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.
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Seth Greenberg
- Greenberg coached on Saturday, then flew to Oregon to meet with a recruit. He
hasn’t had a lot of sleep lately, but sleep isn’t a priority right now. - With six freshmen playing between 7 and 29 minutes per game, you’re going to
have a hiccup or two. That was a hiccup on Saturday, and it was the first real
hiccup they’ve had this year. UNC played very well, and the Hokies did not play
well. - It’s just one game. Tech is still at a push. They’ve played five home ACC
games, and they’ve got five ACC wins. Probably the most optimistic person wouldn’t
have picked them to have five ACC wins at this point, though the team is
disappointed they don’t have more. 
The league is about who you play, when you play and where you play. They’ve
had more road games than home games, and they are 5-6 right now.- Malcolm Delaney is 18 years old, and he was very frustrated after the loss on
Saturday. Somebody stuck a microphone in front of his face, and he said what he
felt. That situation has been addressed. - Tech has good kids. As a group, the freshmen are playing collectively at a
high level. They were disappointed, because none of them have ever experienced a
loss like that in all their years playing basketball. Nobody is going to get
banished. - 61% of Tech’s minutes are played by freshmen. The team closest to that is
Boston College, at a little over 30%. (Editor’s Note: We covered freshman
minutes in the ACC in TSLMail
#315 back on February 1st.) - Tech lost to Rutgers 85-52 when Jamon and Zabian were freshmen. Rutgers went
on a 30-0 run in that game. And that was Rutgers, not North Carolina. - When Greenberg was at Long Beach State, they lost at VCU by 35. On the way
back to Long Beach, they stopped off at Kansas to play the #1 Jayhawks just two
days after losing to VCU. Long Beach won the game. That’s basketball. Sometimes
things happen. - UNC had many matchup advantages. Tech had to guard the 6-9, 250 Hansbrough
with 6-6, 224 J.T. Thompson. That’s not a great matchup for the Hokies. - Tech athletics asks
fans to wear red and black at the basketball game on Saturday, in honor of
Northern Illinois, who had to go through a situation similar to April 16 this
past week. - Tech has to really work on defensive transition and shot selection against
Maryland. They really push the ball at you hard. Defensively they pressure the
ball and try to force quick, bad shots. - Tech has to defend the post early and handle their screens. Don’t let them
dictate the shots they are going to take. - Jeff Allen has to improve his screening technique. Early in the UNC game he
was called for a moving screen. He slid his hips a little bit and didn’t come to
a complete stop. It wasn’t blatant, but it was enough to get the call. - Maryland’s Bombale Osby has had a great senior season. He’s a blue collar
guy. He competes every night, and plays at a high level. He plays how they are
trying to get Cheick to play. He has to buy into that role. -
Image provided by TechHoops.comTech has sent a letter out to all student season ticket holders and regular
season ticket holders asking them to please be in attendance for Senior Night
(Tuesday, March 4th) to honor Deron Washington and Marcus Travis. If you aren’t
going, turn your tickets in to the basketball office so they can be
redistributed. (Editor’s Note: The Virginia Tech ticket office phone number is
1-800-VA-TECH4, or 1-800-828-3244). - Georgia Tech is 1-4 in ACC play at home this year, the four losses coming by
a combined six points. However, this game will be played in Cassell. - Matt Causey is playing at a very high level for the Yellow Jackets. They have
good frontcourt players. When you can bring Lewis Clinch off the bench, you’ve
got talent. - There is no night off in the ACC. In most leagues, there is one or two teams
that you never have to worry about. In the Pac-10, Oregon State hasn’t won a
game. Northwestern hasn’t won a game in Big Ten play. - Deron is a little frustrated. It’s his senior year, and he probably feels he
has to do a little more than he actually does. Greenberg is trying to get him to
concentrate on running the court, rebounding and defending. He’s probably
putting too much pressure on himself. - Greenberg and Dorenzo Hudson have been working together for an hour each day
since last week. Greenberg is trying to get his confidence back up, and he had a
terrific practice on Monday. - Tech isn’t as good a three-point shooting team right now as Greenberg thought
they would be. Part of it is they aren’t getting the ball reversed as quickly as
they need to, and part of it is they’ve got some guys taking more threes than
they need to be taking. - Hank Thorns will be a solid three-point shooter. He’s not sure where all his
shots are coming from right now. Dorenzo Hudson will be a much better
three-point shooter a year from now. J.T. Thompson can knock down some outside
jumpers as well, he just has to learn that he can hit those shots. - Greenberg told an interesting story. Jim Valvano was an assistant coach for UConn,
and he was recruiting Brad Greenberg. The Greenberg brothers had 3 tickets to
the Nets game, but Valvano came for an in-home visit with Brad that night. They
were trying their best to get him to leave quickly, and he asked why. They told
him they had tickets to the game, and he asked if they had any extras. Valvano
ended up going to the game with the Greenberg brothers. - Maryland guard Eric Hayes did not play in the first game against the Hokies.
However, Adrian Bowie had double figures, and he offset the loss of Hayes that
night. That might be his only double
figure game for Maryland. (Editor’s Note: Close. The game after scoring 12
against VT, Bowie had 10 against Wake Forest. Since that Wake game, he has
scored just 14 points in 8 ACC games.) - Hank Thorns did an excellent job defensively against Greivis Vasquez in the
first meeting. He really pressured the ball well. - Maryland forward James Gist is 19th in ACC history in shots blocked. He
is very explosive off the floor. He runs the floor really well. You have to take
Maryland out of transition. They are a good team. If the season ended today,
Maryland would set the ACC record for shots blocked per game. - Tech has a cause. The UNC game isn’t reflective of who
they are as a team. They still have a chance to have a very special season with
three home games remaining. They feel terrible about the UNC game, but they are
still in pretty good shape. - The Miami game eats at Greenberg a little bit because it was a home game. The
UNC game was a throwaway game. - Georgia Tech has a couple of excellent three-point shooters in Anthony Morrow
and Matt Causey. Greenberg thought they might be a breakthrough team in the ACC
this year, but it hasn’t happened for them. They are
talented, however. - To beat Maryland, Tech has to rebound well, contain Vasquez, stop their
transition game, and make some shots. Tech hasn’t won in
College Park yet, and it would be a good time to notch that first win. - Malcolm Delaney and Jeff Allen will be playing close to home. Delaney is from
Baltimore, and Allen is from D.C.
Monday was Day 1,178 of Virginia Tech’s continuous possession of the
Commonwealth Cup.
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