Virginia Tech has announced that unused student section seats will be made available to students on a first-come, first-served basis for the next three Virginia Tech men’s basketball home games, hosting virginia, richmond, and the newly minted giant killers from boston college (I’m still celebrating that fantastic upset in Chapel Hill).

In a related move, a program to enable electronic transfers by public season ticket holders for all games throughout the season has been announced. “Hokie Share” will reportedly allow ticket holders to transfer tickets to the recipient of their choosing. This sounds like a brilliant, much-needed solution to the empty seats often seen in out-of-conference games in Cassell — but there’s a tragic catch: each ticket transfer will incur a $4 fee.

So if you want to give a couple tickets to the Boy’s and Girl’s Club you’ll just have to dig out your tickets, log in, figure out how to use Hokie Share, and then pony up $8 to give away your tickets. I looked at it for a few minutes, in two different browsers, and I can’t figure out how it works. So, hooray for ticket transfers, and boo for the fee and the confusing website.

Here’s a link to the full article on HokieSports.com: click here

According to HamptonRoads.com (or PilotOnline.com … make up your mind, people) senior forward and Tech’s leading scorer A.D. Vassallo was arrested and charged with shoplifting in Christiansburg last Thursday by Virginia State Police. This could be why he missed the first seven minutes of the columbia game. Jim Weaver, Tech’s athletics director, said that Vassallo hasn’t been suspended because 1) he (Weaver) hasn’t seen the police report yet and 2) he doesn’t believe the Vassallo did anything wrong. For the program’s sake, let’s hope not. With all that has happened to this team so far this season, it’s a miracle we’re 8-4.

On a lighter note, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone!

Oh yeah, here’s the link to the article: click here.

According to the Daily Press, Hank Thorns sprained the medial collateral ligament in his knee during practice Wednesday and is “doubtful” for this weekend’s games in New York City. Thorns averages 3.5 points and 19 minutes a game so far this season.

I did an interview for the blog GobblerCountry.com about the upcoming season. Click HERE if you want to read it.

Nice article on Jeff Allen’s off-season conditioning and some tidbits about what the guys did during the Summer: Roanoke Times Article

Dickie V’s Top 40 pre-season poll is out on ESPN.com, and he has the Hokies at #20. Other ACC schools in his Top 40 are:
#1 - unc
#9 - duke
#21 - miami
#29 - wake
#32 - clemson

It’s going to be a fun year, Hokie fans.

Nice article about Deron Washington’s preparation for the 2008 NBA Draft (Thursday, June 26th) and his prospects of getting taken in the 2nd (and final) Round.

Roanoke Times

As I mentioned a few days ago, no Hokie has been drafted since 1999 (Eddie Lucas - Utah Jazz - 2nd Round) and before that it was Bimbo Coles in 1990.

The Roanoke Times thinks so. While that might be a crazy comparison, the article gets you excited to see Davilia’s actions both on and off the court.

[Niemo's Note: I'd rather NOT see, or hear, about his actions off the court, Wick.  No news is good news in my book with any athlete these days since the media rarely talks about good kids doing good things.]

The Roanoke Times is reporting that 2008 signee Kendall Durant will not be enrolling at Virginia Tech this year. According to the article, Durant will enroll in junior college next year. Read more of the Roanoke Times article.

With the exception of gus “whichever way the wind blows” gilchrist changing schools … again … it’s been a pretty slow and uneventful news cycle this off-season related to the Hokies. Of course, in this day and age, that is a great thing! Look at Indiana’s program - all the news out of Bloomington this off-season has been catastrophic.

Top Virginia Tech recruit and big man Victor Davila (Starmount High School, North Carolina) won the Winston-Salem Journal’s Frank Spencer Award for a second straight season. The Award is given to the top boys basketball player in Northwest N.C. He averaged 20 points, 11.5 rebounds and 6 blocked shots a game during the 2007 season, his senior year of high school. Davila will lead the West All Stars next month in the state’s annual high school all star East vs. West game. More…

In other news…
Former Virginia Tech head basketball coach Bobby Hussey, who passed away last year from a massive stroke, is being remembered by Nike. The company’s annual Memorial Day Classic featuring a 64-team field of elite 15- to 17-year-old basketball players has been re-named the “Bobby Hussey Memorial Day Classic.” The tournament was conducted May 24-26 at two Nashville, TN venues; Vanderbilt University and Ensworth High School. More…