The following was written by a friend of the site, Matthew, aka @hokieguru, on his thoughts from Late Night With the Hokies. Thanks to Matthew for sharing with us and hopefully we'll see more from him here soon!
October 16, 2010 - Late Night With The #Hokies – an evaluation from @HokieGuru.
In brief
On October 16, 2010, Virginia Tech had about 3000 – 3500 fans show up for Hokies’ version midnight madness (the first official men’s basketball practice of the season). This was far too few fans for a team that many thought would be in the preseason top 25 polls and contend for an ACC title (and of course, later we know that the Hokies are ranked 21 and 23 in the AP and Coaches polls, respectively). Granted, this was Homecoming weekend and many people were probably late in getting down to Virginia Tech, but I was a little disappointed given the high expectations for this team.
The players
Jeff Allen looked slim and strong. If the mental aspect of the game improves for him this year, he will be a second-team All-ACC player (he is good enough to be first team, but we have such a deep talented basketball conference that I don’t see him making the first team). Our guards are going to have a special year. We have the deepest and most experienced backcourt in the Atlantic Coast Conference in Malcolm Delaney, Dorenzo Hudson, and Erick Green. We all know about Delaney and Hudson, but it looked to me like Green improved his quickness. My surprise player for this year is Jarrell Eddie. For a freshman, the kid looks pretty big and might be able to play some of the minutes that J.T. Thompson (who tore his ACL) was going to play
Recruiting visits
The big stud, Adjehi Baru, a 6’9” 225 pound forward was on a recruiting visit to Blacksburg for the entire weekend. If the Hokies land him, we will have our first true center recruit in a long time and, potentially, a top 5 recruiting class (right now, ESPNU has the Hokies at #12 with the recent addition of Dorian Finney-Smith… whoever thought our men’s basketball recruiting class would be rated higher than football). Also in attendance were the “Hargrave 3”, including Marcus Rankin (PG), Robert Brown (SG), and C.J. Barksdale (PF).
The Skits (only a few bullet points here)
· Abbie Reddick (JJ’s sister) actually did “the worm” (was that the 1980’s smh?)
· The freshmen had a rap contest, clearly won by Jarrell Eddie (honestly, there is a serious problem with the Cassell Coliseum public address system, so I had no idea what he was rapping… but he sounded cool).
· The sophomores played the dating game (hosted by senior walk-on, Paul Debnam). Erick Green won the dating game through his honesty; he said he take the chick to IHOP lol.
· The senior skit was a “remake” of some Michael Jackson (played by Paul Debnam) videos… he was hilarious. He did “The Way You Make Me Feel”, “Beat It”, and “Thriller.”
A chat with Seth Greenberg
· Coach Seth Greenberg was told that his schedule needed to include more state schools. So he said, well, we’re playing Michigan State, Mississippi State, and Penn State (of course, the critics meant schools like George Mason, Virginia Commonwealth, Old Dominion and the like), but you get the general idea… the Virginia Tech men’s basketball schedule (which also includes Purdue in the ACC-Big 10 Challenge), a weakness that killed the Hokies NCAA tourney hopes last year, is much better this year.
· Coach Greenberg reiterated the theme of this year’s men’s basketball team, “I’M IN!! ALL IN!!” This, of course, meaning that fans show up to all games, cheer loudly, and support the team in good and not so good times.
· Coach Greenberg answered a few light questions from Bill Roth, the voice of Virginia Tech sports. One notable one: Roth asked, “Jay Bilas or Hubert Davis? Greenberg: "They're both useless." lol
Beef up Late Night, Please!!
· Virginia Tech needs to improve midnight madness. Really needs to spice it up… I really thought I’d see more practice type stuff, shooting or dunk contests, or something. I did not sense energy in the building. Enthusiasm will be much higher during the season, but Late Night needs to be beefed up.
