This week didn't go quite to plan for the Hokies, they played hard and showed how well they stick together but they just didn't have enough in two close losses to ranked teams. We have known for a while now that it would come down to the ACC tournament for us to have any shot at the NCAA tournament and of course that remains the case. But it sure would have been nice to close out a couple of these games against strong competition, if nothing else to help build some momentum. However that didn't happen and now we are hovering above .500 and each game I just wonder what is gonna cost us in the end. In the uva game it ended up being poor referee eye sight and horrible clock work. And against dook it was poor free throw shooting and weak legs (in my opinion).
I won't get into the uva game too much as I was working that night and without good reception I couldn't watch or listen to much of it. I did however get to see the three that made the difference and that should have been called off because of a shot clock violation. I think Jontel Evans was the culprit and clearly he didn't get the shot off, however he should not have been that open and while normally you would concede a shot from that distance, I still feel someone should have been out there to prevent the heave. As I said that shot ended up being the difference, but as usual we had our chance to close the gap and ended up missing free throws and open shots that could have swung the game the other way.
In the dook game it was a pretty similar situation all though I feel the writing was on the wall right from the start. We started out the game shooting fairly well and played some great defense , but we could not hit our free throws going 1-8 in the first ten minutes. I know typically you wouldn't count a team out for missing 8 free throws but for this team, in my opinion, it is a tell tale sign. If we can't hit the free throws early we sure as hell ain't gonna hit them late and more often than not that has been the case, which has proven to be one of the most frustrating parts of watching this team. It all just gets magnified against the better competition, because you can see the talent and will in these guys to win, but for whatever reason they can't make the easy plays that could push them over the top. This was personified with the last possession of regulation, when Erick Green (who had been shut out in the first half but poured it on in the second scoring 16 points and maintain his streak of double digit games which is at 30 now) held the ball for the last shot, drove to the lane, went for the layup, and left it just short hitting the front of the rim. That was followed by a Cadarian Raines attempted tip in which hit of the back board and nothing else.
As frustrating as this season has been I can say honestly that next year, if we can keep everyone who is not a senior, this team will be a contender. I just don't say how these guys don't get better and after going through a season like this, you know they will have the mental toughness to play anybody. Also you can see the development almost every where on the court. The most interesting thing to me is that where the elders have seemed to have faltered the young guys have stepped up and to me that shows that Seth Greenberg has not only gotten players with a high level of talent but players that also know what it takes to put the team on their back and keep pushing when a leader has an off night.
This week provides two more opportunities to show more growth and development and with any luck we will have the legs and focus to close the last two out. After Clemson and N.C. State it is off to the ACC tournament and who knows what will happen there. Due to the way this season has gone, more than likely we will have an early exit, but as I have said before with this team playing so many close games and now playing close games against great competition anything could happen. You just never know when the light will go off for some of these guys. And just Cadarian Raines has showed up in the last couple games, providing a lot of production on offense and defense, if any of the other players can get it going on offense before the tourney I would look out cause with our defense we could do a lot of damage. As always Go HOKIES!
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