Well at least UVA lost that other tournament - yeah there is one worse than the NIT.

Okay, we all know what happened… there was a close loss against Clemson to close out the season (oh boo hoo), dismantling of Miami in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament (yippee… I feel hope!), then UNC’s robotic white boy hits a winning bucket with .8 seconds to go and does the bushwacker down the court in celebration (at this point I am kind of sick of this tug-of-war over the last at-large spots and frankly, I don’t care… if you don’t want us in the tournament after that, fine, fuck you. That’s basically Coach Greenberg’s stance.)

Something important is lost in the race for the at-large tournament slot when schools I have never heard of or schools that have last second miracles scoop up a ton of automatic bids. I don’t like that I find myself cheering AGAINST Georgia’s big upset in the SEC. I love upsets, even though I couldn’t care less about University of Georgia outside of the strip club they have in downtown Athens, I am happy that there was a reward for a team that makes a big splash the last week of the regular season. But that prize is the conference trophy and the fucking net from the court that wasn’t hit by a tornado. Awarding the auto-bid basically is like saying to a Pro Football team that if they go 0-9 but somehow win in the last two weeks of the season and the best teams happen to lose (or perhaps play like shit because their eyes are on the post season) then lets give that shit team the benefit of the doubt and allow them in to the playoffs. Oh and let’s throw Niagara in there too. Niagara? These people http://www.purpleeagles.com/ ? What a shit show.

I really have let the whole “tournament thing” go. I mean just how deep did we expect to go in to the tournament? Isn’t squabbling over a 12th seed not much better than whining over the Outback bowl bid? Sure, we want to be there in the limelight and a trip to the NCAA tournament is vindication of a good season (a great season in comparison to our expectations), but we got a hell of a lot more press as a bubble team than we would have as an expected lock that drops to Vanderbilt in round one.

I’m proud that we put on a good show this season. We aren’t a basketball school… but were becoming a force in the hardest basketball conference in the nation. We were projected to be the 11^th worst team in the ACC… but we ended 4^th. Seth Greenberg is ACC coach of the year and Delaney/Allen look to be something special for years to come. In all, it was a great year for Virginia Tech Basketball.

By the way, take a look at the first round of the NCAA tournament. What an abortion. Sure there are a few great games in there (USC v Beasley State, Clemson v Villanova, GMU v Popular Belief) but after you look it over just head over and look at the NIT bracket. Funny, It looks a lot more exciting over there in the runner-up bracket. Maybe its because there are schools I have heard of or at least seen televised once in the past 3 years. Even Florida and Ohio State are hanging out with us, we can’t be that upset even though as a number one seed, that’s all our opponents can hope to achieve when playing us.

We all know Deron Washington and his great acting skills. He has been seen on more than a few thousand occasions flopping like a fish when touched by an opposing player after a whistle, and some of his rehearsed performances rise to what would get a red card in a European soccer match. Combine this with the fact that he has no problem sucker punching players and has even been seen sneaking in to huddled conversations of the opponent while on the court and you can see how he may be making a name for himself among coaches and refs. The rumor is he recently cut his hair because after the Duke game ACC officials told Coach Seth Greenburg that they “know his tricks” and aren’t falling for his “flailing arm tumbles” anymore. No joke. Coach Greenburg relayed the information to Deron who was working on his monologues and watching (WWF) film in the locker room.

Apparently rather than change his tactics or transfer to Juilliard, Deron decided to make himself less identifiable as the great method actor of the Hokies basketball team. Right then and there he shaved his once long and quite signature dreadlocks. He also thought about donning a bowler cap and wax lips but Vassallo backed him down with a “too much man, too much.”

Did it work? The Hokies were able to top UVA in overtime following Deron’s change of costume … but ACC officials have clearly caught on that this is just new-look Deron with the same old tricks as VT has slid down in the ACC by losing their last two games, one of which at home to Miami. Deron, who clearly has no problem with the words of his critics, is back polishing his art, flipping end over end when players tap him on the shoulder to let them know hes been substituted.

Although there may not be much in way of an acting career for the senior forward, I think that he is still one of the greatest players to watch in Cassell, or any arena for that matter. Granted, it is pretty absurd when he goes off on one of his thespian voyages to technical foul land, but he always finds a way to make up for it… like when he hurdles Greg Paulus twice in one game. I found this mixtape, which I think Deron made himself and will be sending out to studios at the end of this season.

Long hair or short hair I think hes the only way we will get to walk down the red carpet in March (and lose to Oral Roberts in the first round). Right now Virginia Tech is sitting on the bubble and needs to put together at least 3, possibly 4 wins, in the last 6 games of the season. If we can take care of business at home against Wake, BC, and Georgia Tech I think there will be enough of an argument to let us in come the tournament.

The envelope please…