expectations, and Young saying he had a good team (and they ain't bad), and Avdalas projected as 1st round pick and Drones... not. Well, lots of differences. ** Edited by hokienole at 2/2/2026, 12:32:11 AM

It takes time and maturity. In the meantime, don’t be an ******* and boo a 19-year-old who is struggling.

Are we focused on criticizing the fans - who as it has been established are and always will be out of control, as per the point of the sports psychologist from UM. They also cannot control the effort level and grit and motivations of the players on the court, but ultimately the noise they make is the only recourse they have. So much posting about the fans and asking them to be better. And the fans are asking the team to be better. Who is the owness on? The lowest common denominator to raise their standard, or the professionals (coaches and players, young and old) to properly filter and harness the energy of the moment?

Because none of us are close enough to Avdalas to advise him on any of it Should he block it out? Duh Should he recognize the large majority of Hokies are behind him? Of course Is every single person who booed a garbage person who shouldn't be allowed among society? Yes It isn't an either/or on whether Avdalas should use this for future interactions with equally dumb people...he absolutely should. People are going to be dumb at all levels of play. Does that mean it's ok for Hokie fans to boo a teenager? Of course not Does it mean theyre helping him? No...that's even dumber than booing

“Is every single person who booed a garbage person who shouldn't be allowed among society? Yes” Aren’t you just a special person, who believes that anyone on this board that disagrees with you, is a POS? Yes! Everyone one of us has done some stupid things in our lives, but those little misadventures don’t define who we are for a lifetime. You act like you walk on water and I do not think you care how you come across to folks on this board. Cut people some slack; they all are not perfect nor as infallible as you pretend to be. ** Edited by VPI63 at 2/1/2026, 5:21:39 PM

To people who lost their patience with a teen so they booed them...is...pretty funny

But weren’t most of the people booing, by all accounts, also “teenagers” (students)? So don’t they get the same pass on their lack of performing up to standards? Just seems overblown. I’m just making the case for a silver lining, which is the only choice as far as I can see. Like I pointed out below ultimately all the coaches and the players and the whole sport as we know it only exist because solely of the fans - on tv and in the arena. They are there ultimately to be entertained, and the guys on the floor are there solely to entertain them. I find the whole situation more entertaining than the alternative, and can’t wait for nc state even more. Avdalas heel turn wasn’t in my 2026 forecast, but I’m here for it! Popcorn popped!!

Are dumb individuals They also shouldn't boo If any of them are here defending their booing theyre very dumb and shouldn't do so

Aside from getting rid of the fans, the students, whatever might completely bring etiquette compliance from 99% to 100% … (Side note I think it’s at least noteworthy that said fans showed up and booed him in public rather than just calling people names on the internet … there’s at least slightly more accountability and skin in the game there) … I’d love it if you showed up next game to the corner of the student section to admonish these fans in person and hold them accountable pre-game and teach them a lesson. I’m 100% serious lolol. But what I’m really curious about is the roots here not the symptoms. Now as anyone who understands bball, probabilities, and variance … ultimately we had the ball in our best shooters hands a few times to make this a one-possession game, that it kinda looked like we never had any business being in. Our mythical “3 point defense” showed up in the 2h which seems to keep us in a lot of games (yes that’s a jab when teams often miss a lot of open looks against us) So play that out different say it’s a one possession game or we somehow force overtime and/or win. The conversation is still “holy crap this team is REALLY good, imagine how dominant they could be if Avdalas was on all cylinders” So in that vein … I’d like to run this by you as an insider/expert. I feel like I might just be getting old and turning into my old coaches, honestly, but I find myself constantly yelling internally “hustle! Rebound! Play defense! Get back in position! Put a hand up!!! BOX OUT!!!!” Hahahaa when I watch this team play. To be more concrete the defense flat out sucks from a few guys. Neo very politely is a liability on defense. That’s fine. Honestly. But it would go a long way if he were more of a stopper with his frame. I went grew up in teens and 20s thru the Collins/gordon/dowdell era thru the vassallo/dwash era basically Greenberg and buzz years. Not that I don’t remember the Tucker twins or Dixon/Matthew’s big east era but … Greenberg and Buzz teams always had a basically baseline culture it seemed that you weren’t going to be on the floor unless you gave max effort at all times and that basically manifested in defense and rebounding. I know times have changed and it seems like the players more have the coaches by the balls nowadays and the dynamic makes it harder to push them, withhold pt etc (not that we have that option with current roster - rosters are also less deep in NIL era) But do you see that as missing and is there anything that can be done to change it down the stretch? I’m old and can’t remember **** but I honestly have maybe one image all year of a player diving on the floor for a ball. The real rub is that the team - while many technical mistakes were made against uva … they definitely fought their ASS off for that game. And Hammond was the star of it. And even yesterday the announcers (who granted are also idiots but even a broken clock is right twice a day) kept saying how vt was creating any havoc on defense. Now I get it slippery slope - discipline is important especially to CMY … But you COULD see Hammond doing these things. Disrupting, creating pressure, scrapping … When’s the last time I saw a vt player RIP a 50/50 ball away from somebody in the air? There was just an entirely different feel And intensity to the heart of the team. And Greenberg would rightly point at guys like jamon really bringing that energy. Now obviously he’s a generational talent in that area not every team is going to have a jamon gordon but I can’t help but feel even if we had 10-25% more of “that” that this team could beat anybody. Why doesn’t lawal aggressively go to the rim more like dwash? Why doesn’t neo wake up in the morning salivating at the opportunity to catch and shoot like a vassallo? Obvi his numbers are bad but we KNOW neo is a threat from a college 3. It seems like he’s the only one who doesn’t. Slapping the floor pumping up the crowd getting cocky where is all that? Is there any chance of that down the stretch? Harrassment, intensity, fire, hustle, fight … it was the easiest thing in the world to root for those teams even when nothing went right … Or am I just getting old?

And we can have a reasoned discussion about those Theyre not usually as simple as some of the proposals you see here, but theyre also not as complicated as being unable to be corrected. I'm not a fan of the number of possessions players take off or lose focus. I think the guards need to do a better job of rebounding down defensively. From a "just get it done" perspective, they get open looks, you gotta hit it. If everyone is going to perform their role well enough to get a clean look, you have to knock it down. From a coaching perspective they should put Lawal in less situations where he's the one making a decision with the ball...it's just not what he does well.

What I’m hearing does kinda revolve around intensity and rebounding … I trust that the threes will fall enough … there will always be variance in that part of the game … I’d love to see lawal in more situations where he’s catching the ball cutting to the basket with instructions to not think about anything other than embarrassing the opposition. Don’t care if you miss don’t care if you get a charge once in awhile don’t look for anybody or at anything but the rim and go attack HARD with authority .. again just an overall lack of killer instinct is the vibe from several key pieces … sounds wishy washy but lawal should know that nobody can hang with him in the air and make it a focal point

point still stands.

I'm on your side, but this is ridiculous...

To express a desire to remove someone from the community they operate in is unacceptable? Wonder how that could be applied here

Ad hominem fueled by onomatopoeia in the age of autocorrect is a bold stance to take

asking for a fan

They make for booing? If you say never boo anyone ever, ok, fine. But that’s a different argument…for a perfect world where we all just get along.

The closest I came to booing was the Miami game after the punt block. Noise registered on the seismograph in Norris Hall. QB threw an INT if I recall.

knuckleheads. And yes it takes time and maturity. Nothing in my post indicates otherwise. Since you can’t control the boobirds what are you going to do about it?

There’s probably a reason why the people bothered by it are weeded out of the game at the highest levels. It’s a blessing. Use it to your advantage. The best use everything to their advantage and don’t complain or cry or play victim.

age old question that even our friends Bill Shakespeare and Hamlet could not resolve. So why thinkest thou that mere message board knuckle heads can solveth this quandary in such troubled times as these? I thinkest it not probable.