Published: November 12, 2008 10:20 pm         

Hokies open hoops slate with twinbill

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Friday is the first day of playoff football in Virginia and West Virginia.

It’s also the first busy night of Division I college basketball across the nation. Virginia Tech is one of those ready to tip off the season.

“We’re excited about the season,” Virginia Tech head men’s coach Seth Greenberg said. “If you can’t get excited about the start of the season there is something wrong with you, but I do also understand we need a great deal of growth to be a good basketball team.”

Both the Virginia Tech men and women will open their seasons on Friday at Cassell Coliseum. Beth Dunkenberger’s women’s squad will play North Carolina-Greensboro at 6 p.m., followed by Greenberg’s men at 8 p.m. against Gardner-Webb.

Greenberg certainly remembers how Gardner-Webb, the school that produced long-time Atlanta Hawks’ forward John Drew, began the 2007-08 campaign.

“Last season the college basketball season began with Gardner-Webb’s upset of Kentucky,” Greenberg said. “If that doesn’t get your attention, nothing will.”

The hoops twinbill was be preceded an ACC volleyball game between Virginia Tech and Boston College at 3 p.m.

“Basketball season is here, believe it or not,” Dunkenberger said.

The Virginia Tech (21-14, 9-7) men were left out of the NCAA Tournament last season, and finished the season by reaching the NIT semifinals. Hopes are high for a return to the NCAA’s this season for the first since 2006, but don’t tell Greenberg that just yet.

“We won’t approach this season any differently than we did the last five,” said Greenberg, in his sixth season at Virginia Tech. “”Everyone talks about expectations, we had a lot of expectations five years ago and we have tremendous expectations this year, but we’ve got to win games.”

Virginia Tech lost defensive specialist and high-playing dunk specialist Deron Washington to graduation, but the Hokies return four starters, led by 6-foot-7 Jeff Allen (11.8 ppg, 7.6 reb), 6-6 A.D. Vassallo (16.9 ppg) and 6-3 guard Malcolm Delaney (9.6), a trio that Greenberg seems to like.

“I look at our team a little bit like a homeless version of the Boston Celtics,” said Greenberg, whose Hokies were the preseason pick to finish fifth in the ACC. “We’ve got the big three and those guys need to produce each and every night and they need to make other people better and if they do that we have a chance to be successful.

“What that means I couldn’t tell you, but we’ll play 31, 32, 33, 34 games and at the end of those 34 we’ll evaluate ourselves.”

As for the Virginia Tech women, the Hokies were 15-15 last season, including a 2-12 mark in the ACC. Much like the men, it was an extremely young team that should benefit from experience.

“We’re very excited about the season,” Dunkenberger said. “The good news this year is we do have a senior class and I am looking for exceptional leadership from our three seniors.”

They’ll be led by that trio, including Brittany Cook — a Mercer Christian product — who led the ACC in scoring last season. She’s joined by point guard Laura Haskins, who was third in the league in assists, and classmate Amber Hall, who will provide minutes in the paint.

“We’re excited, we’re optimistic,” Dunkenberger said, “and we’re looking forward to seeing you at our games.”

•Virginia Tech isn’t the only regional Division 1 program getting its season started.

Bob Huggins will lead his second team at West Virginia into its opener on Saturday by hosting Elon at the WVU Coliseum. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.

West Virginia (26-11, 11-7), the preseason pick to finish ninth in the 16-team and very deep Big East Conference, reached the Sweet Sixteen last season, dropping an overtime decision to Xavier. That was the ‘Eers’ third trip to the regional round of the NCAA tourney in the last four years.

While West Virginia did lose NBA first round draft choice Joe Alexander and point guard Darris Nichols, the ‘Eers have reloaded with highly-touted freshmen Devin Ebanks and Kevin Jones joining returning guards Alex Ruoff and Da’Sean Butler.

The West Virginia women (25-8, 12-4) also had NCAA success last season, defeating New Mexico in the opening round before falling to Vanderbilt, as the ‘Eers earned a bid for the first time in consecutive seasons.

The Mike Carey-coached ‘Eers, who will open their season on Friday by hosting North Carolina Central at 7 p.m., lost seven seniors — including WNBA draftee Olayinka Sanni — and a total of 11 players from just the fifth squad in school history to reach the NCAAs.

Only senior point Ashley Powell returns with much experience, averaging 2.9 points per game last season.

•In Donnie Jones’ first season as Marshall coach, the Thundering Herd posted a 16-14 record, and return starters in 6-6 senior Markel Humphrey (13.1 ppg, 5.6 reb), 6-6 sophomore Tirrell Baines (11.5 ppg, 5.8 reb) and Tyler Wilkerson (9.2 ppg, 5.9 reb).

The Herd will also benefit from transfers, including Brandon Powell (Florida), Octavius Spann (Georgetown) and Chris Lutz (Purdue). Marshall opens its season on Sunday by hosting West Virginia Tech at 2 p.m.

Marshall was picked to finish sixth in the 12-team Conference USA.

The Royce Chadwick-coached Marshall women, who travel Friday to Appalachian State, finished 17-16 last season, reaching the C-USA tournament semifinals.

Sophomore Tynikki Cook and guard Casey Baker are two of four starters returning for the Herd. Marshall was the preseason pick to finish sixth in the C-USA standings.

•The Virginia men have no where to go but up, after being picked to finish 11th in the 12-team ACC.

Even with Sean Singletary leading the Cavaliers last season, Virginia finished 17-16 and 5-11 in the ACC, although the Wahoos did make a run in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI), reaching the semifinals of the inaugural postseason event.

Dave Leitao will lead his Cavaliers against Virginia Military Institute in a 4 p.m. on Sunday at John Paul Jones Arena. Not only did Virginia lose Singletary, but Adrian Joseph also departed, and Laurynas Mikalauskas was dismissed from the team.

Among the returnees are Mamadi Diane (11.8 ppg, 4.4 reb), Jeff Jones (4.8 ppg) and Mike Scott (5.7 ppg, 5.3 reb). Calvin Baker (8.6 ppg, 2.4 ast) is also back, along with Tunji Soroye, who missed all but two games last season with an injury.

The No. 15 ranked Virginia women, who will host High Point on Friday at 7 p.m. are led by All-America candidate Monica Wright (17.6 ppg). Debbie Ryan, in her 32nd season with the Cavaliers, paced the ‘Hoos to a third place finish in the ACC last year, and they’re expected to challenge for the top spot in ‘08-09.

Lydra Littles (16.8 ppg, 7.3 reb) is another All-ACC candidate for the Cavaliers, as is Aisha Mohammed (13.1 ppg, 9.1 reb), who set a school record last year with 21 boards in a game.

—Contact Brian Woodson

at bwoodson@bdtonline.com

     

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.