Nothing about college sports is amateur anymore, if you’re making a million dollars a year to play college sports, you get what comes with the expectations

Pay to look good, right? No, pay to win.

In our end zone after they score.

Pedulla left and had similar stats to be honest but with a better overall team. That's the difference. Collins was young, transferred, and progressed as a player. Let's turn this on its head: - Maybe Coach Young isn't a good enough coach to get what he needs out of these players and/or properly motivate them. - Maybe Coach Young isn't an average coach with variance (my opinion). He seems to always fall to the mean as seasons progress. - I don't agree with booing a player, but if your coach, former player, and current player mention it, it's obviously become a distraction to the team and the player (Neo). Coach Young needs to teach his players how to tune out the noise. - This was supposed to be a marquee season. We're struggling to make the tournament. I understand the frustration, especially giving up two easy wins (SMU, Stanford).

also can get way overblown. Remember way back with DeShazo? I don’t think people were booing him as much as the play calls. I certainly never believed a fan flattened his tires as the media reported. Back then how would people even know what he drove? Yet, 100% agree not to boo your own guy. Those are the same guys that are probably thinking he should stay another year. Why would he if he can start fresh elsewhere with as much or more $? Can’t sell a family atmosphere if you treat a guy that way.

I lived through that era and went to those games. I can report that we were definitely booing the play calling, not the player.😁

What about cam ward in different systems having success, sheduer sanders, Jalen hurts, Diego Pavia, chambliss from ole miss are all examples of players doing well with different coaches and in different levels of play. Would Tranquill have ruined a Ben Rothlisberger (in a hypothetical transfer out of Miami of Ohio)? What about Byron Leftwich? Is it possible Maurice DeShazo was no good for any other reason? Just for an academic review against the accepted facts?

He was touted preseason as a possible Heisman candidate. Tranquill's system greatly diminished his natural abilities and capabilities. As I recall the season.

1992 WVU game. Hokies lost 16-7. Steve Marshall was VT's offensive coordinator, and it was the most pathetic display of play-calling I've ever seen in my life. Draws, runs up the middle, passes either behind the line of scrimmage or straight out to the sidelines. No effort to attack or go downfield at all. Virginia Tech's first 38 plays netted 41 yards. Maurice DeShazo was 3-9 for 13 yards, with a long of 14. Yes, you read that right. His other two completions lost a yard total. Like I said, utterly pathetic, passive, wimpy play-calling. DeShazo got hurt late in the first half, and they pulled him for one play and put in Treg Koel ... and promptly threw a deep ball to Ray Crittenden. The pass fell incomplete, but there was definitely a loud, jeering cheer from Hokie fans. You are remembering correctly. They finally yanked DeShazo for good late in the third quarter, and Koel completed a 22-yard pass to Bo Campbell on 3rd and 9. He later threw an 83-yard TD pass to Antonio Freeman. Let's not lionize Treg Koel, though -- he threw three interceptions that day, in just 16 attempts. So I guess that's why Frank Beamer hated to play him, even though DeShazo was struggling. But the contrast in playcalling from Steve Marshall when Koel was in versus DeShazo was stark.

The only 1992 game I recall is the (RUTS)gers 49-50 game. And that, the game winning TD pass. As a consolation, later in a replay, it was a fairly challenging reception in the back of the end zone. Was that the season our punt returner fumbled a catch against Tulsa inside the 5 yard line and we lost?

Came mostly from students so you are preaching to the wrong choir.

Or at least put it squarely in the category of you not needing to constantly melt over it. There’s been a lot of patience, acknowledge that. Staff and teammates are either unwilling to put any heat on him or not wired that way. Is there enough heat on him? Yes. Is that part of the problem? Yes. But there’s some higher intelligence in booing him. There’s a massive ego there with neo. And that’s also the source of the humiliation for him. I’m glad to see somebody not treat him like a baby and hold him accountable. Granted you will probably rant about some YOU THINK YOU KNOW WHAT CMY DOES BEHIND CLOSED DOORS YOU DONT KNOW ANYTHING. My point is, whatever’s going on, the fans are part of the village raising this kid, and always will be, wherever he goes, and maybe there’s some cards they can play and a role they can play that is necessary and prescient. I get your theory. The dude is cooked mentally, and this is making it worse. The counter point would be from a fans perspective it can’t get any worse. The outcome I’m hoping for is- and I honestly think it is legitimately in-play - is that Neo develops some kind of a chip on his shoulder. Rather than sulking sulking sulking. Currently Hammond is the only guy on the team who gets after it like he has something to prove out there. I wonder why? The answer should be obvious for anyone who’s followed this season. What did Hansberry do after dropping the ball on the blown challenge (which by the way was very weak on CMY part given that with 1.4s on the shot clock it was 90% a turnover already, can only win 0.1 possessions best case who cares?) Did he sulk did he fold? I don’t know the team dynamic but as an “insider” maybe you can - are these guys afraid to hold Neo accountable? Has anyone in Neo’s circle ever held him accountable or is he surrounded by a bunch of yes-men? Tobi Lawal looks like Kobe pulling up from 3 compared to Neo and Neo looks like Shaq at the FT line from three. That’s a problem. Even the announcers point it out the body language is terrible. He’s got a few games left in his college career and you’re right none of it matters, Neo will get drafted and nobody really cares much about what he does here. Except the fans. So is something going to change or not? I don’t care about production I don’t care about variance I don’t care about him helping the team in other ways. I care about the BODY LANGUAGE and I care about this dude being absolutely shook inbounding the ball and pulling up for rhythm 3’s. He’s so tentative and afraid to make mistakes and that SUCKS to see. I don’t care if it goes in or not I’d rather see 0-7 with him pulling up like the cockiest mf on the planet 7 times in a row than what we saw yesterday and a lot recently. I want to see Neo f’ing pissed, not shrinking. I don’t care the result. He should be pissed. He NEEDS to come out with something to prove. That’s how great players react we’ve seen it a million times. Is that a lot to ask from a 19yo? Absolutely. But that’s what we are asking for. Ball’s in your court, Neo. It’s that time in the season where freshmen aren’t freshmen anymore. He’s obviously got it in his head being told he took bad shots early in the season. He’s gotten mugged a lot. I don’t feel bad for the kid. This is ultimately something that he needs to go through, in a very spiritual way in a sense. Fans are fanatics. They’re idiots. They’re going to probably be at every game he plays in for many many years. The only choice he has is how does he respond, and I think it’s fair to say he needs a wake up call mentally. Because of what I said: not the results, but the body language. Neo should act like an ice cold killer out there. That’s what his talent level corresponds to. Not an indecisive and sheepish fawn that needs protection. The fans reaction: it’s insulting. It’s humiliating. Would a professional coach or friend etc ever do that? No. Let them be fanatics. I’d like to see Neo and those around him (yourself included) use it as fuel for a white-hot fire down the stretch where we see more guys diving on balls, more guys going HARD to the rim (where’s that from lawal d-wash style this dude should be trying to put people on posters a half dozen times a game) … more guys fouling HARD at the rim, more guys sprinting off screeners, more guys aggressively harassing ball handlers. Like I said Hammond is the only one playing with a chip on his shoulder. That’s what Neo needs and SHOULD have, not the sulking. Now’s the opportunity for that. I don’t get the wisdom in trying to protect him. Let him be a man out there. The fans cheering his benching should either be small potatoes - water off a duck’s back. Or fuel for the fire. So in that sense the response is either “who cares” or “good” … because like I said SOMETHING NEEDS TO CHANGE and that is NOT his results or stat-line per se but it IS his attitude and body language.

You are the guy who will claim credit for his success some day and say you've always been his biggest fan...when in reality, you kicked him while he was down in the name of..."intelligence". There are other names for that, actually.

If you don’t get the photo reference then you have no idea what is about to be unleashed on the world

Let me help...booing your own players rarely helps...is almost always counterproductive...and ALWAYS in poor taste.

Take off the cult worship snowflake glasses. You act like you’re better than everybody else. It’s actually funny to me. There’s a point that needs to get across to the kid. Booing wasn’t the first step, nor the third. It’s classless sure. But a truly classy person doesn’t take it personally and understands that there is SOMETHING to be gleaned from the raw unfiltered emotion of the mob rather than getting butt hurt or defensive or turning it into a pissing contest. And that something is that they want to see some fire from the kid. It’s time. Why is it funny? Max Kellerman’s little brother had a great quote years ago that sums it up. Paraphrasing: sports is man’s joke on god. We are born in a world where we fight and scrap and struggle every day and in the end, it doesn’t matter because we die anyway. So our only response to that scenario is to create our own sub-world, called sports, which ABSOLUTELY doesn’t matter at all, and treat it as if it were life and death. That’s our joke on god. Let them be fanatics. It’s part of the scene. As pointed out above they’re booing not because the ball doesn’t go in the basket but because they are frustrated that he doesn’t believe in himself as much as everyone around him believes in him. It’s super common in high level sports - I work 1on1 with pga and lpga golfers who come from a variety of privileged and prodigy-like backgrounds, and their tour coaches and sports psychologists and parents and agents etc etc every day and deal all the time with exactly what neo is going through. I had a 20 year old Asian girl give herself a piece of self-talk in the middle of a tournament last year that would be good for this situation: “Time to grow a pair and hit a good shot.” Blaming the fans for somehow holding him back or interfering or making things worse or for not being patrons saints of basketball wisdom or all that is sacred in the world of psychological therapy is literally just an excuse. Blaming, finger-pointing, throwing around accusations instead of looking in the mirror is also low-brow stuff. There’s absolutely something to be gained from the fans albeit brutal response to the situation. Whether he wants to gain it or not is up to him. Therein lies the potential of listening to the subtlety of the sound and where it is coming from and harnessing the raw energy of it versus being tormented by it and deflecting. I’m really curious if neo’s as bothered by it as you are. Obviously there’s a history there with you and fans being dumb that probably will never be let go of. Ultimately Neo has started playing very defensively mentally, as if trying to protect his stock like a football team trying to protect their lead and immediately giving it away instead of attacking. Feels like he wants the season to be over, especially since his injury scare. None of this matters to him, IT SEEMS. And as per kellerman he’s right. But as of right now he’s not at all cut out mentally to be a competitive athlete professionally. He’s also probably never had the chance to hone those skills, I’m guessing. The jeering gives him a chance. There’s a beauty to it. Embrace it. It’s tactless but they’re not wrong in wanting to see more effort more hustle more moxy more fight more killer-or-be-killed from him and really the whole team. So it’s a tactless way to communicate it but are the tactful ways that he’s probably surrounded by with everyone kissing his feet working at all? Shock therapy is a last resort, but as far as the fans are concerned that’s where we’re at with just a handful of games left and not much of a pulse from Neo.

For the award you’ll surely receive for that prestigious accomplishment Meanwhile the rest of us are going to take the even higher road of being unbothered so we can make use of the situation rather than sit on a high horse and point fingers down our nose at things that are completely airmailing the point - like a Avdalas skip pass into traffic after getting trapped because he’s afraid of missing another shot :)

The only thing you can do as fans...at a bare minimum...is not boo So...welcome to the club?

For the record I mumbled to myself “it’s time for Schutt” and left it at that, from the comfort of my iPhone screen in the middle of the desert. apparently Mike Young had the same conclusion. I thought the fan reaction, which I didn’t hear on tv or wasn’t paying attention to the noise, was pretty entertaining. I’d counter to say the bare minimum is they could not show up at all. At the end of the day I’m not saying buying a ticket gives anyone any RIGHT to do x y z by any means but it does seem lost sometimes that literally the ONLY reason why ANY of this exists is PURELY to entertain the fans. Coaches players media etc tend to get lost in that bubble too often. Literally that’s it. Doesn’t give the right to be abusive but also can’t be that dismissive and demeaning of their existence or presence or opinions in the whole thing. At the end of the day the coaches and players are just a dog and pony show to entertain the nut low peasantry, they’re not much different from clowns or gladiators, there’s not much more to it than that everything else is layers of window dressing. Cue Clerks “this job would be GREAT if it wasn’t for the damn CUSTOMERS!!” Lololol

...there would be no paid athletes. Heck, there might not be any athletes, period. If nobody forked over money, sports as we know them would shrivel up and die. The athletes need the fans way more than the fans need the athletes.

No tv...no commercials...no fans Thered be no reason to disallow athletes to make a living outside basketball in the first place So basketball existing solely for the enjoyment of fans is going to fall on deaf ears...fans can gtfo for all I care

Don’t kick a man when he’s down Higher intelligence asks tough questions of people Look it’s obviously an emotional issue for people. “How could you!?!?” It’s mean it’s cruel it’s unthinkable it crosses the lines of decency etc I get it. So “higher intelligence” whatever there’s too much semantics and emotional loading there to really unravel it. The bottom line is the fans are ready for desperate measures because they are CORRECTLY more or less assessing the situation at this point as running out of time for a correction. And they are not seeing that kind of fight from the team. Everything revolves around Neo - literally and figuratively. Hammond “took that personally” MJ-style and has shown he’s the best player on the team when it matters. So the “higher intelligence” potentially is: If doing it for his draft stock doesn’t move the needle, if doing it for a team championship doesn’t move the needle, if doing it to “earn his salary” doesn’t move the needle, if doing it to make his teammates and coaches and parents proud doesn’t move the needle (not saying ANY of this is valid or even true just outlining examples of reasons why people play in the first place - which is always an interesting question) … if none of those move the needle maybe bruising his pride and playing for his own personal “F YOU” moment to the peanut gallery will do the trick. I mean given how everything has unfolded that’s basically the best play he has. It’s fuel or not. He needs a spark. I thought he hit rock bottom before this game and thought Duke at home was the perfect opportunity to really showcase FIRE from Neo. That’s what’s missing. Hammond has it. Lawal doesn’t Neo doesn’t … So as is often the case rock bottom is really a few tiers lower than you usually think at first. It basically has to be this way in order to grow and change. Embrace it. I expect Neo to come out with something to prove after this. There’s no “debate” to “win” it’s just a matter of: focusing on what can be gained from this instead of hanging head and pity party. I wouldn’t have booed if I were there but I’m also not worried about the people who did I think it’s pretty fascinating if not entertaining and sets an awesome stage as a fan to see what happens next.

Otherwise, your comments about body language are spot on. Neo is struggling - no doubt about it. I get his skills and ability but he is not ready for the NBA because he lacks emotional maturity. If Neo thinks college fans are rough, NBA fans - and NBA beat columnists - are off the charts. If he gets drafted this year, he will be project spending a considerable amount of time in the G league UNLESS somehow he matures overnight. I want Neo to succeed mainly because his succeeding makes the VT MBB team much better. I am hoping against hope that this is a slump and Neo will pull out of it but what gives me pause is his body language as you pointed out.

Traditional message boards are soooo 90s. 😏