It's not easy being a Hoo. There's the exhaustion of being forced to maintain that attitude of condescending arrogance towards those wretches not fortunate enough to have trod the Grounds during their undergraduate days. Then there's the taxing physical demands caused by attempting to pat one's self on the back for one's academic accomplishments while simultaneously holding a glass of wine and a wedge of brie. It must be tough learning that toughest of admissions requirements, the reciting of Mr. Jefferson's lineage from Thomas on down to the present day, then convincing the admissions officer how the candidate might be related to the great Founder. There's the indignity that comes from spending an entire football off-season braying incessantly to anyone within earshot how great were going to be the triumphs as algroh's Tribe vanquished any and all comers, then watching in abject horror as the season thudded with the sound of a sack of potatoes being dropped onto blue turf as the Great algroh couldn't beat anybody any good. And now this.

The Hoo faithful were positively giddy with anticipation of their basketball future. Visions of their program opening that brand spanking new arena with a top-notch coach patrolling the bench were dancing in their head. Perhaps another pro league could be plundered and Mike Montgomery would return to the college game. Mike's Maniacs certainly has a nice ring to it. Maybe, under the 'If you can't beat them, join them' category, the Anointed One Tommy Amaker could be convinced to leave that Michigan probation behind and come match wits with his former mentor the evil Coach K, much like Luke Skywalker battling Darth Vader. Or, just maybe, Bobby Knight would come and break Dean's record in Dean's conference. The possibilities were as intoxicating as a Saturday night at the Corner. There was only one seemingly insignificant obstacle to basketball nirvana: that useless, no-coaching bum Pete Gillen had to be fired, which, of course, would happen seconds after the Hoos had been blasted by thirty in the opening round of the ACC Tournament.

It would seem a fly has appeared in the orange and blue ointment. Pete Gillen does not seem to be cooperating in his firing. Gillen's Hoos, who two weeks ago were a miserable 1-7 in the ACC and seemed poised to do the unthinkable, shove Clemson out of its customary last place position in the conference, have gotten on a roll, winning three straight, the latest last Saturday over Tech. It would seem this run is not being greeted with the same enthusiasm by segments of Hoo fandom that Tech's earlier four-game winning streak generated among the Hokie Nation. At most places with modest basketball expectations heading into the season, any winning streak would be cause for celebration - it certainly was at Tech - but that does not seem to be the case in Hooville.

I perceived an inkling that some Hoos were not altogether thrilled at their current winning streak last Friday afternoon. I was at my favorite watering hole with my buddy the Hoo Lawyer. We were engaged in our favorite early-weekend pastime of discussing ACC sports, flinging insults back and forth and partaking of adult refreshment. The Hoo Lawyer had just inquired as to whether those Tech fans who seem to have dominant color recognition problems planned on wearing orange or maroon bib overalls to the ACC Tournament. I had replied that in appreciation for the assistance provided by the Hoos in helping Tech enter the conference and to help mitigate the usual Tournament sight of vast numbers of arena empty seats under the Hoo banner, Tech fans planned on wearing blue ones, providing at least some show of Hoo support before they made their customary first-round exit.

The Hoo Lawyer then called for more Scotch and abruptly announced that he hoped Tech won the next day's basketball game. I found this odd. Offhand I can think of few circumstances that would cause me to desire for the Hoos to ever again win a single athletic contest in anything - bear in mind that I am the guy who in the early Eighties attended a game at the Richmond Coliseum in which the Hoo team led by Ralph Sampson played an exhibition against a touring Russian team, and I cheered for the Russians - and absolutely none that would have me expressing wishes for the Hoos to beat Tech. I became alarmed at what I presumed to be extremely high levels of alcohol in his blood and considered grabbing his car keys and calling his wife to come get him, this a couple of hours before she normally did, when he explained.

The Hoo Lawyer felt that if the Hoos continued their winning ways, the chances of firing Gillen at the end of the year became more remote with each victory. He related that he had already informed Hoo AD Craig Littlepage that if Gillen was not fired the Hoo Lawyer would withhold his one hundred dollar contribution to the building fund for the new arena, an astounding sum for the normally-miserly Hoo Lawyer, roughly what he spends on scotch and cigarettes in a week. While he still felt that the financial obligations of paying for the completion of the arena would cause Littlepage to knuckle under to his ultimatum, the Hoo Lawyer felt that the task would be greatly facilitated if Gillen returned post haste to his losing ways. These are strange times in which we live.

Unfortunately for us both, the Hoos beat Tech last Saturday. The Hoo Lawyer must now turn his rooting interest to what is likely the more attainable goal of hoping North Carolina splatters his Hoos along the walls of the Dean Dome. For those of us who do not root for our arch-rival, it was a tough loss, particularly the way it came about.

For the last few games, since about Wake Forest, you can just about set your watch on Tech hanging tough, then wearing down at around the four minute mark of the first half and the eight minute mark of the second. This is a Tech team that looks a lot like one that is running out of gas. The iron man campaign undertaken by many members of this team looks to be taking a toll. The starters have played a lot of minutes this season, mostly out of necessity. When Seth Greenberg looks down his bench he sees a highly-regarded recruit still struggling to fit in on a team dominated by two guards only a class ahead of him. There is also a Ricky Stokes chance recruit that hasn't panned out as of yet and probably will not. There is a player unable to carve out minutes even on a team sorely lacking in depth, a walk-on, a very long-range project, two injured players, one out for the season, and the latest in Frank Beamer's lend-lease program to the basketball team. There is not a lot there.

If Seth looks a little further he might see whatever JUCO has Justin Holt on its roster, but there is little to be gained from that. This Tech team is what it is, one with not a lot of ACC-caliber players. The starters are going to have to continue to stay on the floor for the foreseeable future, which is going to make it tough for Tech to get back above .500 in the ACC. As Seth often reminds us, building a quality basketball program at Tech is a process; the next step in that process is for Seth to bring many more players into this program capable of competing at this level. Right now he does not have enough. There are some winnable games left on the schedule but in the long run Tech has to have a better and deeper team.

Around the rest of the ACC:

Wake Forest, where Skip Prosser's main concern seems to be keeping his supremely-talented squad interested in the rest of the regular season and not looking ahead to the NCAA Tournament, sufficient revenge motivation was found to enable the Deacons to take Florida State behind the Joel Center woodshed.

Miami moved back ahead of Tech in the running for the Biggest ACC Expansion Surprise, Basketball Division, by winning at Clemson.

Duke's walk-ons being unable to hang with Maryland in overtime should put an end to all of those conspiracy theories concerning Duke getting all of the foul calls, a notion about as goofy as a couple of decades ago when rationality-challenged ACC fans claimed the entire ACC conference hierarchy was there for no other reason than to ensure that Carolina received all of the calls. But it probably won't.

The Tar Heels scored one for conference RPI ratings by knocking off UConn.

The final game of the weekend demonstrated that there is nothing wrong with the NC State program and embattled coach Herb Sendek that a few more games against Georgia Tech won't cure. The Wolfpack beat the other Tech for the sixth straight time, sending Sendek to study brackets for the ACC Tournament and the chances his team might draw GT in the first round. The Yellow Jackets lost yet again at home, showing that the home loss to our Tech was no fluke.

The ACC season grinds towards March Madness. Three weeks remain to determine seedings for both the ACC and NCAA tournaments. The remainder of the season will determine the delineation between the five teams who will get what will be the very important first-round byes in the ACC Tournament and the six who will play on Thursday. The league looks to have four locks for the NCAA Tournament, Carolina, Wake, Duke and a Georgia Tech team that has a solid RPI despite its pratfall against NC State. Maryland, State and Miami are floating on the bubble, Tech is looking to win enough to garner an NIT bid that would be a much-needed shot in the arm for the program, and they have already broken out the footballs at Florida State and Clemson.

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