In some ways it’s so fun to watch MY’s offensive system. On the other, we find ways to wrestle defeat from the hands of victory far too often. So I record and watch the games we win. Lame I know but it’s far less maddening. For some reason I turned the game on and was enjoying how well we were playing. But as soon as we didn’t get the ball in bounds, I got this sinking feeling. Once we missed the free throws I said to myself, you need to stop watching this team. Sure enough…I’m going back to my old plan. Sorry Coach Young, I can’t stomach it anymore.

For the first time in her 24 year old life she decided she wanted to come over and watch the game with me. I told her and my elderly mom that I would bet them a $100 that SMU was going to make a 3 at the buzzer to win. I did this right before they inbounded the ball. I’m not even mad as I knew with certainty that it was going to happen like you pulling over to the rest stop on your way back to Radford from Charlotte. I am class of 93 at VT. I have seen a thing or two when it comes to VT football or basketball. ** Edited by OrlandoHokie at 1/15/2026, 12:42:34 PM

Not listening to the TV announcers mention 33, 49.5, flu...etc over and over again.

knew it was coming. If SMU throws an inbound anywhere else they don't have those 2.6 seconds at the end of the game.

and one that I get grief about on every family road trip. I need to not drink soda while in the car. It's so much worse than just drinking water. Well glad that you got late night 77 with no traffic. Much better than the rush hour option around here. ** Edited by HokieAl at 1/15/2026, 11:22:25 AM

That Boopie is gonna hit a half court'er & that's precisely what happened 😂🤯🤬

I fly in and out of Charlotte, so I was driving home from the CLT airport. I didn't hear a postgame presser because SiriusXM cuts off immediately after the game. By the time I turned the car back on, they were doing something else.

And earlier in the game, it was a lot farther than that. I listened to it driving up I-77 from Charlotte. The bear doesn't reach that far. ** Edited by Will Stewart at 1/15/2026, 12:33:58 PM

Would have been a late flight. Maybe not the definition of a "redeye." I would like the hear CMY's comments.

I was the only VT media there, and with SMU fans milling about, I ended up interviewing him on the court instead of in the media room. Was just one-on-one, and I only got him for about three minutes. Asked five or six questions, and all of the quotes he gave me went in my story.

We all had to watch a gut wrenching loss on TV, you had to watch from the front row. What was Mike's tone/attitude like postgame? Was he upset/ticked off or genuinely not too worried as he said in his quotes?

Also, yes, I had a great view of it. Put my video I took of the game-winner in my story. Ooof. As for Mike Young, here's the back-and-forth: Me: How do you process this one, just the way it ended? MY: [Sh*t, David.] It’s the game. Kid made a great shot. SMU is really, really good. They’re really good. They’re in the top 25 for a reason, they’re that talented. Seen them play a lot. I thought our team outplayed them in a number of areas. We’ve got to rebound a little bit better, but a wonderful, gutsy, tough performance from our team, and we’ve got another one on Saturday that’s every bit as important as this one. We’re going to figure it out. We’ll be fine. Me: What did you think about how you guys executed down the stretch in those final couple of minutes? MY: Good. The turnover here with Neo, I’ll kick myself, we could’ve handled that better. You’re up four, you’ve got the ball on the endline, you can’t have that turnover. But again, we’ll grow from it, we’ll get better. Me: You called a timeout after they did before the final shot. Did you get the look you wanted defensively? MY: I thought they were going to throw the thing [to midcourt] and run Boopie up the floor. When he threw the ball up, you could’ve knocked me over with a feather. I thought we were in great shape. Only up two, can’t foul. Thought Boopie would try to get into his body, he did a little bit, but released it and let it go and got it down. Me: Did you have the guys at the line that you wanted in the final couple of minutes? MY: I’ll take Ben Hammond up there anytime. I just told Ben Hammond he’s going to be up there again, a number of times, in critical situations in his career, and he’ll make them. I think he’s over 80 from the line coming in. Tobi Lawal, third game back. He was 4-for-4 against Cal. We’re going to be fine. Me: What did you tell them after the game? MY: Exactly what I just told you. Me: Jailen Bedford comes back to Texas and has a great game. What stood out? MY: He was terrific. He played his guts out. He played really, really hard. He was engaged. I thought he was as good defensively as he was offensively. Jailen Bedford was outstanding. I’m really proud of him. My thoughts: Yes, he was frustrated, ticked off and disappointed. His comment at the beginning said a lot. And the "exactly what I just told you" line. That wasn't a shot at me; just the truth. There's only so much to say in those moments, and a lot of it is about responding and turning the page, because it's too late to go back and change what happened last night. He rarely comes across as worried unless he actually says it, but his body language was a lot of just shaking his head, scratching his head at the late-game execution stuff — especially that turnover. And when talking about the FT shooting, he kind of game one of those, "I'm not sure what else we can do there except have the guy make it" shrugs.

He gets a lot of credit for that.

out down the road.

Sometimes fans forget that coaches still have to...coach the team for the rest of the season. Love what he said to Hammond about the FTs.

His players could have been and should have been better prepared to perform/respond much, much more effectively under pressure. There are not many other things we could have done wrong after our guy made the big 3 pointer, which I was positive had clinched it.

as well, but got lucky that they missed the final shot. This team really needs to completely re-evaluate how they are studying, preparing for, and executing EOG situations.