Hokies begin the wait for their NCAA fate

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg has the next couple of days all figured out. He thinks he can keep his players’ minds off their team’s still-questionable NCAA tournament fate by doing a few simple things.

“We would hypnotize them and put them in a time warp for 48 hours, and I would think that would be the only way that we would stop them from thinking about the tournament,” Greenberg deadpanned Friday to a room full of reporters. “I’m going to take away their cell phones and their remote controls and lock them in a room with rubber walls.”

There’s probably a law somewhere banning college basketball coaches from imprisoning their players in rubber-walled rooms, but Greenberg’s jocular point was well taken.

After fourth-seeded Tech lost 70-65 to 12th-seeded Miami on Friday in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals at Greensboro Coliseum, fumbling a chance to all but seal an NCAA tournament at-large bid in the process, the next few days could be pretty brutal for some young men who know the disappointment of missing the NCAAs all too well.

They came so close to making the Big Dance in 2008 and ’09, and Greenberg might want to keep them away from sharp objects if it happens a third time.

The Hokies (23-8) still appear to be a safe bet to hear their names called when the bracket is announced Sunday, but a loss to the team with the worst ACC record (4-12, 20-12 overall) this season certainly didn’t help them.

“If this game knocks us out of the NCAA tournament, I’ll be real disappointed,” Tech guard Malcolm Delaney said. “I’m going into Sunday thinking we’re in until I hear otherwise. If this game knocks us out of the tournament, that’s crazy.”

If the loss doesn’t keep the Hokies out, it will certainly mean a lower seed. Before Friday, Tech was projected as a No. 10 seed. Who knows where they’ll be seeded, if at all, when the brackets are announced Sunday.

“Sunday’s going to be anxious for us regardless,” Tech forward Jeff Allen said. “I feel like this loss shouldn’t affect us.”

When asked if he felt his team had done enough to get into the NCAAs, Greenberg said, “We’ll just sit and wait and hope. I would hope the team that tied for third place in the ACC would be in pretty good shape. There are certain things that are in my control and out of my control, and that one is out of my control.”

“Sleep won’t be something that’s exactly at a premium,” the coach later offered.

Greenberg’s sleeping problem won’t be related to how his team played Friday. The ball just didn’t bounce the Hokies’ way against the Hurricanes, who advanced to play top seed Duke today at 1:30 p.m.

“I thought we played very hard,” Greenberg said. “We didn’t guard the ball as well as we needed to in the last four minutes, and we didn’t make shots. It’s really not a whole lot trickier than that. If we make a couple of shots, then it’s not a factor, but that’s what the game is. The game is a make or miss game.”

Tech shot 38 percent and missed 13 of its final 15 field goal attempts, including its last six.

The shooting struggles were most pronounced for Delaney, who made 3 of 15 field goal tries and scored only seven points in 40 minutes.

“I’m mad because I didn’t make shots,” Delaney said. “I was getting people the ball (five assists), other stuff like that, but I just didn’t make shots. I had open looks and I’ve been seeing the ball well, so I’m not sure (what happened).”

Greenberg said he wasn’t bothered by Delaney’s shot selection, or anybody else’s for that matter.

“I mean, every shot he missed today, he made against Georgia Tech (on Saturday when he scored 32 points),” Greenberg said of Delaney. “That was just a short time ago. He just picked a bad day to not make shots.”

Even though Greenberg gave his players some extra time off after Saturday’s game, fatigue might have been a factor in Delaney’s struggles. He played every minute of Friday’s game and missed only seven minutes total in the Hokies’ previous four contests.

“His feet were bothering him this week a little bit when he came back (to practice), the bottom of his feet,” Greenberg said. “He does play a lot of minutes, but again, that’s my fault. He’s a little bit of a security blanket. I probably should have found a way to get him a couple of chances to get rest.”

Allen had 18 points and 11 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season. Guard Dorenzo Hudson, who missed Saturday’s game against Georgia Tech because of a bruised right foot, returned to the starting lineup against the ‘Canes and scored 16 points.

“I felt like 70 (percent) going into the game,” Hudson said. “During the course of the game, it kind of got banged up a little bit.”

Hudson made four of his first five shot attempts and had 15 points at the break.

He missed all five of his second-half field goal attempts. He wasn’t alone in his shooting struggles. The Hokies shot only 29 percent after the break, and they finished the game on a dreadful 5 for 22 clip.

All those missed shots contributed to Miami’s 46-29 advantage in rebounding. Thirty-four of the Hurricanes’ boards came on the defensive end.

“They came up with some 50-50 balls, but it’s simple math. You miss a lot of shots and there’s going to be a lot of defensive rebounds,” Greenberg said.

The loss drops the Hokies to 3-6 in ACC Tournament games. They had won at least one game in the tournament in each of the previous three seasons.

MIAMI (20-12)

Scott 6-12 5-5 17, Dews 4-10 0-2 8, Jones 6-11 2-4 14, Johnson 1-4 3-4 5, Gamble 1-2 0-0 2, Grant 2-7 4-4 9, McGowan 3-4 0-0 7, Thomas 2-4 2-2 8. Totals 25-54 16-21 70.

VIRGINIA TECH (23-8)

Allen 7-13 4-6 18, Bell 4-9 0-0 12, Hudson 5-16 4-6 16, Davila 0-1 0-1 0, Delaney 3-15 1-3 7, Green 0-1 0-0 0, Witcher 1-1 0-0 2, Atkins 0-0 0-0 0, Thompson 4-7 2-2 10. Totals 24-63 11-18 65.

Halftime—Virginia Tech 37-35. 3-Point Goals—Miami 4-16 (Thomas 2-4, McGowan 1-1, Grant 1-3, Jones 0-2, Scott 0-3, Dews 0-3), Virginia Tech 6-24 (Bell 4-9, Hudson 2-6, Green 0-1, Delaney 0-8). Fouled Out—Allen. Rebounds—Miami 46 (Johnson 12), Virginia Tech 29 (Allen 11). Assists—Miami 11 (Grant 4), Virginia Tech 12 (Delaney 5). Total Fouls—Miami 17, Virginia Tech 18. A—23,381.