A.c.c. basketball game preview: Virginia @ Virginia Tech:

#41 R.P.I. Virginia @ #1o5 R.P.I. Virginia Tech:

TV coverage: 9pm, ESPNU or ESPN3
Vegas line: VT+1
o/u=110
$-line: uva is a 1.3:1 fave, VT is a 1:1.1 dog

The #25 ranked team in all the land and our very own personal Commonwealth nemesis and archrival combined comes a calling on Tuesday night after one helluva a desperation heave by ‘Zo Hudson that eventually found the net after nothing short of a moon-shot trajectory that left you wondering if the basketball had ice on it when it finally came down.

uva is enjoying a fair to middling hoops season despite the absence of Mr. Sene’s pack-line defensive anchoring presence. 20-6 overall with 4 games left to play and 7-5 inside the A.c.c. is no bad mark. Neither is being tied (with two others) for the all-important fourth seed and the accompanying first-round bye on Thursday o3.o8 in the opening round of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s men’s basketball tournament in a couple of weeks. Which not coincidentally corresponds with Mr. Sene’s forecasted return to play – in the meantime however uva has gone a rather modest 5 up and 4 down and one of those 4 L’s came at the expense of 8 point underdog Virginia Tech who flushed uva good and hard up in the John almost precisely one month ago.

That means retribution.
That means revenge.
That means revanche

Unless of course it does not … and Virginia Tech upsets virginia once again.

uva at a glance:

• 2^nd in scoring defense allowed (52.2 ppg)
• 2^nd in 3-point FG percentage defense allowed (27.3%)
• 8^th in defensive rebounding
• 18^th in FG% defense allowed (38.7%)
• 31^st in fewest turnovers per game (11.7)
• 47^th  in rebounding margin (+4.7)
• 277^th in scoring offense (63.2 ppg)

uva Frontcourt:

• N.B.A. pros= 1, maybe even 2

• Injuries=1 (7` 239 lb. senior season Saint-Louis Senegal native Mr. Assane Sene. Sene is a remarkable shot-blocking machine who covers more defensive ground in a quicker than expected amount of time for lugging around something of a stiff looking frame fueled by a downright robotic gait. The “Danger-danger Will Robinson”1960’s tag-line comes to mind if truth be told. Although 5 points, 4 rebounds a block and a tremendous baseline defensive presence is something I’d wager that Seth Greenberg would gladly welcome in Blacksburg. I’m actually a pretty big fan of this French major (no, I’m not making that one up) and nobody with any version of a heart enjoyed seeing what took place at the end of the first-half on o1.19 as poor Mr. Sene’s right ankle rolled all the way over nearly touching the floor and his leg finally went “snap”. Such is a major departure for Coach Tony Bennett’s much vaunted pack-line defense and such was a squeamish play no matter where your Commonwealth allegiances lie. Coach God bless on that)

  

One #23, 6`8“ 242 lb. senior year Mike Scott is a 17.8 ppg, 8.2 rebound per game all-A.c.c. power-forward just looking for an entry pass to happen. Scott is a four-year letterman and a tri-captain on this year’s hooVa basketball squad. Scott is a Chesapeake Virginia native by way of Hargrave Military Academy – or in other words, he is yet another in-state frontcourt big who got away in orange and maroon terms. Mike is a professional basketball player on some level or another. Whether or not he is Association player remains to be seen; as Mister Scott lacks prototypical modern day power-forward size and or small-forward quicks. That critique being made, when Mr. Scott gets you on his hip it is all over as his oft injured and twice surgically repaired left-ankle has held up quite nicely during the 2011-2012 campaign thank you very much. Mike Scott shoots a second best 58.9% from the floor and a team leading 81.7% from the charity-stripe. This is pretty fortuitous as Mr. Scott has already been to the FT-line 131 times this season. One of the few things that Mr. Scott is not very keen at doing would be blocking shots. Mr. Scott has precisely 10 more blocks this season than all of you combined as he rarely leaves his feet on the defensive end as he is fundamentally planted like a tree.

Helping Scott out upfront is Akil Mitchell. Akil is a 6`8“ 221 lb. sophomore year baller whose intelligence and skill belies his bulky right-mass burdened frame. Akil gives you a second best 4 boards and 4 points down low in the paint despite his clanky 53% from the FT-line. Akil is a skillful and adaptable big-man who may not be as far along as some had hoped; as it is worth noting that his stat-line has hardly improved with his increased playing-time since Sene went down. The only other real remaining true frontcourter in Coach Bennett’s nominal 8-man playing rotation is Darion Atkins. Darion is a 6`8“ 222 lb. freshman year player who gets you 2.7 points and 2.4 rebounds off the Cavs bench on a team leading and highly judicious 62.2% from the floor. The long term book on Darion reads like a high ceiling that has been lowered for the time being as contemporary offensive development goes. That said; these two younglings are giving you a clear-cut look at the hoo front-line for 2013.

uva Backcourt:

• Association pros=nil
• Hurts=1 (Joey Harris has a busted left-hand –God Bless on that)

  

The Hoo backcourt is lead by 6`1“ 184 lb. senior year Philly non-street-baller and uva graduate Sammy Zeglinski –who could pass (pun intended) for a certain puppy-dog of a Qb from Friday Night Lights in a pinch. Sammy is nothing if not steady, reliable, and dependable as you can pencil him in for 8-9 points per contest even though he has never shot better than 39% from the floor for his entire career; from which he is 35% and change right now. He has however started 79 games at hooVa and that tells you he is on the far side and to the good as the experience and learning-curves go alike. That said; Sammy has had a history of left-knee and ankle trouble that limits what precious little explosiveness he does posses in the first place. Sammy Zeglinski, uva’s very own Dorenzo Hudson, of sorts. Point of fact, Sammy underwent knee surgery last October and missed the opening two games to this year. Sammy has also run a bit hot-n-cold as he has been 20%, 14%, 25% and 28% from the floor in four outta his last five games. Although his on the ball defense has improved a bit as he now averages 1.5 steals per game.

Jontel Evans is a 5`11“ 188 lb. junior season Hampton baller who nets you 6.8 points, pulls down a couple of rebounds and leads the way with 3.7 assists for Coach Bennett. I’m not entirely sold if J.Evans is a true point-guard or not, and the fact that his assist to turnover ratio (now: 3:2) has fattened the ‘rong way since we last saw him does nothing to further his cause on-the-ball. Jontel also leads the way on 44% from 3-point land so the Hokies do need to close him out on the perimeter. Additionally Jontel is now first in steals (1.6) which does conspire to give the hoo’s a pretty feisty defensive backcourt when Sammy Z is having a good-knee-night. The third guard in Coach Bennett’s 3-guard starting-line up is Joe Harris. Joe is a tallish 2-guard who stands in at 6`6“ and 202 lbs. and is something of a sophomoric marksman from the outside (39.3% on threes). Joe is second in scoring for the Cavs with 11.8 solid points per game (ppg). Joe also manages to run down 4 boards and a couple of assists after just having put in the best 3-point shooting season by an A.c.c. rookie since 1990. Not half bad for the former Mr. Basketball for the entire state of Washington if you ask me.

Chipping in with backcourt contributions off of Coach Bennett’s bench would be 6`6“ 191 lb. freshman year Paul “Opie –I can skip a rock- Taylor” Jesperson and fellow rookie year 6`5“ 215 lb. #22 Malcolm Brogdon. Jeperson is said to have range to out beyond 25` and is a catch and shoot specialist whose size makes him a tough cover. Jesperson is a small-forward-shooting-guard ‘tweener kinda baller that you would rather see put the ball on the floor as opposed to simply spotting-up. The former Wisconsin high school player of the year gives you 2 ppg off the UVA pine on a J (jumper) that is a one-man-shooting clinic just looking for a place to happen. Brogdon is yet another, yup, you guessed it, pure shooter who knocks down 7 points, burns the floor for 3 rebounds and a couple of assists off the Hoo bench while leading the way at 80.9% from the FT-line. Brogdon has been compared -favorably I mighty add- to former hoo Mustapha Farrakhan and is the reigning Georgia High School player of the year. Malcolm is the one hoo youngling that I am actually curious to observe how his game does develop and where he might be lacing them up post-college come Autumn 2015. You might wanna remember this kids name when the all-A.c.c. team is announced in three more years as this kid is the rarefied pure-scorer who knows how to put the biscuit in the basket and yet possess N.B.A. range from the outside.

onclusion(s), illation, OPT digits:
Final score … 45-47; that’s how this hoo basketball team has to be looking at this one folks; through a pair of rather upsetting lenses. Make no mistake on that and underestimate the need for a little in-state payback much less the need for a pace-keeping A.c.c road win at your very own orange & maroon (O&M) peril. As uva just has to be up for this one and and you rightfully have to expect that Virginia Tech will take uva’s best shot.

Virginia Tech on the other hand finally caught the bull instead of catching the horns thanks to the understatedly awesome last-second heroics of ‘Zo Hudson on Saturday afternoon at home vs. Georgia Tech. Such does afford Virginia Tech some much needed big-mo (or momentum) heading into Tuesday night’s all-state conference tilt. Right now since Sence went out, uva has been one of three things. First up, would be the fact that uva has been pretty damn good three times since Sene fractured his ankle, chalking up shellacking wins of three of their opponents by 27, 24 points and by 17 points during that time span. However, hold the phones as uva has also been beaten by 12 and by 18, and then again in two much closer contests that came down to a mere bucket apiece. Then we see a one point uva win and a 4 point uva win. Some would say that uva has been a bit uneven since Sene went down just a hair over a month ago. I prefer to view all of this through the home-away filter where one quickly sees that uva is one point away from being o-4 out on the road since we last meet. That clear things up rather smartly –does s it not? Uva has gone 4-o at home and 1-4 when visiting in your house. Why would that be? That would be because uva is semi-thin upfront sans Sene as they routinely only play 3 frontcourt ballers and their playing matrix works out to approximately 10 minutes per game for the bench sub (Malcolm Brogdon) and everything else upfront for Mister Scott and Akil Mitchell. On top of that uva is only averaging 54 away points since Sene went down down in the ATl. That’s what I like to call a superior basketball club that is well within reach men; albeit it via inferior O&M means.

The average score of the most recent four games in this intra-state Commonwealth Cup rivalry works out to … uva=55.5 ppg, and Virginia Tech=54 ppg. Or in other words 218 total points for hooVa and 216 total points for Vah.Tech. Or one, as in one single solitary bucket separates these two A.c.c. enemies in 754 days of running ball. This even-Steven series stands at .5oo with each team wining twice overall and once each at home and away. Or to put it another way, it is virtually mathematically umpossible for this series to be any more dead-even than it already is in recent terms. That proportionality or congruence however is threatened to become unbalanced –as per my source(s), Davila’s pulled groin injury is worse, and possibly far worse than first feared. Hence the need for a highly irregular game-day M.R.I. for poor Victor –coach God Bless on that. Such is the bane of all masculine injuries and such could slowly yet surely give uva the edge they need on the inside to steal this one down-low with a superlative outing from Mike Scott on le` post-up this Tuesday night.

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Thus we must conclude that the boo-hoos are the rightful favorite in this one, like it or lump it. Nevertheless, the cav’s are the traveling-team and we all know that the A.c.c. visitor stands about 3 chances in 10 to win out on the Atlantic Coast road and even less of a chance when they only average 51.6 ppg as the visitor since the end of January. Virginia Tech however is averaging 64.5 ppg during regulation over that same time-frame as your humble intra-conference host. Out on the road, uva’s nearly nonpareil salty defense lessens by 7 ppg allowed whereas the Hokie offense improves by 4 ppg in defense of our very own Cassell Coliseum. The hoo rebounding margin edge diminished by 4 boards per game when virginia travels as well.

“We know that they stole one from us here earlier in the season, so we’re excited to go in there and give them 110 percen…,”
-Sammy Zeglinski-

Ergo, all of that conspires to give Virginia Tech a chance to steal this one at home. I’m feeling roguish every bit as I am feeling froggy tonite. Such tells me that Virginia Tech will somehow lift, jack, pilfer and or swipe this one at home. Despite the fact that Ralph Sampson is not walking through that door anymore than Dell Curry is anytime soon for either one of these two respective basketball teams as this one has low-scoring nip-n-tuck and possibly even Overtime written all over it.

Virginia Tech=61, uva=58

“LETS GO!”

“HOKIES!”

bourbonstreet**