Hokie Hotline Notes for 1/19/09

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.


Seth Greenberg

  • Against BC, Jeff Allen did a good job of carving out space and getting
    offensive rebounds. He scored in many different ways, including a
    three-pointer. He had a complete game. He played solid defense, had a great
    assist to Lewis Witcher, and he rebounded.
  • Allen also didn’t get in foul trouble. He didn’t commit any foolish fouls
    reaching in the backcourt. Tech would like to attack ball screens, but it
    gets Allen in foul trouble too much.
  • If you play in the ACC, every game is a big game. You are playing against
    someone very good. Every team you play is capable of beating anyone in the
    country. Tech will have to play very well to beat the Wake Forests of the
    world.
  • Both the ACC and Big East can spin things in their favor. You can make an
    argument for either to be the best conference in basketball. They are two
    great leagues.
  • Wake Forest puts great pressure on the basketball. They keep everything in
    front of them. They’ve got 21 feet worth of post player to defend the post.
    Their height in the frontcourt is incredible. They can contest a lot of
    shots.
  • Tech has to drive the basketball and pitch it out to get shots. They have
    to beat Wake in transition. Greenberg has never seen a group of perimeter
    defenders so long and that can contest shots like Wake can.
  • Jeff Teague is playing at a very high level right now. Wake has had three
    great recruiting classes in a row. They have built a lot of depth.
  • Victor Davila was better against Boston College. He was more aggressive
    and more active defensively. He will have a challenge on Wednesday because
    Wake is so big. This is a game where Cheick Diakite’s experience and
    toughness needs to pay off.
  • Malcolm Delaney is playing well. He’s attacking and shooting the ball.
    Greenberg would like to see him shoot the pull up jumper more, especially in
    transition. Delaney and Hank Thorns did a great job defending Tyrese Rice.
  • The NCAA voted to change the definition of a "prospect" for
    men’s basketball last week. Players can now be recruited beginning in the
    seventh grade. College coaches were getting chances to get exposure around
    those kids. The NCAA recognized that’s the way it is today, so they made the
    change.
  • Greenberg
    and other coaches won’t be going to any seventh and eighth grade basketball
    games, but they will be attending the seventh and eighth grade "phenom
    camps." First impressions are very important.
  • Tech was pretty efficient offensively against BC. They did well in their
    sets. They dumped it down to Jeff Allen, who obviously had a great game.
  • The motion that Tech is adding to their offense is evolving. They are
    getting a little bit better at it. It’s read and react.
  • Joe Trapani of Boston College is a very good player. He has good hands, he
    shoots it well, and he can play inside. Rakim Sanders is a guy who could
    play for just about anyone. They have some good players.
  • The NCAA is considering making a rule that gives underclassmen 10 days
    from the end of the Final Four to decide whether they are entering the NBA
    Draft. It would be a good rule. Right now players get about two months to
    decide, and that puts coaches in a bind. If a player is going to leave,
    you’d like to offer that extra scholarship to someone early.
  • UNC has four of their five starters put their name in for the NBA Draft
    last year. They withdrew with a week to spare. Roy Williams would have been
    hurting if all four of those players had decided to go pro, because there
    aren’t many players left to recruit at that time.
  • Tech is grinding away recruiting. The ACC is suffocating. If you don’t go
    out and get players, you are going to fall behind. Georgia Tech just got a
    commitment from the #1 player in the country.
  • The Hokies are trying to get those Top 25, Top 30 recruits. The practice
    facility could be a big boost to recruiting. The hardest playing team
    generally wins, but if you have really good players and you’re the hardest
    playing team, you can win a lot.
  • Tech is still developing their identity in the ACC. They still have some
    stereotypes to overcome. They have to get more big time players to campus.
    They aren’t quite established enough to get players like Ed Davis, who is
    from Virginia but went to North Carolina.
  • The Hokies can’t get a great player unless they recruit a great player.
    You have to recruit them until they tell you "no."
  • Practice was good on Monday. The Hokies were off on Sunday. They spent a
    lot of time on what they are going to try and do defensively against Wake
    Forest. They also tweaked a few things offensively to get better movement
    and attack certain matchups.
  • Malcolm Delaney feeds off being a part of confrontations on the court. He
    tries to draw contact. It’s sort of his motivator. He has to be reeled in a
    bit, but he’s a Baltimore kid. Baltimore basketball kids are different. They
    have a little bit of a chip on their shoulders.
  • Tech will practice late on Tuesday. That will be another seven hours of
    watching film on Wake Forest. They’ll head down to Wake Forest on Tuesday
    night, have film and have a walk through. They’ll have more film and another
    walk through on Wednesday, then they’ll get it on with the Demon Deacons.
  • This is a very talented Wake Forest team. Ish Smith, their starting point
    guard the past two years, is now coming off the bench. That’s how deep they
    are.
  • Wake is also on the same page. They have great chemistry within the
    coaching staff and within the team.

Monday was Day 1,514 of Virginia Tech’s continuous possession of the Commonwealth Cup.