Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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March 17, 2010

Hokies open NIT against Quinnipiac

By BRIAN WOODSON Bluefield Daily Telegraph

BLUEFIELD — What is a Quinnipiac, and what does it have to do with college basketball?

It’s not a bridge, highway or a new sandwich from Quizno’s. No, it’s home to the Bobcats, the Northeast Conference regular season champions, who reside in Hamden, Conn.

Virginia Tech would, no doubt, whether be learning about the Bobcats under different circumstances. 

While Quinnipiac is thrilled to be making its first-ever postseason tournament appearance, the Hokies will play in their third straight National Invitational Tournament, having been left out of the NCAAs after being victimized by several upsets in conference tournaments and one of the worst non-conference schedules in America.

Despite a 23-8 record and a 10-6 mark in the ACC, Virginia Tech is back...in the NIT.

“I’m very proud of my team. We’ve had a great run,” said Virginia Tech head coach Seth Greenberg, according to an Associated Press report after the NCAA pairings were released on Sunday. “It will be a tough job to get my guys up and ready to play, but that’s my job.”

Virginia Tech — which lost to Miami in its only game in the ACC Tournament — will turn its attention to its NIT opener tonight against Quinnipiac (23-9) at Cassell Coliseum. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.

The winner will play Connecticut in the second round later this week. If Virginia Tech wins, it will be in Blacksburg.

While the Hokies finished third in the ACC during the regular season — tied with Florida State and trailing only Duke and Maryland — the Bobcats won the Northeast Conference regular season title, but were beaten in the NEC tourney finals by Robert Morris 52-50.

Quinnipiac is making its first postseason appearance since joining the Division I ranks in 1998.

“It's obviously a great thrill and a great honor to be the first Quinnipiac team to play in a national postseason tournament at Division I in the history of this school," said Quinnipiac head coach Tom Moore, on the Bobcats’ website. "It's the culmination of what's been a record-setting season for us.

“We're thrilled and excited to have the opportunity to play in the NIT. It's something that's never been associated with our school's name, so to be noticed nationally in such a historic postseason tournament is a great honor."

Virginia Tech would rather do without the honor. Greenberg was noticeably disappointed after the Hokies were bypassed despite winning 10 games in one of the nation’s toughest leagues.

However, only two of those wins were against teams with winning league records, and their 14-game non-league slate lowered their strength of schedule to 133rd in Division I, with only NCAA automatic qualifiers Cornell and Murray State having worst ratings among the top 65 teams according to the rating percentage index.

Virginia Tech, which finished rated 59th in the RPI, did defeat three ACC teams, Florida State, Wake Forest (9-7, ACC) and Georgia Tech (7-9, ACC), that made the NCAA tournament.

Still, Moore knows that Virginia Tech can be a scary opponent, as evidenced by the Hokies joining Arizona State, Illinois and Mississippi State as top seeds in the NIT. All four are assured home games as long as they advance until the Final Four is held in New York on March 30 and April 1.

“Virginia Tech is a terrific basketball team, extremely well-coached by Coach Greenberg,” said Moore, on the Bobcats’ website. “Any time you're playing a team that's won 10 games in the ACC, you know you're playing a fantastic team.”

Virginia Tech is 21-8 all-time in the NIT, winning the title in 1973 and 1995.

The Hokies will be led by junior guard Malcolm Delaney, who led the ACC in scoring with 20.4 points a game. Juniors Dorenzo Hudson (14.5 ppg) and Jeff Allen (12.4 ppg, 7.4 reb) will also provide challenges to the Bobcats.

“Delaney is one of the leading scorers, if not the leading scorer, in the ACC. I know Jeff Allen is a huge, physical presence inside,” Moore said. “We'll obviously be spending a lot of time in the next two days preparing as best we can for such a good team.”

Quinnipiac, whose strength of schedule is 324th out of 347 Division I teams, has played four tournament teams, losing to Lehigh, Vermont and splitting a pair of games with Robert Morris. They’ve also lost to NIT participant Rhode Island.

The Bobcats are led by James Feldeine (17.1 ppg, 6.0 reb), James Rutty (15.1 ppg, 11.0 reb) and James Johnson (11.9 ppg, 3.9 ast). 

“I'm happy for our players, happy for our fans,” said Moore, “and honored to be directing the first Quinnipiac team to ever go to a postseason tournament.”

— Contact Brian Woodson

at bwoodson@bdtonline.com

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