** As many of you readers of the Lair know, I have been a Panther fan for a long long time. I rarely miss a home game and although it might be difficult at times especially in recent years, I choose to cheer my Panthers on through thick and thin. With that being said, I can only describe the first half of tonight's Virginia Tech game in 1 word. Putrid.
** Remember in my last Dribbles against Wake Forest I pointed out how our Panthers didn't seem to play any defense sometimes up and down the court? Well sadly tonight they took it to a whole new level in the first half. Wide open 3 after wide open 3 by Tech became the norm the last 10+ minutes of the half. I counted at least 4 different occasions(and possibly there were more) where a Virginia Tech player had at least 20 feet of space to take a shot. I told my son in all my years of watching our Panthers play I couldn't remember this poor an effort defensively. It was really that bad. There were loud boos at the end of the half after we were down by 28 and they were definitely justified.
** I looked at Jeff Capel a few times during that first half and I will admit he was exasperated. On more than 1 occasion he had his hands over his eyes and looked hopeless. Unfortunately as a head coach it is his job to motivate his kids, get them to continually play hard and keep fighting. There was none of that fight from our Panthers in that first half.
** Like many of you I never expected us to come out in the second half and fight like they did. I remarked to my kid I didn't recognize this team because they played with passion and intensity in the second half. The defense got better, heck they actually decided to play defense which was nice to see! And then we got hot and when I say hot we were as hot as Virginia Tech was in the first half. At one point we were 9 for 9 in FG's and were shooting over 80%. Jamarius made some clutch shots and so did Mo. What was once a 28 point lead soon was 18 and then 12 and then 8 by Virginia Tech with still 8 minutes to play. The crowd that was still there was rocking and when I looked around for the briefest on moments, there was a smile on almost everyone's face.
** With that being said, overcoming a nearly 30 point deficit is almost impossible to do so while I was hoping upon hope it was going to happen, I knew it most likely wouldn't. Our Panthers got it to 3 very late but couldn't get any closer.
** Still with all the excitement our Panthers gave us in the second half, I think it's a fair question to wonder why they don't give that same effort for a full 40 minutes. I am still not optimistic our Panthers will win another game if they continue to take plays off. As I mentioned last time, I am not going to mention the coaching or the staff, other than to say there are a lot of valid points being brought up from the people who post here. I'll leave it at that. Our next game also against Virginia Tech is less than 48 hours away on the road. Let's see if they can play hard for both halves this time. I'd be curious to see the results if they do.
** Remember in my last Dribbles against Wake Forest I pointed out how our Panthers didn't seem to play any defense sometimes up and down the court? Well sadly tonight they took it to a whole new level in the first half. Wide open 3 after wide open 3 by Tech became the norm the last 10+ minutes of the half. I counted at least 4 different occasions(and possibly there were more) where a Virginia Tech player had at least 20 feet of space to take a shot. I told my son in all my years of watching our Panthers play I couldn't remember this poor an effort defensively. It was really that bad. There were loud boos at the end of the half after we were down by 28 and they were definitely justified.
** I looked at Jeff Capel a few times during that first half and I will admit he was exasperated. On more than 1 occasion he had his hands over his eyes and looked hopeless. Unfortunately as a head coach it is his job to motivate his kids, get them to continually play hard and keep fighting. There was none of that fight from our Panthers in that first half.
** Like many of you I never expected us to come out in the second half and fight like they did. I remarked to my kid I didn't recognize this team because they played with passion and intensity in the second half. The defense got better, heck they actually decided to play defense which was nice to see! And then we got hot and when I say hot we were as hot as Virginia Tech was in the first half. At one point we were 9 for 9 in FG's and were shooting over 80%. Jamarius made some clutch shots and so did Mo. What was once a 28 point lead soon was 18 and then 12 and then 8 by Virginia Tech with still 8 minutes to play. The crowd that was still there was rocking and when I looked around for the briefest on moments, there was a smile on almost everyone's face.
** With that being said, overcoming a nearly 30 point deficit is almost impossible to do so while I was hoping upon hope it was going to happen, I knew it most likely wouldn't. Our Panthers got it to 3 very late but couldn't get any closer.
** Still with all the excitement our Panthers gave us in the second half, I think it's a fair question to wonder why they don't give that same effort for a full 40 minutes. I am still not optimistic our Panthers will win another game if they continue to take plays off. As I mentioned last time, I am not going to mention the coaching or the staff, other than to say there are a lot of valid points being brought up from the people who post here. I'll leave it at that. Our next game also against Virginia Tech is less than 48 hours away on the road. Let's see if they can play hard for both halves this time. I'd be curious to see the results if they do.
