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The big news out of Blacksburg yesterday is that the Hokies have finalized plans for a 13th football game in 2002. The opponent is Arkansas State, the day is Sunday, August 25th, the game is the Hispanic College Fund Football Classic, and time and television are both TBD. Tech will make $600,000 from the game.

Tech may have to give up their 2004 BCA preseason game with East Carolina, though. The NCAA has a rule stating that teams may not play in more than one preseason game during a four-year period. In the past, the NCAA has granted waivers for that rule, but on January 12th of this year, the NCAA Management Council amended its policy to state that no more exceptions are to be granted.

Tech's argument is that they were robbed of a preseason classic game when the 2000 BCA game against Georgia Tech was rained out. Tech AD Jim Weaver is making the point that the BCA and the game's promoter, The Gazelle Group, have been granted a second game this year to make up for lost revenue from that 2000 game ... so why shouldn't the Hokies get that chance, as well? Not only did Tech lose $600,000 in guaranteed revenue from that 2000 game, but they spent $160,000 in game-related expenses, as well.

For the time being, in the words of Jim Weaver, the Hokies have grabbed the bird in the hand -- the 2002 game with Arkansas State -- and will continue to try to get the second one in the bush -- the 2004 game with East Carolina.

Tech's 2002 schedule now looks like this:

The 2002 schedule is Tech's longest in school history and represents the first time the Hokies have played 8 home games in one season.

The $35 ticket cost for the Hispanic College Fund Classic will be available in Tech's season ticket package, which now runs $252 (an average of $31.50 per home game). The ticket order forms will be mailed out in mid-March.

Tech's future schedules beyond 2002 can be seen on TSL's Future Football Schedules Page.

Lemming to do Photo Shoot in Blacksburg

In football recruiting news, recruiting analyst Tom Lemming has scheduled a photo shoot in Blacksburg for Sunday, May 5th. On that day, Lemming will gather as many top 2003 recruits (currently juniors) as he can from Virginia, West Virginia, and eastern Tennessee for a photo shoot similar to what he did on UVa's campus last year.

Last year, at the urging of Virginia Coach Al Groh, Lemming gathered the top prospects in the state of Virginia on UVa's campus for a photo shoot. That rankled many Hokie fans, who felt that the gathering gave the Wahoos an unfair leg up on in-state recruiting by gathering top prospects together on their campus.

So how did Tech arrange a similar shoot? Primarily via new QB coach Kevin Rogers, who knows Lemming from Rogers' days at Notre Dame. Sources tell TSL that Rogers worked the deal with Lemming and is primarily responsible for helping to bring him to Blacksburg.

The advantage for Tech is not just that recruits will get to see Tech's campus and meet the Tech coaches (as much as possible within NCAA guidelines). It also means that the Hokie coaches will get to see the kids in person and evaluate their physical potential (height, weight, body frame, etc.). In addition, recruits who visit for the shoot and may be interested in Tech can bring videotape of themselves and introduce themselves to the VT coaches.

Men, Women Win Home Finales

Hokie basketball fans had an enjoyable Tuesday and Wednesday as the men's and women's teams won their final home basketball games of the year.

The women defeated Rutgers 70-63 on Tuesday. Sophomore Ieva Kublina continued to make her case for All-BIG EAST first team honors with a dominating 26-point, 11-rebound, 4-block performance. Kublina's game included 9-13 shooting (she is hitting at a 71.7% clip over the last four games) and 2-2 from beyond the 3-point arc. In her last four games, Kublina is averaging 25.8 points per game.

The women (18-9, 9-7) move on to the Big East Tournament in Piscataway, NJ, this weekend, where they face a first-round rematch against Rutgers at 8 pm on Saturday. The Hokies, who fell out of the rankings this week and have an RPI rating of 27 through last Sunday's games, are on the bubble for the NCAA tournament.

Meanwhile, the men knocked off Rutgers 63-49 in a game the Hokies controlled pretty much from start to finish. 51 fouls were called in the non-televised game, which took well over two hours to play. It wasn't that the contest was physical -- the referees just called it close, with many fouls being whistled that might have been ignored on other nights.

Tech was led by Bryant Matthews with 15 points and Brian Chase with 12 (on 10-10 free throw shooting). The win was Tech's 4th in the last 6 games, all of them BIG EAST contests, and the third straight victory at Cassell Coliseum.

The Hokies (10-17, 4-11) are not eligible for the BIG EAST tournament, but they have finished the season strong. They'll play their last game of the year on the road at #17-ranked Miami Saturday at 2 p.m. (TV: WFXR/WJPR (FOX) Roanoke; WSKY (IND) Norfolk; WAPK (UPN) Tri-Cities area; WXIV (IND) Greensboro, N.C.).

Will Stewart
General Manager and Managing Editor
TechSideline.com

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Football News and Articles:
Adding Up the Years - by Will Stewart, TechSideline.com, 2/25/02
Recently, articles in the media and message board posts have questioned the validity of a flyer that the Virginia coaching staff distributed to recruits this past season, touting the pro football experience of the Virginia staff.

Other News and Articles
Hokie Hotline Notes - by Apex Hokie, 2/26/02
Monday’s Hokie Hotline focused entirely on basketball and featured head basketball coaches Bonnie Henrickson and Ricky Stokes.

Basketball at a Football School - by Jim Alderson, 2/27/02
I had the opportunity to attend last Saturday’s Tech-Providence game, a pleasant excursion that
included the annual Hokie Celebration.