Here?s the breakdown from Seth Greenberg on tonight?s game at Florida State, which beat Tech 63-59 last month.
Tech has never won at FSU since joining the ACC.
?Tallahassee has been a tough place for us to play,? Seth said. ?I?d like to put my finger on it, but the only thing I can point to is they?ve got really good players. They?re big, they?re physical, they?re long, they?re athletic, they defend.?
Air Force vet Bernard James had 18 points and 15 boards in the first meeting. He had 3 of FSU?s 15 blocks in the game.
?They?ve got a very mature team. Bernard James is a man,? Seth said. ?Gibson is a four-year guy with experience. Snaer?s experienced. Loucks is a fourth-year guy. Dulkys is a fourth-year guy.
?They?re extremely disciplined on the defensive end. And if you make a mistake, it?s nice to have people behind you that can challenge shots. We?re going to have to post defend for 40 minutes. We?re going to have to rebound for 40 minutes. We were not very good offensively in the first half last time against them; we were better in the 2nd half. We turned them over some. We had a chance. I?m not sure either team really put their arms around that game. I think they?re much better right now; that?s what winning does for you.?
FSU had 19 turnovers in the first game.
?Those are ? possessions we didn?t have to guard, ? possessions they didn?t get to the offensive glass,? Greenberg said.
VT was outrebounded 38-34 in the first meeting. VT shot 18.8 percent in the first half and fell behind 14-4.
?We had turnovers at the beginning of that game, the ball slipping through our hands, errant plays,? Greenberg said. ?But we were resilient in the 2nd half. You?ve got to drive it and kick it and then shot fake it and drive it again. It?s hard to run offense against them ?.. because they make it hard for you to catch the ball. ?. You can?t attack to get to the rim, as we found out. ? You?ve got to get there, get it out and then make one more drive.?
VT may not have C.J. Barksdale because of a badly sprained ankle. That leaves Victor Davila and Cadarian Raines as the only other true post players.
?Victor?s played against good frontcourt players. Cadarian ? has played good frontcourt players,? Seth said. ?It?s that they can back him up with Kreft or they can back him up with Gibson or White. That?s an advantage for them.
?[James'] greatest impact was at the end of the game. The last 3 minutes, he imposed his will on the game. ?. Yet we still had a chance to tie the game. ? I kind of cringed a little bit watching the tape and then I realized, wait a second, we were in a position to tie the game.?
But ths willl be a very hard game for the Hokies to win. Greenberg has been stressing defense.
?Yesterday we did one hour straight of defensive fundamentals,? Seth said. ?The one thing we haven?t done as much as we?ve done in the past is every single day, that 40 minutes to an hour block of all our defensive fundamentals. That?s what the next four ? weeks is going to be, we?re going to go back to that 40-minute period every single day.?
The starters will again be based on who practices the hardest, a tactic Greenberg has not used in the past.
?I?ve had guys that have really separated themselves in the past,? he said. ?We haven?t had a lot of guys separate themselves (this year). ? There?s a mass of inexperience and no one has really separated themselves, so we?ve got to find ways to separate them.
?It?s my job to redefine playing hard.?
Easier said than done, getting this particular, young team to play the way he wants.
?Look at their bodies. How much leather are you going to lay on a guy if you?re Robert Brown at 180 pounds or Dorian Finney at 190 pounds? Now a year from now when he?s 210, it might be a little different,? Seth said.
Tech is 3-7 in the ACC.
?We?re all disappointed. We thought we could grind through this a little bit better than we have,? he said.
?This team is the first team we?ve had that played young. But I don?t think we?ve been as physically mature as some of those other young teams. But on the other hand this team is probably very similar to Zabe and Jamon?s freshman team. Very similar to that team. ?. The difference is that team had no expectation.?
Not only is Greenberg trying to get the young players to play hard, he is also trying to get the veterans to be the high-energy, dominating personalities some of his previous players have been.
?It?s a constant dialogue,? he said. ?That?s an educational process also, teaching guys how to lead.?
Tech has never won at FSU since joining the ACC.
?Tallahassee has been a tough place for us to play,? Seth said. ?I?d like to put my finger on it, but the only thing I can point to is they?ve got really good players. They?re big, they?re physical, they?re long, they?re athletic, they defend.?
Air Force vet Bernard James had 18 points and 15 boards in the first meeting. He had 3 of FSU?s 15 blocks in the game.
?They?ve got a very mature team. Bernard James is a man,? Seth said. ?Gibson is a four-year guy with experience. Snaer?s experienced. Loucks is a fourth-year guy. Dulkys is a fourth-year guy.
?They?re extremely disciplined on the defensive end. And if you make a mistake, it?s nice to have people behind you that can challenge shots. We?re going to have to post defend for 40 minutes. We?re going to have to rebound for 40 minutes. We were not very good offensively in the first half last time against them; we were better in the 2nd half. We turned them over some. We had a chance. I?m not sure either team really put their arms around that game. I think they?re much better right now; that?s what winning does for you.?
FSU had 19 turnovers in the first game.
?Those are ? possessions we didn?t have to guard, ? possessions they didn?t get to the offensive glass,? Greenberg said.
VT was outrebounded 38-34 in the first meeting. VT shot 18.8 percent in the first half and fell behind 14-4.
?We had turnovers at the beginning of that game, the ball slipping through our hands, errant plays,? Greenberg said. ?But we were resilient in the 2nd half. You?ve got to drive it and kick it and then shot fake it and drive it again. It?s hard to run offense against them ?.. because they make it hard for you to catch the ball. ?. You can?t attack to get to the rim, as we found out. ? You?ve got to get there, get it out and then make one more drive.?
VT may not have C.J. Barksdale because of a badly sprained ankle. That leaves Victor Davila and Cadarian Raines as the only other true post players.
?Victor?s played against good frontcourt players. Cadarian ? has played good frontcourt players,? Seth said. ?It?s that they can back him up with Kreft or they can back him up with Gibson or White. That?s an advantage for them.
?[James'] greatest impact was at the end of the game. The last 3 minutes, he imposed his will on the game. ?. Yet we still had a chance to tie the game. ? I kind of cringed a little bit watching the tape and then I realized, wait a second, we were in a position to tie the game.?
But ths willl be a very hard game for the Hokies to win. Greenberg has been stressing defense.
?Yesterday we did one hour straight of defensive fundamentals,? Seth said. ?The one thing we haven?t done as much as we?ve done in the past is every single day, that 40 minutes to an hour block of all our defensive fundamentals. That?s what the next four ? weeks is going to be, we?re going to go back to that 40-minute period every single day.?
The starters will again be based on who practices the hardest, a tactic Greenberg has not used in the past.
?I?ve had guys that have really separated themselves in the past,? he said. ?We haven?t had a lot of guys separate themselves (this year). ? There?s a mass of inexperience and no one has really separated themselves, so we?ve got to find ways to separate them.
?It?s my job to redefine playing hard.?
Easier said than done, getting this particular, young team to play the way he wants.
?Look at their bodies. How much leather are you going to lay on a guy if you?re Robert Brown at 180 pounds or Dorian Finney at 190 pounds? Now a year from now when he?s 210, it might be a little different,? Seth said.
Tech is 3-7 in the ACC.
?We?re all disappointed. We thought we could grind through this a little bit better than we have,? he said.
?This team is the first team we?ve had that played young. But I don?t think we?ve been as physically mature as some of those other young teams. But on the other hand this team is probably very similar to Zabe and Jamon?s freshman team. Very similar to that team. ?. The difference is that team had no expectation.?
Not only is Greenberg trying to get the young players to play hard, he is also trying to get the veterans to be the high-energy, dominating personalities some of his previous players have been.
?It?s a constant dialogue,? he said. ?That?s an educational process also, teaching guys how to lead.?
