Saturday’s Duke game was a let down - there was a definite sense that the team was pulling together in the second half and once the score was tied at 58 there was even a small glimmer of hope for some Hokie magic. But then, of course, ABC couldn’t help themselves from showing the ever increasing montage reel of our last-second basketball losses and depressing close game winning percentages and sure enough before you knew it Duke was at the free throw line sealing their win. I think I feel most bad for the Hokie sitting next to me at the bar who put money on Virginia Tech to win (they were given 6 points).

So then what can we expect this Wednesday when Virginia Tech hosts conference leader UNC?

I feel as though we have had a two-face offense all season that can go from efficient and productive to cold and poorly timed for no apparent reason. Its not that our team becomes explosive at times and is just lackluster at others, it simply falls apart. The moment our timing is switched buckets begin to fall off, we take silly shots, and have embarrassing turnovers. At that point I start screaming “slow down!” (or sometimes “hurry up!”) but I think on Wednesday I am going to scream for a time out instead. Seth should look to stop the team WHENEVER this ugly timing problem creeps in. I’d rather blow a preemptive time out and have a breather when things look like they are turning sour. Like when Clemson pulled off the press in the second half of the crushing defeat on January 29th — we waited too long to stop the game and regroup over what wasn’t working when Clemson had changed its pace.

Joe Lunardi was on ESPN Radio this afternoon fielding questions about the NCAA tournament and all the bubble teams out there. Joe rightfully predicts there is no place in the NCAA tournament for a sub .500 ACC team and the Hokies can only lock up a spot in March with a win over UNC this Wednesday (unless I suppose there is a great VT showing in the ACC tournament combined with a win over FSU). So we are down to this… the typical Disney movie climax pitting the little guy up against Goliath for all the glory. The Duke game (I hope) showed the team and home crowd that we can play to win and since it is the last home game of the season (ignoring any trip to NIT crapville) it should bring plenty of emotion from ALL of Cassell.

One big benefit that I believe contributed to our win over Wake Forest once again exists for VT this week: UNC’s final game of the year, the game following VT, is against Duke. First, UNC is coming off a gloating win over bottom feeding Georgia Tech. Second, its f’ing UNC vs. Duke - with all the rivalry implications, emotion, media coverage, and a battle over the top seed in the ACC (and bragging rights) on the line, those Tarheels might just being looking too far ahead and end up with a nasty little surprise from VT… It just depends which team plays for all those 40 minutes.