Virginia Tech basketball High Point preview

#177 R.P.I. High Point @ #41 R.P.I. Virginia Tech:

Virginia Tech hoops plays again on a quick 72 hour turn vs. High Point University on Tuesday night down in Cassell Coliseum at 7pm.hpu-logo

This one may not quite be the gimmie some of you are probably thinking to be on O&M colored hosting paper. As last year, little old High Point went 21 up and 11 down overall and 13-5 in Big South Conference play; while securing a lofty National Invitation tourney invite, same as we. Well, unless of course you already examined the 2015-2016 High Point roster to see who is back. As the top-3 High Pointers are all gone and that gives Virginia Tech a pretty fair to middling chance here.

Head Coach: Scott Cherry: Age-45 (youngest looking four-five, ever, seriously –coach Cherry is still getting carded), Record: 118 up and 1o2 down, overall and at High Point as High Point is his only big whistle job so far. Cherry played for the University of North Carolina Tar Heels basketball team under Dean Smith from 1989 to 1993. Cherry was a senior captain on the Heel team that won the 1993 NCAA Tournament. Cherry has lead High Point to some version of a post-season in three of the last four years; he is in his contract season right now as well.

High Point at a glance: (2016 stats)

  • 6th best in Turnover Margin last year!
  • 11th in FT percentage (76.3%)
  • 23rd in Steals (8 spg)
  • 28th in FG percentage (47.7%)
  • 318th in defensive rebounding (23 d-rpg)
  • 313st in fewest 3-point attempts

Panther Returning Starters=1

High Point Strengths:

  • Not many here…
  • Although a lone  2016 starter does return and he opened up ’17 pretty well. Sr 6’3” 195 S/G Anthony Lindauer is an okay enough 2-Guard with some range (44% from distance) thanks to some textbook technique shooting-form; good for almost 9 ppg last campaign. Anthony is almost a little Larry Bird ‘esque on his release. And he has some game, off-court I mean as this dude is the very spitting image Ryan Gosling and one would have to think he fills plenty of Notebook(s) up on campus accordingly.
  • Andre Fox is a 6’4” 185 lb. t-soph Pt.Guard who can slash to the basket a bit; he also blocks an inordinate amount of shots from his One or (Pt.G) position; does lack range on his J however (27% on 3’s). Possibly the second best scoring alternative here.
  • High Point lives on a very idyllic central North Carolina campus which is about as mid-Atlantic scenic as you can hope to get.

Panther Weaknesses:

  • Gone is what Lindy’s pre-season wrap called possibly the best Four (Power-Forward) in the history of the Big South conference itself (i.e. John Brown). John is only a Charlotte Hornet right now.
  • Likewise abolished are the other three top scores and rebounders from last season alike.
  • Much hoped or hyped up transfer G’s 6’5” 217 t-Fr. Brandon Kamga (Northeastern) and 6’3” 2o5 t-Fr. Jahaad Proctor (Iona) were penciled in to start by most pre-season magazines and yet they did not even play. At least not in game number one vs. Averett.

H.P. Bench: (depth=4 or 5 deep)
Most of the Panther pine squad is actually back. As five different 2016 reserves have returned. 6’6” 22o lb. Jr. year swing Miles Bowman is the most useful of the lot as something of a variety or Swiss Army Pocket knife kind of guy who can score (7.7 ppg) and rebound a bit (4.3 rpg) in relief. The rest are all ‘tweeners or swings themselves; with seldom used 6’10” 255 lb. r-soph., stiff as a board true-C Sam Berlin reduced to spot minutes after an okay enough 2014 (7.4 ppg and 6.9 rpg).

high-point-match-ups

Early out-of-conference games such as these are really all about ...what?

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Illation, conclusion (s) and OPT digits:

the takeaway:
The takeaway here is… on Saturday the High Point Panthers simply mauled little ole Averett College –of, Danville, Va., no less. And yes, no lie here, as I had to wiki that one and even though Averett had made three NCAA (D-III) trips in four years; I have no idea what that means; or how to peg High Point’s win here vis-à-vis.hp-coach


Though I am pretty dang sure that Averett must be pretty dang small and that High Point is the same when viewed through any Earth based kaleidoscope of reality as D-1 NC2A men’s basketball programming goes.

***

High Point has had a decent run of late -to their and coach Cherry’s credit. The have been to two more post-seasons in the last four years than we/Virginia Tech have and I’ll give them the token nod for that.

However, last years pretty dang good -maybe even all-time in school history- High Point hoops club has exited or graduated stage left. High Point has been all right of late and Lindy’s does have them tabbed forth in the Big South 10 team race this season.

Nevertheless, High Point did not even place one kid to pre-season first through third-string all-Big South pre-season honors for a reason as well; as forth seems pretty loft to me when your Charlotte Hornet caliber baller is gone. Virginia Tech and coach Buzz really should roll again here and I’ll be picking the game accordingly.

(91% confidence interval)
Virginia Tech
=86, High Point=58

LETS GO!

Hokies!

 bourbonstreet**

V.A.D.A. approved