hokiekev 2k4

I hope you are right, but I'd have to put VT much lower than that at this point. ND, UNC, FSU, and Clemson seem much farther above VT, and there are legitimate arguments for Miami, UVA, and even GT to be ahead of VT. I can definitely see VT ahead of GT, and most of us like to think that VT is ahead of UVA, but whenever I hear national people talk about it, UVA's name cachet seems to put them in the conversation ahead of VT (even though we VT people know that UVA is a worthless football program and that VT has more eyeballs and a more national football name). However, I don't see any world where we're ahead of Miami, and IMO that puts VT at 6th in the ACC at best. I'd like to think otherwise, but I think that's the non-O&M glasses version.

SEC refs handed that game to the SEC (as usual) with 9 different 3rd downs either converted by VT O or stopped by VT D that miraculously came off the board for extremely questionable calls. The others are all spot on though, sadly.

Could it be??

He is a "must-follow" over there.

This poster doesn't miss on VTMBB.

But you can keep doing you...

Never once have I said that "bringing in a new HC and staff will instantly transform VT hoops into a top 5 ACC program". While I certainly think that's possible, I agree that that would be catching lightning in a bottle (like UVA did with Tony – right guy, right place, right time). However, it's clear that MY is struggling to get players here and/or retain them, and this has been happening since BEFORE the rise of collectives. And all of the "top" recruits/transfers he has brought in have left after 1 year. Do we need more NIL money for hoops? OF COURSE. But I think this is a MY problem that came before that was as big of a deal as it is now.

But this team continues to underachieve badly. I'd argue that MY has only really had a couple decent months here – his first month (winning at Clemson and beating MSU in Maui), and mid-Feb - mid-March 2022. There have been a few other highlights, but mostly underachieving expectations otherwise.

We're not good enough for most fans to be satisfied, but not bad enough for the coach to be fired.

He has proven he is a solid in-game coach. However, he has also proven he is not good at talent acquisition and/or retainment. Unfortunately, that aspect is going to give this program a ceiling that we've hit against the past couple of years. Even if we bump up the NIL, it's going to be a long shot to bump it up enough to really compete with the big boys. So, that really limits the top-level transfers. With that said, MY has proven that recruiting and retaining high-level recruits is not his forte either, so we're pretty SOL there too. I fear that we're going to be stuck in this purgatory for a while, since MY is "good enough to not get fired" for quite a long time.

Obviously a lot of people are sick of GC's condescending, arrogant tone about everything related to VT hoops. Sure, the guy coached some LM basketball for a couple of years, so he knows some things that the common fan doesn't... but he seems to think that that gives him the right to put down everybody else that has ANY opinion that differs from his. And he continues to be proven wrong time and time again regarding MY's team's performance. This is the third consecutive year that this team has vastly underperformed expectations. We were lucky that, in the first of those 3 years, the team finally started to turn things around and had a good run in Feb-March. However, other than about a 6 week stretch, these past 3 seasons have been incredibly disappointing. Fans are allowed to note their disappointment, and to point out that MY is a huge reason for that disappointment. And they're also allowed to do it without being lectured by the "guru" about why they're wrong/stupid, which is how GC most frequently comes across.

I went to the South Car and Wake games, ended up leaving WF early in the second half, and I have since stopped watching this team after that game – it has been better for my health. Even in JJ's years I watched every game to the end, but this team is far more infuriating than any that I can remember. And reading a certain blowhard here continue to talk about how amazing MY is and how MY's teams "always improve as the season goes along" is just insufferable at this point.

I see this team with an absolute ceiling of 9-11 in conference, but 6 or 7 wins is more likely IMO. I also don't see them winning more than 1-2 road games at best. I hope I'm wrong, but I just don't see it with this group.

...to miss Tuesday games in the ACC tournament, much less make the NCAAs.

...about something she did on the defensive end. Chatted with her briefly (I couldn't quite hear it) and she walked about very upset about it. The bench was consoling her for a while afterward.

** Edited by hokiekev 2k4 at 1/7/2024, 2:53:24 PM

to go behind them and NCSU was making the open shot almost every time. Once they started switching, no more open shots led to no more made shots.

NCSU made 1 more bucket the rest of the game. Surprised it took that long, but I'm glad it was juuuuust long enough to secure a win. Helluva game!

Another masterpiece of incompetence from Jamie Luckie and crew

Which was worse than the rest of last year's team, which was mediocre at best already.

The one guy that was a LM assistant coach for a few years always knows more about basketball than anybody else on the board. Never mind the fact that we all have eyes and brains of our own!

Do you think that this has the look of a team that will NOT be playing on Tuesday in the ACCT? If yes, what do you see that makes you think that? How does this team possibly look better than last year's mediocre team? If no, then how do we reconcile that with the preseason hype? We weren't necessarily expecting a top 20 team, but it was a pretty reasonable expectation to think they were NCAAT worthy, no?

That team was way overmatched out there tonight. Out-coached, out-played, out-manned. Against, again, the team picked DEAD LAST in their league. We were a one man team out there tonight, and it was absolutely a **** show.

We just got absolutely manhandled by the team picked DFL in their conference. If that game was a harbinger of what's to come, we're in for a REALLY long season. That game was an absolute S-show.

I've already got tickets for the following day, lower level center court... and they were ONE THIRD the price of these, for THREE GAMES! I'm absolutely SHOCKED that they set these prices so high.

This is a great post. I see that we agree on the facts, and agree that our opinions differ on the effects of those facts. The only "fact" you list that I'd say isn't a "fact" is that the D got worse when Maddox was out. Perhaps there's an advanced stat to prove your point (I honestly don't know)? But from my eye, D was never strong with Maddox, and Collins' D was stronger from the jump this year. But this point is very debatable. I'd also add that my point is was not that "DM being out was not missed", but rather "2022-23 DM being out was not missed". We very, very badly missed Feb-March 2022 DM, but sadly, that guy never showed up this season. Your points about Rice are well taken. I'd still argue that that wasn't the cause for losing twice to BC and to GT, but the other losses could've been affected there. Either way, win those 3 games and we'd have had Tuesday in G'boro off, and we would've been an NCAAT team.

What losing streak? All I've said is that "45 games missed" is a disingenuous argument that provides a convenient excuse for the team laying an egg most of the year. We saw in Nov/Dec (and for a brief stretch in Feb) what this team was capable of, despite missing the "crucial" pieces that were... a true freshman with 0 minutes to his name? Or a guy that was awesome in Feb-March 2022 but was essentially a LM to MM- player this season, until he left the team in Feb 2023? This isn't that complicated, it's just a differing opinion. I don't think that the injuries merited losing to BC twice, or to GT, or to Clemson twice, or to NCSU twice, or finishing 11th in a mediocre-at-best ACC. It's not like I'm arguing that we should've won the ACC, but this team should never have had to play Tuesday in Greensboro, and they should've been an NCAAT team with the pieces they had available this season.

Clowns feel the need to use phrases like "owned" and "butt hurt" when they disagree with somebody's opinion, and then digress into name calling. Congrats on being the epitome of exactly what's wrong with humanity these days.

...excuse for the disappointing season we just had. There's definitely NOBODY else that believes that. Such an incredibly "poor position" I'm in, giving facts as to why the injuries were badly overblown as an excuse. I'm very obviously alone in this thinking, I'll go cry in the corner now. Thanks for putting me in my place!

I mostly agree with everything you say, except maybe the Maddox part. I think this year's team badly missed 2022 Maddox, but didn't miss 2023 Maddox at all – and that regression is entirely on the player and the coaches. I can see both sides of the Rice coin, though I still lean more toward the "can't miss what you never had" argument. Your Tony statement is 100% true IMO, and I appreciate your thoughts in the last paragraph. A genuine thanks to you for the reasonable response!

GC does the same crap there, refusing to EVER let somebody have a differing opinion. It's exhausting to read, and it's pretty pathetic. He has good basketball knowledge, but he's got his own opinions too and tries to force everyone to agree with them no matter what. I've given plenty of legitimate stats here to show why I feel the way I do (and I know for a fact that I'm not alone with those feelings), and I gave GC a chance to move on. As usual, he insisted on having the last word and continuing to try to force his opinion. He responded to my last post with only a period, just to have the last post in the thread, yet I'm the one that looks pathetic? Really? 🤔

My numbers back up my opinion, and there are plenty of others who agree with it. GC tends to fudge his numbers quite a bit, and throw so many at you to try to make people look like he's some genius. He knows his basketball, but clearly has a blind spot for trying to defend MY to the death. I think MY is fine, but at this point the numbers still show that he's nothing more than a friendly, SWVA version of Seth.

- Rodney Rice was not a "rotational" player, he was a true freshman who had NEVER PLAYED ONE MINUTE until January. So it's a bit disingenuous to be counting on him from the jump. He missed 26 games. - Maddox had lost his minutes due to playing like garbage for 6 weeks, and then he left the team for a while. We won games against 2 of the top 3 teams in the league with 6 combined minutes from him – so saying that we missed him dearly the rest of the year is also disingenuous. He missed 14 games, and while we missed the 2022 version of Maddox, the 2023 version was not missed. - Cattoor was the one player that should actually be considered in this discussion, and he only missed 4 – that's FOUR – games (plus about 7 minutes of another). It's disingenuous to claim that he missed 5 games, as GC did trying to further his argument. I'd be curious to stat-check the other "facts" listed by GC above, but I don't know what site he's using to get that info, and frankly don't have the time. But if those stats are just as disingenuous as his VT stats, I imagine his argument would hold less weight. My point still remains (and I can assure you there are many that agree) that MY still has a lot of work to do to prove that he's a "great" coach, and I'm not going to use injuries as an excuse to shrug off a disappointing season. What separates good coaches from great coaches is beating teams like Duke and UVa from time to time, but ALSO not losing to terrible teams at a similar clip. MY is still in Seth Greenberg territory as for as that stat goes (have a chance at the #1 seed and lay an egg at home vs. Clemson, have an easy path to the tourney after beating #1 Duke then lay an egg at home vs. BC, etc). Nobody can/should expect to win every game, but it's an EXTREMELY legitimate expectation to expect to beat Josh Pastner (MY is 2-3) and Boston College (MY is 0-5) more often than not.

Props to you if you're somehow able to ignore this post and move on with your life with the understanding that other people can have a different opinion than you, and that's perfectly fine.

...that he's not mediocre. Until then, this season was a disappointment and MY continues to be good but not great. Great coaches don't lose those 3 games. ** Edited by hokiekev 2k4 at 4/28/2023, 8:23:48 AM