The NCAA tournament is about basketball but also so much more: the fans, bands, cheerleaders, etc. The East Regional is taking place in Washington, DC this weekend and we could not be more excited to be there in person! HoopsHD is all over it and covering all of the angles so you can look forward to a cascade of coverage in the days ahead. Jon Teitel continues our coverage by chatting with as many Virginia Tech players as possible after they finished practice.
Let’s do this:
The biggest off-court question was whether SR SG/SF Ty Outlaw would be allowed back onto the court after a marijuana possession charge. He was not around to answer any questions so this was all there was to see:
If you ever thought that the Hokies would run out of storage space, think again. I think even I could fit into this bag with plenty of room to spare:
You know it is a big game when everyone’s favorite hand-shaker is in the house. Let’s all give a hand to…Jimmy Patsos!:
SR PG Justin Robinson is finally healthy after missing 12 games due to a left foot injury but was busy at the press conference rather than sitting by his locker:
FR SG Jonathan Kabongo (born in Toronto) said that the Canadian basketball scene is blossoming and turning into a hotbed. His brother Myck (who played basketball at Texas) never made it out of the 1st round of the NCAA tourney but has told him to soak it all in. While understanding that Zion Williamson is great, he says there are ways to stop him if they just trust themselves: it is not like Duke is undefeated so they cannot get caught up in all the hoopla. He said that it is crazy on campus and everyone is proud of the team because they have not advanced this far in a long time. RJ Barrett played with/against him in the past when they were both growing up in Canada: he could not have imagined when they were 12-year olds that they would be squaring off in the NCAA tourney! He said that the Ty Outlaw situation was not a distraction: they have been able to handle injuries and other things all year that other people used to try to bring them down:
The winner of the name game is FR SG Brendan Palmer’s mother, whose name is…Jackie Robinson! The team learned a lot about Duke’s personnel from their 1st meeting last month: they have good shot-blockers and a lot of fast/athletic players. He admits that Zion is definitely a good player who can attack the basket. The whole campus is behind the team and Ty’s situation will not distract them. They are moving past it and the coaches will keep them on track:
Both of JR PF Kerry Blackshear Jr.’s parents played basketball at Stetson (where his father Kerry Sr. remains the all-time leading scorer in school history): while Stetson has been really good to his family he came to Blacksburg because he wanted to make his own mark. They have made it this far by playing through each other: all 16 teams who are left in the tourney are elite. While he had a double-double in a win over Duke last month, his confidence does not come from 1 game but rather from his teammates/staff. He won an AAU national title in high school but admitted that it was a LONG long time ago: there are always other great players out there since it is a big world but the key is to give it all of your time/energy because anyone can lose on any given night. It will take a team effort to stop each of Duke’s stars, including 3 potential top-5 picks in the NBA draft as well as a great PG: they just need to stay locked into their identity. Since he is a graduate student who is taking online classes he is not on campus every day but everyone he has seen this week and been saying hi and wishing him congrats:
That’s all for now, check back later for continuing coverage.