Behind Enemy Lines: 5 Questions For All Hokies' Mike McDaniel
Hoping to get back in the win column after breaking a two game win streak, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (10-12, 4-7 ACC) are primed for a matchup with the Virginia Tech Hokies (14-8, 5-6 ACC) tomorrow at 7:00pm EST.
Ahead of today's conference matchup, All Yellow Jackets sat down with All Hokies' Mike McDaniel to find out more about Virginia Tech.
1. How have expectations gone with Mike Young’s first year in Blacksburg?
VT is one game under .500 in ACC play at 5-6, but has been largely competitive all throughout ACC play. Sure, there have been a couple of unexpected losses to Boston College and Miami, but overall, the Hokies have far and away exceeded expectations. Tech was picked to finish last in the conference this year after losing five our of the top six scorers from last year's Sweet 16 team, as well as their head coach Buzz Williams. This was destined to be a rebuild year, but despite the tempered expectations, the Hokies still find themselves on the NCAA Tournament bubble. It's been quite the year for a team that wasn't expected to do too much on the court in Mike Young's first season as the head coach.
2. Virginia Tech has been streaky to say the least this season. What must the Hokies do to get some consistency?
The Hokies need their best player, as well as his veteran teammates to play much better than they have of late. Tech has lost four out of their last five, and a big reason for it is the lack of offensive consistency from Landers Nolley, as well the lack of scoring at all from juniors Wabissa Bede and P.J. Horne. All three players have been mainstays in the starting lineup for the Hokies, and none of them are playing too particularly well at the moment. Defensively, they've been pretty good all throughout the season, but the lack of offensive output from this trio has been pretty alarming of late.
3. Landers Nolley has emerged as one of the best freshman in the ACC. What is his role/identity for the Hokies? Is it a pure scorer/volume shooter or is there more to him?
There is no doubt that Landers Nolley has the potential to be one of the best players in the ACC, but his play of late has been staggering. His offensive efficiency numbers have plummeted over the last few weeks, as he's taken it upon himself to produce more offense to make up for his teammates' lack of production, as I discussed above.
Nolley plays the role as the primary scorer for Virginia Tech, but at this stage of his career, I'm not sure if that's what is best for this team. Fellow freshman Tyrece Radford has come along nicely and has emerged as the Hokies' most consistent player on both ends of the floor. Nolley might be better suited to play more off of Radford than vice versa, even though Nolley unquestionably has a higher ceiling.
Nolley is a volume shooter right now, which hasn't gone as well as many have hoped. However, he's a pure scorer when he's played off of his other teammates and hasn't forced the issue. He's been taking a ton of the offense upon himself lately since he's one of the few players on the roster who can create his own shot. With that being said, he still likely needs to find a happy medium between being a volume shooter and pure scorer, which is one of the things he'll need to improve upon to really hit his ceiling.
4. Is Wabissa Bede one of the more underrated guards in the league because of his ball handling ability?
Bede is not a fan favorite, but I personally think that his value to the Hokies and to the league as a whole is drastically underrated. He takes excellent care of the basketball, is consistently near the top of the country in assist to turnover ratio, and is likely the best on-ball defender in the ACC.
He catches a bad rap from Virginia Tech fans due to his lack of scoring ability, as well as his confidence to take open shots. He is a floor general in every sense of the word, but when he's not playing confidently and looking for his own shot, it sometimes feels like the Hokies are playing 4-on-5 on the offensive end.
5. What is the key to stopping the three point barrage from the Hokies?
Georgia Tech needs to rebound well and close-out hard on the three-point line. Despite being one of the smallest teams in the ACC, Tech has rebounded pretty well all things told. This has produced second-chance opportunities on the offensive end that have given the Hokies more opportunities to score. VT has been very streaky overall, so closing out on the shooters and making life as difficult as possible on Tech's offensive players is the best way to slow down the offensive attack before it gets going.
You can follow us for future coverage by clicking "Follow" on the top righthand corner of the page. Also be sure to like us on Facebook & Twitter:
Facebook - @GeorgiaTechSI
Twitter - @GeorgiaTechSI and Matthew McGavic at @GeneralWasp
