VT Basketball – 2.15.2010

VT  20 – 4  (7-3)

Feb. 15, 2010

Two great games this past week.  The first road win at NC State since 1917, and a tough win over UVA at home.  Neither of these wins are incredibly impressive on their own, but it’s nice to see our in-conference record get padded a little bit.  The two wins put us at 7-3 to take the third spot in the ACC standings.  Even Joe Lunardi took notice this week, moving us into his projected bracket as a #11 seed.  I have a feeling we’ll be able to raise that seeding in the next week.

We start tomorrow night against Wake Forest in what is definitely the most important match-up so far this season.  A #2 ACC ranking is on the line as VT hopes to extend its home record to a perfect 14-0.  This is also a great chance for a quality win against a top-20 RPI team, which we have not had yet.  The keys for the Wake Forest game are:

• The 2-3 zone.  Wake Forest is a very tall team, so expect Greenberg to go for a 2-3 zone for the majority of the game as opposed to the usual man-to-man to cut down on points in the paint and drives to the basket.  However, Wake guards Smith and Harris are averaging double digit points this year, so if they get hot from outside the perimeter, we’ll have to return to man-to man and depend on our bigs to shut down the inside game.

• Al-Farouq Aminu is the man for Wake Forest.  He’s averaging a double-double on the season, and can make shots from the post, perimeter, and everywhere in between.  At 6’9″, he can only be matched by Cadarian Raines height-wise, but 6’8″ Davila and 6’7″ Allen will do most of the guarding of Aminu.  If VT can get him in foul trouble early like they did against Trevor Booker of Clemson, the Deacons have no one who can match his production on both sides of the ball.

• Keep Jeff Allen out of foul trouble.  Allen only played 2 minutes of the first half against UVA, picking up two fouls early, but he came back with a vengeance in the second half, recording 13 pts, 4 blocks, and 2 steals.  Since being ejected at UVA, Allen has averaged 14.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.8 steals, showing that when motivated, he can perform up to the standard set for him in his freshman year.  We need him desperately against Aminu and the rest of the Deacons’ offensive attack.

• Malcolm Delaney needs to find his 3 pointer.  Despite being the leading scorer in the ACC at 19.7 points per game, Delaney is missing a key part of his attack in the 3 ball.  In 10 ACC games, Delaney has only made 13 on 58 attempts, a dismal 22.4%.  In the 11 games before hurting his ankle, Delaney was 37.9% from beyond the arc.  He has been quoted as saying that he is still working on getting his jump back to where it was before hurting the ankle.  If there’s any game for him to get that part of his game back, it’s this one.

• Davila needs more touches.  Davila’s 3 to 5ft jump-hook is ridiculously accurate, and as the season has progressed, he’s gotten more confident and aggressive rebounding the ball.  VT will want to draw fouls from Wake Forest’s big men, and Allen can’t do that by himself.  If Davila can get into double digits, something he’s only done 3 times this year, it will provide a much needed scoring option for the Hokies.

• Whatever Hudson is doing, it’s working.  Hudson has scored in double digits in all but 1 ACC game out of 10 and is showing a ton of confidence in his jumper ever since his 41pt effort against Seton Hall.  Without Hudson, there is no way the Hokies are 20-4.

• Turnovers.  The Hokies lead the ACC in turnover margin with +3.75 and are second only to Clemson in forced turnovers with 16.4 per game.  Compare that to Wake Forest, who ranks 9th in turnover margin with -0.61 and 7th in forced turnovers with 14.5 per game.  If we win the turnover battle and can get some fastbreak points quickly, it will ignite Cassell and help put the game away.

I can’t wait to see what Greenberg has in store tomorrow night.  Should be a great game and everyone who has a way to get there needs to be there to give us a chance for that #2 spot in the ACC.