The ACC's New Kids on the Low Block

In First Year in the Conference, Hokies Are Exceeding Expectations

Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg has the Hokies in fifth place in the ACC going into Tuesday's game against Maryland. (Steve Helber - AP)

Eight years ago, South Florida Coach Seth Greenberg was irritated by a late-game timeout called by Marquette, which was about to wrap up a 71-36 victory over Greenberg's Bulls. Afterward, Greenberg said: "Sometimes you're the dog; sometimes you're the tree. Tonight we were the tree, but believe me, we will be the dog some day."

Still the blunt, Queens, N.Y.-bred talker, Greenberg has been both candid and comedic in his second season at Virginia Tech, helping the Hokies become one of the most surprising teams in men's college basketball. Picked to finish near the bottom of the ACC in its first season in the conference, Virginia Tech (12-8, 5-4) sits in fourth place, ahead of perennial contenders Georgia Tech and Maryland.

"We don't have this licked now," said Greenberg, whose team visits Comcast Center tonight to play Maryland. "We haven't arrived. We're a work in progress to the 10th degree."

Before the season, Greenberg said, he never contemplated what he would consider an acceptable victory total for his team. Virginia Tech finished tied for eighth in the Big East last year, Greenberg's first as Hokies head coach. But players such as Zabian Dowdell, Tech's leading scorer, said Greenberg often broaches the subject of preseason predictions in an attempt to motivate them.

College Sports Television's all-access documentary "Pure Virginia Tech," which is airing this week, featured the Hokies preparing for their Dec. 19 ACC opener against North Carolina. In practice the day before the game, Greenberg told the team, "Being in the ACC just to be in the ACC isn't worth [anything]."

Virginia Tech's move to the ACC was expected to bolster the football conference and have no effect on the competitiveness of the basketball league, already considered the strongest in the nation. After all, two seasons ago, before Greenberg's arrival from South Florida, the Hokies were at the bottom of the Big East in basketball.

Dowdell enjoys it when Greenberg refers to the preseason evaluations about this season, one of which declared that Miami and Virginia Tech "picked a rotten time to play party-crashers."

"I've kept them in mind," Dowdell said. "You never forget how people doubt you. That has to burn in you. Every time he mentions it, that fire grows."

This season, the Hokies had to replace Bryant Matthews, a first-team all-Big East selection last year who led the league in scoring and the team in rebounding. Regardless, there were positive signs, such as Tech winning five of its last seven games last season and the team returning four starters.

"They rode that momentum into this year," Maryland Coach Gary Williams said. "And there is great motivation in people saying you're no good before you have a chance to prove it. I think that was the Big East telling everyone they were no good when they left, because they are pretty good."

Greenberg has used one tactic throughout the year that he began using during conference play last season. Greenberg watches 10 to 12 minutes of the previous day's game with players, examining highlights and lowlights. He then tells players to "wipe the slate clean" and he begins preparation for the next game.

Virginia Tech's early success in the ACC, which has included victories over North Carolina State and Georgia Tech, has transformed games in Blacksburg, Va., into events. Greenberg said season tickets are sold out, which has helped create a "Lane Stadium environment," Greenberg added, referencing the Hokies' festive football atmosphere. Home attendance at Cassell Coliseum is averaging more than 9,400 fans per game, up more than 3,000 from last season.

The atmosphere is different than what Greenberg encountered during his final days at South Florida, where attendance dropped to 4,045 per game in 2002-03, its lowest mark in 17 years. Through seven seasons at South Florida, Greenberg never attained the success that he had envisioned. The Bulls did not reach the NCAA tournament and were 0-20 against ranked teams. During the 2002-03 season, Greenberg received a one-year contract extension that would have kept him there through 2005-06, but fans seemed to have had enough. When Greenberg accepted the Virginia Tech job, a South Florida fan sent an e-mail to the Richmond Times-Dispatch that simply read, "Tell Tech thanks."

Greenberg, 48, began his Division I head coaching career at Long Beach State, where he led the 49ers to two NCAA tournament appearances and beat then-No. 1 Kansas in 1993. He felt the job provided the opportunity to win 20 games each season for the rest of his life.

But in 1996 he left for South Florida, which he then called a "sleeping giant," and Conference USA, which he said would in time produce a national champion. Leaving Long Beach State was a decision Greenberg said he regrets because of the quality of life afforded there.

"It was a great time in my life," said Greenberg, whose three daughters were born during his Long Beach State tenure. "It was probably the most fun I've ever had coaching. And you could recruit from a 90-mile radius."

This season could prove the most enjoyable if Virginia Tech earns an NCAA tournament berth. Greenberg said his Virginia Tech players surely aren't getting full of themselves, adding, "We can be 0-8 in the second half of the ACC schedule for all I know."

Three ACC victories have come by a combined four points. And Tech won't be able to rid itself of the deflating Dec. 4 loss to VMI -- one of the country's worst teams -- which may hurt the school's chances of earning an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

Players, though, are not discouraged. Said Dowdell, "I feel like we can compete with any team in the ACC."