Virginia-Virginia Tech Recap: Women and Children First

Ladies and gentlemen…the ship is sinking fast.

The Virginia-Virginia Tech game made me want to stab my eyes out with a spoon. Why a spoon?

BECAUSE IT’S DULL, IT’LL HURT MORE!

My first thought after Deron Washington’s up-and-under layup to seal the win for the Hokies was, “What a waste of Sean Singletary’s best game.”

Singletary has been criticized for shooting too much in this space previously. This “scribe” will whole-heartedly be eating a plate heavy on crow tetrazzini from now until the end of the season. Singletary was simply brilliant (34 points on 21 shots, 5-7 from 3), carrying his team back from a 9-0 hole to start. He was the leading rebounder on the team with 10 rebounds, an amazing feat for a guy who’s less than six feet tall.

If he doesn’t get mentioned as an ACC player of the year candidate, it will be a crime against humanity (hyperbole notwithstanding).

So, how could they possibly lose?

Three reasons: defense, defense, and defense. This team needs Tunji Soroye to return. I know it sounds weird to say that a team might require the presence of a player who is basically superfluous on offense, but let’s look at the facts.

Virginia is next to last in the ACC in defensive efficiency and 91st in the country. They’re 119th in the country in two-point field goal defense, whereas they were 32nd last year. They do not force turnovers (272nd in the nation) or block shots (225th).  Winning becomes more of a Herculean task when the other team can catch up so quickly.

In short, the team is too small to defend (pun intended—probably won't be the only one). Mike Scott will be an excellent power forward someday (although Mike, please grab the rebound, don’t slap—it’s unsightly), but he's only listed at 6-8. He’s not a shot-blocker, nor is Ryan Pettinella (6-9). Pettinella does provide muscle and did a fair job against Jeff Allen of Virginia Tech, but hurts himself with a lot of the fouls he commits.

Adrian Joseph...where do I begin?

He let Washington go right by him on that last play. Furthermore, he’s a very poor help defender, often running full speed at dribble penetration only to swat at air upon arrival. That being said (sorry Springs), Joseph does rebound laudably, but he plays out of position at the four spot. None of the reserves who came off the bench, save for Petinella, provided any spark.

Soroye provided an intimidating inside presence. He blocked a lot of shots, but also deterred countless smaller players gunning for the basket. Soroye's presence is hard to quantify because there are more likely to be kick-outs leading to long jumpers as opposed to high-percentage shots in the lane. It's obvious, though, that Virginia misses him dearly.

Finally, like players, coaches have bad games too and this was not one of Leitao’s best. He’s a disciple of the “man-to-man is the only defense” type mentality, which provides for a certain amount of toughness, a positive quality for teams to possess. Playing a zone defense every so often disrupts the other team’s offensive rhythm. Also, zone defense might mask Virginia’s shortcomings (emphasis on short) by clustering bodies in the lane.

Despite Virgina’s deficiencies, Virginia Tech needs to be given due credit. At the opening tip, Greenberg caught Virginia totally off guard by upping the tempo of the game. Virginia Tech was averaging 66 possessions per 40 minutes, good for 231st in the country. However, Greenberg pushed the ball after every Virginia basket, often beating the ESPNU cameraman down court. This strategy allowed the Hokies to jump out to the early lead and gave the freshmen confidence that they could hang with Virginia.

In general, AD Vassallo and Jeff Allen were outstanding, Washington too. This is a very well coached team. I am worried for the future.

Is it time to throw in the towel? HELL NO! I refuse to give the ACC the satisfaction of packing it in.

Virginia might not be off to a good start, but the best thing about rock bottom?  There's nowhere to go but up.

(All stats courtesy of kenpom.com.)