For a good time...

[xjohnx]

Tech is a football school. I would rather have a shot at a consistently good ACC team than waste our time pandering to a bunch of whiners.

Duke and UNC would only agree to play us at their place. Maryland wouldn't play us if we were the last team on the planet (we make Gary Williams' abject disrespect for mid-majors look downright foolish).

Wake is awful now, and in my estimation, will be as long as Jeff Bzedlik is head coach. NC State is at least two years away from being competitive. Miami (FL) has always been consistently mediocre, but that might change now that Frank Haith is gone. The same can be said of Boston College and Georgia Tech. They have never been consistently strong programs.

That leaves Clemson and Florida State. Incidentally, those are the two programs most likely to agree to home-and-homes with us (though I suspect neither would agree to such an arrangement). I like FSU more than Clemson because Brad Brownell is a first-year coach who got to the dance with Oliver Purnell's players. I'm still waiting to see if he can get ACC-level talent to commit to a football school in a state that has strong mid-major programs (CoCharleston, Winthrop, Coastal Carolina).

UVA should be in the upper half of the ACC this year.

 

[DCDuck]

VCU has to work it's butt off to get quality OOC teams to play them and Tech appears to me to go-out-of-its-way to avoid playing strong OOC teams, which would be simple for them now that they have ACC initials on their uniforms.

Most Power Six teams go out of their way to avoid quality mid-major competition. Their rationale is that "we'll pick up all the quality wins we'll need for an at-large bid in conference play" (see Alabama, Colorado). Power Six teams almost never play against non-power teams in true road games (some, like Duke, UNC, Syracuse, etc. don't play ANY true road games before conference play begins). Coaches like padding their resumes with inflated win totals. They "play" the RPI by scheduling weak teams on the road (hence why VT schedules home-and-home series with Longwood, Campbell, UMBC, et cetera; the RPI doesn't penalize them as heavily for playing scrubs in road games).

Funny how Anthony Grant was such an advocate of P6 teams playing true mid-majors on the road, yet he didn't win a single game out of conference away from home (aside from the NIT semifinal match against Colorado). That's a direct result of refusing to play teams like UAB in a home-and-home series (the story goes that the Blazers offered but Grant refused). You can be certain Grant would not want any part of playing us in a home-and-home if he wasn't contractually obligated to play one.

 

[VCULee]

Another thing you can be almost certain of is that in the State of Alabama, the University of Alabama runs everything when it comes to Division I college sports and UAB is the red-headed stepchild, much more so than VCU or GMU here in Virginia when compared to Tech or UVA. Not playing UAB was probably a political decision that was quietly influenced by legislators and more openly so by their university board of visitors.

(Note: I have no proof other than a older mentor's understanding of how things work in Alabama, who is an Alabama native and UA AND Auburn grad.)

That's a direct result of refusing to play teams like UAB in a home-and-home series (the story goes that the Blazers offered but Grant refused). You can be certain Grant would not want any part of playing us in a home-and-home if he wasn't contractually obligated to play one.

 

[BradRamFan]

From the :

"Shaka, The Shocker, Seth and Shane" , story -

Ok so the guy says he knows little about the CAA....and VCU apparently, but then goes on to analyze our team. What he failed to mention was:
1. in Shaka's first year we had lost probably our very best recruit ever in Maynor to the NBA. He was the floor leader and our main go to guy in a crunch, our ball handler, our point guard, our ball feeder. A guy who is hard to replace in the span of just one season
2. without Maynor, we still go to post-season (as a result of an NIT snub IMO) into the CBI. A few extra games, some post season work. Yet, we run through five OOC teams (most were away games) and take home the CBI tournament trophy....not too shabby IMO.
3. Like the previous year we lose a major player to the NBA in Sanders. He was our go-to guy down low. A pretty dominant force. In addition we lost front court contributors from the bench in Kiril and TJ. Our front court was pretty dismantled after last season. We needed someone to step up.
4. Skeen takes on the major frontcourt role along with several freshman and a JUCO transfer. We lead the CAA until the month of Feb but then come back in the CAA tournament.....again we end the season with 20+ wins and get an at-large.
5. Shaka galvinizes the team (with some not so nice ESPN help) and we take it to 5 power conference teams and get to the final four.
6. We play in a mid-major conference, yet we had two other teams in our conference that were on the cusp of being top 25 teams and several other top 50-100 teams in the country. Teams in our conference (including VCU) took down a number of OOC "heavy weights" this season (and in past seasons) when we were given the opportunity.
7. We recently had one of the best MM recruiting classes - thanks to Shaka - who have also contributed as freshman

Is the 1.2 mil/year risky with a HC with only 2 years of experience....sure. But recruting looks to be good and Shaka has shown he can galvanize a mature team to win...and win in the post-season.

Too bad the writer left all that info out.

 

[Pavarotti]

When is the last time VT beat 5 BCS schools in a row. For that matter has any school in Virginia or the CAA done that in recent memory?

 

[Pavarotti]

Answered my own question, VPI managed to beat UNC, Clemson, NCState, UVA-Charlottesville and Wake last year in a row.

 

[VCULee]

I was going to say... the only opportunity they'd give themselves to do that is in-conference against ACC competition. As we all know, their OOC scheduling is crap. Take away Wake and they're right back where they started.

Answered my own question, VPI managed to beat UNC, Clemson, NCState, UVA-Charlottesville and Wake last year in a row.

 

[vcugrad82]

A few more stats on Tech. They have a total of 7 NCAA Tournament appearances. Teams they have refused to schedule in-state:

VCU 10
Ticks 9
ODU 12
GMU 6

So who needs who? If you look at the above teams, who made the tournament and who did not! Screw Tech and all the ACC arrogance. One other fact regarding Tech, last sweet 16 apprearance 1967. We do not need you on our schedule. Looks like the othe so called mid majors in the state did very well not having Tech on their schedule. Fear not Seth - Radford, NJIT and Howard university have openings in their 2012 schedule.

Go Rams!

 

[districtballer]

A few more stats on Tech. They have a total of 7 NCAA Tournament appearances. Teams they have refused to schedule in-state:

VCU 10
Ticks 9
ODU 12
GMU 6

So who needs who? If you look at the above teams, who made the tournament and who did not! Screw Tech and all the ACC arrogance. One other fact regarding Tech, last sweet 16 apprearance 1967. We do not need you on our schedule. Looks like the othe so called mid majors in the state did very well not having Tech on their schedule. Fear not Seth - Radford, NJIT and Howard university have openings in their 2012 schedule.

Go Rams!

Just a correction...ODU has been to 11 tournaments not 12. Everything else I absolutely agree with. The best basketball in Virginia is not played in the ACC. CAA fans have known this for awhile though.

 

[VCURamFan32]

This kind of makes me not like being a Tech football fan. I mean I'm not going to stop being a Tech football fan, and I won't stop because I've been a Tech football fan my whole life, but their fans are cry babies.

 

[yodude]

Tech is a football school. I would rather have a shot at a consistently good ACC team than waste our time pandering to a bunch of whiners.

Duke and UNC would only agree to play us at their place. Maryland wouldn't play us if we were the last team on the planet (we make Gary Williams' abject disrespect for mid-majors look downright foolish).

Wake is awful now, and in my estimation, will be as long as Jeff Bzedlik is head coach. NC State is at least two years away from being competitive. Miami (FL) has always been consistently mediocre, but that might change now that Frank Haith is gone. The same can be said of Boston College and Georgia Tech. They have never been consistently strong programs.

That leaves Clemson and Florida State. Incidentally, those are the two programs most likely to agree to home-and-homes with us (though I suspect neither would agree to such an arrangement). I like FSU more than Clemson because Brad Brownell is a first-year coach who got to the dance with Oliver Purnell's players. I'm still waiting to see if he can get ACC-level talent to commit to a football school in a state that has strong mid-major programs (CoCharleston, Winthrop, Coastal Carolina).

I pretty much agree with everything you said here. I'm not expecting any ACC team to give us a fair shake, though I'd love to see Clemson or FSU on our schedule. I try not to be too optimistic that ACC teams who aren't UNC and Duke will come to terms with the fact that they're not perennial power-houses and could even benefit from playing competitive mid-major programs. But it's the same old song the power 6 have been dancing to since the dawn of the BCS.

 

[DCDuck]

I try not to be too optimistic that ACC teams who aren't UNC and Duke will come to terms with the fact that they're not perennial power-houses and could even benefit from playing competitive mid-major programs. But it's the same old song the power 6 have been dancing to since the dawn of the BCS.

Except that could be changing. Colorado and Alabama are still bellyaching about their snubs despite their complete and utter lack of depth to their non-conference resumes. St. Mary's (CA) I can sympathize with, but not the other two.

I'll write up a separate thread about my thoughts on the matter to avoid hijackation.