Aaron McFarling

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• Tuesday: Harris tests broken hand; New superconference not so super; A video you’ll love

BLACKSBURG - Madness. Good gosh, man, madness.

Here comes deadline, but there's a good chance I won't meet it. I'm surrounded by students shouting "Hokies!" and "Greenberg!" and several different versions of "Wooooooooooooh!" Pray for me.

The Virginia Tech Hokies have just done the absurd. They've beaten No. 7 Duke 67-65. They've improved their conference record to 6-6. Aren't we almost to March, here? And the Hokies are .500 in the ACC? Good gosh, man. Madness.

"Whoever has the jersey of Zabian Dowdell, please return that immediately!" the public address announcer just pleaded over the loud speaker. "It's the only one we have. Thank you."

Yes, please do. Dowdell, Tech's brilliant young point guard, will need that the rest of year. He might even need it in the postseason.

Postseason? Don't bet against it. A win like this opens eyes.

Sorry if none of this makes any sense. But, you see, the whole Southwest Virginia sports world is kind of askew at this moment. It's all a little tough to comprehend.

I mean, this is the same team, right? The same Tech team that lost to Duke 100-65 in Durham three weeks ago? The same Tech team that lost to the top three teams in the ACC by a combined 89 points earlier this year?

"Did you have to change your story?" a grinning Tech fan just asked me. "I bet you had to change what you'd written, didn't you?"

Nope. Hadn't written a word. The Hokies never let me. Every time Duke went on a little run, Jamon Gordon would pull up and hit a jumper, or Coleman Collins would take a back-door pass and dunk, or Carlos Dixon would dash through the lane and drop one in.

And if you came to see an inspired performance out of the local boy, you got it. Tech's Jeff King (Pulaski County) was fabulous in his own, blue-collar way. I don't know if you can pick a play of the game after something like this, but here's my nomination: King, missing a free throw, then alertly chasing the ball as it squirted out of the paint, then diving on the floor after it and tapping it to a teammate, setting up Dixon's 3-pointer from the corner that gave the Hokies their first lead of the second half.

Yep. The local boy can play.

Oh. You came to see the other local boy? Roanoke's J.J. Redick? The ACC scoring leader? He wasn't bad, either, just a little off in the first half. His late 3-pointer looked like it might be a crusher - until Dowdell came back and hit one of his own.

And the atmosphere. My, oh my, the atmosphere. It was like they put a roof on Lane Stadium and shot an undefeated football team out of the tunnel. The orange-clad student section bounced and screamed the whole game.

Now that section is empty. But they're still bouncing and screaming right in front of me.

Here's comes coach Seth Greenberg, ready to do an interview with ESPN2. Unusual tie he's got on. Very colorful.

I'm not sure he's going to make it to press row. The fans are waiting for him. I think they want a hug. Better pray for him, too.

A water bottle just whizzed across the floor. Nobody noticed.

I just looked up. The scoreboard hasn't changed.

Madness.

Good gosh, man. Madness.