Virginia Tech Men's Basketball Outpaces VMI 87-74

Whenever Virginia Tech plays VMI you have to bring your athletes and your inhaler, because it's always going to be a track meet. Sure enough, the 7-4 Hokies scored 51 first half points and managed to hold on to win 87-74.

It was another game we can't learn a lot from. VMI head coach Duggar Baucom told Tech's radio guys before the game he tells his team to 'shoot a three before they turn it over.'

While a comment like that is obviously made in jest, it really wasn't far from the truth. Duggar's team jacked an absurd 39 deep balls, and did it as fast as possible. In turn, this pace lead to many Hokie fast breaks as well as numerous Hokie turnovers.

On of the biggest advantages that a team like VMI holds over its opponent isn't that they take a ton of shots, but that they're used to a certain brand of chaos. In theory, playing at such a frantic tempo speeds up the other team and forces oodles of giveaways.

If they play a young team, the mistakes tend to multiply. Considering that Tech hasn't been particularly stellar at holding on to the ball this year, this game was yet another chance for a disappointing upset at home.

A disappointment was never in the cards. The Hokies jumped out to a 24 point first half lead (helped by some frigid Keydet shooting), and managed to cling to what was left of that margin by the time the final horn sounded. VMI ramped up the tempo as much as they could over the last 20 minutes of play, and chipped away at the deficit the entire way. It was never enough, however, and at the end of the day the Hokies ended up with win number seven.

Justin Bibbs looked impressive again. He ended the day with 20 points, but it wasn't just his point total that was impressive. For the first time this season, he didn't pull the trigger on a single three, instead he knifed into the teeth of the defense and got to the basket with vigor. That ability to get into the lane lead to ten trips to the free throw line, of which he hit eight, and a handful of different opportunities for assists.

While I don't think that he has the highest ceiling of any player on the team—that honor would go to either Ahmed Hill or Jalen Hudson— Bibbs is the most dangerous player on the team right now. Buzz Williams' decision to move him away from a small-ball power forward to more of a creator/distributor role has really lead to a quick maturation of certain aspects of his game. That decision has also lead to an interesting development over the last three games.

We've heard all along that Buzz loves to surround one post player with four dangerous perimeter guys, optimizing as much of the floor as possible for cuts to the basket and open three pointers. Ideally, that big man is Joey van Zegeren (though I'll get to Shane Henry in a second), and the wings and guards have been a rotating cast of characters.

However the one constant in these lineups, especially the ones that play important minutes, have involved Devin Wilson. A reigning All-ACC freshman like Wilson seems like a no-brainer to play a bunch of minutes for Buzz. What is awkward, however, is in my eyes the Hokies operate much more smoothly when their point guard is off the floor.

Here's the thing about Wilson. He's a tough, gritty guard who can take on his defender when he has the ball, especially with the help of a screen. In an offense run by James Johnson, this ended up being perfect (primarily because the team couldn't do much else outside of a pick-and-roll involving their overused freshman). In a scheme that emphasizes spacing and shooting? Not so much.

There have been many times in which Wilson has dribbled the ball up the floor, initiated the offense through another player, and then fails to touch the ball for an extended period of a possession. While that's not usually a big deal in terms of the way a team runs, one thing is uniquely negative about Wilson not getting the ball again. He can't shoot.

This is a problem for a team that likes to move the ball around quickly and exploit gaps in a defense. If it becomes clear that the ball is moving around, not stopping with a primary ball handler, why would Wilson's defender stay with him on the perimeter? He's only shot nine threes in 11 games and that reputation as a non-entity from behind the arc makes the court smaller for the rest of the Hokies.

Sure, Wilson can be individually successful if he stops the ball and runs a pick and roll heavy set, but that is not nearly as efficient (or successful) as an offense involving the free moving fluidity of guys like Bibbs and Hill.

It would be fair, then, to make one wonder whether or not Tech's best five-man lineup even includes Wilson. While this would have been a preposterous thing to ask two weeks ago, we can talk about it since different players taking on ball handling duties after the loss to Radford.

I like to look at potential changes around this time of year by simply asking 'will this help Tech beat Wake, BC or Clemson?' I don't know what changes would do against the top half of the conference, but it's important to think about what they would do against programs that are in similar situations as the Hokies are this season. If they can be better than the other rebuilding teams in the conference, it's an underratedly huge step in the right direction for a group coming off three consecutive years in the ACC basement.

In my eyes, Buzz's bunch has a very interesting five-man unit. It would involve either JVZ or Henry playing as the big man, Hill and Hudson playing on the wing, Bibbs playing "point guard" and either Smith or Mueller as the fifth shooter. Think about that for a minute, a five-man squad with JVZ, Hill, Hudson, Bibbs and Smith. Defensively, all four wings could switch with screens and van Zegeren is there to clean up around the rim and grab as many rebounds as he can.

Now replace JVZ with Henry. Sure it's an undersized group, but now you're talking about a defense that could switch on anything. Against bigger teams Tech could even play JVZ and Henry together, Henry's wingspan and quick feet allowing him to guard a little further from the basket while also help on the boards.

Offensively it would likely be a bit of a mess, but opponents would have to respect each player on the floor as either a shooter or a cutter. Space would open up and provide chances for Tech to hit open shots and get the ball into the land with impunity.

I am convinced that this is the best version of Buzzketball that we would see on both ends of the court. This isn't a slight on Wilson by any means. He's a nice player, it's just that he's an odd fit with what Tech wants to do on offense and there are simply better defenders than him on the roster.

Any time he plays he'll get his points (he had 16 against VMI), but this team no longer has to live or die with Devin creating magic in the paint by himself. As the last few games have shown, this year's iteration of Hokie basketball simply has more options, we just don't know yet if they are better options.

The thing is, time is running out for major changes to be made. Conference play is now just three games away and Tech won't be able to build a 20-plus point lead in the first half anymore. That being said, I can't wait to watch how this plays out over the next three months.

The results won't usually be ones we like to see, but there's more talent in Blacksburg than there has been in a long while. How will it translate? Who will end up rising to the top as the premier young guys? What exactly is this team's best lineup?

All important questions, and all things that we will hope to answer in March. Between now and then all of us will just have to hold tight and see what happens.