Sunday, March 16, 2008
Will bitter pill have sugar coating?
Aaron McFarling
Recent columns
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It all came pouring out. All the emotion that he'd been trying to keep in check, all the thoughts he'd kept to himself, all the arguments he'd held in reserve.
What did it matter anymore? There would be no more games to play before all the decisions were made, no more opportunities for on-court statements. Besides, silence is overrated, anyway.
So minutes after his Virginia Tech Hokies lost a thriller to the No. 1 team in the nation, coach Seth Greenberg decided he was finally ready to rant.
"Anyone who watched that game that knows anything about basketball, if you don't think this team is one of the top 65 teams in the country, you're certifiably insane," he said after North Carolina nipped Tech 68-66 in the ACC semifinals Saturday.
Greenberg continued, his voice tinged with defiance.
"We're the No. 1 RPI conference in the country," he said. "We whup up on the Big Ten every single year in the ACC-Big Ten challenge, and they're talking about maybe a fifth team in the [Big Ten] league [getting into the NCAA tournament]? It's absolutely absurd. It's ludicrous."
Greenberg talked about the makeup of the selection committee. He talked about the challenge of playing UNC in Charlotte, with all that blue in the stands. He made arguments that were good ("We didn't play Clemson twice. Who's to say we wouldn't have beaten them at our place?") and a few that were not-so-good ("How many people in our league are going to Old Dominion and Richmond? I don't think anyone.") At one point, amid all of this, he smiled and repeated a phrase we've heard him say since late-February.
"I'm not going to politick at all," he joked.
Everybody laughed at that one.
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But that's all that's left now for Tech. Politicking. Hoping. Praying they've done enough.
For most of Saturday, it looked like the Hokies would be celebrating. It looked like they'd add a line on their resume that only two other teams have -- a win over the Tar Heels. It looked like they'd be playing today for the ACC title and an automatic bid.
Instead, they're in Blacksburg, awaiting their postseason fate. Why? Because UNC did the kind of thing a top-ranked team does, rallying from eight points down to the tie the game.
Then Tyler Hansbrough did the kind of thing an All-American does, chasing down an offensive rebound and draining a soft jumper from the baseline to break the tie with less than a second remaining.
For Tech, there is zero shame in what happened here. On the biggest stage, with the stakes at their highest, the Hokies played perhaps their best game of the season.
Come 6 p.m. today, they'll find out if that was enough.
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"I really don't care about that tournament crap," junior guard A.D. Vassallo said. "I mean, whatever they want to pick. If they pick us, good. If not, we'll go to some other tournament. I know we're somewhere in the postseason."
"Come on, A.D.," someone said. "You care."
"OK, it's a big deal," he said with a shrug. "It's the NCAA tournament. But I don't care. I just want to play basketball, to be honest with you."
And in the end, you get the sense that's the way they all feel.
The Hokies were never supposed to be in this position. They made a run that surprised even themselves, like the amateur who crashes the final table at the World Series of Poker. On Saturday, they had pocket aces and got beat on the river by an old pro. It happens. They're disappointed, sure, but also proud of what they've done and ready to return to the floor in whatever capacity they're allowed.
"It took us a while to get this kind of chemistry," point guard Hank Thorns said. "Now that we've got it, we're rolling. We're rolling. And everybody can see that we're rolling. I think we're a dangerous team."
We'll see if the committee agrees.
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Late in his postgame press conference, Greenberg was asked how difficult the wait would be.
"I'm not alone," he said. "There are other guys that'll have the same anxiety that we have. I'm going to have to listen to Digger [Phelps] tell us that we don't have enough top 50 wins, and all the other guys that have been crunching numbers."
That time's just about up now. In a hotel conference room in Indianapolis, the committee is putting the finishing touches on the bracket. The arguments of anyone outside that room are all becoming worthless, if they ever had any worth at all.
If the NCAAs don't want the Hokies, the NIT will happily snap up a 19-13 team that's won five of its past seven games, with the only losses coming to the ACC Tournament finalists.
The Hokies will get to play at least one more game, and the fans will get to enjoy it.
And whatever happens, a team that crumbled against Carolina just one month ago will deal with it together, eagerly looking ahead to the next challenge.
"You know what?" Greenberg said, his voice breaking with emotion. "I'm not trading any of my guys. I wouldn't trade one of 'em."
Nobody laughed at that one.
