I've stated before I'm a bigger VT hoops fan than I am football. Always have been. That being said, I've watched every second of every game this year and have made it to 4 home games. My seats are typically 3-4 rows behind the Tech bench, and it's been awesome to watch/listen to the dynamics on the bench, during timeouts, scheming, etc.

People don't realize how good of a Cornell team that was that came to Blacksburg last night. They light it up offensively. Sure, their strength of schedule isn't great. But they played a close game against Penn State until the final minute, waxed a Colgate team that beat Syracuse by 15 (and dropped 100 on them), and statistically is in the top 5 scoring teams in the country. Our defense has been a major issue the last 5 games, and we bounced back by holding them to 60 points (10 of which came in garbage time).

A few players I want to talk about:
Maddox is the real deal. I've been saying it since last year. Personally I think he should've played double the minutes he got last year, but it was nice to see him get 25 minutes last night. I would strongly consider starting him. I LOVE his game. He's bouncy, he doesn't miss, and he fights for rebounds. His length is unreal. From a physical standpoint, we have two guys on our roster who could be NBA players: Maddox and N'Guessan. They're not there yet, but you can see the potential. If I'm Young, I give Maddox the green light every time he's at our end of the court.

Pedulla. He's the guy. He's starting next year and will hold the spot for the following years after that. He's a better defender, shooter, and attacker than Murphy. While Murphy is the team leader vocally and did a really good job facilitating last night, we saw, in my opinion, the game that turned the tide for our point guard minutes. Don't be surprised if Pedulla passes Murphy in minutes played very very soon. We will start Murphy for his leadership and to keep continuity in the lineup, but Pedulla is going to play starter's minutes. He's money from 3, attacks the rim like he's 6 inches taller, and has fantastic court vision. Kid can play.

Cattoor. It was nice to see him draining 3s once again. His defense has probably been the best of anyone on the team this year--and he's drawing the opponents' best offensive guard every night. To do what he's done on defense is nothing short of spectacular. Even if he doesn't hit a shot, Young can't keep him off the court. I'm really impressed by his improvement year to year.

We needed this win. Are we all of the sudden a top-25 team? No. I think we're safely in the 35-50 range, and we'll be there all season. We've got a brutal stretch coming up, and we could go 1-3 just as easy as we could go 3-1 through those games. Expect whatever Mike Young did or said to the team after Wake to be the norm moving forward.

Go Hokies.