In a promo that has accompanied many of this season's ACC basketball telecasts, Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg said observers would have to be "certifiably insane" not to think the main attraction of ACC basketball was the coaches.

"I have no problem making fun of myself; I'm not so egotistical," Greenberg said on the ACC coaches' teleconference this week. "They asked me to do it and then I got home and my wife was upset with me."

It was a takeoff on his comments after a 2008 ACC Tournament loss to North Carolina, when Greenberg said anyone who had just watched the game and did not think Tech was one of the top 65 teams in the country was "certifiably insane."

Greenberg has moved on since the Hokies didn't get an NCAA at-large bid that season, but his comments haven't been forgotten.

All 12 coaches were together for a "We are the ACC" spot and then broken into groups, one of which included Greenberg and Wake Forest's Dino Gaudio.

"I was disappointed," Gaudio said jokingly. "I thought I'd have a little bit more of a speaking line. I thought I should have been profiled a little higher than Greenberg."

Filming took place in October at the ACC Operation Basketball media day in Greensboro, N.C.

"We each had a little snippet," Gaudio said, "but you'd have thought we were in 'Top Gun' or something. Everybody was trying to get their lines down and it's embarrassing when you can't remember one sentence and the director says, 'Do that again. Be a little more emotional.'

"There's no question Coach Greenberg, with his 'certifiably insane' line, has a shot at movies when it's all said and done. He wanted to get it right. Seth was good. He loves the camera. He's got a face for the camera."

Football recruiting

Not listed on Virginia Tech's list of signees, but headed to Blacksburg as a recruited walk-on is Derek "D.J." DiNardo, named first-team All-Tidewater as an athlete, as well as the Beach District offensive player of the year. DiNardo, the quarterback for Cox High School in Virginia Beach, accounted for 1,221 yards and 17 touchdowns.

North Carolina State was one of the beneficiaries when Division I-AA Northeastern dropped its football program at the end of the 2009 season. The Wolfpack landed one of Northeastern's best players, David Akinnyi, a 6-foot-4, 250-pound defensive end from Rockland, Calif., who had 22 tackles for loss in three seasons with the Huskies and was a two-time All-Colonial Athletic Association pick.

Temple's signees included Andre Coble, a 5-10, 175-pound quarterback from Richmond's Meadowbrook High School who was one of this state's last uncommitted prospects to go Division I-A. Coble accounted for more than 1,000 yards passing and 1,000 yards rushing and was named the Central Region player of the year.

In basketball

Oak Hill Academy, ranked seventh in the country with a 22-2 record after a 44-43 victory Tuesday over Mountain State Academy of Beckley, W.Va., has had two top players make oral commitments since the end of the fall signing period.

Combination guard Pe'Shon Howard, originally from Lakewood, Ohio, but in his third season as Oak Hill, saw the opportunity for playing time at Maryland following the departure of current seniors Greivis Vasquez and Eric Hayes and picked the Terrapins over a group of finalist that included UCLA, Georgia Tech, South Florida and Northwestern.

Connecticut landed another of Oak Hill's top players, 6-7 Baltimore product Roscoe Smith, who picked the Huskies over Georgetown and Duke. A third Oak Hill senior, 6-10 Baye Moussa Keita from Senegal, signed with Syracuse during the early signing period in November.

Nikita Mescheriakov, a 6-7 transfer from Georgetown, enrolled at Wake Forest for the second semester. Mescheriakov, from Belarus, went to high school at St. John's Prospect Hall in Hagerstown, Md., and played sparingly for the Hoyas after redshirting as a freshman.

What if ?

Benny Moss' dismissal as UNC Wilmington men's basketball coach came less than two weeks after his visiting Seahawks nearly upset 17 ¹₂-point favorite Virginia, 69-67. A UNCW win might have bought Moss some time, but the Seahawks were only 7-14 at the time of his departure.

Star City reunion

The officiating crew for Wednesday night's game between Hampton and Maryland-Eastern Shore in Princess Anne, Md., consisted of three Roanokers -- Duke Edsall, Damon Williams and Michael Terry. That didn't help matters for UMES coach Frankie Allen, the all-time scoring leader at Roanoke College, whose Hawks lost 79-65 and fell to 7-14.