As Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg puts it, his young Hokies have had some cleansing moments this season. Like back-to-back losses in mid February when they were outrebounded by 15 at home to Miami, followed up by a 92-53 humiliation in Chapel Hill when the opposing board domination reached 30.
A four-game winning streak near the end of the regular season and a turnaround on the glass wiped away some of the late frustration and put Virginia Tech squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble at 18-12.
Then came Friday and the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament, playing in front of former Hokie great Dell Curry, who sat close enough to Greenberg to whisper plays into his ear, and against a Miami club that itself had put together a decent postseason calling card.
With a potential postseason bid on the line, Greenberg’s crew trusted each other like never before, banging a physical Miami team with a defensive clamp down on gunner and first-team All-ACC guard Jack McClinton and a hungrier effort on the boards, outrebounding the Hurricanes by 26 in a 63-49 victory.
“I told them to play hard, trust more and just go play ball,” Greenberg said of his pregame speech. “You can’t defend the way we did without knowing someone’s got your back. And on offense, we were always willing to make the extra pass.”
Greenberg credited junior A.D. Vassallo with speaking up after the lopsided loss to the Tar Heels, giving his team some “straight talk.”
“We’ve always liked each other as a group, we just took some time to develop trust,” Greenberg said. “That loss to Carolina was an embarrassing moment, but it brought us closer together.”
Good enough to keep it close Saturday afternoon against top-ranked Carolina? Probably not, but as Greenberg says, “Who knows what can happen?”
He then rattled off a check-list longer than a yardstick that his club would have to dig deep for in order to measure up to the Heels.
“Listen, we’ve come a long way since that game,” Greenberg said of the UNC loss. “I can’t even think we’re the same basketball team.”
“We all remember what happened the first time,” added Vassallo. “We’ve always been up for the challenge.”
Over the last six-game stretch, which includes a 5-1 record, the Hokies have outrebounded opponents by an average of 15.8 a game. No secret formula, according to Greenberg. Maybe more time for freshman J.T. Thompson, who grabbed five offensive rebounds off the bench and seven total in 31 minutes against the Hurricanes.
“I’d rather recruit guys who can rebound than write a book on rebounding,” Greenberg said.
He hopes the book is still open on his team, that the NCAA selection committee has taken note of a late-season charge by a team that was picked to finish 10th in the ACC, but logged a winning league record and has now reached the ACC tourney semis.
“I don’t have a vote, but if I had a vote we would be in,” Greenberg said. “If anyone was watching our game today they would say: ‘That team should be in the NCAAs.”’
Stay tuned.