HokieHill

We could not defend the high pick and roll (pick and rolls at the top of the key). UNC was a master at it, they used it continually and we could not stop it with our flat hedge. MY eventually went to a hard hedge but you can tell we don't practice a hard hedge as much and it was especially tough with Gurdak (and always will be, he just isn't quick enough). I think Hansberry would have performed better and maybe given us a better chance using the hard hedge but it probably wouldn't have mattered. We don't have a counter when we get in these situations. I now MY doesn't like zone but I wish we had one in the toolbox we could pull out when we get into situations like last night to at least change up their rhythm. The fouls were frustrating but I think we could have overcome them if we could have played some kind of D against the high pick and roll. ** Edited by HokieHill at 3/1/2026, 8:58:01 PM

Just looked up and see Robie has 3 camps this summer. I assume the "High Performance Camp" which is for experienced wrestlers. Seems like it may be limited in participation and they vet those who will attend.

I have a customer whose son wrestles in SC. We've talked through the years about VT's wrestling program - his son dreams of going there. He's now a junior in SC and the #1 wrestler in state. His name is Xavier Gonzalez, I linked his Flo profile below. Is this guy even close to getting a look from VT? If so, is there somewhere or someone I can point him to that he should contact and let VT know that he'd like to be recruited. Any advice I can pass along to my customer is welcome. Thanks in advance ** Edited by HokieHill at 2/20/2026, 12:26:02 PM ** Edited by HokieHill at 2/20/2026, 12:27:21 PM

Hop on a Facebook Santa Fe owners group and it won't be long before you come across a post with an early engine failure followed by many comments of users with a similar experience. Probably same experience for a Sorento owners group.

You will get a lot more for your $ with Kia/Hyundai but they won't last much past 100,000 miles. My strategy now is to buy them new and not drive them past 100k miles. We now put ~12k miles per year so I plan to own my current Hyundai Palisade for 8 years. I bought it new in December, got the 2025 model at a really good price. I bought a Kia Soul for my daughter when she went to college. Engine died at 120,000 miles. Kia replaced it under warranty. She got another 60,000 miles out of that engine then it died. I bought a 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe. Engine died with 125,000 miles. Hyundai replaced it under warranty. That happened in Fall of 2025. I bought new Hyundai Palisade a few months later. If you don't get oil changed at dealer, save your receipts. You will need them if the engine dies early. I recommend using the dealer for oil changes so they have record.

** Edited by HokieHill at 2/11/2026, 5:10:36 PM

mostly students booing. For those there do you agree? It was painful to hear. Bottom line - if Neo can play to his potential we are a tough out. Hope he can turn it around.

I don't think we tear down their shots. I don't think we make any changes to their shots. I reviewed peoples shots to see if they had pretty good to good shooting forms. I think Schutt and Neo have mostly good shot forms and are more likely to shoot better and more consistently going forward without any changes. I think it is harder for Lawal and Hansberry to shoot better and more consistently going forward. But we can't change anything during the season. And I think you're right, there isn't time to make these changes in college. They are what they are in college. Plus I'm a MY fan. Hope he stays around many more years and coaches VT. ** Edited by HokieHill at 1/28/2026, 12:25:42 PM

I see your point with the box in regard to fixing Neo's shot. To me - you are trying to get him back to his original shooting form and I agree with that. I don't think any changes need to be made - especially in season. I really didn't think he was leaning back too much, I'll watch next time. To me he's just lost confidence. He needs to stop trying to guide the ball and shoot.

** Edited by HokieHill at 1/28/2026, 12:21:00 PM

Not sure how big the box is. I think you should jump forward slightly. If you are working on making sure they are jumping toward the basket I agree. If you are working on them jumping up and coming down I disagree. For those interested - here's a video showing what I mean.

I think if you have good shooting form you are more likely to be a more consistent shooter. I think Neo and Schutt have a chance to come out of their slump and shoot better and more consistently from game to game. Hansberry and Lawal will at best be streaky shooters because of their form. My point being I think we can hope Neo and Schutt get hot and consistent. We need that for the stretch run. Schutt has the best form of all, he just shoots with no arc so there is less room for error. But he always shoots straight. He's either off the back of the rim or hitting the front.

At this point we are what we are. I point form out because some guys are in a slump and have a better chance of coming out of it and shooting consistently for the rest of the season due to good form. I put Neo and Schutt in this category. Some are what they are and will be up and down for the season. I put Hansberry and Lawal in this category.

Don't like the hate directed his way. Just makes it harder to get out of it - but I'm sure MY is encouraging him and hopefully the team is too. We need his shooting and good play on offense.

Some shooters - like Steph Curry - are a 1 motion shooter without much of a jump. Other shooters - like Kobe - are 2 motion shooters. They bring the ball up and little back while they jump, then they motion forward at the top of their jump. Neo is a 2 motion shooter. There are alot of other variables but the 5 things I mention should be part of a good shooters form.

Kids are taught to shoot. If you drill the 5 things I mentioned from when they are young they will be good shooter.

Good consistent shooters have the following: 1. Slight turn 2. Elbow aligned with hand (no chicken wing) 3. Ball release off pointing or middle finger (or both) 4. Left hand on side of ball - not used in the shot 4a. Some shooter use left thumb flick - ok with that but it can quickly devolve to too much left hand 5. Good arc 6. Natural shooting ability. Some kids shoot perfectly but their brain just can't figure out the right amount of force consistently Good shooters rarely miss to the left or the right. They are either long or short but straight. Here's my take on our shooters Hammond - good form, uses left hand a bit too much. Look at still pics of his shot and you'll see his hand facing forward. It's because he rotates his hand during shot. If he starts missing to the left or right it's because of too much left hand. Schutt - good form, not enough arc. If you don't shoot with much arc you have to be more accurate on the amount of force you use. I think Schutt would be a lights out shooter if he had more arc in his shot. Neo - generally good shooting form - he's just mental midget currently when it comes to shooting. No confidence. Sometimes his left hand is more on top of ball instead of side. But I think he's just in a slump. Needs to shoot alot after practice. Bedford - good form except he uses his left hand in his shot. Sometimes alot. Also, sometimes ball seems to come off his 3rd, 4th, and pinkie fingers. That's what I see sometimes live, but I've never seen a still photo showing it. Using alot of left hand (and maybe the bad release at times) make him a streaky shooter. He also misses badly to the left or right which means he's not a consistent shooter. Hansberry - shoots with a chicken wing. Is prone to being streaky and inconsistent because of that. Lawal - unfortunately someone drilled into him feet and shoulders square to the basket. No turn in his stance. Too much tension in his shot - he's prone to inconsistency. You guys agree with this, disagree? Lemme know.

Both teams have elite big men with different styles. Can Edey guard Clingan. Can Clingan guard Edey. Will be fascinating to see if it happens.

These guys were discussing final 4 and how good a job Nate Oats has done and they make a comment about their NIL. See link below - I have it start where they start discussing Alabama and then comment on their NIL. ** Edited by HokieHill at 4/3/2024, 6:44:59 PM

If mid-major then for sure not Megan (Big East not mid-major) and probably not Lindsay (some consider AAC mid-major, some don't). So that leaves Aaron and Karl, probably need to extend our list.

Tired of the KB discussion. He's gone, let's move on. Hopefully Whit is willing to spend $ to keep the WBB train rolling. Maybe even keep some of our existing players. To do so, I think he needs to get an offensive minded coach. Here's my list of possible replacements 1. Lindsday Edmonds (Rice). She seems to be the favorite of this board. Not my favorite but I'd be happy if she comes. 2. Megan Duffy (Marquette) - Rising star, reported that she interviewed for Pitt job last year so I think she's open to leave. 3. Aaron Roussell (Richmond) - Won everywhere he goes. He should be ready to coach at P5. Would be similar to our hiring CKB 8 years ago. 4. Karl Smesko - if you like driving to basket he's your coach. Dribble drive offensive, his team either shoots a lay-up or a 3 pointer. I think Karl is intriguing but of this list my preference is Megan. Not sure we've discussed her as a possiblity. It will be interesting to see what names are floated around. If history is a guide, once a name is floated we know they won't be the choice 😎

Video starts where they ask Karl what it would take him to leave - I think Virginia Tech fits the bill. If you've got time watch the whole video. I think he'd be a good fit here - what do other think?

If Hicks is building her coaching resume she may want to be an assistant under someone else. If we hire a HC who gets enough $ for assistants that he/she can match UKs pay then she may stay. Didn't Bud get dinged for not coaching under other HCs? Wasn't Shane an assistant under multiple head coaches? Didn't that make him more valuable? I assume this applies to bball coaches too.

1st - Lindsey Hicks will have to be replaced if Strack is going to stay. It's my understanding she's the one who primarily recruited and developed Kitley. I suspect she is the reason Strack is here. I think making her HC and asking her to keep VT performing at a high level is too much of a risk. She will have to learn the HC part on the job and I suspect the learning curve will be too steep. But if Strack is considering staying she'll need a coach like Hicks. I like CKBs style and I think it will be hard to replace. To me he plays closer to a "Euro style", especially with his bigs. I was interested to see what he would do with Strack as I think she can play a more "American style" of basketball as a big . There aren't many wbb head coaches who have capable bigs playing a Euro style. Hence why I think he will be hard to replace. If there are some Euro style wbb coaches that fit what Whit is looking for and can recruit and coach bigs in their system then we should go after them. I just don't know any. I also think CKB was focused more on playing an elite offensive style of basketball and being good on the defensive end. There are plenty of wbb coaches that have that philosophy and here are 2 that I know of which I think are interesting: 1. Aaron Roussell - HC, Richmond Spiders I think he checks the boxes for Whit's criteria. He's a proven winner. Recruit the footprint - kind of. Not sure what that means exactly but most of his players come from the surrounding states of Virginia. I assume he's driven to succeed. I think he's good with player development - he's had multiple freshmen of the year at his stops and a player of the year. Not mentioned in Whit's PC but another plus is he's an offensive minded coach. I think he will appeal to the players currently at Tech. Not sure how he is at developing post players - that's my concern for Strack. Not sure if there is even a chance for her to stay, but if there is I think she wants to be sure the incoming coach is good at developing post players. He will need to find an assistant who can recruit and keep bigs if he wants to keep Strack. 2. Karl Smesko - FGCU Good offensive minded coach - we saw it up close a few years ago. Here's a good article on him. Seems like a good guy. Again - don't know if he has any experience with having an elite big but he seems like a coach who can quickly adapt to this style. ** Edited by HokieHill at 3/27/2024, 4:42:29 PM

I don't think there is much else you can do with such a short time to prepare. That puts all the pressure on Strack and Rose as her backup. Strack is capable of putting up numbers - she just doesn't have the experience doing it. Plus we don't know how well she handles the double. I suspect Baylor will put more pressure on her because they are bigger and will either skirmish with the guard on her side or double her. Our outside shooters will need to be making them. Also - congrats to the girls playing well. I was so looking forward to seeing how far this team would go - I think the Amoore/Kitley duo could take us to a final 4 again. But we won't get to see and that so disappointing. Good luck to the ladies team on Sunday. Beat Baylor!

And let's see what CKB can do. If we make it to the Sweet 16 we've accomplished alot. And we've gotten a head start on team chemistry for next year. With Kitley this year - the offense was to see if you can stop her (either with a feed into the post or later in the season with the EK/GA pick and roll). If you didn't help - we'd let Liz pick you apart. If you help or doubled we'd get you in rotation, find the open shooter, and hopefully beat you with scoring from the other 4. Without Kitley we have a talented team of ladies that hasn't learned to play together in a style that takes advantage of their strengths. Typically the 1st half of the season is used to achieve that chemistry. This year CKB used the 1st half to figure out Rose was not going to work and he then integrated Strack into her minutes. I hoped Wenzel would come along more during the season, we need her more now. I wish she had more experience and was more confident shooting. I think she'll be a 40% 3pt shooter for us when it's all done. Ideally we replace Kitley with Strack and play the same style. That would be the easiest change but then our whole tournament performance depends on Strack and she's not there yet. So we'll have some other approach and it will be interesting to see what it is. Whatever it is it will be tough to get working at a high level in the limited practices we have - so I won't be surprised if we don't get to the Sweet 16. I won't be surprised if we lose to Marshall. And I don't think we'll be a terrible team next year if we do. No matter what happens it's been great watching this team play the past 2 seasons. I haven't had this much fun watching 2 years of a VT sport since '99/00. Kinda feels like 99/00 when we had this incredible run in 99 by the football team and a chance to do it again in 2000 except our star player gets hurt at a critical point in the season. ** Edited by HokieHill at 3/19/2024, 1:48:42 PM

With Kitley being out of ACCT, I wonder what changes KB will make. If he can I think he may go smaller and play more 4 out 1 in style. Today they play more with the 4 going in and out - often using the 4 at the elbow for a high-low play with Kitley. May be too hard to make this change, but I think we may be better suited going small at the 4 and playing 4 out 1 in when Strack is at the 5 and maybe 5 out if Summiel is at the 5. When Strack is in we can see if she can beat her man 1 on 1. We hear she lights it up in practice - maybe she's ready. With Summiel we play her at the elbow extended and work to get back door cuts or shots for her at the elbow. I think this will give us a chance to live or die by the 3 and get plenty of open shots. 1 - 4 players will be GA, King, Ekh, Wenzel, and Baker and the 5 will be Summiel and Strack. May be too much of a change - not sure he can tweak our sets to take advantage. Plus this group will need to quickly work out how to score. But I think that set up has a higher ceiling than trying to replace Kitley and run same sets. Just not sure we can get close to the ceiling in the ACCT and NCAA tourney.

I'm not sure of the flagrant 1 foul rule - but I think it should've been a flagrant 1. Why I don't think it is intentional - I think #2 is swiping up hard to knock the ball out of Kitley's hand. Completely misses, which causes her arm to flex back behind her head. I think she then pulls her arm back down to a both hands up position, but the momentum from her arm being so far behind her head took her elbow into Kitley's forehead. Or, she does this alot and knows hot to miss with the swipe up so she can come back with the elbow and then claim it was an accident from her swipe up.

Combined yesterday they shot 20% from 3pt. If they shoot 35%+ from 3pt, which they should do, teams will have to pick their poison - help on the Amoore/Kitley 2 man game and allow 3pt shots or see if your best 2 defenders can defend Amoore/Kitley. The coach's know best, but I wonder why CKB doesn't give Wenzel more time when King or Ekh are off. She doesn't seem to be a drop off on D and I think she can shoot 35%+ from 3pt and is a good option if King or Ekh is having an off night. She hasn't had a high volume 3pt shooting night - I'd like to see what she can do if she puts up 8+ 3pt shots.

Carly Wenzel. Click the pick and take a look. Thing of beauty. Whoever worked with her on her jump shot got it right.

She's a great player - for sure one of, if not the best to ever wear the VT jersey. As I said, love watching her play and thankful she's one of ours. And she is a good/great shooter. With enough practice you can be consistent even with the left hand involved as much as hers. But I think she can be more consistent if she had less left hand in her shot. If you remember Regan Magarity, she had too much left hand in her shot. Probably didn't practice her shot as much as Kitley - she drove more to the basket and never really became much of a shooter. At one point they had her shooting free throws with one hand only. I'm sure it was to make her more consistent on her shot. Same would apply to Kitley. She can go from great to elite. Just my opinion.

Before getting to the adjustment - I want to say what a joy Kitley is to watch. I think her game is perfectly suited to her capabilities. Not all centers have to be "physical." Two of the best centers of all time, Kareem and Tim Duncan were not "physical." Many parts of her game are elite, especially her footwork. I think CKB is right to have her work on the 2 man game with Amoore and her 3 point shooting. I don't think she will get the 3pt shooting into her game before her VT career ends, but if she did, this team would be even more difficult to stop offensively. It would also allow Rose to get some playing time. I mentioned Tim Duncan above and he could dribble drive on people. I think Kitley can add that to her game too, but it will take years. It would've been best to develop those skills in high school. So the adjustment I'd make to Kitley's game - she has too much left hand in her jump shot. I think that's what makes her a streaky shooter even though she only takes jump shots from 15ft or less. If you look at every picture of her shooting you will see her left hand fully rotated and her thumb bent in. Many players flick their thumb forward when shooting (Ekh does, look at pics of her shot and you will see her thumb flicked in but her left hand is not rotated). Steph Curry often does. I don't think it disrupts the ball coming off your right hand. But Kitley uses her left hand so much that it becomes an additional variable she has to get right when she's shooting. She could've fixed this during one of her off seasons but didn't.

she'll get passed. I suspect Rose is more physical then Summiel and probably a better rebounder (Summiel is good, don't get me wrong). To me they were similar players with Summiel a better shooter and able to play facing the basket. When Summiel drifts out to the 3pt line she has to be guarded. Rose does not. That's OK, 3 pt shooting wasn't Rose's game. But when Summiel gets the ball on the elbow she has to be guarded and can play high/low with Kitley. When Rose gets the ball on the elbow they do not guard her because she can't shoot a 15 ft jump shot. So she can't play high low. She can't get to the rim and score either. That's what Taylor Soule would do because she didn't have a 15 ft jump shot either. Clara Strack brings the same game currently as Rose with more height and a higher ceiling. So they are working her in. Bottom line - Rose is too much of an offensive liability to play. I assume they were hopeful she could develop her game as she only played with her back to the basket before coming to Tech. But she was unable to transition.

the streamers mostly came from out of market.

3 of her fouls were for moving screens, and they were all obvious. First foul was a joke, last foul could have been let go. Getting one foul for a moving screen is somewhat acceptable, getting 3 is not. She'll learn.

Go watch them: P1 - Kitley turnaround jump shot, lightly contested, miss No impact from D P2 - contested Amoore 3 pt shot, miss - offensive rebound, Amoore uncontested floater, miss P3 - King floater late in shot clock - offensive rebound, Kitley uncontested fade away, miss P4 - Micheaux turnover P5 - Wenzel uncontested 3pt shot - make Yes it was loud. Yes LSU was being aggressive. But we got a good shot on every possession except the 4th one. 4 out of 5 possessions isn't bad and the analysis would be the same if I kept going. The bigger issue to me was Micheaux and the offensive liability that she is.

I know I'm repeating myself, but we did not have trouble getting uncontested or lightly contested shots. We just missed them.

I think she was to be Traylor's replacement. She's not going to the rim on her quickness but she's 6' tall and needs to use her body to get to the rim and score. She did it early against LSU. But what's most disappointing is her shooting. She's shooting less than 30% from 3pt, whereas Traylor shot 33%. That's why I think Wenzel may get more playing time - especially if she can shoot 3's at a higher percentage and become OK on D. Also, Micheaux has every weakness Soule had plus she can't get to the rim and score where Soule could. I'm not hopeful that she will get there. So Strack may need to play more. I think the day Micheaux stepped on campus she needed to shoot 100+ 15 ft jump shots a day and make that part of her game. They leave her unguarded and she can't drive, but I believe any player can shoot a 15ft jump shot at a 50% clip if they work on it.

I know that seems to be the theme of our bball teams lately - but we can play with LSU we just didn't play well. It was a tough environment and LSU is really good. We have to play really good to stay with them and we didn't. Offensively - we got the shots we wanted. We were not taking bad shots, they were good or great shots. We shot 4/21 from 3pt and almost all were not contested or not highly contested shots. Go 9/21 (42%) which is not outside of our capability and we make up 15 points. Also, Kitley needs to shoot 50% or better when she's getting her shots - and she was. She was 6 - 16, but in a game at this level it would help if she were 8 - 16 or better. Plus alot of her made shots, I think, were after the game was out of hand. Last thought on O - we needed a 3rd player who was a threat. King got her shot blocked in Q1, followed by a wide open 3pt shot from the corner that was air mailed and she was done. Ekh was not awful but she couldn't hit her 3 either. I would like to have seen Wenzel get more minutes to see what happened. Defensively we gave up to many offensive rebounds. Our guards need to find their man also and block out better. We clean that up and the game is closer too, even if we don't shoot a little better. Maybe the stage was a little too big for some of the players. Ekh, Micheaux, Wenzel, others haven't played in an environment like that often. Now they have twice. Hopefully they are getting comfortable with it and will be better once the ACC and NCAA tourneys get here. Some thoughts about individual players and other stuff: I hope Micheaux finds her place - but in this game it hurt to have her in there. Offensively they don't guard her closely because she can't make a 15ft jump shot (like Soule) and she can't get to the rim and finish (unlike Soule). King - she's lost confidence. After her blocked shot she had a wide open 3 from the corner and air mailed it. Strack will be good - I think Kenny planned to use her more so her fouling out early hurt. The officiating was not good but Strack earned 3 of her fouls for moving screens, and they were. I'm sure they will work on that, but she has to learn to screen better. The refs allowing Reese to drop her shoulder and displace her defender is just annoying. It's basketball at its worst. You can't play zone against LSU this year. Van Lith and Williams shoot the ball too well. ** Edited by HokieHill at 12/1/2023, 8:29:50 AM