With a key game coming up on Thursday night with the Dookies of Durham, and coming off a disappointing road loss in Charlottesville last Saturday against the University of Virginia, the Virginia Tech basketball team is looking to recapture their earlier glory within the conference, while still harboring postseason hopes.

With a conference record of 5-6, the Hokies have fallen below the .500 mark in the conference for the first time since they stood at 1-2 following their win over Clemson on January 15th. And in doing so, they also have fallen into a tie for sixth in the conference with Georgia Tech, their lowest placement in the conference since their second game of the season. The Hokies and Yellow Jackets are now just one game ahead of hard-charging Virginia and North Carolina State, who are both tied for eighth place.

While the loss to the Cavs represented a golden opportunity gone astray, both teams should probably consider themselves lucky that they played each other Saturday, and not some other opponent. The game was notable for its lack of energy on both sides, and both teams could have easily gone into halftime at sizable disadvantages, had they been playing an opponent on top of their game.

The Cavaliers got a huge boost off their bench from 6-6 sophomore forward Gary Forbes, who had 17 of his game high 21 points in the second half for Virginia. The Hokies simply have no one on their bench capable of taking over the game and having the type of impact that Forbes demonstrated against Virginia Tech.

With their third consecutive ACC win, the Cavs seem to be moving in an opposite direction from the Hokies, who have lost four of their past five conference games. In doing so, the Cavs have recently stolen a page out of the Seth Greenberg playbook. They have spread the court, gone to a smaller three-guard lineup and utilized an offense that milks the shot clock on most every possession, getting penetration from whichever of their three guards has the most advantageous defensive mismatch and can operate one-on-one as the shot clock winds down. They have slowed the game down considerably from earlier games and are having success that way.

That lack of energy displayed from the Hokies on Saturday is representing some cause for concern, as the major minutes being piled up by their principle players could be taking a toll. With only 87 points from their bench players in the first 11 conference games, an average of 7.9 a game, the Hokies rank ahead of only Miami in the conference in bench scoring. Miami is averaging 7.2 per game from their bench.

That lack of energy just might also be manifesting itself on the defensive end of the court as well. Virginia won the turnover battle against Tech Saturday, as the Cavs had 9 turnovers to Virginia Tech’s 10. The Hokies have now lost the turnover battle in three of their past five games. In addition, Virginia Tech opponents have had 65 turnovers in those past five games to 69 for Virginia Tech. That averages out to a –0.8 differential in turnover margin, and that has been the one clear area the entire season where the Hokies have really been outstanding.

Tech has been the ACC leader in turnover margin for essentially the entire season to this point. The Hokies are not turning the ball over more themselves, but rather are seeing opponents protect the ball much better in this same sequence of games. Prior to this five game stretch, Virginia Tech was forcing its opponents to turn the ball over more than 20 times per game. None of the past five opponents have turned the ball over that much, with the 18 from Wake Forest representing the highest number during this stretch.

That energy level, along with now the turnover margin reversal, have got to be significant concerns for Seth Greenberg as the Hokies head into their final five games of the season. After being the media darlings of the conference throughout the first half of conference play, while also garnering some pretty good national props, the Hokies are now faced with recapturing the magic before postseason hopes evaporate.

An in-season slump during conference play was to be expected. Every team goes through that stage and the Hokies are no different. You cannot out scrap your opponent in every conference game, nor can you have the mental edge in every conference game, facts this team has now learned. Some opposing coaches and teams will utilize psychological ploys, if it means gaining a competitive edge. Perhaps people didn’t think that would be necessary during this first ACC campaign of Virginia Tech, but prior to the Maryland game you knew it was happening when you read the glowing comments of Maryland head coach Gary Williams in describing his team’s preparation for Virginia Tech. Williams was effusive in his praise of the Hokies, and these comments came just prior to the teams’ first meeting, won by Maryland by a score of 86-71. Williams’ stance had been quite different last summer when his words were less than sterling when discussing Virginia Tech.

The landscape is a little different than it was just two weeks ago for the Hokies. This team is showing signs of being tired, but so are the other teams in the conference. It is after all, that time of the season when players have to dig deep, work through injuries and summon up the energy required for the final stretch of games. Tech is no different than any other team in the conference in that respect. The landscape was quite a bit different than it was just two weeks prior to that, when thoughts of a winning record in the first half of conference play seemed only something conjured up in a dream sequence.

Virginia Tech was the ‘little engine that could’ throughout the first half of conference play. Having to defend their entrance into the conference and explain that they would not bring down the quality of play only served to bring out the competitive nature in the Tech players. They had a collective chip on their shoulder because everyone was predicting them to fare poorly. The desire to prove people wrong was a great motivator as the conference season kicked off, and this team was up to the task in that respect. There was an eagerness to show people that the team was not going to just lie down for the other conference members.

But that mental edge has changed, and rather significantly. Now it is Virginia Tech that is hearing glowing comments from opposing coaches, even if poorly masked as psychological tricks. It is Virginia Tech that is getting love from the national hoop experts who have deemed the Hokies the “surprise team” across the nation. It is now Virginia Tech that has taken on the role of the ‘snotty-nosed brat’, that you just want to slap around and put in their place, by other conference members. It is Greenberg’s group who are now trying to live up to expectations that have substantially changed in midseason, after seeing those expectations practically non-existent through the first half of the season.

Expectations are a menacing foe at times and the burdens of those expectations can be quite a drag for anyone. It is one thing to constantly be in a battle to prove yourself worthy and show people that they have underestimated you. It is easy to exceed expectations when none really exist. It is quite another to play with much more at stake in every game. A feistiness ensues when many people feel that they are unappreciated, and to hear various team members before the season discuss how much they wanted to make their mark on the conference, you could sense a feeling of being unappreciated.

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