Tech Sports Blog

In case you don’t know, I do indeed live in Charlottesville. I’m often asked by my fellow Hokies, “How can you live there?” Well, Zima’ville, as I like to refer to it thanks to Colin Cowherd’s rant, is actually a pretty cool city. It’s medium-sized with a small town feel, but it’s got some culture. Yes, there is the wine & cheese aspect of the city that I like to laugh at, but it’s got a good mix of people with a sizable group of 20-something and 30-something professionals. Luckily for me, UVA is mostly restricted to the western half of the city, so I don’t have Wahoos in my face 24/7.

Speaking of Wahoos, thanks to last night’s victory over Maryland their men’s basketball team sits atop of the ACC with an 8-2 conference record. After starting 1-2 in conference, Virginia has won 7 in a row – they are on an absolute roll. Looking at their remaining ACC schedule – @VT, FSU, @Miami, GT, VT, @Wake – it pains me to say that they have a shot of winning the regular season title. That is assuming they continue to play at the level they have been for the last few weeks.

On the other end of the emotional spectrum, our beloved Hokies have lost 2 straight and dropped to 4th place in the ACC with a 6-3 conference record. On the surface, that doesn’t look so bad. Fourth place in the ACC is a great position to be going into the final 3 weeks of the regular season. The three losses don’t look that bad on paper. First we lost to Florida State on their home floor after the biggest week in Virginia Tech basketball history. Don’t look now, but the Seminoles are one game behind the Hokies tied for 5th place. One week ago we lost to N.C. State in Cassell. We were due to drop a game at home, and the Wolfpack went on to upset North Carolina over the weekend. On Saturday the Hokies traveled north to visit Boston College. The Eagles, now 7-2 (16-6 overall), completely dismantled Tech. However, there is no shame in losing to BC. They are a good team and sit alone in second place in the ACC.

So, why is everyone nervous? Because everyone who watched the last two games saw how the Virginia Tech Hokies played. Gone was the team that beat Duke in Cameron and that upset UNC when they were #1 in the nation. Instead we saw the team that lost to Marshall. To grab a quote from TechSideline.com‘s Hokie Hotline notes: Seth Greenberg … The energy level wasn’t there in the losses to NC State and Boston College. Greenberg is hoping that’s because the team was a little tired. Every game right now is so power-packed that it’s exhausting. That is the nature of the ACC. Week-in and week-out, you have to be ready to play – you must bring your A game. Also noted on the Hokie Hotline was that this is a good time for a full week off. I couldn’t agree more. It was the end of the December when the team last had a week off. Unfortunately, it was the week before the Marshall game, but let’s not dwell on that.

Hopefully this week will give the team a chance to catch their proverbial breath and get ready for UVA. Saturday’s game is one I already had circled on my calendar, but it now takes on added importance. The Virginia Tech Hokies need to upend the 1st place Wahoos. A win on Saturday will be a shot in the arm for their confidence. A win will cut the magic number down to 3 – we’ll need only 3 wins after we beat UVA to virtually lock us into the NCAA tournament. Last, but not least, a win on Saturday is a win over the Virginia Cavaliers. To me, that is motivation enough.

Yet I get the feeling our rivalry with UVA has cooled off some since we joined the ACC. We probably wouldn’t have received the invitation to join the ACC without the help of UVA. We have completely dominated the Wahoos on the football field by beating them 7 of the last 8 meetings. UVA is 7-2 against us in the last 6 seasons of men’s basketball (since we’ve re-started playing them on each other’s home courts), and they beat us 3 times last year. There just hasn’t been much competition in football and men’s basketball, and those are the only sports that really matter for the majority of each school’s fans. We’ve kicked their butts in football, and they said, “Wait ’til basketball season!” They’ve kicked our butts in basketball, and we said, “Wait ’til football season!”

Don’t get me wrong, I consider Virginia our #1 rival. I just think this rivalry has lost some luster. If you asked this year’s freshmen and sophomores at Virginia Tech who our biggest sports rival was, I bet most would say Miami. Based on football, they wouldn’t necessarily be wrong – we’ve split the last 6 meetings with the Hurricanes. Take away football, and Miami is just another ACC school. The University of Miami and Virginia Tech are 900 miles apart and are just as dissimilar as their locations.

Charlottesville is 2 hours away from Blacksburg. There are a ton of Hokies and Hoos in Tidewater and in Northern Virginia, and they often work with each other at their jobs talking trash about the other’s school. Students of each often know high school classmates who go to the other university. The dislike goes way back to the days when farmers’ sons went to the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, and the sons of lawyers and doctors went to the University of Virginia. These days the cultural differences between the two student populations aren’t quite as big, but they are still somewhat evident. You still see more jeans and flannel in downtown Blacksburg than you do around The Corner in Charlottesville.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that while I want to see Virginia Tech beat UVA at everything in which we compete, I do understand that competition is what fuels a good rivalry. I like joking around with the Virginia fans, and I love driving my maroon truck with a Virginia Tech sticker and Virginia Tech plates around their town. I want the students of both universities to fully embrace this rivalry, too. Pranks that don’t involve property damage, assault, and/or kidnapping should be encouraged. (eg: The painting of the T at the midfield V at Scott Stadium in 2004.) Have pride that you are a student or alum of the best damn university in the Commonwealth of Virginia!

Go Hokies! Beat the ‘Hoos!

Categories: ACC, VT Basketball
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