The Hokie Hotline (football and basketball season)

When: Every Monday from 7:00-9:00 during football season, 7:00-8:00 during basketball season.

Where: Click here for a list of radio stations, and to find the link for listening to the show on the Internet (look to the right on the hokiesports.com page that loads when you click the link). You can see the show in person at Awful Arthur’s in Blacksburg.

• If Tech can win two of the next four games, they’ll have three wins over
  Top 25 RPI teams on the season. That would give them a big boost for the
  Selection Committee.
• Tech isn’t far away. One stop, one rebound, one better decision…that’s
  all they need. They’ve lost four games on the last possession of the game.
• They don’t need to overreact. The Hokies need to stay the course.
  Sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce your way. Everyone just has to keep on
  grinding.
• Tech just has to focus on the present. The present is attacking Clemson’s
  press and doing a better job on ball screens and flares. They also have to
  find a way to post the ball earlier in possessions.
• The Hokies have had great games against Clemson. The Tigers have won them
  all recently, but Tech could have easily won all of them. They were games
  that could have gone all the way.
• Clemson plays with unbelievable energy at home. They have a great home
  court environment, and the Tech players are excited to play there.
• Jeff Allen traveled to the UVA game because Greenberg wanted him to be a
  part of the team and not be home by himself. Greenberg knew he was going to
  get a lot of grief sitting at the end of the bench, and that it was a really
  good learning experience for him.
• Allen didn’t wear a suit on the bench because he doesn’t own a suit. It’s
  against NCAA regulations to buy him a suit. He comes from a tough
  background, and the little bit of money he gets he uses to buy things he
  needs.
• There was nothing wrong with what Jeff Allen wore to the UVA game. He wore
  a travel sweat top, a polo shirt underneath, and a clean pair of jeans.
  That’s no different that what red shirting football players wear to football
  games, so Greenberg doesn’t understand why Allen should take any grief about
  his appearance at the UVA game.
• Tech’s players don’t own suits, and Greenberg isn’t going to break the
  rules to buy them suits. It’s not the 1960s where everyone owns a blue
  blazer, khakis and a button down shirt. Some guys for some schools do wear
  suits on the bench, and Greenberg had this to say about those schools:
• “God bless those schools. They can find a way to have a 6-9 or 6-8
  guy … he’s not buying a suit off the rack. For those schools who can get
  that guy a nice suit, God bless them.”
• What Allen did was wrong, but there’s no need to pick him apart and chop
  him up. He was wrong and he paid a price.
• The goal every year is to make the NCAA tournament, but if Tech is in the
  NIT they will be excited to continue playing. There are over 300 Division I
  basketball teams, so making the postseason is big.
• Malcolm Delaney was more aggressive against FSU. He came off screens
  harder and caught the ball more ready to shoot. He also played at a better
  pace.
• Greenberg is hopeful that Manny Atkins can come in next year and be a
  solid shooter, and Ben Boggs can make shots as well.
• Ben Boggs has a great attitude. He hasn’t been able to do anything on his
  broken leg, but he’s been hitting the weights hard and it shows. He has a
  terrific work ethic. He’s a hard-play, tough kid. He can really defend.
• Tech is still an immature team. They don’t have a dynamic senior leader.
  Vassallo is a dynamic player, but he’s not the senior leader type. It really
  all falls upon Malcolm Delaney.
• Virginia Tech recruited #22 for Florida State, Derwin Kitchen. He’s a
  great kid. He and Jamon Gordon are best friends. He’s a really good player.
  He plays just like Jamon.
• The final play against FSU had two options. The first option was for
  Delaney to drive, but if that was cut off, Vassallo would be at the top of
  the key. Delaney’s route wasn’t open, but Vassallo was. The shot just didn’t
  fall. Greenberg will take that shot any day.
• Lewis Witcher didn’t have a great week of practice, and Tech went small,
  so he didn’t play against Florida State. Victor Davila did a really good job
  defensively in the first half.
• Greenberg told Hank Thorns and Malcolm Delaney on Monday that they need to
  empower Davila. If they get him the ball in the low block, he can score.
  Davila needs to fight a little more defensively and on the boards so his
  teammates gain confidence in him.
• 2009 signee Cadarian Raines can really rebound the basketball. He’s going
  to play in the Capital Classic All-Star game in Washington. He’s a
  hard-playing, quick, energetic athlete with good hands.
• Clemson’s Trevor Booker plays very hard. He’s a beast. He’s a relentless
  rebounder. He’s not as good in defensive transition. Booker and Raymond
  Sykes are a terrific offensive rebounding duo. When they are allowed to
  climb over people’s backs, they are even better, so Greenberg is hoping they
  are called for over-the-back a few times in this game.
• K.C. Rivers is very good. He comes off ball screens well. He also has a
  toughness about him, and he’s a very good offensive rebounder. Rivers has
  won more games than any other player in Clemson history. Terrence Oglesby
  has really improved as an overall basketball player.
• Gene Swindle is coming along, but he’s a 100% work in progress. He has a
  big strong body, and he’s getting a better feel for the game, but he’s a
  work in progress.
• It’s really hard to recruit Top 20 players to Tech. The in-state players
  that have fit that description have been lost to Duke and North Carolina.
  The Hokies have to recruit program players, four-year guys.
• The new practice facility will help a lot, once it is finished. Tech has a
  very good start to their junior (2010) class, with one very good commitment
  (editor’s note: that “very good commitment” is Jarell
  Eddie), and they can build on that.
• Duke looked very good against Wake Forest on Sunday night. Those two teams
  were flying up and down the court. Wake gave Duke 23 points off turnovers,
  and that was the difference.
• To Greenberg, playing really hard is the best feeling in the world. He
  tried to put “fun” in perspective last week when he talked to the
  team about Allen Calloway. He would have done anything just for a chance to
  play again.
• Tech needs to win games, it’s that simple. If they can win three, that’s
  great. If they win two, then that’s three total wins against Top 25 RPI
  teams, which very few teams have.
• About 370 people showed up for Allen Calloway’s funeral. It was a
  tremendous tribute to Allen. People came from all over. Shawn Harris and
  Marcus Travis were there. Why would 370 show up? Because Allen was that nice
  of a person.
• Duke is very aggressive off the dribble. Gerald Henderson was unbelievable
  against Wake. You’ve got to handle the pressure and defend the dribble drive
  when you play Duke.
• Tech has to be better in the half court against Clemson, and they have to
  continue to break the press. They also have to rebound better. The Tigers
  had 20 offensive rebounds in the first meeting.

Monday was Day 1,549 of Virginia Tech’s continuous possession of the Commonwealth Cup.