#317 R.P.I. V.M.I. @ #38 R.P.I. Virginia Tech:

Virginia Tech basketball returns to its home court vs. Virginia Military Institute of Gen. George Smith Patton Jr. fame on Saturday at 7pm. Accordingly, to all the Keydets, thank you for your Service and I thank you for my freedom(s).

This however being the other revenue sporting contest for this Saturday afternoon; as the whispers say a lotta O&M eyes will being going ’round a particular South Bend earlier in the day. Nevertheless, Buzz and company have looked pretty decent, and then they looked pretty good so far. Are Buzz and company for real; and who are you and what have you done with the former run-n-gun v.M.i.? Keep on reading to find, out…

Virginia Military Institute at a glance:

• 291st in FG percentage (38.3%)
• 42nd in Scoring D (59.5 ppg allowed)
• 39th in Steals  ( 9.5 spg)
• 24th in offensive rebounding (17 o-rpg)
• 13th in Blocks (7.5 bpg)

Returning Starters=3

Head Coach: Dan Earl: age=42. Dan is a 10-22 overall second year coach (1-1 this year). Dan was a 1993 Parade all-American and was named 1993 USA Today New Jersey Player of the Year in high school. He was named 2nd team all-Big Ten as a junior for the 1995–96 Nittany Lions before missing two seasons to injury. Dan won a Sate title in N.j. hoops in high school, as his team was ranked #9 in the nation. His brother (Brian) is Cornell’s big whistle. Dan did lead PSU in assists in the four outta six hardship years he was physically eligible to play as a savvy Pt.Guard. He balled overseas and in the C.b.a. and was on the Nets roster though never played in an actual N.b.a. game. Dan came up as a P.S.U. happy valley assistant coach and later at the U.S. Naval Academy assistant; so v.M.i. is a good fit for a spit-shine guy like this.

V.M.I. Strengths:

• Yah; I’d have to say that anyone who can net you mid-20’s on a night to night basis counts here. And 6’3” 190 lb. Sr. off-G Julian Eleby counts for right at 24 ppg.; 48% from downtown and the team lead in steals (2 spg) counts too. Such is virtually a 10 ppg improvement in performance from last year and such charts Julian -who could always straight up shoot that rock- as a possible Most Improved Southern Conference Player of the Year award winner. Hell, it probably charts him as the So.Conference POTY award winner as well.

  

• Homegrown 3o4 Hedgesville, Wv. native, one #22, 6′ 185 lb. final year Point (G) QJ Peterson is only the pre-season Southern Conference Player of the Year, and the #1 N.b.a. prospect in the Southern Conference accordingly to Lindy’s pre-season wrap! And yet he is -thus far- v.M.i.’s second leading scorer at 17.5 ppg. In point of fact, he was only the Southern Conference’s Player of the Year last year (19.8 ppg and 6.4 rpg). The only knocks on QJ would be… he’s been very good though he’s been very flat at being very good. As his scoring average has been 19.something since the day he arrived. Some might call that consistent, some might call that a lack of betterment. The book also reads that QJ (no periods or initials here), that QJ needs better depth when dialing long-distance on his J. 36% last year was an 8% career high water mark and no bad thing by me. Though QJ is back in the 20’s as a percentage (27%) from downtown where he’s always been thus far. QJ does have a nice floater and he shoots a jumper with both hands, ambidextrous to the max’; as methinks this So.Co. Player of the Year is good enough to start at Tech; and Eleby is no less than first off the bench if his above improvements hold true to form. Thus granting v.M.i. a really smart looking 1-2 offensive scoring punch. And both can free-throw; QJ has yet to miss and Eleby is merely 88%.
• 6’6” 2o6 lb. Jr. Swing Fred Iruafemi and virtually likewise 6’6” 2o5 lb. Swing Trey Chapman do all the other things including the board work and are the unsung straws that stir the Keydet drink. Fred nets you 4.5 points and almost 9 rpg and is springy enough to swat a team leading 2.7 bpg. Trey is third in scoring with 7.5 ppg and second in Windex or glass work at 6 rpg. Both guys are the utility players or glue guys that very squad needs and that every coach loves.

Keydet Weaknesses:

• Last year v.M.i. ranked 324th in average height in the nation. WoW!
• The Keydets did finally ink a t-Center; though he (Ty Creammer) is a year away.
• …some say, that Eleby and Chapman and QJ take a lot of shots, some might say they take too many shots and stop the ball in the Keydet O as they did hoist up a staggering 145 3-pointers between them last year.
• Did I mention the lack of size, yet? (though that is a little bigger/better this campaign)

V.M.I. Bench: (depth= ~3 )
Will Miller, Keith Smith and the aforementioned Creammer. Creammer is a t-Fresh 6’10” t-Center; although he could fill out a bit more at 219 lbs. He does rebound (3 rpg) and block a shot (1 bpg) and give your some put-back help. Will is a legit 6’8” 210 lb. rookie or nugget year P/F (3 ppg and 5 rpg); who same as Creammer could mix in a steak and a protein shake. Keith is a pass first true-One (Pt.G.), checking in at 5’12” and a spindly 168 lbs. as a t-Fresh with 5.5 ppg. Do you see a puerile and undersized pine-squad trend here?

Illation, conclusion (s) and OPT digits:

the takeaway:
The takeaway here is… v.M.i. got beat by Richmond 72-69 in game number one and then rolled up little ole Southern Virginia 78-47 in game number two. The truth probably lies somewhere in between as Richmond is a middle of the isle or centrist A-10 club and Southern Virginia -a predominately Mormon school in Buena Vista, Va.- is yet another D-III school I had to, Google.

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Gone are the days of 90 points to parade rest these plucky Keydets as these Keydets actually play defense for the first time since half past Gay Elmore or their epic 6-o upset of V.P.I. with someone named Bruce Smith way way back in the 1981 frozen Lane Stadium sec.12 hot chocolate upset of the decade thermometer killing day.

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The Keydet backcourt could probably hoop with us, although I’m just not seeing enough depth or just pure raw talent three through five or in the remaining swing rotational players to hoop with Buzz and company for 40 minutes here.

If v.M.i. hangs around that’s on us; or maybe, kinda, sorta, there is a chance for both Eleby and QJ to go blowtorch and spark up hot like the Sun and for v.M.i. to make a game out of it. Maybe; though to me the smart money says the Hokie Bird rolls here; Virginia Tech by at least 20-25.

(88% confidence interval)
Virginia Tech=86, Virginia Military=59

“LETS GO!”

“Hokies!”

 bourbonstreet**

V.A.D.A. approved