Interesting Read...

[Dmince]

2003-04: A Season to Remember for Hokies' Basketball

The  Roth Report

March 10, 2004

No, the Virginia Tech Hokies didn't just complete an undefeated regular season like St. Joseph's.

And they didn't win 27 games like Pitt or spend most of the year in the top 10 like Mississippi State.

And Hokie fans aren't booking rooms in San Antonio in preparation for the Final Four at the Alamo Dome.

But after a series of basically blasé and forgettable campaigns in Cassell Coliseum over the past few years, this 2003-2004 season will go down as one to remember for Hokie fans who sense that maybe - just maybe - there's been a rebirth to Tech's basketball program.

On a national level, Tech hasn't had great basketball success over the past quarter century. The school has won a grand total of one NCAA Tournament game since 1980. But led by first year coach Seth Greenberg and a rugged never-say-die attitude from a senior forward named Bryant Matthews, the Hokies finished their regular season with a 14-13 record and rekindled interest in this program from fans and recruits alike.

Matthews, of course, was the key. The 6-foot-7 senior from South Carolina led the BIG EAST in scoring, averaging 22.9 points per game. He led Tech in rebounding (9.2 per game), steals (67), and floor burns. He showed Tech's freshmen what playing tough was all about and they bought into his attitude both on and off the court. From Matthews' perspective, it doesn't matter how good you are. What matters is how hard you play. And how tough you are on the court. That attitude was contagious.

Despite attrition, suspensions, and injuries, this Tech team posted a winning regular season after being picked to finish last in the BIG EAST in the preseason by the league's coaches. It won its final three games heading into the conference tournament, and that's only happened three times previously in school history (1979, 1981 and 1990).

Tech won seven conference games in the BIG EAST this season, which is an accomplishment in itself. No offense to Tech's future home, the ACC, but the BIG EAST is the only league in the country that has five teams with at least 20 wins. It's one of only two leagues in the country (the SEC is the other) with six teams ranked in the top 30 of the RPI index. Pittsburgh (No. 7), Connecticut (No. 8), Providence (No. 9) are in the top 10. So while normally a 7-9 conference record isn't a reason to throw a party, in the case of the 2004 Hokies, it's an accomplishment of note.

In the preseason, not much was expected out of this team. Tech had a new coach, three unknown freshmen, a rash of injuries, and a plethora of question marks. Not the way to start a season, to be honest.

But five months after this unusual odyssey began, the Hokies will wear white, as the higher seeded team when they play in their first and last BIG EAST tournament. That's got people shaking their heads in amazement, too.

When Tech's Carlos Dixon, a 14-point-per-game scorer during his junior year, went down with a season-ending foot injury last fall, Greenberg was scrambling to find players for practice. Then Shawn Harris found his foot in a boot and later so did Coleman Collins. When Jamon Gordon was forced to miss a month with a knee injury, things looked bleak. Tech's five-game January losing streak could've set the stage for a disastrous February (see the Miami Hurricanes for details.)

But Greenberg (with a lot of help from Matthews) wouldn't let that happen. After the tough January that ended with a loss at Syracuse, Tech went 6-3 in February and March. That included a 5-0 record to end the season at Cassell Coliseum.

"We've got to get the Cassell back," Greenberg said on more than one occasion. Tech beat Providence, St. John's, Georgetown, WVU, and Rutgers in Blacksburg to end the regular season.

OK, so there's no Duke or Carolina in that group, but the Hokies finished 11-4 at home this season and the team competed with a renewed sense of confidence at home. They were diving for loose balls. They were taking charges. They took care of the ball, leading the BIG EAST in turnover margin despite playing three freshmen 30-plus minutes per game. They were committed to defense, leading the league in steals.

And in Rutgers and Georgetown, the Hokies beat two teams playing for their postseason lives. Rutgers, which had an RPI of 38 entering the game at Cassell, needed to win to keep its NCAA at-large hopes alive. Georgetown needed a win over Tech to clinch a spot in the BIG EAST tournament. Tech trailed in both games at halftime, yet rallied to win. Tech's basketball team coming from behind to win big games in March? Where's Dale Solomon?

Fans took notice - Tech averaged 6,342 in Cassell this year, the best mark in a decade - and so did recruits. While Tech signed three players early (guard Marquie Cooke, wing Deron Washington, and forward Justin Holt) the response from juniors and sophomores on Tech's recruiting board has been very positive.

Greenberg has brought a system to Tech basketball, one that includes structure, discipline, responsibility, trust and commitment. While that might sound like something out of the Boy Scouts manual, it's something Tech has lacked since Greenberg's first boss, Bill Foster, was coaching this team. From practice, to scouting reports, to team travel, to discipline, there's a system in place and a sense of accountability that everyone from the players to the coaching staff to the managers have bought into, just as Greenberg had hoped.

We saw the outstanding contributions of Collins, Phil McCandies, and Allen Calloway in the last two weeks. Guards Zabian Dowdell (10.8 ppg, 81 assists, 58 turnovers) and Gordon (9.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 96 assists, 49 turnovers) had excellent freshmen seasons. They'll all be better next year. So the future appears bright. Tech signed three players early, and might sign a fourth this spring and Dixon returns for his senior season in 2004-2005.

But what has made this current season so enjoyable and memorable is that it was a true 'team.'

Mykhael Lattimore hit a game-winning shot to beat Western Carolina and Bryan Randall hit the game winner against St. John's (how many teams have two walk-ons win games at the buzzer?).

Collins made the clutch shot against Georgetown, and Harris made key threes in several games, Sailes hit the game winner at WVU, McCandies dominated the first six minutes of the Rutgers game, and Calloway was a shot-blocking machine at the MCI Center.

Seemingly, everyone made contributions to this team, and astonishingly, Tech posted a winning season when nobody thought it could, especially once Dixon went down.

Finishing one game over .500 isn't reason to hang a banner or call Tech a 'basketball school.' But it's a start. It's a step in a positive direction for a program that's been running on a treadmill since 1997. Tech fans will likely have thrilling ACC seasons in the coming years, but the final year in the BIG EAST, especially the spring of 2004, will always be one to remember.

[ChiTownBull]

I think it will be interesting to see where USF and Va Tech are 3 yrs from now after both coaches have thier players and systems in place.

[smazza]

i am with chitown

[Mission9]

SG is good for a 15-14 or 17-14 type of record.  After BP cleaned up Lee Rose's mess I was hoping we would not be in the same situation again.

[Velcro]

what was BP's record in his last season?  just curious, i wasn't around until seth's second year.  Seems like i remember someone saying it wasn't good.

[Mission9]

I don't remember.  I know it was a losing one.  The point is that even a coach that nobody including myself thought was great was able to have moderate success at USF.  SG had no real success in my opinion.

[Velcro]

Seths success was sustained in a much tougher conference, than BP's conference.  Always 17-19 wins.  Never had spectacular record, but then also never played against a week schedule either.

One of USF's tourney bids was not much difference than UCF's tourney bid this year.  Granted the other one was at large, so that is impressive enough to warrant saying BP had success, but he didn't build anything sustainable.

That is what we hope Mac will do, and is apparent he knows how to do it.

[Mission9]

I remember UAB, Virginia Commonwealth and Old Dominion getting at large berths from time to time.  Yes CUSA is bigger time but UAB, VCU and ODU are hardly Lipscomb Garner-Webb and Campbell.  If there had not been all the hype like showing up on the Rome show or Vitale always saying SG can "flat out coach"  I would be less critical.  With hype comes increased expectations and I expected a lot more from SG than I ever did from BP.

[Velcro]

I never look at things that way... its not the hype that is important... if it was, then i'd never expect anything from our football team... we never get any hype but always do well.

I think seth did a good over job... good, not great.  I think BP did good, but not great.

I think Mac did a good job thus far, despite the losses... probably the best 1 win conference season i've ever seen... said half in jest and half serious.

[Mission9]

I think seth did a good over job... good, not great.  I think BP did good, but not great.

I think Mac did a good job thus far, despite the losses... probably the best 1 win conference season i've ever seen... said half in jest and half serious.

I can only agree.