Hokies to wait a little longer after pause
GREENSBORO, N.C. — If nothing else, Virginia Tech coach Mike Young andhisteamwilllikelybetheunofficial ACC champions in the patience category by the time they take the floor tonight in an ACC tournament quarterfinal.
Waiting 12 days to get on the court because of a coronavirus contact tracingpauseishardenough,buthavingto beoneofthelasttwoteamstoopenup playintheACCtournamentinagame slated to begin around 9 p.m. makes it evenmorechallenging.
“It’s terrible,” Young said of having to wait until late tonight to play. “I’ve had two NCAA tournament games in my career that started at 9:50, and thosekickoffat10:15,10:20.Whatyou don’twanttohavehappenisyouwear yourselfout—thenervousenergy,the pacing, the excitement. Then, you hit thefloorandyou’relessthanwhatyou expecttobe.Youkeepthemrelaxed.”
Against either No. 6 seed North Carolina or No. 11 seed Notre Dame, Young and his players will finally find outiftheyhaveanysortofmomentum leftinjusttheirthirdgamein33days.
At the very least, Young is encouraged that No. 3 seed Virginia Tech (15-5, 9-4) was able to practice throughout its contact tracing pause,
itssecondpauseinlessthanamonth.It hadlimitedpracticeparticipationfrom Feb.13-22duringitsfirstpause,which was caused by a coronavirus positive and subsequent quarantining within theHokies’program.
When Virginia Tech returned to play after its first pause, it lost 69-53 at home to Georgia Tech in the Hokies’ first game back. While his team’s preparedness is certainly on his mind, he doesn’t believe there’s much connection from the Hokies’ first pausetothemostrecentpause.
“It’s a concern now,” said Young, who had five of his team’s past seven regular-season games canceled because of coronavirus issues within andoutsidehisprogram.“Imean,let’s be honest, but the difference here is we’vecontinuedtopractice.
“Idofeelbettergoingintoourleague tournament having had the opportunitytocontinuetopractice.It’sMarch. Thekidswanttoplay.”
Led by second team All-ACC forward Keve Aluma (team highs with 15.9 points per game and eight rebounds per game) and guards TyreceRadford(11.4ppg)andNahiem
Alleyne (10.2 ppg), Virginia Tech will have everybody available other than guard Jalen Cone (9.2 ppg), according to Young. Cone is likely out for the ACCtournamentwithanankleinjury, and“maybe”couldbeavailableforthe NCAAtournament,Youngsaid.
Generally considered a No. 8 or No. 9 seed in most bracket projections, Virginia Tech would seem to be comfortably in the NCAA tournament.Still,Youngisn’ttakinganything
forgranted.
“I’ve been doing it a long time,” said Young, who before coming to Virginia Tech last year coached 17 seasons at Wofford. “This is new to me now. I come from a league where I knew I had to go to Asheville and win three games (in the conference tournament to make the NCAA tournament). I’m not going to be one of
those blathering, sounding-like-apetulant-kid, trying-to-prove-histeam’s-worth – I’m not going to do it. It’s there on paper. We’ve had a really good year. I’ve got a really good team, so I’ll leave that up to the selection committee. I have great trust in those folks. They’ll get it right.”