Seth Greenberg

• It's a great accomplishment to be in first place in the ACC at this point, but they still have another month to go. Being ranked right now doesn't put Tech in the NCAA tournament, so they still have work to do. But it does show that the program is making progress, and that's a nice statement to make.
• The best way to reach their goals is to come out and play well on Wednesday night against NC State. In this league, there is a fine line between winning and losing. The players need to stay in the present.
• Other than Al Thornton of Florida State, Virginia Tech has done a good job of taking away their opponent's #1 scoring option in recent games.
• NC State has a very good offensive team. They play with great spacing.
• Virginia Tech's help defense was very good against Georgia Tech. They were very good in transition, and they were efficient in kicking the ball out. They also did a good job with their spacing. There is a lot of room for improvement, though. The Hokies gave up 11 second-chance points in the first five minutes of the game. That can't happen again.
• Zabian Dowdell was "magnificent". But Tech also had some guys do some things that won't show up in the box score. That's the key to developing a team.
• The best thing about Tech's guards rebounding the ball is that it gives them a jumpstart to their transition game. A.D. Vassallo and Jamon Gordon came up with some big rebounds down the stretch.
• The Hokies have put themselves in a great position by winning games on the road. They are going to be pushed hard for the rest of the week for the NC State [Wednesday] and BC game [Saturday]. Then they'll take Sunday and Monday off to re-energize for the rest of the season.
• The team is developing an identity. Coleman Collins is just getting back into basketball shape because he missed the entire preseason. His first dunk on Sunday was like the old Coleman Collins.
• Collins needs to mentally prepare himself to play consistently. He had a motivational factor against Georgia Tech because Atlanta is his hometown and all his family and friends were there. He needs to find a way to bring that out every game.
• Part of the reason the Hokies have been good from the free throw line lately is because they are getting Dowdell and Vassallo to the line. Also, the team has spent a lot of time in practice working on free throw shooting.
• The players understand what it will take to get into the NCAA tournament. They know 10 ACC wins will get them in for sure.
• If Clemson had beaten Duke last week, they would have pretty much been a lock for the NCAA tournament. But Duke won the game partly because of a clock error, and the Tigers are now in a tailspin after dropping a game to UVA. It will be tough to rally from that. That's how the ACC is.
• Lewis Witcher had a great game on Sunday. He was very active to start the game. He is getting much more aggressive.
  
  
  
• Greenberg's biggest concern about NC State is that they've had a week to prepare. With NC State coach Sidney Lowe being an NBA guy, they could come out on Wednesday with a lot of new offensive sets and an entirely new defense.
• NC State inverts their offense a lot, bringing power forward Brandon Costner out on the wing. He is a very good player and a former McDonald's High School All-American. They create some matchup problems.
• NC State forward/center Ben McCauley is a great passer. They run their offense through him.
• Exactly four years ago, on January 29, 2003, Virginia Tech got drubbed at home by Boston College, 95-74, and VT was in last place in the Big East. Now, four years later, they are first in the ACC.
• Terrance Vinson has worked very, very hard. He can't practice every day right now. He's way behind because of all the time he missed, but he does have a lot of toughness and a great work ethic.
• Each game is different as far as who will play and how much they play. It is entirely based on defensive matchup. For example, Robert Krabbendam will play against NC State because he does a good job defensively against players similar to Costner and McCauley.
• It's big to have a bench that features several players that are capable of making big contributions on any given night. Cheick Diakite, Nigel Munson and Markus Sailes have all helped the team win, not to mention A.D. Vassallo.
• They are going to try to open up the Cassell for more students on Wednesday. Tim East and Jim Weaver have discussed a possible plan, but Greenberg doesn't know the details.
• They have done some research, and they know that there are 1,800 season tickets from Northern Virginia, Richmond, the Hampton Roads area and Bristol. (It isn't clear whether or not they meant 1,800 season tickets, or 1,800 season ticket holders. Greenberg said season ticket holders, while Bill Roth said season tickets.)
• They will experiment with a new program for the NC State game. Some ticketless students will get passes to go into the game if there are empty seats in the student section. Those students with standby passes will not be allowed in the empty seats in the alumni section.
• The season ticket holders who made it to the Maryland game have been very positive. They really enjoyed having the students around them, and they loved the atmosphere in Cassell.
• There is a lot of basketball to be played. The RPI isn't a concern right now. The Hokies play in the ACC, the top RPI conference in the nation. If you win, your RPI will be high.
• There has been talk about the ACC moving to an 18-game schedule. Greenberg is against that, especially since most ACC teams play some tough teams out-of-conference as well. Television wants 18 ACC games. The coaches are against it, but they don't get a vote. It will probably happen eventually, unfortunately.
• The Hokies need to have great post defense against NC State. They need to push the ball up the court and wear out the Wolfpack's big men. They are a team that doesn't feature much depth.

Monday was Day 793 of Virginia Tech's continuous possession of the Commonwealth Cup.