The Virginia Tech basketball team has hit a bit of a rough patch in its season, dropping a couple of games and losing a bit of its luster as the ACC’s designated upstart media darling. The chances of Tech in this inaugural conference year finishing first in both football and basketball was fairly remote, anyway. In any event, unexpected success by both Tech and Miami has thrown on its ear the ACC’s traditional method of determining its basketball standings by merely flipping the football standings.

Tech’s recent glitch has come in large part due to the inherent difficulties to be experienced when playing teams better than you. Winning in that situation is always a bit tricky. Problems also seem to be cropping up, caused by what looks a lot like other ACC coaches taking Tech a little more seriously than did those pre-season prognosticators who designated rock bottom in the standings as the finishing spot for the expansion teams. ACC coaches spending more time game-planning for Tech is not a particularly good thing, as the conference has some pretty good ones perfectly capable of discovering flaws in an opponent, and the Hokies do still offer a few flaws for viewing.

What rival coaches see is a team without a legitimate inside game, no true point guard, not a lot of experience, an overall talent deficiency and very little depth. The pattern that seems to be emerging is that if the other guy has a good point guard, such as Maryland’s John Gilchrist, who can neutralize Tech’s strong defense and not turn the ball over, Tech can be beaten. And if that point guard can be paired with a strong post player, such as Eric Williams of Wake Forest, Tech can be beaten badly. Two of the teams Tech has beaten, Georgia Tech and NC State, were without starting guards BJ Elder and Tony Bethel, and neither possessed the dominating inside presence of Carolina’s Sean May or anybody named Williams. Tech’s team is what it is, and it is going to continue to be very difficult to compete with teams that possess both the inside and outside game.

Next up for Tech is a rematch with the Hoos. These are two teams heading in opposite directions, with Tech having lost two in a row and the Hoos astounding most everyone and disappointing many, including many of their own fans and perhaps Hoo AD Craig Littlepage, by winning two straight. Hoo coach Pete Gillen is engaged in his usual February behavior of winning a few games in an attempt to once again cheat the hangman and hold onto his job for yet another year. This ploy might not work this time, considering that there seem to be quite a few of the well-heeled Hoos who are unwilling to cut the checks to finish that new arena until Petey is publicly drawn and quartered on the Lawn. It will be a balance sheet other than the one that measures wins and losses that does in Gillen.

Still, the Hoos will be a very tough opponent on Saturday, although I guess that the Tech coaches would not mind seeing Gillen’s latest gimmick, starting five guards. That means big guy Elton Brown would be on the bench. While Brown became the poster child for what was perceived a lack of effort and willingness to do something other than mail in the Hoo season, he is still, when motivated, the good inside presence that causes Tech so much trouble. Things could go much easier for Coleman Collins if Brown is spending huge chunks of clock lounging on Gillen’s bench.

This is a very important game for Tech, as it looks to be all standing between keeping Tech’s conference head above .500 water and a probable four-game losing streak. It would seem that the NIT remains a long shot, giving the something less than warm regards held for Tech by the Big East folks that run that tournament, but any hopes for postseason play by the Hokies would take a serious hit if the Hoo game is lost. But for the first time in a long time, Tech is actually playing big basketball games.

Tech is part of an ACC that at this roughly 2/3 point of the season resembles the political landscape, containing a vast middle. The top of the standings finds Tobacco Road stalwarts Duke, Carolina and Wake Forest. The Blue Devils and Tar Heels are tied at the top following their latest demonstration of why basketball is such a big deal in this league. Carolina, despite the two losses at Duke and Wake, still look to be the class of this league and perhaps the nation. When tournament play begins they will no longer be playing tough games on the opponent’s home floor. Wake Forest is a very good team, although nagging questions persist concerning their perimeter defense, just the sort that can cause trouble in an NCAA Tournament that is always dominated by back court play. Coach K is getting about all that can be expected from his depth-shy team, and Carolina and Wake still look to be the ACC’s best bets for Final Four participation.

As of this writing there are four teams in the middle of the ACC pack, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami and our Tech. The Yellow Jackets look to be the team most likely to move forward. Most of Paul Hewitt’s problems can be traced to the extended hamstring injury suffered by point guard BJ Elder. His return now gives GT for the stretch run virtually the same team that made it to the Final Two last year. Maryland has been an up and down bunch that was certainly up against Tech. Garry Williams’ squad is a very dangerous team, especially when John Gilchrist is on his game as he was against Tech. Miami, the ACC’s other surprise expansion team, will go as far as their outstanding back court can take them, likely not much further.

The four teams in the middle of the current standings are flanked by the three at the top and four at the bottom. NC State is proving that there is room for two on the conference’s coaching hot seat. The Wolfpack have been chronic underachievers this year, looking nothing like the team that was expected to vie for conference supremacy with the other teams from its state. Nice guy coach Herb Sendek is taking serious fire from irked State fans. His standing certainly was not helped by that flabbergasted expression he displayed during much of his team’s bad home loss to the Hoos and his seeming inability to figure out how to combat the five-guard lineup deployed by Petey. When you are so badly out-coached by Pete Gillen, of all people, it is understandable that your fan base will howl like wolves.

The Hoos’ recent flurry has edged them away from the bottom of the ACC standings, reserving those slots for the ACC’s traditional bottom-feeders Florida State and Clemson. Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton has brought some pretty good athletes to Tallahassee and has made them a tough opponent to beat, but the overall results are such that the FSU fan base is thinking in terms of spring football, as is usually the case for them in February. As for Clemson, it would seem that no matter how many teams that are considered weak are brought into the ACC, the Tigers will still find a way to finish last. Oliver Purnell might be building something good for the future, but he ain’t doing much winning at the present.