bgna

baskets said? We headed for upper deck and sat center court, but the seating diagram from UVA showed the entire section behind baskets should have been general admission. Noticed it was roped off when we got there and filled gradually with UVA fans in their white shirts. Did it turn reserved when they "opened up more seats" last week? They did everything in their power to keep Hokie fans out of camera range, but you could tell their reserved sections were not full. I even tried to buy a suite for this one and they told me on phone they were sold out, but some were empty. I get that many people buy season tix to women's bball and other "cheap" sports just to get points for football priority, but I have a track record of buying direct from them and did not see anything open up this year except GA (last year I got tickets right behind Evan Hughes and the bench). I even called to try to do a group of 20 with a reservation, but nothing was open. Just have to wonder where those roped off seats were sold and if they have me in their system as a Hokie now....

Granted the foul that was called was one of the tamer of the night, but when people are getting mugged under the basket, she knew she had to go hard to that rim and finish. Very unfortunate, but contextually something that could have been avoided if the refs hadn't let shoving matches turn into walks and wrestling matches turn into jump balls all night long.

...slapped, shoved and pushed around. I sat across the aisle from her parent's last year and was amazed that her Dad didn't storm the court with the level of "physicality" on display. While the foul that led to Liz getting hurt was pretty tame compared to everything else that was not getting called, players are going to go harder to get through getting roughed up and I think we saw the aftermath of that. Standing alone, that injury looks "freak" but in the context of how UVA (and just about every other ACC team now) plays us, it was bound to happen. There were more walks and jump balls called in this year's game than I think I've ever seen and it was because players were getting shoved and wrestled. Not calling the fouls that ended up in a walk or jump ball just empowered that crappy behavior and when you think it's coming, you do things you normally wouldn't do to avoid it. These officials have got to control the BS on the court and protect the players so we can all enjoy watching talent mature. Calling a touch foul after letting muggings go only causes players to go a lot harder at the basket than they normally would and we saw the aftermath. Attaching some photos from last year in JPJ when I had MUCH better seats and was shocked at the flailing and slapping that refs let go. Liz was hit in face multiple times in that game. Her Dad was not happy, but remained stoic and her Mom was letting the refs know a thing or two as Liz repeatedly wiped something off her face as she was going up and down the court. I don't know how they survive these games, but I hope that Liz can come back quickly from whatever took her out this year. Our hearts go out to them, Liz, Coach Brooks and the queens as we wait to hear more.

...behind baskets. Hokies higher up, but much louder outside and inside JPJ. If it was sold out, they sure had a ton of no shows, too.

Go Hokie Nation!!

....and it says we control our destiny to get there. Just win, Hokies!!

...they said ushers would help move people. Also asked if they could do something for ADA/seniors when they clear out Cassell between gamey and reopening for game. Only 1/2 hour window, but there's no seating at entrances and standing/jostling will be a nightmare with everyone trying to get out and back in. Had not even thought about it and suggested going to cars. Told them that worked at opening day games because the 2nd game was the mens game and it was all assigned. This is different with 1/2 the arena GA. Said they had a facilities meeting and would discuss, but don't see anything in the release this evening. Good luck, but don't give up.

Info is here for the timelines, but if you go to GameDay, doors open at 9:30 and have to sit on one side. Everyone has to evacuate at noon and come back in at 12:30 for the game. That will be a zoo. Last time they did this (women's first game of season), the guys game was the 2nd game and you could go wait in car as everyone had assigned seats. This time, 1/2 the seats will be GA so you won't see people taking their time coming back. I called to see if they would do something for people with ADA passes and senior citizens, but they hadn't planned anything yet. Not optimistic they will do anything, but a separate entrance or waiting area would be very helpful so they don't have to stand around or get trampled trying to get to a seat.

...have the ushers help. Row P and Q are still supposed to be for ADA partrons in GA. Won't make people happy that rush there at opening to have to move, though. I'll probably call ticket office again this week as having game day will make it even harder to get there early enough for parking and ADA seats.

Only 11 tickets on the seatgeek site and prices go from $238 for General Admission to over $4k for the corner. So glad I picked up 4 GA tix at $12 each when the UNC coach said we wouldn't sell out Cassell. Kenny Brooks is King of Cassell for getting these ladies to this point.

...but there were several poor calls made. I was not tracking who made them, though.

...the fans got very vocal in Cassell over the officiating. It was posted on this board that the female on crew said in tunnel after game that she was filling a complaint for the names she was called. Others chimed in that she was awful and had been in the WF game earlier that year. ESPN says the crew was: Carla Fountain Jeffrey Smith John Capolino Yesterday, the crew was: Carla Fountain Fatou Cissoko-Stephens Saif Esho Ugh! Looks like a common thread even if different guys at our 2 most horribly officiated games the last 2 seasons.

Last year, we had a terribly called game at Cassell and the fans got on the ref crew pretty vocally. It was alleged on one of these Internet boards that the woman on that crew alleged that VT had a racist crowd in a complaint to ACC. I know that many were asking for VT to file a complaint of our own before that came out. I don't think she's been back to Cassell, but it may have been her in Tallahassee. I don't recall which game was the problem last year and can't be 100% certain it's same ref without looking back, but it was all too familiar yesterday.

Made arm gestures to student section when they pulled out a win. Played like he has a vendetta. They will come in this week angry and dangerous.

there is an ESPN story about Fuente and this case that came out this year with a series of other stories that cast Fuente in a positive light at VT. I have to believe it was part of a public relations blitz for him to get back into coaching as the timing for its release was off and it was part of a series of 3 stories released in early Fall about Fuente by ESPN. Soon after this blitz, he did take a new coaching job...

...but definitely wasn't empty. We shuttled down and I walked back as shuttles were quite full and busy. That one did not have as many people as this one, though. Parking is crazy near stadium (even with a pass). Traffic to stadium is even crazier as the parade ends there and they shut down roads for that. I'd get there when things open to get a decent spot for parking and not miss start of game (which has happened to many in past). Driving around day of game will be difficult. Parade closes down roads and traffic is a nightmare. Find a parking space and then walk or shuttle until way after game is over. We've intended to see parade both times we went and never made it. If you can get there really early, park near parade route and start with that. Things should be less crowded downtown after parade because no one will be able to get there by car, so I would plan any sightseeing around that and then get to stadium ASAP. I'm sure the shuttles will be at capacity once you get near game time. You can walk from downtown, but it's a hike.

VT was also a big emphasis in that he is a technology guy (an AOL millionaire) that wants to leverage the Internet backbone in VA, the Amazon cloud services that have and are continuing to move into the area, and the VT Innovation campus that will be next door to the new complex so that he can build out his sports analytics and broadcasting business. Tangent to Hokies WBB was a combination of his ownership of Capital One arena and his statement that it will stay open for Mystics, Georgetown and other teams and his excitement to be working with VT (he even wore a VT tie to the press conference). I'm guessing we could see some Hokies sport collaborations coming with this emerging partnership. Lots of great alliances with the Amazon and now Monumental Sports connections!

We can do better for ladies without giving away seats, but if we can't sell the game out, I'm all for letting students and faculty/staff in for free.... I give my extra VT tix to students for free anyway.

ESPN reports 100% capacity (8,925) for both of those tip offs (ACC and season). Today's women's game was 57% (5,062) against Radford. They reportedly had 68% capacity (6,113) for their season opener that was right before the men's game against Coppin State. Good crowds for the ladies, but we can do better....

UVA put single game tix on sale for the 1/17 match against VT at JPJ last week. They still have considerable number available in upper level if anyone is interested. Last year, I bought 39 for friends and family and could have had homes for 50+. This year, I'm at 20 tix, but hoping to see a lot more Hokies in attendance with us. Forewarning that they do weird stuff like raise prices over time for same seats and I did find some better seats come available as we got closer to the game (which is how I ended up with so many, was going to upgrade us and dump the old seats on stub hub but I found more people that wanted to just pay me for what I had since the prices were higher for same seats if they went direct). Go Hokies!

...have already purchased season tix or had donated in 2022 and pledged to donate this year (see image from their site). I called because I have donated in past, but because I missed making a donation in 2022, they told me to try Seat Geek. I told them I needed ADA seating (which they said they had a lot of) but could not sell to me unless I got a ticket somewhere else and then came back to them to trade it in. I asked if it was going to sell out and they said they had "lots of seats available." Per ESPN, it turns out they only had 70% attendance at the game this year, so that policy really back fired on them. Even worse, I looked up their athletic fund audits on the state website and they got subsidies from the state in 2021 and 2022 for their athletics program. We also got subsidies from the state in 2021 for COVID, but we did not get them in 2022 AND we gave back our ticket sales revenue after they cancelled the game in Blacksburg last Fall. I fully support their decision to cancel the game, but intentionally blocking that same in-state rival from getting tickets to a game that they know will sell out just because they don't want the rival fans in attendance is inexcusable (especially given that we are both state schools). The only entity that won with them restricting our game (we were the only game that they made this restriction on) was SeatGeek and StubHub. UVA could have taken in a lot of extra donation money (as they have in the past from us Hokies that have subsidized them for years), but they actually gave up 30% in sales and lost the additional donation revenues to 3rd party ticket sites that charged more in fees than UVA wanted from us in past for donations. I get that UVA fans just weren't that interested in coming this year, but how do they expect in-state recruits to want to play for a school that can't fill their stadium for any home game. It was a bad look for UVA and the state of Virginia to have so many empty seats on Saturday and it would have at least sold out if they weren't so worried about keeping Hokies out.

and here's an article from Washington Post with his explanation

Winning the toss gives us a better chance to score first, but other than that, we just really have to come out and punch the other team in the nose with a quick score. When they do that to us, it's a long day....

They’re announcing that ACC will be in Blacksburg at 3:00pm on the NC State Miami game tonight, but wondering what school will do to support. They don’t say where they’ll be, but assuming in Cassell for banners and they are showing the women’s game. Doors usually don’t open until 1.5 hour before game for public (3:30). Anyone see info on timing for fans to attend? Wasn’t planning to get there that early, but would love to see the tv folks pregame. Go Hokies!

They were oddly mistimed and he came out positive in both stories. No reason that ESPN was tracking those stories without someone planting them for filler. I just had to wonder if Fuente had someone working on improving his image so he could land a new coaching job, and here we are. Hope he does well and we can finally move on from the VT bashing.

...they had a new coach and really high hopes that season. Much bravado and smirks at us pregame. After the game, one fan came up to me and made a point to say that we had to beat Clemson for the ACC Championship (that was their dream before we burst it). Most everyone else was in shock as we headed to cars, but Hokie Nation was very pleased from that road trip (and was very loud at the game). Unfortunately, we both fell flat after that. I keep tabs with a woman that I rented a beach cottage from (she hosts a big tailgate right outside the gate of their stadium) and we commiserated on how far and fast we both fell for a couple years. It devastated them because they had such high hopes. We were just ecstatic to have beat them. I have to believe that the fans won't forget that game and will be there in force this time. Expect revenge focus similar to OSU coming to Blacksburg after we stomped them during their Natty run the year before. Our saving grace will be that their players weren't players for them last time...

He has had such a rough road. What a tragedy.

Glad the residents are all good, but what a bummer as you know they were all psyched for football to start.

We went a few years back and had a blast. Members of our team could be seen walking around in concourse as their locker room was at that level right behind us and parents were sitting with us. We shocked their fans that year and hope we do it again this year!

AT&T works better than others in Lane and Cassel, but had major issues with AT&T in Charlotte. I believe AT&T established cell networks in Blacksburg back when cell was new and we had great support until I switched to Verizon (primarily because they were throttling my son when he was a student). Verizon was horrible at games and I was somewhat convinced everyone had the issue, but I started asking people around me what they used when they tried or could use their cell. Verizon was not good, so I went back to AT&T and it's been much better. Not perfect, but has to be really a sell out at Lane for me to lose service (like WV game last year). I've even been able to stream video in Cassell during games but person next to me can't get anything on her T-mobile cell. That said, I have worse service at our house on the NNK with AT&T.

ACC and NCAA needs to crack down on the dirty crap. These players don't wear pads or helmets and UofL is body checking opponents, with that added shove against us, to "wear down" their opponents when behind. It's win at all costs for them and they don't give give a crap that people are getting hurt. Their style of play when behind is more roller derby or ice hockey than collegiate basketball. They did it against us (still lost) and did it to Drake (pulled out a brutal win after coach was heard screaming so loud at them the announcer's mics picked it up for the viewers at home). We have targeting in football for dirty crap that could seriously hurt an opponent. Robinson should have been thrown out of our game and not allowed to play the first half of NCAA gave for her garbage move on Gregg. Instead, she was put on the all ACC tournament team. Bad look for ACC.

I think it's important to note that randomly assigned seats are still reserved seats. The difference is that general admission is not reserved and these aren't going to be general admission. Based on the call I made, they are still finalizing how, but they told me that we won't be selecting the seats and they will randomly assign them. How they "randomly" assign them should be interesting (I would presume first come first served or by factoring in Hokie club points, but he couldn't relay that level of detail).

UVA did the same thing with regard to getting ADA tickets for our away game. You have to get tickets first and then call and try to get them moved. I gave up on trying to move mine as we had more people coming and I wanted to sit with them. It wasn't easy, but I could pick what we got on their website and they weren't too far above the portal. I also signed up for "ADA accessible" seats for ACC tournament through VT, but we couldn't pick seats and it ends up they really weren't ADA. They were at top of section so getting to concourse wasn't hard, but they were right in front of a suite and the aisle was compressed to make room for it behind us. Not good for knee issues, so I tried to move them before tournament and the venue told me I had to get VT to move them. VT was surprised venue said they weren't ADA seats, but they were out of wheelchair seats, so it was up to me to try to get venue to move me before each game. During tournament, I eventually got a customer service person to allow me to sit in a folding chair in wheelchair section, but I was by myself. If I wanted to sit with family, I had to stick my leg into aisle. It turns out that there really weren't many wheelchair slots in the whole place and someone local told me they took out a bunch when they added the suites. They also had a pitifully small elevator and it was a long uphill walk from ADA parking to get into the venue. Some people had the venue come get them with a wheelchair, but it was not easy and I gratefully left yesterday afternoon to rest my knees. Anyway, I'm not entirely surprised by this based on my UVA and Greensboro experience, but it is disappointing and I fear we may have a lot of people that decide they can't go because of the seats assigned to them. The other weird thing that happened with ACC tournament was we were not told where our seats actually were until about a week before the games. Made it very hard to sell them before everything started, but I'm guessing that was by design. I really wanted to sell mine after I had all the hassle with not getting actual ADA seats, but I just decided to just go and see if I could make it work.... Anyway, good luck on Monday.

...I called to be able to select ADA and they said that, per NCAA, all seats will be randomly assigned after purchase. That's not how they do it for season tix - they open up ADA seats for your account after you show them a placard and then you can pick those during selection. For this, you order seats and - if/after you get them - you have to fill out a form to get approved so that they can replace what you got with an ADA ticket plus 1 companion seat. That was also a change as there are normally up to 3 companion seats per ADA placard seat. You can buy up to 6 for this (more than was allowed for softball and baseball), but if you need ADA support, only 2 tix can be moved. Not good news since there are a lot of senior citizens at women's games and I don't see them being able to handle climbing up to corner seats if they get them randomly and can't get an ADA seat. I know that we got to select seats at MD last year (and their season ticket holders got to keep their regular seats as I sat next to some there). I'm guessing this is because our venue is smaller and NCAA wants so many set aside that our normal season ticket holders would lose. Should be interesting to see how this goes.

Different than General Admission that happens with some women's seats, but still not able to pick your reserved seat. See above as that information was a surprise to me.

This is not what happened with Softball and baseball by the way. We picked seats for those tournaments based on when we were able to hit the site. Hokie club gets early chances to order (top 3 levels get first 2 hours from 10-12, rest of Hokie club next 2 hours from 12-2, general public gets what's left at 2 pm), but we don't get to pick our seats for this one. If we get tickets, I was told they would assign them to us randomly. If you have ADA needs, we normally can see those sections to pick seats, but not for this. They said you can call after you get seats and exchange for ADA seats, but you get only 1 companion per ADA seat (regular season ticket guidelines are 3 companions per ADA seat). There is also a form to complete (normally a parking pass is enough). Will be interesting to see how this works out as we have a lot of senior citizens that go to women games with season tickets. I can't see them climbing to the top corners, but it does not look there are any preferences for them other than the ADA route (if they can qualify and can get tix). ** Edited by bgna at 3/10/2023, 8:19:55 PM

I was trying to sell 3 as a bundle, but splitting up now. Text me at 703 915-2734 and let me know how many and sessions you want.