The Will Call: Your Ticket to the Game (Video Included)

Knock on it. The Will Call is about to do exactly what Hokie sharp shooter A.D. Vassallo pleaded for the media not to do after the Florida State game Tuesday night.

“Don’t jinx it, don’t jinx it,” said Vassallo at mention of the Hokies 4-3 ACC record.

STATE OF HOKIE NATION

President Bush gave his final State of the Union this past Tuesday but more importantly is the Will Call’s State of Hokie Nation.

Any other year a 4-3 record, while nothing to scoff at, would not induce so many praises and whispers. Praises and whispers. Let’s address these two reactions in the next section.

The real accomplishment is because of the 4-3 ACC record but is not the 4-3 record itself. In past years, a 4-3 record at this point could have put a team anywhere from 5th to 8th in the league standings. This year? Let’s take a look shall we?

ACC Standings as of January 30

Fourth?! The Virginia Tech Hokies, written off for dead by the media before the season even started (picked anywhere from 10th to 12th in preseason polls), finds themselves in fourth place at nearly the half way mark.

Ah but there’s more. The juggernaut North Carolina offense plays host to Boston College tonight in Chapel Hill. I’m thinking after an embarrassing home loss to Maryland a few weeks ago, the men in baby blue won’t be faulting on their court again, especially not against a team as one dimensional as Boston College is—depending solely on Tyrese Rice.

The point the Will Call is trying to make is that the Hokies could be sitting alone in THIRD place in the ACC heading into a rematch with UVA Saturday afternoon in Cassell.

The bolding of Virginia in last in the standings is a little shout out to the hundreds of Wahoos the Will Call heard grumbling leaving Scott Stadium in football defeat back in November.

“Well, we’ll crush them in basketball,” they assured themselves.

PRAISES AND WHISPERS

This little section is dedicated to my fellow media members. The Will Call wants everyone to invest in some q-tips and have a pre-press conference ear cleaning session before the next game.

As Zoolander’s Mugatu said, “I feel like I’m taking crazy pills! I invented the Piano Key Necktie!”

While I didn’t invent the Piano Key Necktie, I do feel like I’m taking crazy pills sometimes in regards to the repeated questions that get repeated answers.

I mean hey, if Coach Greenberg says the first time that the 48 hour turnaround won’t be a factor in the Boston College game, I’m sure what he’s really saying is, “ Ask me about it again so I can waste my breath.”

When the players, particularly the freshman, have said all season that youth won’t be an excuse or problem for the team, what they really meant was, “Please act shocked when we’re 4-3 in the ACC, as if we set no standards or expectations for ourselves.”

One reporter had the following conversation with freshman guard Malcolm Delaney:

“You guys are 4-3 in the conference. Does that shock the heck out of you? Some people thought maybe four wins the whole season…maybe.”

“Yeah…I think it shocked everybody else more than us. We’ve been together since day one and didn’t look at youth or inexperience. If we play hard and as a team we could end up beating whoever,” replied Delaney.

“You could be .500 in the league this year!”

“Yeah…uh, we’re planning on being over. We’re not looking for .500, we’re looking to be over .500,” said Delaney.

While the Will Call thought the conversation was humorous, as the answers were the same it had heard all season, it did want to know what Coach Greenberg thought of the now growing whispers about their chances to make the NCAA tournament if they do finish with 9 or 10 league wins.

Greenberg laughed and shook his head, clearly not wanting to think that far ahead.

“I can’t…I’m worried about recruiting tomorrow. Our guys need to be off tomorrow. I’ll watch Virginia film, drive three hours and watch a kid practice…turn around drive back and be back here and try to prepare for Virginia.”

It is important to note, no ACC team has ever been denied an NCAA tournament bid with 10 league wins.

RECAP DUKE

The Will Call is indeed part of Hokie nation but it is its journalistic duty to pick the games they don’t have a chance of winning. The Will Call was almost dead on in the scoring margin—predicting a 14-point loss—with the actual difference of 17 with a final of 81-64.

The Cassell Guard was absolutely pumped when Vassallo came out in the first ticks of the 2nd half and knocked down a 3 to bring the score to 41-42. While I’m sure Mike Patrick on ESPN was saying, “Holy Cow!” the Will Call was just waiting for exactly what it had predicted.

Although the drought occurred at the beginning of the 2nd half rather than the end of the first, the Hokies did indeed have a dismal five or six minutes where Duke really ratcheted up their defense and proceeded to wreak havoc. They used a 14-3 run led by freshman Kyle Singler and their suffocating defense began to force the Hokies to become a little unglued.

The Dukies were able to attack the inside much easier with the absence of Allen, which in turn opened up their perimeter game for their outstanding guards in the second half.

Between some over-the-top chants from the student section directed toward Duke guard Greg Paulus and some missed calls by the refs against Deron Washington, you could really feel the tension in Cassell build during the last ten minutes despite the game being out of reach.

“I think both teams were a little feisty,” said Greenberg. “I’m sure Paulus was tired of seeing the bottom of Deron’s shorts.”

A few very hard fouls (by Washington) and a technical (against DeMarcus Nelson) later, the Blue Devils left Blacksburg as the team to beat in the ACC.

RECAP BOSTON COLLEGE

The Will Call only has a little to say about the huge 81-73 victory at Boston College, as it was not actually at the game. If anyone wants to donate travel money for the Will Call, he will attend every road game on the schedule.

The win was big in so many ways. Any road win in the ACC is important but it was the way they won that really showed something. Not only did they rebound from their first home loss of the season, they did it in less than 48 hours and still without their big man Jeff Allen. In addition, they won another overtime game—showing this team’s will to fight for as long as it takes.

Still, they felt the need to stress out Hokie Nation when they allowed Rakim Sanders to hit a 3-pointer with 3.6 seconds left to force overtime. Former Duke guard and commentator Mike Gminski wondered why Greenberg didn’t elect to foul Boston College and put them on the free thrown line to prevent a 3-pointer from even going in the air.

It’s maybe the one time I’ll agree with a Dukie.

After getting off to a fast start and what looked like it would be a career night for Tyrese Rice, the Hokies were able to completely shut him down in the last 10 minutes of regulation and overtime to seal the win.

RECAP FSU

The return of Jeff Allen and the hot shooting by A.D. Vassallo are the big things to note from the Hokies 89-80 win this past Tuesday. For a detailed recap of the game, see this week’s write-up.

THE EMERGENCE OF J.T. THOMPSON

After the two game suspension of Jeff Allen, it was clear that someone would have to step up in order to even compete in the next few games. That someone was freshman forward J.T. Thompson.

Thompson was averaging less than 7 mpg heading into the battle with Duke where he was granted a starting spot in the lineup. Scoring Tech’s first basket, Thompson provided a lot of energy.

His powerful dunks and ability to control his body in the post to draw and one opportunities makes him now an important asset to the Hokies.

“Being a little smaller, I try to use my quickness. I use the backboard because, hey, there’s big guys down there trying to block it so I gotta get it up,” said Thompson.

In his two starts, Thompson is averaging 12 points and nearly 7 rebounds. Along with freshmen Terrell Bell and Dorenzo Hudson, who are also now seeing more minutes, the added depth will allow Vassallo and Washington to get a few minutes more rest. They currently play the 4th and 5th most minutes per game in the ACC.

THE TICKET

There’s not much to it. Limit Sean Singletary. While the Hokies took the bumpy road to victory in Charlottesville, allowing Singletary to score 34 points, which might not be advisable again.

Maryland absolutely owned the game against the Wahoos Wednesday night before Singletary put the team on his back the last five minutes and gave them a chance. They allowed the Twerps to grab some key offensive rebounds and get second-chance points late in the game, something that Allen, Thompson, Washington, Cheick Diakite, and Lewis Witcher will need to do.

Even Greenberg himself said, “Obviously you don’t want Singletary to score 34. If he does again, it probably won’t be good for the Hokies.”

PREDICTION

Good news for the Hokies as they fight to slow down Singletary is a hip pointer injury he suffers from that has reduced his practice time and put him into somewhat of a slump. Although, don’t expect Singletary to quit, he still put up 23 on the road against Maryland Wednesday night.

With momentum, added depth, and constantly improving team chemistry coming together for Tech--who put up a season high 89 points this past Tuesday—look for the Hokies to improve to 5-3 in the league and remain in sole possession of third place.

VT 72 UVA 64

Video by Neal Turnage

Video by Neal Turnage and Tyler Murphy