#62 R.P.I. Miami vs. #96 R.P.I. Virginia Tech: 

Virginia Tech men’s hoops just got BIG-boy big-NAME hula hooped.

The Hokies are who they middle-three tertile tiers of A.c.c. be. Mo’ below… As we are the little engine that can, could; or jus’ plain, kan’t. Take thy pick. Now however the winning pickings are about to thinnings. As the Hokies now draw 3 @Aways in our next 4— and a downright hurtful 5 @Aways in our next, 7! Yikes. That’s a tough p=.3 or 3o% odds to win out on the A.c.c. road row to hoe. 8 of our next 1o (the 1st 8, actually) are vs. winners fighting for post-seasoning same as us. The last two are vs. the A.c.c. Bottom-2. So, we gotta nick a dub-a-uuu or two somewhere in the meantime in between. Now we draw the 14 up vs. 7 down and .5oo in A.c.c. play (5-5) Miami Hurricanes, @Away. Miami advanced to the Final Four in the NC2A Tournament last year. Virginia Tech, who got got in the first round of last year’s N.I.T., will need a big finish to return to the NCAA Tournament. Now, the Hurricanes are in danger of failing to qualify for the 68-team field next month. Nonetheless, what you wanna know is… who is gonna win and by how much, rights? So, read on to finds, out!

Miami Head Coach: James Joseph Larrañaga: Age=74, 736–486 (.602) overall, and
266–152 (.636) at Miami.
$1,300,000.oo base (w/ $700k for retention); i.e., pretty much a steal at this level.

6′3″ baller Larrañaga came up in the hard-hitting Bronx ‘hood of N.Y.C, as one of six children; Larrañaga attended Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, where he starred under Coach Jack Curran, graduating in 1967. He went on to play basketball at Providence College. He was the basketball team captain as a senior in 1971, leading Providence College to a 2o–8 record and an N.I.T. birth. He graduated as the school’s 5th all-time leading scorer with 1,258 points and was the team’s top scorer as a sophomore and junior, being named New England’s Division I Sophomore of the Year in 1969. After Providence, baller Larrañaga was 5th round of the 1971 N.b.a. Draft by the Detroit Pistons. However, baller Larrañaga never sought an NBA career, tho’ he did ball overseas for Geronemo Basketball Club (Belgium), in 1976; then he opted instead to go into coaching. Jim’s grandfather was born in Cuba to Basque parents and was part of the Por Larrañaga cigar company in that country.

Coach Larrañaga prior to his time at Miami, he served as head coach at Bowling Green (1986-1997) and more notably at George Mason University (1997-2011), where he coached the Patriots to 13 consecutive winning seasons and became a media sensation during the Patriots’ improbable run to the Final-4 in 2006. Coach Larrañaga has ten conference titles to his claim and he won four different National Coach of the Year awards in 2o13) to pair with one other in 2oo6, and five conference Coach of the Year awards -from three conferences (A.c.c., C.A.A., and M.A.C.) along the way. Coach Larrañaga is a man who reads books by the Dalai Lama, quotes Confucius, Aristotle, and Ralph Waldo Emerson in the locker room starts practices by giving players a “Thought of the Day” and uses quotes and themes from movies such as “Drumline” and “You Got Served” for his pregame speeches. He has a butterfly release program for his ballers each pre-season and is a quiet and highly mercurial sort. He is known for being meticulous -he carries his very own: 1o8-page coaching guide compiled from years of taking notes- and industrious in his approach to hard-nosed defense and rebounding, with a slashing attacking O on-court. Coach Larrañaga took Sun Tzu’s Art of War apart and re-wrote it for basketball purposes, turning it into what he calls “The Art of War for hoops. WOW, and far out, alike!

Professor Larrañaga was appointed as an associate professor in the George Mason School of Management (2oo6); specifically, in the school’s Executive M.B.A. program. Although his basketball schedule only allows him to teach part-time, he is a frequent presenter in classes on leadership, management, and team development, and also often speaks at Management School-sponsored seminars. He had been a guest lecturer in the field of Management since arriving at Mason in 1997.

There were i-net whispers that Larrañaga was “coach-3” in the college basketball corruption probe 2 years back (per: USA Today).

And as much as I do like Professor J, this seemed to be twilight coach folks… though he has righted a wet-deck Hurrican ship in the last two campaigns. You do still gotta wonder just how much he has, left?

Daddy Larrañaga is married to Liz’ and they have two sons and four grandchildren. Their son Jay played for his father at Bowling Green, was the head coach of the NBDL’s Erie Bayhawks,
and is now the top assistant coach with the Boston Celtics. Jon was a member
of his father’s George Mason teams from 1999-2003, earning first-team
academic all-American honors for NCAA Division I-AA school

Miami at a glance:

• was: 2nd best in 3-point percentage O!!! IS: 27th!!! (⇓ a little here).
• was: 3rd best in Free-Throw percentage O!!! IS: 3oth!! (⇓ a little here).
• was: 4th fewest in fouls “whistled” against!!! IS: 4th!!! (perfectly ⇔ here, wild!)
• was: 8th best in Effective FG percentage O!!! IS: 25th!! (⇓ a little here).
• was: 14th highest in ppg O!!! IS: 44th! (⇓ a little here).
• was: 19th best in 3-point percentage allowed D!! (1o7th best overall allowed D). IS: 28th (nearly ⇔ here). (IS: 1o9th best overall allowed D, now; virtually ⇔).
• was: 37th best in defensive rebounding!! IS: 4oth! (virtually ⇔).
• was: 42nd most in Fastbreak ppg O! IS: 53rd! (close to ⇔ here).
• was: 44th most in Assists/game O! IS: 74th. (⇓ a little here).
• was: 66th in swipes/game. IS: 98th. (⇓ a little here).
• was: 282nd most in FTA’s/game O. (lowest metric of all 33 D-1 vitals I track). IS:
• Nearly nothing south of 261st best, or virtually C+++ to A+++ everywhere Eye looked.
• NO injuries listed. “gracias” @Coach God.

READERS observe: …as you can ^^^see^^^, da U is still quality… jus’ *as* QUALITY as they were.
As they have dipped a bit here-n-there since we saw ’em last.

Or, (⇓ a little here)…

Returning Starters= 3*.

Miami Strengths:

• Most every better to really good baller Eye scouted has improved or significantly improved since ’23.
• Developing, the verb…
• In particular on splashing the 3(s)… Miami (now) has at least five pure dagger shooters from way downtown, ‘bang’.
• Not to mention free-throwing… as five, that’s (5) of their Top-6 pass the ring to the tune of ≈83% or more on 15′ set-shots with 1o (unguarded) seconds to shoot.
• * (Lindy’s 1st-string All-A.c.c.): (Lindy’s Most Versatile All-A.c.c.): Arkansas State transfer and Bluefields, Nicaragua imported 6′7″, 24o lb., or, one #15: Norchad Omier; is a real thumper of a four or the ‘power’ in P/F itself. This #15, too (same as Jordan above) is a really getting Miami Portal get. As in… r-Junior year Mr. Omier is getting you: a now 1st-best 18.1 ppg married to a first-best 9.9 rpg. This on: ~63.1% from overall and nearly 77.2% from the FT-line. The only thing (that was) lacking or wanting here was range (11% from 3-balls; tho’ that is not how he impregnates his… ‘chad. However, Omier is mucho improved nearly everywhere I looked, including he was hitting 1 in 3 of his trifectas for the year ¦ now, however, Omier is netting a very warming 39.4%! As the: (2o21-22): Sun Belt Player of the Year and the Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year awards mighta been a well-seasoned game-flavor cube. This is from a crusher who has actually added right at a 15-lb. weight plate to his already physically clad game since he got down to Miami, FLA. However, Norchad has now cut about 8 since we saw him last year and he seems mo’ fluid for it upon breaking tape to me. Nicaraguan National Team member (16 points with 10-boards); so, he has global gym résumé work in tow. A strong kid who is willing (to work) on film. Kinda has a very impoverished man’s Barkley with more of a biased-framed vibe to him upon breaking tape. I did say “impoverished” tho’ that is some pretty clique company to keep. (UPDATE: has been slayin’ misses off the glass of late, almost 14 rpg in the last couple of fortnights of banging). And frankly, that much back-boarding makes you a pro’ somewhere be that domestic or export. As how many can say they tallied a double-double in every single high school game? (26.7 points and 2o.3 rebounds per game scholastically, wowow!) Honor Roll student, and only won a National Championship (Miami, Prep’) as a junior. Plus, the much-vaunted: Nicaraguan national championship in hoops the year before that. 15th ranked Transferer, and yet N/A ranking from high school. Wild, ain’t it? Other than Lville (last game) had been on a monsta ppg & rpg double-double tear of late. 1.3 apg with 1.6 spg and .9 bpg if you need ’em. Hard one to handle… just a few% Len Bias less some hops and less some everything else.
  (UPDATE: nice ⇑ everywhere I checked, not named FTs. This kid is ‘on the come’ as the Brits say).
• * (Lindy’s 2nd-string All-A.c.c.): Nijel Pack is your Qb1 or Pt.Guard for Miami. Nijel packs it on at: 6′, 185lbs., as a Kansas State transfer One, r-fourth-year Sophomoric baller. Pack drops you: 14.7 ppg with 2.8 rpg, 1.1 spg, and a nearly sporty 3.7 apg. This is from a team ceti of an improved 39.3% long. So, this Pack’er has ranged from deep. He also (did) pace Miami at 86.4% from the charity stripe, so the relatively only 43.5% from the floor is a bit tricky to discern here. As Nijel appears to be a better pure netter than that. Oh well, and either way… he is also said to be one of the Top transfers last year in all of the nation. Top-5 or better everywhere I looked. So, this too is a rather fetching get for coach Larrañaga. As Pack was only voted All-Big-10 (One/Pt.Guard) last year. And Lindy’s only went so far as to call him an: “explosive” scorer. 9oth baller in all the land from ESPN.com outta high school does not suck. Neither was his 45% overall or 43.6% from behind the arc for the Wildcats. So, more was expected here— and Nigel has been scoring a bit more of late. If he finds his ceiling output-wise on O the Miami starting-5 is gonna be a seriously hard out. As Pack made a name for himself out on the Nike tour, so he appears to be able to elevate his game vs. elevated competition just the same. And he has connected with several D-1 game-winners. And he also does have a history of minor dings that have expensed him about ⅓ of a season in his career thus far. This one could mature into an international Export Pro’, time=tell here. As he has been part blow-torch and part “ice ice baa-bee” for the last month+….
  (UPDATE: Mixed, a bit up a bit down, still playing well overall tho’,  ⇔).

  

• * Philly baller, and coolio named: Wooga Poplar is your 6′5″, 197 lb., third-year shooting G or backup Two. A little bit of a 3-n-D baller here folks. What with: +22o% better and now 14.6 ppg with a close to doubling 5.1 rpg on 2.3 apg and .8 spg. The stellar 44.7% from downtown is reasonable enough, Eye guess? The 88.2% from the FT-Line is nearly the 1st-best enuff. A kid who Lindy’s called: a: “viable” bench-minutes baller. 78th baller overall from Rivals from Math High School (no joke). Where Wooga only won the Philly Public League title and then cut down the Statie nets after that (in: AA-ball). That counts, and so does his off-court dirt bike collection. Never read that one before… anywho… this does seem to be a skillful kid at times to me in the film room. Yet then he seems to disappear box-score-wise for a game or two or even for a week. Then he high-teen or low 20’s explodes again and keeps his ppg mean, median, mode, hooppin’. Go fig’ here? As this was an inconsistent one, who plays the Two. Poplar might just be popular if/when he figures it nite-in to nite-out. And it pretty much figures that he has… as he has been on a tear of late after tearing it up about 3 in 4 games or so. Mo’ consistent now and in the Most Improved running to be sure. (Might even be playing his way into international currencies).
  (UPDATE: one of the few ‘canes to cool a bit of late, 3’ing in particular… ⇓, here).
• 6′2″, 2o7 lb., true-Soph’, Bensley Joseph is your Qb2 or caddying Pt.Guard here. Joseph minds the Hurricane store for: 8.3 ppg with 3.1 rpg and nearly nifty 3.6 apg in his substitute/part-time 1 role. Good outside netter which got him cracked into this preview here. ≅44.7% from behind the 3-point arc is sharpshooting indeed. No.8o baller from ESPN; came up in Haiti; and does have a history of buzzer-beaters at all levels. Did however miss his entire scholastic senior season due to a (left)-ankle hurt. St.Philip bless. As you gotta wonder if this Bensley went Bentley and pegged higher on two good high school wheels? Soccer star before all of that, so the footwork is prolly pretty Olajuwon tight here. Has been a mite chiller on O of late. Godspeed Haiti.
  (UPDATE: been on a trifecta-tear since we caught him last, tight ⇑‘s for this one).
• (Lindy’s 3rd-string All-A.c.c.): ex-Florida State S/F-Two-G1, Matthew Cleveland: (6′7″, 2o8 lbs.), is what some say to be: “…a stud baller”. ***** or pent-starry-eye V.H.T. (very highly touted) 100% chip recruit 1o1. And fo’ enuff coin? He will “pitch… anything“!

• …anywho… true Junior Matty’s momma-bear was a Wrambling Wreck dance team membHer. His poppa-bear is a ‘Business Consultant’ down in the ATL. So, here we not only see a rarefied full-house we see a prolly not less than Ventnor Avenue crib to boot. Good on (all) of dem. Matty is a member of the National Honor Society; his sisters cheered @Duke. And he has a history of driving clutch as late-game heroics go. The: 14.8 ppg with 5.8 rpg on 1.9 apg and 1.3 spg are pretty sharp overall box-scoring work as lateral expansiveness goes. Cleveland does have mo’ than a municipal bond level game. All-State game at least, at worst. Lindy’s says he is: “…an instant impact transfer Wing“. Who is a box score stuffer and versatile as they come.  247Sports no.26 baller in the nation overall. Baseball star in scholastic terms to; albeit with an obviously hard-to-miss (vertical) strike-zone and very likely hand-eye coordination on the come for it as well. My other mag’s called him: ‘explosive’, ‘fun to watch’ and ‘dynamic. So, ‘aye’, Eye’d have to say that counts. The: 56.2% from the floor, the 77.6% from the charity-stipe and the 37.9% from three-point land appear to count to. As this is a long, rangy, lean baller who can finish equally well with either hand. Amphibious and ambidextrous alike. Reminds of: Spencer Dinwiddie or a very Baltic Ave. man’s Iceman g.Gervin; is already not less than a 2nd-round draft pick every single where I looked. Only calc’ is… is Matty Lyte north of that? As he has improved his FT’ing, his 3-pointing, and his overall FG% 5 outta 6 times in the last three years. This one is good, maybe very good, and could maybe flirt with D-1, P5, great. (p.s. been en fuego of late; hot, hot, hot Buster Poindexter baller here).
  (UPDATE: “QUESTIONABLE” Cleveland has missed the last two contests with a “bad” hip-pointer injury; St.Winfrey help, and it is unknown if he will play against Virginia Tech on Saturday).
  (UPDATE2: …really down from 3-ball-land, -12%, which is a Delta-Vega or ⇓-vote here)

Miami Weaknesses:

• Wong is gone. Gone to Indy Pacers fame.
• j.Miller is La.Clippers gone as well.
• Team still seems a bit like it is trying to find itself or find its best fit to me upon breaking tape.
• (Though: fair to say that most of the 65th to 362nd other D-1 teams wish they had Miami’s problems). Fair-play.
• See above: m.Cleveland going mistake by the So.Beach Lake would really ding Miami this weekend.

Da U Bench: (depth=4’ish) was: 341st in Pine ppg production! (not much scoring help here, not much a all) IS: 344th!!! (not much room to: 351 D-1 menz teams to move, here; ⇔)

6′8″, 2o7 lb., rookie or nugget voting year Kyshawn George is your quintessential Swiss Army Pocket knife guy off the bench. Who can cut it three positional ways. He of: Monthey, Switzerland hometown, and Lycée Emiland Gauthey (France) (their hoops factory) fame. Ky’Gee -same as Fletch- is nearly 7′ tall with the blown out 70’s Shaft era ‘fro. +.7 for dats. As this is a big blow-out one to be sure. And it takes some sack to rock(s) dat game. Prolly did not hurt that he grew a stagging ~9″ and added 88 lbs. in his final two scholastic seasons to boot. So, this George is not yet King George as development goes. Though he & his game seem to want to (still) be an Off-G which is where he was until he jumped off his very own growth chart. No. 202 overall recruit from: On3. Has a Swiss u16 National Ring and a lè: LNP Pro B league championship (Frenchy) bling deux. Father did run ball here in the States for a couple of years @St. Francis (PA). And some say his: 7.5 ppg and 3.3 rpg with 2 apg on a nifty looking 4o.2% from behind the arc are still acclimating to the American game. Maybe even still progressing as well. As you gotta wonder where this kid is come ’26 or so? As he can go home and be a reverse currency swap overseas baller to be sure.
(UPDATE: mixed kid, some nor’ some so’ blows… ⇔).

Super Soph’, AJ Casey is your backup P/F2, at: 6′9″, 221 lbs., by way of Chi-Town inner-city game. 2.4 ppg and a matching 2.5 rpg with ~4o.9% overall are both still developing. Though my mag’s called him both a ‘valuable’ and a ‘key’ substitute who is a do-all-the-dirty/little things scrapper then any given rotation at any given level always needs one guy to do. Ranked No. 50 in the country by Rivals, who has not quite hit that level collegiately thus far. A.Jay went on something of a tear of a Windy City post-season tournament run and this may have (artificially) upped his ante a mite. Good numbers prior to his devastating Sr. Prom Season maths. H.S. Football star as well, so this kid is not a lyte-touch. Time=tell if Casey Sunshine’s and reaches these lofty recruiting bandwidth rankings or not?
(UPDATE: …just off or down a touch, ⇓, not awful, tho’ everything had dipped).

6′7″, 217 lb., Christian Watson, is your second-season ‘tweener or wing or kinda/sorta Three or S/F off the bench. 3.2 ppg with 1.7 rpg and 33.3% on trifectas. Okay, reservist in his Sophomoric season. **** or four-star and ESPN’s ESPN and Rivals No.92 nationally ranked kid-o alike. Dee.Cee or Washington Post-up flavored baller. Had some and missed a lotta P.T. with cv19 issues —St.Nikephoros help. Which (appears) to have stunted his matriculation a mite. Has drawn Kevin Durant comparisons. Not saying Eye am seeing that, reporting that others are saying they’ve seen that. His nickname is “CWat”. Did enjoy a cardiac or closers rep’ when he was out on the high school court to boot. Hard to get a good read here… as CWat has either run Antarctica cannot make a “2” with a pencil ice-ice-baby cold or popped-clean about every 4th or 5th game so ’24 far. Time=tell on the rest…
(UPDATE: nearly even, just ever so slightly submerged technically, ⇔ or lateral vote).

true-Fresh’ and true-C: Michael Nwoko, C2, does give you ’bout 7-8 minutes/half. The last name is pronounced Nuh-WOE-Koe. This kinda project looking rim-protector is a towering 6′1o″, 245 lb., turnkey play right away good looking specimen caliber guy. Toronto, Ontario imported Great White North kid, ‘eh’. **** or quad-star home position Five recruit. No. 106 in the On3 national rankings does not suck. Tho’ mo’ was expected from Nwoko than: 2.3 ppg and 1.8 rpg on 51.7%. Tho’ he is a solid frontcourt match-up guy and a space eater. He does keeps a The Grind Session championship bling (one of those self-formed H.S. national leagues). Did turn heads on the Nike touring circuit which gave his next-level looksee’s a noticeable boost. Canadian FIBA U18 international team member. That never hurt building out; not 1ι (one-iota). Physical kid on what tape Eye did see, as Nwoko plays a bit then sits the same… time=tell on the rest? Tho’ the frame/metrics and sinew seem willing to me.
(UPDATE: ⇑-vote, which is hard to do at this level of P.T. Good on Nwoko).

Illation, conclusion(s) and OPT digits:

Number of Hurricanes who could cat' V @Tech=hanfull+++.

the takeaway:
The takeaway here is…

…not to be too taken with anything All Championship Conference in between.

…as in… in between the pink and the blue lines down below.

Up north is a Top-1 (Deanna Smythe U) and then a Top-1b (Coach-o-K) and a Top-1d (Ralph Sampson kan’t see without a Lamp) or so capping all things A.c.c.

Down south there is a bottom-2 (Coach Digger and Polyester Cardinal-red jackets rejoice or cry…)

Against those five, that’s (5) combined All-Coaching Conference teams and you really should know what to ~33% do. Be that @Home or @Away.

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---

It is the middle things are mucho mo’ picky indeed. In ♠’s even.

As it is far-far harder to be sure as ’24 A.c.c. middleocrity goes. As the A.c.c. has always been a Top-2 or top-3 bipolar conference in terms of specific gravity. Duke/U.n.c. tend to separate upwards and one other tends to 1-3 year run tag-along to make 3. Then there is always a bottom 1, 2, or 3 that are a year or three from matriculating.

Now however the middle class of the Atlantic Coast is harder to parse or thickening/lumping right along the beltline itself. As these teams are all stuck on 6 to 8 L’s less one. (And even that one just got U.n.c.).

Do you sees what Eye means? ’cause what Eye means is thus…

it will take a lot to pick us to win @Away vs. fellow middlocrities.

 ***

Our handy-dandy friend the so-called Forum Guide of Graham Houston fame is calling for a –9-point VomiT off of now: n=5 data points are our now legit Populus marker goes. Ginkgo: before it was calling for a –17-point VomiT off of n=2. Ergo, therefore, to Whit… these two teams have moved inward to closer to each other as the Recency Effect goes. Although, Miami is still the primacy pick here.

The annualized year-to-date vitals say that… Miami is up close to ~+4% in shooting percentage margin (due to: being close to +2% O-better and close to –2% D-stricter more or less); with Miami being up nearly +~6% in 3-point percentage margin (per: about ⅔ ‘rds of that is being better on 3-O and the other ⅕rd of that is from being starchier on 3-D), and Miami completes the annual triune sweep via being up close to +3 caroms collected in rebounding margin year-to-date. (This is code for: being a little better off the D-‘glass tho’ mucho better off the D-‘glass as yearly backboarding goes— as Miami is not far removed from 1-n-done as defensive rebounding goes).

The most recent 5-game metrics say that… the ‘canes are now up +1% in |absolute value| terms in shooting percentage margin (per: Miami being –4% starchier on D and yet VT is shooting well and was up +3% on O of late here); with the F’n Gobblers now up a decent +4% in 3-point percentage margin (from: VT is netting very well from deep and were up +8% on 3-O; and yet Miami is stiffer by –4% in 3-D terms), and the Hurricanes are up an observable +5 misses collected in rebounding margin in the last fortnight of play. (Due to: VT has slipped a bit of late here and is now trending underwater as opposed to treading above the same, D-‘glass, in particular, is lyte of late; whilst Miami has nearly equally approved at fiberglassing goes on each end of the court recently).

Armchair Pt.Guard’s:

Hemmingway Hoops: “To have and to have not…”

• vs. no-names? +21o! This is a nice lumpy mashed potato total until you dig a little deeper… as Da U totally spooned 3-no-names by trying to sneak up on +15o-points itself. They did okay vs. another no-name and yet they got played to within three, that’s (3) shots by three other no-names. A fickle efforting vs. Baltic Avenue or Mediterranean Avenue lowercase teams. Miami is tight when they want to be… and loose as a goose when they don’t.
• vs. Surnames? -44! Wild… as Da U is a either really bad vs. goods (twice cheap-cigar Punched), or just really average at best/at most (As in… every other Surname game was decided by ≤1o-points and the only other one was decided by eleventeen itself). Do you see what Eye means? What Eye means is… Miami is an uneven team. As they are only a .5oo team vs. legits. Including 2-punkings and 2 really oddball looking upsets). i.e., Miami is a tough team to traction. Are they as good as their record says? Could be… Or, are they actually a bit worse than their record says? That could be too… I leave the deductive reasoning up to… you!

Miami is a .833 host; whereas VT is .2 as a guest.
VT is up +4% at the charity stripe for the year.
VT is up +2 in R&R of late.

The Call…

No.67 Net Ranking Miami vs. no.5o Net Ranking Vah.Tech:

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The VerdicT:

 So, we are in our second of two Quad I games: against Duke (Jan. 29) and Miami (Feb. 3).

Meaning any Nc2A dance-card plans really do need this one like a dead man needs a, coffin.

Fish or get off the pot… ’cause beyond getting sizzling hot-shot(s) from the outside and make a trifecta-palooza All Championship Conference tourney run?

This one is a big big Q1 need.

Like post-season ovulation itself.

😻🌡😻

 

The digits:

Well, if you asks me -and you did via reading these very words- if you ask me… Eye would say that it is tough to favor Tech down 9o9 miles So-by-only-slightly-So-East in the Fontainebleau’s H.Q.

To further my response, there are 2-types of A.c.c. teams that bug me this particular year…

Firstly, teams with at least one really good back-to-the-basket and solid defensive BIG. (Think: Clemson, Duke, and U.n.c. or sim’…).  Secondly, teams with just pure athletics to stretch Tech 94 feet (29 m) by 50 feet (15 m). (Think: Nc.State, GeeTee., and ‘Quse sans Jimmy.Bo’ or sim’).

<<< ??? >>> 🏀 <<< ??? >>> 

Now, the queer thingy is… Miami is not quite fully healed as either thingy…

Rather they are somewhere in between as a hybrid of both thingys.
Though closer to the speed/kinetics end of the spectrum.

–oOo–

That all being squarely said… they won’t play any slower, or any shorter @Home in their own backyard; will they?

Miami is not quite beyond our A-game reach— although, are they R.A.T.T. within our visiting, grasp?

The Home:Away splits say… Da U is up a pretty shiny +11% from the floor, with Da U up a nominal near +1% from 3-point-land and a reasonably useful looking +7 Windex Wipes in Rbounding Margin in homesteading terms.

That pretty clearly speaks to my take above… their twitch and their measurables
test well and measure up @Home.

More so, than they are a super crafty trade-craft crew.

 

🏀

💯

🏀

 

 

 

(63% confidence interval)
Virginia Tech=73, Miami=78

please support the VT F.C.A.!

“LETS GO!”

“Hokies!”

 bourbonstreet**