense was great on Saturday. - The athletics department has made an effort to improve the Olympic sports.
Weaver is pleased with all of the coaches right now. Every team is getting
better. Virginia Tech is getting better across the board. - Tech has sold about 14,700 tickets. They have an allotment of 17,000 tickets,
so they have a little ways to go. Weaver encouraged Tech fans to buy tickets
through the school to help Virginia Tech. - ESPN approached Tech and Nebraska to see if they would be willing to push their
2008 game back one week (to September 27th, 2008). Neither team had a problem doing that. Right now it looks
like this will be a nationally televised game. - The $17 million payout by the Orange Bowl goes directly to the ACC. It’s the
same for all the bowls. The bowl money, TV money, etc. is all split evenly
amongst the ACC schools. - Weaver thinks the BCS will strongly consider the plus 1 system in the future.
That would be a 4-team playoff. Weaver doesn’t think an 8-team or a 16-team
playoff would ever work. - Florida State took a good step in naming Jimbo Fisher the next head coach.
Now recruiting won’t suffer as soon as Bowden retires. - Weaver was impressed with the defense of the basketball team against GW. He
was particularly impressed with the intensity of the freshmen. - The Orange Bowl halftime show will be ZZ Top. The High Techs have been
requested to participate.
Torrian Gray
- It was great to finish the season strong, but they’ve got one more game to
win. - Gray would rate the cornerback and safety play an 8.5 or 9 for the year.
There is always room for improvement, but he is very pleased with the
performance. - Brandon Flowers had a great season. To play at his level of consistency at
the cornerback position for this long is amazing. He’s put in his paperwork to
see where he projects in the NFL Draft. He definitely has the ability to have
success at that level. - Stephan Virgil and Rashad Carmichael haven’t gotten a lot of reps because of
Harris and Flowers, but they are capable players. - Kansas has an explosive offense. They are averaging almost 500 yards per
game. They have a great system and structure. - Kansas plays from the shotgun a lot because quarterback Todd Reesing is only
about 5-9 or 5-10. The most skilled passing team Tech has played was LSU. The
top quarterback was Matt Ryan. Kansas will be right up there in the top three. - D.J. Parker is the unsung hero at safety. You know what you’re going to get
from Parker. He’s a good player. - It’s great coaching under Frank Beamer. He’s always even-keeled. Some coaches
get crazy sometimes, and are up and down, but Beamer is always the same. - Gray recruits Northern Virginia, Atlanta and the Lakeland, FL area. He’ll go
to Atlanta soon, and then to Northern Virginia. They’ll then begin practice for
the Orange Bowl. - Macho Harris has also sent in his papers to see where he projects in the NFL
Draft. - Tech has three cornerback commitments right now, and a couple at safety. Gray
is ready to get them in here and coach them up. - In the ACC Championship Game, Boston College was throwing very high percentage passes. The Hokies had to
tighten down on the wideouts and man up on the running backs. - Kansas will stretch you with their alignment and throw it sideline to
sideline. They can also throw it deep. They are a very unique offense.
Seth Greenberg
- The Hokies really finished possessions against GW. They limited them to one
shot on almost every possession. Tech pressed early on offense, but they never
stopped playing defense. - Malcolm Delaney, Terrell Bell, J.T. Thompson and Lewis Witcher all gave the
Hokies a big spark off the bench. - Cheick Diakite played an outstanding game. He really played defense.
Greenberg told him that was the best overall game of his career. It doesn’t
matter if he scores or not. He’s here to play defense and rebound. 
A.D. Vassallo took a charge in transition, and that’s not something they
expect from him a lot. Once he settled in, he played a very good game.- Hank Thorns did a great job taking the ball at the defense and then kicking
it out. His mom was in from Las Vegas, and he was excited to get the chance to
play in front of her. - Tech simplified their offense. No matter what defense GW was in, the Hokies
were going to run the same offense. - Greenberg is very pleased with the freshmen. They are starting to understand
what it takes to compete at this level. They’ve taken a huge step forward
recently in understand Tech’s defensive principles. - Dorenzo Hudson can start practicing on Friday. He’ll play more as he better
understands what Tech is trying to do offensively and defensively. He’s a very
good player. - Hudson is a big, physical guard. He’s very competitive. He has a high
basketball IQ. However, he didn’t play any basketball this summer. All he did is
school work. There will be a learning curve, and his conditioning will need some
work. - Don’t look for the Hokies to make as many trips to ODU (Sunday’s opponent)
in the future. It
doesn’t do Tech any good. They need nationally televised games on neutral courts
during out-of-conference play. They need made-for-TV events. - The Hokies will play in Puerto Rico in a made-for-TV event next year. It’s an
ESPN event. Tech will have Victor Davila and A.D. Vassallo, who are Puerto Rico
natives. - Kendall Durant, who will play for Tech next year, did a good job in a
tournament at Fork Union this past weekend. Victor Davila is on a bad team, but
he’s getting about 20 rebounds every night. Gene Swindle is averaging 16 or 17 a
game. - Greenberg doesn’t know if they will sign another player late this year. They
hope to get another early commitment for 2009. - ODU is playing very well. The have out redounded Louisville, UNC and
Georgetown. They have two experienced guards who are playing very well, and they
have a good inside game as usual. - Tech has talked to Washington and Gonzaga about a series. Maybe a game in
Spokane, and a game in Norfolk. - ODU has only lost five games in the Constant Center since it was opened.
Frank Beamer
- Recruiting is going very well. They hope to finish it up pretty soon and then
get ready for next year. - Beamer is proud of the team for winning the ACC Championship. They came
together and played good team football. - It’s hard to take so much time off when you are playing so well. But it’s the
same for everybody else as well. They have to work in practice to keep their
timing. - The Hokies have some guys that are going to graduate on Friday. They are:
Xavier Adibi, Barry Booker, Chris Ellis, Matt Finnegan, Sean Glennon, Eddie
Royal, Vince Hall, Josh Hyman, Nick Marshman, Kory Robertson and Brett Warren.
Players who have already graduated are Jud Dunlevy, Carlton Powell, Carlton Weatherford, Bart McMillan and Matt Welsh. - The team will start practicing again on Saturday. The underclassmen will have
two practices without the seniors on Sunday and Monday. The team will have
fundamental practices on Tuesday and Wednesday. - Kansas is second in scoring offense and fifth in scoring defense. This is a
really good football team. They are excellent offensively, and their defense is
very underrated. - If the Hokies can win this game, they can end up second of third in most of
the polls. That would be a great season. - Beamer doesn’t recall a Tech defense playing this well over a three or four year
stretch. This isn’t the same football team that played LSU.
Oliver Weiss
- Virginia Tech’s men’s soccer team is heading to the College Cup (men’s
soccer final four). There was a
lot of determination and persistence from the players and coaches this year. - They knew they were going to have a good team before the season. When they
went on a 15-game unbeaten streak, they knew they had a chance to have something
special. - The Hokies played tremendous defense against UConn. Defense wins
championships. That old saying is true. Nobody gave the Hokies a chance in that
game, and that served as motivation. - Wake Forest (Friday’s opponent) is a very good team. They tied the Hokies 3-3 in the regular
season. - A lot of things are possible when you actually make a commitment to it. Being
in a good conference is obviously important. A lot of things have to come
together to make things like this possible. - Wake Forest is possibly the best team in the country right now, them and
UConn. The Hokies have taken out the Huskies, now they need to take out the
Demon Deacons. They were in the College Cup last year, so they’ve got
experience.
Monday was Day 1,108 of Virginia Tech’s continuous possession of the Commonwealth Cup.
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