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Written by Sam Renaut
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Friday, 26 August 2005 |
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I hear ACC, and I think basketball. I think Duke, Maryland, UNC,
Georgia Tech, and Wake Forest. I think of dominant centers and
NBA level guards. So much talent is squished into five kids out
there trying to make names for themselves. Everyone knows the ACC
is a powerhouse in basketball, and it always will be. But now
it’s not limited to just those five teams. In fact, Duke has been
slipping lately. Maryland certainly had a traumatic 2004.
Georgia Tech was riddled with injury, though they managed a late season
push for the conference championship. UNC was unstoppable last
year, but lost its entire National Championship team to graduation and
the NBA. Wake Forest is missing its anchorman. So if all
these teams are on the skids, what is it about the ACC that still makes
it so dominant?
NC State had Julius Hodge and a couple of automatic three-point
shooters. Clemson had Sharrod Ford and a sweep of a perennial
powerhouse. Virginia, Florida State, and newcomers Miami and Virginia
Tech had their moments of greatness (some more than others, with UVA
and FSU holding up solidly in last place).
But those Big East newcomers stirred things up from the inside
out. With both teams coming off of bad seasons in the other
toughest basketball conference in college, expectations were beyond
low. Miami turned around a 14-16 (4-12) season from a year ago
and landed a 6th place finish in the ACC at 16-13 (7-9) against tougher
competition. Virginia Tech was almost a Cinderella story in the
ACC, jumping back from a 15-14 (7-9) finish in the Big East to secure
the 4th place spot in the ACC at 16-14 (8-8). Neither school
ended with a particularly impressive record by itself, but when you
look at the competition and the circumstances, it is clear that these
teams were the aces up the ACC’s sleeve.
I attended every home game at Virginia Tech last year and was
astonished at how many people joined me. Tech enjoyed the largest
increase in attendance in all of college basketball last year, with
more than 3,000 more fans per game filing in to Cassell Coliseum.
Sure, some would argue that these people only came to see Duke and
Coach K, or Maryland and Gary Williams, or any number of other big name
opponents competing in our arena. But I have another theory.
With the debut of a charismatic new coach in Seth Greenberg, Tech
basketball has been steadily improving since the 2003-04 season.
We took our first trip to the Big East Tournament that year since
joining the conference, getting knocked off in the second round by a
powerful Pittsburgh squad. But that wasn’t the hallmark of our
success. What we really enjoy now, what Seth Greenberg is really
known for, is great recruiting. Not great in the way Duke or UNC
snatches up five-star recruits like candy. But great in that
Greenberg has built himself a real team out of relative nobodies.
In the 2004-05 season, Virginia Tech, picked by most to finish dead
last in the conference, didn’t lose to any conference opponents more
than once. In fact, the only ACC teams we failed to put away even
once were Wake Forest, UNC, and FSU. Not bad for a team whose
starting five consisted of one senior and a total of four recruiting
stars. Three of those belonged to freshman phenom Deron
Washington. Yet this unsung team buried #12 Georgia Tech on the
road, Clemson, Maryland, NC State, UVA, and Duke at home, and swept
longtime rival Miami in Blacksburg and in Coral Gables. Sure,
Clemson and Miami are bottom-tier ACC teams, but NC State was home to
the 2004 ACC player of the year. Georgia Tech went to the
National Championship in 2004, though they fell to highly favored
UConn. Maryland, in the last couple years, has won both the ACC
Championship and the National Championship. And Duke.
Widely considered the marquee program in college basketball, Duke
rarely loses, so beating them is a feat in itself for a team like the
Hokies. Especially after an embarrassing loss to them earlier in
the year at Cameron Indoor, where Tech committed a season high 34
personal fouls en route to a 100-65 drubbing.
Right, those of you reading this are probably thinking, “Wow, didn’t
let themselves get swept, how impressive.” What you have to
realize is that Virginia Tech basketball has been awful since the
mid-nineties. We hadn’t enjoyed a winning season since squeaking
past .500 (16-15) in the 1999-2000 season (A-10 Conference) before
Greenberg arrived, giving us two in a row in his first two
attempts. Before 2000, we hadn’t finished above .500 since
1995-96.
The excitement of a winning team in a famous conference might be enough
to draw fans by itself. But I say there is more to it than
that. Once the students show up, they need to be
entertained. There have to be special moments that will stick in
their minds. Like Coleman Collins’ last second tip-in against
Rutgers to put us in the Big East tournament for the first time in
school history. Or Bryant Matthews putting up dunks from all over
the court to beat a ranked UVA team. Or Carlos Dixon with a
no-look pass to Deron Washington streaking in for a jam against
Duke. But one moment above all others stands out in everyone’s
mind.
It was a cold Thursday night in February in Blacksburg. I still
vividly remember the ball rolling off of Zabian Dowdell’s fingers—right
in Daniel Ewing’s face—to sink the trey that put us ahead of Duke for
good. The only thing that could have made that moment any better
would have been to have J.J. standing there instead. When Ewing
bricked out his redemption shot to end the game, Cassell Coliseum
erupted. The Duke Blue Devils, the epitome of college basketball,
ranked eighth in the country, fell to the Virginia Tech Hokies on our
home court: what could be better? Well, for one, basketball’s
great white hope—self-proclaimed poet and most hated player in college
hoops—missed three free throws in the game, but I don’t want to rub it
in…too much.
So the conference that boasted five of the best teams in the country
welcomed us as another team to beat on, boost stats, pad egos, and most
importantly fill the W columns for its incumbents. But we managed
to turn things upside down from the start. With the ACC Coach of
the Year and players on the freshman and the defensive all-ACC teams,
Virginia Tech showed why we feel right at home in the best conference
in the country. |
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Virginia Tech 