Both A.D. Vassallo and Malcolm Delaney made the 2008 ACC All-Tournament Second Team.  This is a great honor for both, especially for the freshman, Delaney.  Malcolm was the only freshman on the first or second team.

Vassallo averaged 16 points in the two Hokie games while Delaney averaged 15.  Delaney shot 67% for the tournament from the field and 75% on threes.  Malcolm also had an assist-to-turnover ratio of better than 2:1 with 9 assists and just 4 turnovers.

With unc’s title on Sunday, they now have the most ACC Basketball Championships, moving ahead of duke.  Amazingly, clemson still has not won one and has only played for the title twice including Sunday. 

Here’s the totals by school.

• duke won 7 of 8 titles between 1999 and 2006
• unc or duke has won 11 of the last 12 ACC titles 
• maryland is the only school not in NC to win the title since 1993
• As you may have noticed above, the top four schools in terms of titles are the four NC schools and they have won 47 of the 55 championships (85%)

FYI: The tournament is scheduled to be at the Georgia Dome next year.  The dome was hit by a tornado this week during the SEC Tournament.

As I sit here watching the ESPN Classic Game of the Week (the VT/unc game), I figured I would take a look back at how the Hokies did in Charlotte.

MVP: This is a no-brainer. It is Malcolm Delaney. He scored 15 in both games and hit 10/15 (67%) from the floor and 6/8 (75%) on threes. He also had 9 assists to just 4 turnovers. Anything over 2 in that ratio is incredible. I predicted before the season he would be VT’s best recruit in this class. I was wrong, at least for this year, but he showed he can be a star in this league. Delaney scored 35 combined points in the two games against unc this year.

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The Hokies played their hearts out but came up short as ACC POY Tyler Hansbrough hit a 12-foot baseline jumper with 0:00:8 left to break a tie and give unc the win. I honestly have never seen the Hokies fight harder in any game. I won’t say Tech played perfectly, but they did an amazing job and nearly avenged a 39-point loss exactly four weeks ago at unc.

Tech led almost the entire game, jumping out to eight point leads in the first and second halves. In fact, the heels’ biggest lead was three points at 5-2 early in the game. VT went up 59-52 with 6:18 to go on an incredible inbounds pass/alley-oop dunk by Deron Washington, but the Hokies struggled to score down the stretch. Deron fouled out with 1:29 to go.

Neither team shot very well, with both teams shooting 40%. Jeff Allen had 9 points and 11 rebounds but shot just 3/9 from the floor. Even A.D. Vassallo was 6/19 from the field, including 1/8 on threes. That’s one of the reasons I say Tech didn’t play a perfect game.

Hansbrough led unc with 26 points, but had just 10 in the second half. The Hokies did a much better job of frustrating him in the second stanza. Wayne Ellington also hurt the Hokies with 15 points, including three clutch three-pointers.

The Hokies, who were outrebounded by 30 in the first meeting, held their own in the first half, but got dominated on the glass in the second half. For the game, the heels outrebounded Tech 39-30. And had A.D. been able to grab Lawson’s miss with 3 seconds left, the game would have gone to overtime. Instead, the ball bounced right off Vassallo’s hands under the hoop to Hansbrough, who hit the 12-foot jumper over Hank Thorns.

Malcolm Delaney had another terrific game. After scoring 15 points on 4/5 three point shooting against miami yesterday, he had 15 again today on 2/3 long range shooting and 5/6 from the floor overall. He took great strides forward in this tournament. He could be the next Zabian Dowdell.

On defense, the Hokies got beat off the dribble too much. The heels were able to take it at the hoop way too much, and got most of their points this way.

This is a devastating loss for the Hokies, but may have been enough to propel them into the NCAA Tournament. They finished in the Top Four in the ACC regular season and in the ACC Tournament. They also proved they can play the #1 team in the country all the way to the buzzer. Now, we just have to sit back and wait for a day and see if the NCAA Tournament Committee agrees. Either way, the Hokies made us all proud today, showcasing how resilient this team is and what they are capable of.

Spread: unc -11

THE SETUP 

1/30/2005 - duke 100, VT 65

2/17/2005 - VT 67, duke 65

2/16/2008 - unc 92, VT 53

3/15/2008 - VT ??, unc ??

Nuff said.  Let’s roll.

Recap | Box Score

The Hokies advance to the ACC Tournament semi-finals with Friday’s win over miami.

Box Score | Game Film

The 4th seeded Hokies used a 21-4 run during the second half to beat the 5th seeded miami hurricanes 63-49 in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinal. Today’s game was one of the best team efforts I’ve seen out of Virginia Tech this year on both sides of the court. The Hokies won today thanks to an aggressive defensive effort, domination on the boards, and exceptional shot selection, which led to 7 three-pointers.

From the onset, the Hokies were tenacious on D. miami shot only 31.6% from the field. Jack McClinton was just 4 of 17 from the field. Tech’s defense set the tone. If it weren’t for some foul trouble in the first half (Deron Washington picked up 2 fouls in the first 6 minutes) and the beginning of the second half (Jeff Allen picked up his 2nd and 3rd fouls within 10 seconds, early in the half), the Hokies might have broken away from the canes even earlier in the game.

On the offensive end, the Hokies shot 42.6% from the field including 7 of 15 from 3 point land and A.D. Vassallo only made 1 of those threes! Malcolm Delaney, my player of the game, stepped up BIG TIME today with 15 points, 4 boards, and 3 assists. Delaney was 4 of 5 from behind the arc. He nailed a couple daggers during the 21-4 run that virtually sealed the deal for Tech. Hank Thorns and Deron Washington made the other three pointers. Washington finished with 14 points and 12 boards. A.D. had 15 points, 5 boards, and 5 assists. Jeff Allen, who didn’t score his first basket until 11 seconds left in the first half, sparked the Hokies in the first few minutes of the second half, but then had to sit after his 3rd foul at the 16:36 mark. miami used that to their advantage and took a 40-38 lead with 11:11 to go. Coach Greenberg put Allen back in, and the Hokies took off on their 21-4 run to win the game. Allen finished with another double-double, 10 points and 10 boards.

Finally, the rebounding margin was Tech 47 miami 22. That’s insane. Gary Cope-acabana had a great line in our in game after a monster rebound by J.T. Thompson in the second half: “That was a tremendous individual effort by J.T. to stick with that offensive rebound - it’ll only count as one rebound, but it was more like three.” The Hokies crashed the boards, and that has to continue tomorrow in order for Tech to have a snowballs chance in hell to win.

The Hokies are now 2-3 all-time in ACC Tournament play with victories against miami today and wake forest (’07 quarters) and losses against n.c. state (’07 semis), uva (’06 1st round), and ga tech (’05 quarters).

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!

Yes, I realize this is TechHoops.com, and not antiuvahoops.com, but what Hokie doesn’t enjoy uva sports misery?  And quite frankly, uva’s ineptitude and futility in the ACC Tournament is gradually becoming legendary. 

With their blowout loss to the other tech from georgia in the First Round, the hoos have now failed to reach the ACC Tournament Semi-Finals for the 13th straight year dating back to 1995.  Adding to the boo-hoo story is the fact that uva only had to win one game in nine of those 13 tournaments to reach the semis.  uva is 0-10 in Quarterfinal action over this span, 3-3 in the First Round.  This year, of course, they would have had to win two, but that’s all moot now.

TechHoops.com will be doing in game commentary for VT’s quarterfinal game against miami.

THE SETUP

With miami’s 63-50 win over the nc state wolfpack, the Hokies get the chance they wanted: a seventh shot at beating a RPI Top 50 team. miami, 28th is last Sunday’s RPI, comes into this game as the second hottest team in the ACC having won seven of their last nine. They also didn’t have to work very hard in beating an awful nc state team, so they shouldn’t be too exhausted on Friday.

The state/miami game set the game of basketball back about 20 years as the two teams started out 1/18 on threes, including 0/11 from state, and finished just 3/23. That’s good in a sense in that miami struggled from outside. Tech struggles to guard the perimeter, so cold shooting will help VT. nc state only scored 2 points in the first 7:40. But this is the kind of game miami wants. They play classic Big East basketball: lots of bruising punishment inflicted.

THE SERIES:

• All Time Series: miami 8-5
• Since VT joined the ACC: VT 4-2
• Last Meeting: miami 74, VT 71 - 2/9/08
• Overall ACC Tournament Records: VT 1-3, miami 3-3
• ACC Quarterfinal Records: VT 1-1, miami 0-2

THE NUMBERS:

THE GAME

The biggest question on Friday will be how do the Baby Hokies react to the bright lights of the ACC Tournament stage?  miami will be loose, having a game in the books, while there is a danger that Tech will come out with some nerves, in awe of the stage.  You’ll know early depending on how things go up to the first media timeout.

In the meeting in February at the Cassell, Deron Washington’s three to tie the game at the buzzer was off the mark and VT lost 74-71. After an initial VT 10-2 lead, the canes controlled the game. miami never trailed in the second half and built their lead up to 10, then withstood a furious Hokie rally. A.D. Vassallo had 24 points and Jeff Allen added 16. But the story was rebounding and free throws, as the canes almost doubled VT in both categories. When VT wins on free throw attempts, turnover margin, and rebounding margin, they are unbeaten.

The canes are led by First Team All-ACC member Jack McClinton. Jack is the first person in ACC history to lead the conference in three-point percentage and free throw percentage two years in a row. He hits 90% from the line and 44% from threes. However, he did not score in the first 30 minutes against nc state and finished with 8 points.

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