With that being said, I will say that I again want to thank Dukies.com as the inspiration here.
The two guys there, Matt, and duhomme have written a blog that has made me laugh for years. And now I feel like it is my turn. Read their preview too, as it is probably funnier than mine.
Welcome all...to
The First Edition of.......darn.... no title yet. I've gotta work on that. First a recap of Wednesday, then the main event....
#7 DUKE (23-5, 9-4 ACC) VS. VIRGINIA TECH (17-10, 7-6)
What a nice win it was to see the other night. Besides Nolan getting rocked by Dangerous Dave Neal, and getting a concussion, it was a great game. Decent 1st half, we gave them WAY too many layups, but we hit a couple threes as well to tie it up at half time in the Comcast Center. The 2nd half then rolled around, and we jumped out to the lead. Soon after Zoubek knocked over Diamond Dave Neal on an inbounds, Neal only returned the favor, trucking poor Nolan while the Terps were allowed to play 5 on 4 down court w/o Nolan (for some reason), and Neal promptly swished a 3, completing his 20 seconds of glory for the students there. After this, we were treated to 100+ replays of the screen. Mike Patrick said he thought it was illegal, but UNC grad Jay Bilas insinuated that it was a legal screen, over and over. Way to stand by your team Jay! Legal or not, one thing was apparent, that it was a dirty screen. Neal leaned in on the screen, his arms at his chest, as if he wanted to push Nolan over. And yet he did......
Sadly, Nolan left the game and has a minor concussion. He will be out for a game or two.....best wishes to him.
But.....right then Gerald Henderson saw the blood of kin and responded in an explosive way. Noteworthy was the SICK dunk he threw down. G and Co. seized the momentum with the Verbose Venezualan Grevis Vasquez saddled with foul trouble, and the game was won. Props to the team for responding like that and coming away with the win. MAD props go to E-Mail, he really contributed to the effort. Those two tough put-backs? Hard fought. 15 points Elliot had.
Well....anyway, sorry about that, You guys are reading this for a preview and that is what I will give to you. I think i will make recaps a separate entry from now on.
Duke travels to Blacksburg for a Saturday afternoon contest with VT. And this won't be a Saturday walk in the park. The Hokies are playing up right now, coming off a road win at Clemson. Well that may not be surprising, if the Clemson Tiggers are really starting their complete January meltdown (this time in February instead of January). Who knows. Maybe the Tiggers and the O.P.P.(Oliver Purnell Posse, Clemson's student section) will actually not go all-Chernobyl on us this year. The Hokies look to make Duke their next victim coming of this win, but you know, that's what they said about Maryland, coming off that win vs. Cryolina. VT has an impressive trio of breakout point Malcolm Delaney, Dr. Pepper connoisseur A.D. Vassallo, and future PR worker and ref shover Jeff Allen.
The Hokies have little beyond this troika. Delaney gets 18.8 PPG, Vassallo 18.4, and Allen 14.0.
The next highest scorer is sophomore swingman J.T. Thompson, with a spectacular 4.4. So as you can see, the Hokies are in trouble if one or two of their impressive trio has an off night, or gets in foul trouble. Off the bench for the Blacksburg Birds are 6-6 J.T Thompson, 6-9 Cheick Diakite, 6-5 Dorenzo Hudson, 6-9 Victor Davila, G Terrell Bell, and backup PG Hank Thorns, who hails from Sin City.
Nothing really alarms me here, except for the fact that Allen could go off on Lance and Z. Allen is having a relatively quiet year, compared to his impressive freshman season. First meeting at Cameron , he finished with only 9. VT's gaudy point total (44) in that game was probably to blame as Delaney (12) was the only one to score in double figs. Allen is the only guy that concerns me, but that is just a chance, nothing is guaranteed. Let's hope Lance and Dave can prevent him from going off on us. If Delaney or Vassallo however, were to light it up it could be a problem, but not as much as you think due to the fact that Vassallo, Delaney, and Allen account for 70% of the Hokies' scoring. Stop at least 2 of those 3 and we're golden. As long as Zabian Dowdell doesnt appear, we are.
G will look to continue his out of this-stratosphere play this year....Vassallo should guard him, and G looks to have another monster performance. Singler, though could turn in another key performance. Despite only scoring 23 in the last 2 games, he has also grabbed 20 big rebounds for us over those same two games. He scored 19 in the first matchup. Elliot, as well, is hot on the heels of an impressive stretch after he moved to the starting lineup. He could really be the key to this season now that Scheyer seems to be handling the PG duties very efficiently, and even scoring more. Elliot brings some great stuff to the lineup. The 25 games prior to St John's, I had been scratching my head because K had not (or did not want to) put Elliot into the rotation. Elliot brings a defensive presence at the 2/3 with a long wingspan for being 6-5, and some scoring punch, too. He has taken his lumps, but he is emerging, and we now have one of our best defensive players on the team in the starting lineup. We will see. Will he reprise his improved (much) play with another solid performance at Cassell Coliseum? Will Lance and Dave clamp down on Allen? Will the Hokies' Big Three carry the team to a 2nd straight win over a top 10 team at home? I don't think so.....but Seth Greenburg thinks I'm certifiably insane.
Duke 70, Virginia Tech 66
