The Will Call: Your Ticket to the Game

What an emotional start to the semester for the Hokies! For just a second, it looked like the Will Call would be able to rave about all things positive in the world of Hokie hoops…but then…Jeff Allen. The Big Donut will have just that in the stat column for the next two games, hosting Duke on ESPN Thursday and away at Boston College, due to a suspension thanks to a not so wise decision to nudge referee Zelton Steed with an elbow on his way to the bench after fouling out in Atlanta. More on that later…

RECAP MD

Since the last Will Call, Tech has pulled off exciting victories at home against Maryland and away at rival Virginia. The Will Call predicted the close Maryland victory, admittedly a bit high on the score, but basically got the concept down.

The Will Call said if the Tech defense could hold down the rising Terrapin star Greivis Vasquez, they would stand a chance. With the absence of backcourt partner Eric Hayes, who Tech coach Seth Greenberg called Vasquez’s “soul mate," the Hokies and the crowd were able to accomplish just that and win an emotional 67-66 game that came down to a Vasquez miss at the buzzer.

Vasquez received the same treatment former Hokie Wynton Witherspoon got earlier this season, with each touch of the ball fans erupted with boos. Vasquez reacted to the hostility by going scoreless from the field until 3:15 left in the game.

When a reporter asked senior Deron Washington after the game why he thought Vasquez seemed to annoy everyone, Washington replied with a grin on his face, “ I have no idea, the fans just seemed to get together and boo him every time he got the ball and it seemed to get in his head pretty good. We played great defense also but it was the fans getting into it and having fun.”

While Washington seemed to have no idea, I’m guessing the rest of the fan base remembered Vasquez’s extremely hard foul during the blizzard game last year that made him “public enemy number one” as our very own Neal Turnage puts it.

Where am I going with this rambling? Well after evidence in two separate games that suggests booing the other teams’ best player seems to get them into an extreme funk, the Will Call would like to make a cry to fans to use this same tactic against Duke.

We’re sorry to inform that Sean Dockery, the guy that ripped out Hokie hearts with a 45-foot game-winning bomb a few years ago, is no longer on the team. But really you could pick any number of these Dukies, as we’ll discuss later in the preview.

RECAP UVA

So with the emotional win over Maryland, Tech was 100% confident going to UVA a few days later right? When the Will Call questioned Greenberg about visiting Charlottesville for the next game, he replied while sipping a Diet Coke, “Do we have to?”

ACC road wins are hard enough to come by, but perhaps Greenberg knew that Tech had not won in Charlottesville in 40 years…or perhaps he knew that UVA was undefeated in ACC play at John Paul Jones Arena.

Perhaps…and this is just a minor perhaps…he didn’t know or care about either of those things. The Will Call wants to go with the last mentioned, as Tech came away with its second ACC victory by defeating the Wahoos at the buzzer in overtime, 70-69.

While the Will Call demanded that Tech limit Vasquez in order to win over Maryland, it never would have made such a demand in slowing UVA’s All-American Sean Singletary. However, the Will Call never would have thought Tech could absorb the season high 34 points, 10 rebounds, and 44 minute punch by the star guard and come back with a knockout uppercut of their own.

In what would have been a typical ending to a lot of Tech’s games this season, the Hokies nearly turned the ball over with four seconds remaining down by one in overtime.

Without a timeout, the ball was inbounded to Washington at nearly half court--which made the Will Call nervous. Washington immediately drove hard past Adrian Joseph and through Mamadi Diane and took a hard uncalled foul from freshman Mike Scott, and made a buzzer beater that sent the Cavs home sad while sending Sharky’s (and I’m sure every other bar in Blacksburg) into a frenzy!

You can view The Final Four by clicking here.

RECAP GT

So with two very difficult wins, both which now look more impressive after Maryland’s 82-80 victory at #1 UNC this weekend and UVA’s win hosting a likely tournament bound Boston College, the Hokies were poised to grab another clutch victory at Georgia Tech Saturday afternoon.

Coach Greenberg stated that the Yellow Jackets would be the most physical and desperate team anyone plays all season, due to the fact they were coming off an 83-82 loss to UNC and an 0-3 ACC start. Greenberg was half right, the Jackets were indeed desperate for a win but they didn’t grab it by their physical play.

In the first half, the Jackets got expected contributions from the outside shooting of star forward Anthony Morrow, the team’s leading scorer who shoots over 45% from behind the arc this season. While trying to adjust to slow Morrow, the Hokies maybe weren’t paying close enough attention to the North Georgia College and State University senior transfer guard, big time impact player…Matt Causey?

The twice-transferred Causey nearly tripled his career high of 12 when he played as a freshman at Georgetown back in the 03-04 season with 30 points. Causey went 9-14 from the field and 5-7 from the charity stripe as his 7 three pointers crushed the Hokies momentum numerous times during a second half comeback after falling back 16 points at the half.

As if dropping a game that would have put Tech tied for SECOND in the ACC wasn’t bad enough, Allen has set the young but feisty Hokies up for a situation where they could drop to last in the ACC by the end of the week .

No So Sweet, Donut

An ejection from a game usually carries a one game suspension for that player, starting with their next game. The ACC decided to punish Allen a bit harder for this incident, with a two game suspension that will impact both the hosting of the #3 team in the nation, the Duke Blue Devils, and when they visit Boston College on Saturday.

Allen said he “made a terrible mistake”, letting the emotions get the best of him. The Will Call doesn’t feel as bad for Allen, who has 3 more years to appear in the spotlight on nationally televised games, but for this Hokie team which now looks like a deer in the headlights as Thursday’s big game on ESPN gets closer.

The one weakness the Will Call sees in this Blue Devil team is the lack of a solid post game, especially with the injury of their 7-1 big man Brian Zoubek. The suspension will force Greenberg to make some seemingly drastic changes in the game plan, in which I’m sure would have been go to Allen early and often.

The Ticket

This game pits what looks like the ACC’s second best offense against arguably the league’s best defense. Duke averages 85 ppg, behind only UNC’s 91, while Tech’s opponents still average a league low 60 ppg. With this is mind; Duke’s defense is also one of the best in the ACC, after a bit harder schedule, allowing only 64 ppg. This gives Duke the slight edge…oh and did the Will Call mention the Hokies would be without Jeff Allen. Of course we did.

Earlier the Will Call wanted the fans to pick a Duke player to boo so to limit his production.

The Will Call would like to suggest that player be senior Demarcus Nelson, averaging a team high 14.3 ppg. Actually, the Will Call thinks the maybe it would be easier to break the mental toughness of freshman Kyle Singler, averaging 13.1 ppg.

Perhaps the sophomore pair of high flying Gerald Henderson and outside shooting Jon Scheyer, both averaging double figures in scoring, should be the focus or maybe freshman Taylor King who is able to average 9 ppg in only 13 minutes should be kept from having a breakout game. Take your pick Cassell protectors, this team has plenty of weapons.

The only player I don’t suggest you boo is junior guard Greg Paulus. Instead, laugh at him when Deron Washington jumps over his head.

Prediction

In the past few years, the Hokies seem to give the Dukies shocks and scares. Last year they tallied a rare win in Cameron Indoor while Duke was ranked #5 while two years ago Duke needed the Dockery miracle shot at home again to stay #1 in the nation. In the 04-05 season, Tech hosted the #7 Devils at Cassell and walked out with a 67-65 win, the same season they got blasted at Duke 65-100.

This game should not result in a storm of the Cassell floor. Duke has too many weapons while the Hokies are young and now short handed. Tech has looked like a different team since their loss at Richmond over three weeks ago but this will be game will result in their first home loss of the season.

Tech tends to go on dry spells late in the first half on the offensive end. This is where Duke will capitalize and jump out to a lead. The crowd of Cassell will be taken out of the game, much like they were during times when Maryland was in town.

Unlike Maryland, who could never extend their 2nd half lead to double digits, Coach K’s team will want to solidify their top spot and undefeated ACC record with a big win on the road.

Duke 76 VT 62