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#16 R.P.I.  Washington vs. #63 R.P.I. Virginia Tech: 

Virginia Tech men’s basketball plays the Washington Huskies on a made for Telly (ESPNU) primetime (7 pm) date this Saturday night up in the beta or b-side gangsta backyard of Atlantic City New Jersey.

The Hokies who are nationally ranked and season-Penn State (or 8-1) face the 7 up and 3 down Washington Huskies of PAC-10 fame. Who quite literally are only two shots removed from being a nearly perfected 9-1 on the year. (including nearly upsetting then #1 Gonzaga two games ago). As in… although I’ma not entirely sure if these Huskies are great; I am pretty dang sure they are pretty dang good. And that makes me sure this would be a very sharp looking out-of-conference (OCC) scalp to take as these Huskies are gonna bite down on some manner of post-season play one way or the other. That all rightfully being said, what you wanna know is who is gonna win this OOC not-soft-touch of a game? Read on… to find, out!

Washington Head Coach: Mike Hopkins: age=49, 30-23 overall, at 28-16 at Pullman. Has a rep’ for: Defense, physical-play, big-guy-ball.
$1,900,000.oo

6′5″, 215 lb. off-G, Hopkins was a member of the 1987 California state championship team at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California that also featured future NBA player LeRon Ellis. Hopkins enrolled at Syracuse while Ellis went on to a two-year career at the University of Kentucky. After Kentucky was placed on probation, Hopkins would play an instrumental role in convincing his high school teammate to transfer to Syracuse

Hopkins played sparingly in his first two seasons at Syracuse before becoming the team’s starting shooting guard in his junior year. That year, Hopkins hit the game-winning free throws with three seconds remaining against Connecticut to propel the Orange to the 1992 Big East Championship.

Baller Hopkins was named captain in his senior season and posted a career high of 9.2 points and added 3.7 rebounds per game. He also had a flair for the clutch, heaving a three-quarter court pass to Conrad McRae for a buzzer-beating, game-winning shot against Villanova. In his final game in the Carrier Dome, Hopkins scored a game-high 20 points and tallied six rebounds and five assists in a 78-74 win over Pittsburgh.

Dood tries, HARD. University gangflashes and all.

Hopkins played 111 games throughout his four-year career spanning from 1989 to 1993. He finished with averages of 5.7 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. M.Hopkins.edu earned his undergraduate degree in speech communications from Syracuse in 1993. Hopkins spent time in the Continental Basketball Association with Rochester’s (Minnesota) Renegades and also in Europe with teams in the Netherlands and Turkey.

In May 2007, it was reported that Hopkins was picked to be Jim Boeheim’s successor, even though there was no timetable for Boeheim to retire. However, in October, Athletic Director Daryl Gross refuted that story, saying that his quote was taken out of context.

On June 25, 2015, Hopkins was formally named Men’s Basketball Head Coach-Designate by Syracuse University. Hopkins served as Head Coach during Jim Boeheim’s controversial nine-game suspension from December 5, 2015, to January 5, 2016 going 4-5 for his troubles.

On March 19, 2017, it was announced that Coach Hopkins had been hired as head basketball coach at the University of Washington for the 2017-18 season. Hopkins signed a six-year deal worth $12.3 million. Coach Hop’ is the reigning PAC-10 Coach of the Year (2018) and does have a D-1 2003 championship bling from his days at the ‘Cuse. And he is a .5oo post-season coach with international coaching experience thus far.

Pop’s Hopkins is joined in Seattle by his wife Tricia, and their sons, Michael Griffith Jr. and Grant Richard, and their daughter, Ella Grace.

Washington at a glance:

  • 6th most in swats (6.5 bpg)!
  • 36th most FT-makes (166 ∑) will drive and bang to the hoop.
  • 51st in FG percentage D allowed (39.6%).
  • 79th in total steals (73 ∑).
  • 302nd in assists (11.6 apg).
  • 2 injuries listed (twice Coach God bless)!

Huskies Returning Starters=all.

Washington Strengths:

  • EVERY single baller is back! Making WashU easily the most experienced team we will court all year long.
  • Second-year lead-G Jaylen Nowell goes 6′5″, 200 lbs. and he paces WashU in scoring at 19.8 ppg. He is second in rebounding (4.3 rpg) and first in dimes dropped (3.4 apg) on a might just need to shoot more per 58% from the floor and a very useful 44% long. He may not have the best handles (3.3 tpg) and the whispers say he is not making love to “contact” or physical play any time soon. As this is indeed a perimeter player in the truest sense; not a penetrating or finishing Two. Still, yet, he’s already snagged a  gold medal at the 2015 FIBA Americas U16 Championship games and he picked up a AAA bling from his high school championship run. Nowell has as a nice fadeaway look— smooth in a word. He was the only recruit to remain in Seattle after the previous regime/coaching change. So he’s dang sure a man of his word. And word is he’s one of the Top left-coast ballers (in any conference). Lindy’s has him 2nd-string all-PAC-10 and it’s a good be Jaylen leads Washington in scoring every year he stays. “Crafty” is prolly the best single adjective in description of Mister Nowell’s game and he is a paycheck Pro’. Be that domestic or exported at some point. Time=tell, here.

    This dood: “SCREAMS“, a, lot!
  • One #15, the 6′9″, 245 lb. brawny looking Noah Dickerson was only listed as Lindy’s Top PAC-10 rebounder pre-season. 7.6 Windex swipes (rpg) later and that might be just a scosche low. Although ~8 boards and 17 ppg with a block all on 56% shooting is a good problem to have. The book says that Noah is known as a worker-bee who has raised his FT percentage by 16% since he got to the SuperSonics and c-hawks backyard. As this is an intense, hard-grinding, P/F who plays a 220v game. As 8 FTA’s go hard in the paint here— K.Blackshear beware. As Dickerson only won back-to-back Dick’s Sporting Goods National Titles in 2014 and 2015; that sucks. As did his no.52 in the nation tab per ESPN.com outta double-bling-bling high school. No word yet on how well he builds arc’s, though he has yet to attempt a 3 so he clearly lives inside the {sic: 3-point} arc itself. That said, Noah is an export baller who will make some foreign club happy for years to come.
  • Matisse Thybulle was only listed as Lindy’s Top PAC-10 defender pre-season. Matisse goes 6′5″, 2oo lbs. as a final year off-G or S/F ‘tweener. 8 ppg, 3 boards, 2 assists and a nearly PAC-10 leading 2.7 spg later with a very six-n-a-½-foot tall team-leading 2.5 swats per game and you can see what Lindy’s means here. If Matisse only had a bit more O (40% from the floor and 26% deep) he might be in Association as defense and rebounding should never go cold. As is he’s prolly an overseas stopper and that’s a good life to be Blessed to live. Thybulle’s insane 7′ wingspan is about as great as it gets… this true “ironman” has never missed a game at Washington and he’s already the Huskies career leader all-time in Steals. You do the maths…

Washington Weaknesses:

  • Team faded down the stretch last year 4-7 to close, so depth and/or conditioning were in question here.
  • I suppose one could nitpick and say that the Husky backcourt is not much in advance of C+++ to B- in a clearly G oriented era of play.
  • A couple of my pre-season mag’s basically said that no real blue-chippers ball here. And that WashU may have caught peeps X’s and O’s off-balance last year with the Jim-dandy looking zones and what not. i.e. they 2017-2018 overachieved.
  • As Husky hurts go… 6′10″, 240 lb., and 7-6 inch wingspan, P/F, and Washington DeeCee native Nate Roberts and 6′2″, 170 lb., Pt.G., Elijah Hardy (busted left-hand ¦ may St.Julia bless) are both done for the duration. The whispers say entry year Nate may opt’ to r-shirt and let high school injuries extra heal although Hardy may have been the back-up at the One spot this year. Either way, the Husky bench is 2 on depth for it. Godspeed @each.

Husky Bench: (depth=4)

The Washington pine-squad is long. As in tall. As in heighty. As three frontcourt subs and only one backcourt back-up work here.

6′6″, 205 lb., Soph. S/F, Nahziah Carter (7 ppg and 3 rpg); 6′7″, 195 lb. final year Swing Dominic Green (8 ppg with 4 rpg and 40% beyond the arc); and 6′10″, 265 lb. Kiwi (New Zealander) Sam Timmins (2 ppg and 2 rpg) all swarm the paint here. Sam has a hooping New Zealand state championship ring— and I’d bet nobody else on campus; does. Nonetheless, and according to my 36 hours of McBryde Hall calc’ and stats… that’s roughly 20′ and 650+ lbs. of frontcourt relief. (not to mention the stretch guy down below).

Nugget (t-Fr.) Jamal Bey is the lone backcourt substitute at 6′6″, 205 lb. The athletic combo-G Bey is only here for his defense as 33% means he ain’t here for his shooting (1 ppg and 1 rpg). Although he was ESPN’s no.99 nationwide recruit last year and big things are expected accordingly.

Washington also fields the whopping 7′4″, 266 lb. rookie year true-C Riley Sorn on their bench.

Beating Washington on Saturday nite in A.C. is all about... what???

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Illationconclusion(s) and OPT digits:

Number of Huskies who could start @Tech=3.

the takeaway:
The takeaway here is… what if this is a Pennsylvania State+ (plus)?

I’m not saying this is a great basketball team or an unbeatable hardwood team, although these Huskies just have a sense about them of being a den of just somewhat more talented Nittany Lions with just a little mo’: “roar”.


As Washington U absolutely has the look-n-feel of a highly experienced basketball club that does not beat themselves, a squad that makes you authentically beat them and one that nobody in any conference tournament will be happy that they drew in March ’19.

 ***

Our beloved Hokies are a 6.5 point betting fave (VT+6.5) out on the Vegas big board and although I do agree that Washington is not the rightful favorite here… this one feels closer than about seven points on paper to me.

As these two teams are o-2019 (o-5) thus far on true away games and the Atlantic City Air Force Reserve Classic is home to basically no one. So something has gotta give as traveling acumen goes.

the call

As the seasonal statistical matrix sorts {sic: out}… V.Tech is +6% better shooting overall and yet a noticeable 18% better on 3-point shooting margin, and astonishingly enough… rebounding margin actually (somehow) favors the Gobblers by nearly +3 boards per game.

In the most recent five-game trends, however, we see that V.Tech is still right at +6% better on FG percentage margin overall, and yet an even sportier +30% on 3-point shooting margin in the last fortnight of ball with +4 caroms on the glass.

Finally, Turnovers have been a Washington U bugbear, as the Huskies have more turnovers than assists in six of their 10 games.

That trifecta tertiary ditty is pretty dang significant to me… presuming Buzzketball maintains its hawtt-hand from range… Buzz and Co. are gonna be pretty tough to upset here. If not, I do caution you that Washington is an even huskier version of P.S.U.+. More individual talent(s), and they are a very problematic match-up size-wise basically One through Five or from stem to stern. (and this could in fact muck around with contested shooting from downtown).

i.e. this one is all about pace. The team that controls the pace sets the tone here and that team will look much tonier or cosmopolitan come 10 pm Saturday nite.

As 62 point Nittany Lion VeeTee won’t be pacing anyone.

Tho’ high 80’s Charleston Tourney V.P.I. has
a fair to middling pace setting shot.

(54% confidence interval)
Virginia Tech
=81, Washington=77

LETS GO!

Hokies!

 bourbonstreet**

3 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. U-Dub has to fly 3000 miles to the wrong time zone at the end of the semester for a Dec game in Jersey.

    I like the Hokies all day.

  2. Crisp guard play and good shots (that fall) will be the key here. Match up zone can succumb to an offense that moves the ball, and with golks rotating to open spots. Defensively, just need to not have some unknown go bonkers, and ideally have KJB on the boards to keep the offensive rebounds to as low as we can get it.

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