#228 R.P.I. Furman @ #68 R.P.I. Virginia Tech:

     o-2 for our NYC troubles, or should I say Brooklyn, as we may have left one on the table in game#2 vs. Seton Hall; even though we played pretty decent hoops during our visit to lower-Gotham; all things considered.

Now a .5oo (3-3) Virginia Tech returns home to face a likewise .5oo (2-2) Southern Conference Furman basketball club. If coach J’s and his boys can win this, we will be in first place in the Southern Conference standings for the first time since 1965. Those attempt a historical irony –if not humor- aside, where would the 2013-2014 Virginia Tech men’s hoops team have realistically been ranked inside of our refugee conference pre-season? When you tell the truth, that answer should tell you a lot. Though it remains to be seen, just what that answer really does mean in March terms. As this is the run-up to A.c.c. play that continues for six of our next seven games, including another Southern Conference foe. Said run-up needs to play itself out with at least four or five more Hokie victories. As try as you might; you still can’t spell victory without Vee.Tee.

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Vegas odds:
VT is a 17 point betting favorite in this one.
Bet $17 on VT to win $1, or bet $1 on Furman to win $11

Today’s word is … Paladin

pal·a·din  (pl-dn)

 Furman at a Glance:

• 3 starters back off of 7-24 team
• Picked 9^th or 10^th most places in 10 team Southern race
• First year first time head coach at any level!
• Typical small-conference small-team, nobody north of 234 lbs. nobody above 6’9’’.
• 1 trick pony on offense, welcome to the Stephen Croone show, as Mister Croone scores 44% more than the next Paladin!
• Very turnover prone.
• Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight movie redux; 303^rd in FG percentage (40.3%)
• 7 maybe 7.5 depending upon situational match-ups deep

  

Furman Backcourt: (returning starters=2)
#14 Mr. Croone is a 21 ppg scorer with a can’t make a “3” with a pencil 14% from d;owntown range! Clearly distance is not the name of this Georgia scoring machine’s game. And that is actually down from 17% beyond the arc last year too boot. Croone however averages 8 FTA’s per contest and at 89% on such suddenly the maths begins to make sense indeed. All-academic team member Larry Wideman helps out in the Paladin backcourt and he manufactures 11.3 ppg despite being a bit off in terms of his former 2012-13 3-point range. Although this kid is a marksman, so it is only a matter of time before he (likely) reacquires his stroke from long-range. Aaron O’Neill also starts in Coach Niko Medved’s 3-guard rotation. Aaron is the son of former New York Yankees and Cincinnati Reds outfielder Paul O’Neill. Aaron has a rep’ for clutch shooting and he does have 20’ range on his J.

Furman Frontcourt: (starters back=1  of 2)
Keith Belfield and Kendrec Ferrara start up front and give the Paladin’s what size they do employ. Keith simply works his way to 8 ppg and a relatively mere 3 boards down low. Whereas Kendrec logs 7.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg and 2.3 blocks. As Kendric is the one Padalin frontcourt who looks the B.c.s. or power-conference part. Adonis Rwabigwi has a bum elbow that has held him out since the season opener; although this Rwanda native might just be the best Post player on this team, if he were in full service upfront. Furman Bench: (depth=2+ deep)
The Padalin bench is mostly Kris Acox and William Gates Jr. Kris is the prerequisite front-line sub’ that gets you 5.4 rpg and really not much else. William is actually second in scoring at 11.8 ppg and he does tend to check in hot at 53% thus far from beyond the arc.

 

Illation, conclusion(s) and OPT digits:
Furman is o for the year away this season. Furman was 1 for 17 away last year. Do you see a pattern? Virginia Tech enjoys a 10% aggregate FG percentage margin advantage from the floor; a 16% 3-point percentage margin edge from downtown, and a +12 rebounding margin lead on the glass. To put it another way; at home, Furman beat Gardner-Webb and The University of the South, by 11 and by 15 respectively. To put it yet another way again, I could have played in either game for either team, in my red-shirt senior season of Middle Age and Furman still could not have looked any better; nor any worse. As there is just not a whole helluva a lot to see here from Greenville Carolina’s other university. (E.c.u. being the

home team in Greenville terms)

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 Or to put it a final way … if Virginia Tech and coach J’s do not win by 18 points or more; Virginia Tech may not be the best team in the Southern Conference, and that would seem to suggest a 2013-2014 men’s hoops season that is set to go south indeed.

Virginia Tech=83, Furman=55

“LETS GO!”

“Hokies!”

 bourbonstreet**