A Look Ahead

(This article originally appeared on www.hokiehaven.com.)

Virginia Tech will look to refocus their efforts in the final run of the season. With just four games left, two this week and two next every game means more and more for the Hokies. Tech will need to right the ship to assure themselves a top spot in the ACC tournament and an NCAA at-large bid. Check out what's on tap this week.

BOSTON COLLEGE (18-8, 9-4 ACC)
Big Wins: Virginia Tech, Virginia, Michigan State
Bad Losses: Duquesne, Vermont, at Providence

Winner can win the ACC title with a little help. Loser can't. Tonight, its that simple.

The Eagles ambushed Tech on February 3, posting a 21-point win, dominating in all phases of play. Boston College snared five more rebounds, dished 11 more assists, and buried 10 more 3-point baskets in the rout. That contest came when the Eagles hadn't played an ACC game in a week, and it showed, as they beat up on the tired Hokies. This time, Tech has less rest yet again, but VT's focus should be at a season-high after an embarrassing 25-point drubbing against NC State. The formula for beating Virginia Tech has remained constant since early December, and there are only two criteria: 1. your leading scorer is above 6-foot-7, and 2. your jersey doesn't say "North Carolina." All but one of the Hokies' losses have come to teams fitting those two bills, and Boston College fits in completely. Eagle power forward Jared Dudley has continued to be a beast in the paint, posting 19.7 ppg and 8.5 rpg in a season that will likely be good enough for ACC Player of the Year honors. Dudley is just the kind of player able to massacre Tech's weak frontline defenders, and the picture doesn't get rosier checking out the rest of BC's starters including 6-foot-6 guard Sean Marshall (15.1 ppg, 4.7 rpg) and 6-foot-6 small forward Shamari Spears (8.1 ppg, 5.6 rpg) both have to make Seth Greenberg cringe.

If there's hope for the Hokies, it has to be found in good shooting nights from the guards. In the last 39 days, Tech has shot 45% from the field and 70% from the line in the same game just three times. For a guard dominated team that has to make its living scoring baskets, that's a bad stat. If VT wins this one, they can beat Virginia to put all the heat on Carolina to win out for the ACC title. If they don't, the Hokies will be just a game above Duke for 5th place. This is this week's "Biggest Game of the Year."

MIAMI (10-16, 3-9 ACC)
Big Wins: Georgia Tech, at Maryland
Bad Losses: at Buffalo, at Cleveland State, Binghamton

Although one must hesitate before considering any game played by this year's Hokies a foregone conclusion, this seems about as un-scary an offering as the schedule makers could have presented. The 'Canes have been brutal in a rugged ACC, and Tech gets them in friendly Cassell before a week-long layover leading up to the Virginia contest.

Since a conquest of then-ranked Maryland on January 10, Miami has won just once, going 1-8 and suffering repeated blowout losses over the last six weeks. Tech struggled with this team earlier in the year, however, needing 34 made free throws and 58% field goal shooting to hold off the Canes, 92-85. Dowdell pumped in 30 in that game, with half coming from the charity stripe, and got 23 from Deron Washington in support. Washington's 23 and 10 night wasn't enough to subdue Miami's Denis Clemente, who went off for a season high 24. Clemente has been pretty quiet since that contest, breaking 10 points only once in the last five games. When Clemente gets "hot", he still doesn't really shoot that well…he just shoots a lot. In the five games this year he's scored 14 points or more, he hasn't been over 55% shooting in any one of them. Clemente will keep shooting regardless of the outcome, so if he's cold, the Hokies might actually be wise to try and induce him in to a shooting spree.

Brian Asbury, a 6-foot-7 swingman, is the only player that is likely to do VT serious damage. Asbury's height creates matchup problems, as does his consistency. He's been in double figures eight of nine games, and if the Hokie defense resorts to fouling, his free throw shooting skills are great for a big man, which could hurt Tech. This shouldn't be a tough game by comparison to the Boston College contest, but as is truer with VT than with any squad in the nation…this year, you never know.