Niemo used to work with a chick from fairfield university, and since we don’t know the first thing about the school, we decided to shoot her an email to get some more information about Virginia Tech’s first round opponent in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.

Speaking of work, here is how you can get out of work tomorrow to watch the game at 11 AM EST:

1. Block off your calendar from 11-1 with a “Coaching Luncheon” (you can be the coach or the coachee depending on your title).
2. Have another Hokie in the office do the same.
3. Call around to the local sports bars and see which bars have “the u”, ESPNU - DirecTv Channel 614. There’s a good chance they will have no idea said channel even existed, so just tell them the channel number and have them check it. We actually did a drive-by to verify they got it. Our place even has a buffet, which means 2 hours of stuffin’.
4. Come 11 AM tomorrow, duck out and enjoy the game! Warning: make sure you set your Bear Fight spread VERY high unless you don’t plan on going back to work.

OK, enough of that, let’s get back to the fairfield interview. Thanks to Lanie (former female co-worker of Niemo’s) and Scott (her friend), two real, live stag alums, for participating!

1. Niemo: Tell me about fairfield university - good party scene or suitcase college?

Lanie and Scott: Great party scene at the beach! Clam Jam/Spam Jam… well known in the NE.

[Niemo: Guess it is near a beach. 'Spam Jam'? Hmm. I wonder if it was 'BYOS' - Bring Ya Own Spam! And what's up with "the NE"??? Boy, those chowda heads are really letting 3 Super Bowls, 2 World Series, and a NBA title go to their heads. Just like "the ohio state".]

2. Niemo: How many times per day would you hear, or make, a ‘fu’ joke?

Lanie and Scott: Multiple times a day. I (SM) even had an FU logo on my speedo for swim team and the women’s team had it on their chests.

[Niemo: LOL, that's pretty solid... minus the Speedo, that is. Apparently Lanie has a picture of Scott in said Speedo but isn't coughing it up. Hmm, I wonder what she is still doing with that picture after all these years???]

3. Niemo: How many basketball games did you attend as a student?

Scott: 15

[Niemo: I guess Lanie was tied up at Spam Jam and couldn't make any.]

Read more »

This is a re-post of the Tribute Desktop created by our own 8ball last year to honor the victims of April 16th. We are still thinking of all of you and pray for your families.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the 32 innocent Hokies that lost their lives, their families and friends, those injured, the friends and families of those injured, those yet to contact their student or loved one, and the entire Hokie nation. Today is a day we will never forget, and it will take a long time to even begin to start healing. Our beloved university will never be the same. God bless each person affected today. May your family and friends find the strength to cope with this horrible tragedy.

–The Team at TechHoops.com

***

Tribute Desktop by 8ball:

We are Virginia Tech
Download | 800×600 | 1024×768
Letter (8.5 x 11; 144 dpi) | Tabloid (11 x 17; 144 dpi)

***

Visit vt.edu for the latest updates on the tragedy.

We will resume posting basketball content on Monday, April 23.

***

This is a re-post of our article that captured some of the various images and words following the tragedy of last April 16th. TechHoops.com has not forgotten any of the 32 victims from last year and never will. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the impacted families this week especially, but really every day. Not a day goes by that we don’t think of those that lost their lives, so full of hope and promise, way too early. We miss you.

We at TechHoops.com want to post some of the inspiring images and words to help the Hokie community cope with this tragedy. If you have any to share, please leave us a comment.

Nikki Giovanni at the Convocation:

Read more »

By Kartik Krishnaiyer

Our good buddy, Kartik Krishnaiyer from miami’s canesrising.com, was nice enough to write an article about his thoughts on the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee and Virginia Tech’s snub. He also participated in an Opposing View column back in February. TechHoops.com would like to thank him for taking the time to do this and offer his kind thoughts. And to show our gratitude, in an unprecedented move, we have left other schools’ names capitalized.

Hokie fans, I feel your pain. Everyone in ACC Country feels your pain. Talking to many around the country in the last 24 hours, those who understand the culture around ACC Basketball agree with me. Those who don’t understand ACC Basketball have little use for my arguments. But here is how I see what I consider a completely unjustified and unconscionable decision by the committee to take essentially mediocre teams like Villanova, Kansas State and Oregon over a battle tested winning ACC team like Virginia Tech.

• The committee needs to watch more basketball

Had any member of the selection committee watched Virginia Tech’s heartbreaking loss at Littlejohn Coliseum to Clemson last Sunday, they no doubt would have decided that the Hokies are not only a tournament team but probably a top eight seed somewhere. The odd call by an official to call a foul with three seconds remaining and put Clemson on the line for two free throws when the Hokies were up one and had shown the grit to make what appeared to be a game winning shot just seconds earlier was inexcusable. Following this heartbreak, Virginia Tech beat Miami, already considered an NCAA lock and team that secured a #7 seed in the tournament. Finally, the Hokies got unlucky not to at least get to overtime against the committee’s favorite team, #1 overall seed North Carolina. How can a team that beat one tournament team and took two other top seeds to the brink in a one week period and who had a winning record in a league which the RPI rated as the toughest in the nation by a wide margin be left out for a team like, say Kansas State or Oregon?

• Road games in the ACC are not equal to road games in other leagues

Much like the SEC in football, the ACC in basketball features home arenas where the passion is greater night in and night out than in any other league in America. The committee’s failure to understand that Virginia Tech’s road games are more hostile than Villanova’s show they have a fundamental misunderstanding of college basketball. Going 9-7 in the ACC is not like going 8-8 in the SEC or Big 12. It’s a whole lot tougher.

As a Miami fan, I recall we had a team that went 15-2 over a two season period on the road in the Big East. (December 1998 thru March 2000) In this period, Miami had exceptional talent, but not overwhelming talent by any stretch of the imagination. But it was fairly easy for a talented team to go into a large, half empty arena in a city center and steal a road game than to a loud partisan arena jam packed with students near the floor. The SEC in basketball resembles the ACC in football. Students come to games and cheer for their team but the passion the ACC has for basketball is lacking in SEC arenas while the passion the SEC has for football is generally lacking in ACC stadiums.

• The NCAA should understand traditional in-state rivalries

Early in his tenure as Miami Head Coach, Leonard Hamilton made the decision to discontinue Miami’s series with Florida, Florida State, and South Florida. Why? Coach Hamilton was of the belief that you don’t schedule games against in-state opponents that could lead to defeats that kill your program’s profile both locally and nationally. As Miami improved, Hamilton gradually got aggressive about placing Kentucky, North Carolina, and Indiana on UM’s schedule, but the in-state teams never returned until Perry Clark was the coach. Virginia Tech had three losses held against them by the committee: two were to in-state rivals Richmond and Old Dominion (both on the road): for this the Hokies should have been congratulated for playing these teams, not punished for losing. Miami was for years unwilling to play these games. More and more schools now follow Hamilton’s example. The committee must realize that losing to an in-state rival from a smaller league is not like losing to a team from a smaller league from another region.

• The NCAA needs to realize that some teams without returning stars need time to gel

Jeff Allen, Deron Washington, and A.D. Vassalo are now all household names in ACC country. But they weren’t in November when the Hokies lost to Penn State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. As the season went on, as was always the case with Seth Greenberg’s teams at South Florida and now at Virginia Tech, the Hokies played better and better. The team game really began to work and as is always the case with Greenberg’s teams the Hokies played great defense. So at season’s end Virginia Tech wasn’t just one of the 65 best teams in the nation, it was probably one of the 30 best. But Arizona’s early season victories with several returning stars were emphasized in picking a team with a losing conference record for the dance, but Virginia Tech’s early struggles with a group of young players was held against them, even though the Hokies finished with a winning record in the nation’s toughest conference. Go figure.

In summary, I feel Virginia Tech’s exclusion from this tournament is one of the gravest at-large oversights by the committee in recent years. For me it is probably the biggest oversight since Vanderbilt was dropped from the bracket in 2000 right before the selection show because Arkansas had surprisingly won the SEC Tournament and the committee needed to make room for them so lazily they dropped a team from the same league. I have no doubt that Seth Greenberg, one of the finest people in the game, will bring Virginia Tech back to the NCAAs next year, but the Hokies ought to be preparing now for a NCAA game, not a NIT one.

Tickets for Wednesday’s NIT first round game against morgan state are now on sale through the Virginia Tech Ticket Office. Tickets are $15 for the general public and $5 for students. Seating is General Admission.

Click here to order your tickets online.

Virginia Tech is a #1 seed in the 2008 NIT. The Hokies face #8 seed morgan state (22-10, 14-2 MEAC) on Wednesday night at Cassell Coliseum. It will be on ESPN Classic at 7:00 PM.

If the Hokies win on Wednesday, there could be a very intriguing match-up in the Second Round. VT would play the winner of #5 uab and #4 vcu. Both of those teams are very good. uab finished second in Conference USA behind memphis, and vcu won the Colonial regular season crown by three games before losing in the semi-finals to william and mary.

Rounding out Tech’s bracket is #3 nebraska against #6 charlotte, and #2 ole miss battling #7 uc santa barbara. The other #1 seeds are ohio state, syracuse, and arizona state. Two-time defending National Champion florida is a #2 seed.

But first things first. The Hokies must put their disappointment about not being in the Big Dance behind them and TCB against morgan state. The two teams are actually more familiar with each other than you might think. They have played six times since 1985, all at VT and all won by the Hokies. They played every year from 2002-2005, so Deron Washington has played them twice (2 points in 2004 and 16 points in 2005), and A.D. Vassallo (12 points) and Cheick Diakite (2 points) have each played morgan state once.

Note: Don Devoe was a part of the NIT Committee. Devoe coached Virginia Tech to the 1973 NIT Championship.

Note #2: As the #1 seed in their bracket, Tech will not have to play a road game in the NIT. The best seeded team hosts, so Tech could host 3 games before going to MSG for the NIT Final Four.

The NIT brackets will be announced on ESPN2 and ESPNU at 9:00 pm eastern time.

http://www.nit.org/sports/m-nit/spec-rel/031608aaa.html

The Team at TechHoops.com is conducting an in game commentary during today’s quarterfinal game against the canes.

Game Preview | Last Meeting

Stop by during the game and leave us a comment or join in the conversation!

The All-ACC teams were announced today. A.D. Vassallo was named Second Team All-ACC. He ranked 9th in total votes.

Deron Washington made the Honorable Mention All-ACC team and Honorable Mention ACC All-Defensive Team. Freshman Jeff Allen also made the Honorable Mention ACC All-Defensive Team and the ACC All-Freshman Team.

Congrats to A.D., Deron, and Jeff!

Check out the entire teams on the ACC official website.

Box Score

The Hokies used a 19-3 run in the opening 5+ minutes of the second half to blow out the boston college eagles by a final score of 67-48. It marks the first time that the Hokies have swept bc EVER. bc couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn tonight, and had very little second chance opportunities as Tech out-rebounded bc 46-31.

It took the Hokies 20 minutes to break out of the same offensive funk that bc found itself in for the whole game. The first field goal did not occur until 15:52 left in the half. A.D. Vassallo did not score his first points until the second half. In fact, A.D. only took three shots in the first half. Vassallo ended up with 12 points, 2 of 4 from behind the arc.

The highlights tonight were from the post players. Jeff Allen recorded his second double-double in ACC play in his first opportunity to play against bc with 13 points and 10 boards. J.T. Thompson who had a break out game the last time the Hokies beat the eagles, also came up big tonight with 13 points and 5 boards in only 18 minutes. Thompson appears to be taking the torch from Deron when it comes to monster dunks. He had a couple nice ones in the second half tonight, including one that resulted in a warning from the refs after Thompson hung on the rim slightly longer than necessary. It was sweet though. Lewis Witcher, who got the start tonight, was active on both ends of the court. Witcher had 6 points, 5 boards, and 4 blocks.

Niemo’s Notes (Presented by Niemo):
- The second half of this game was déjà vu of the second half in last year’s bc @ VT game where VT just blew the doors off the eagles to start the half.
- The Hokies are 11-0 when leading at the half, including 4-0 in ACC play (yes, that’s right, they’ve only led at the half in 4 of the 14 ACC games and 2 were against bc).
- Other victory formula? Win/tie the rebounding margin, turnover margin, and free throw attempt battle. VT won/tied all three categories tonight: +17 on rebounds, tied on turnovers, and +4 on free throw attempts. VT is 6-0 when winning/tying all three in ACC play.
- Hank Thorns had a career high 7 assists. That is just 1 behind Malcolm Delaney’s team season high 8 assists against charleston southern.
- Jeff Allen had his eighth double-double and second in ACC play. He has two in his last three games. With his 2 steals tonight, he is 2 steals away from setting the VT freshman record for steals.
- Deron Washington’s 10 points moved him into the #20 spot on the VT career scoring list. He will move into the #19 spot with his next 2 points. His shot selection has been much better the last several games.
- VT continues to push the tempo. They outscored bc 19-6 on fastbreak points. In the first half, the results weren’t positive, but in the second half, VT destroyed a tired, thin bc team on the break and got several easy dunks.
- The Hokies only had 8 turnovers in 45 minutes at bc. Tech had 6 turnovers in the first 7 minutes tonight, but settled down and only had 14 turnovers for the game.
- I’m going out on a limb and guessing Lewis Witcher’s 4 blocks were a season high. He also had 6 points and 5 rebounds and played a solid game.
- VT is now 8-15 in ACC games all time decided by 10+ points.
- Tech had 50+ rebounds in both games against bc, the only times all season they’ve passed that mark.
- Downside: VT was only 2/13 on threes. Guys not named Vassallo were 0/9.
- Good: bc shot just 31%. This looked like the Hokie D from earlier in the season.
- Down: Jeff Allen, despite still being over 50% on FGs for the season, is just 15/46 in his last four games.
- Good: VT was -50 in rebounding margin in their recent 3 game losing streak, but are +36 in their 3 game winning streak.
- REALLY Good: VT is 8-6 in ACC play. Amazing. Seriously, amazing. If they can win at home against wake on Senior Night next Tuesday (they have this weekend off), this team picked to finish 10th will lock up a winning record in ACC play. If VT does that, just go ahead and give Seth the ACC COY trophy then.

Around The World (Wide Web)
Hokies continue their renaissance | The Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
Hokies ruffle Eagles’ feathers | Collegiate Times
Virginia Tech drubs Boston College, 67-48 | AP