Lots of Wahooze bubbles bouncing around in my head, not a lot of time to stroke the blog. So here's your quick-hitters for Monday, June 14, 2010. (And if I enjoy this format, it might just become a weekly thing.)
-- Danny Hultzen is back! He was the MVP in Friday's win over Okie. He wasn't exactly dominant, but he was effective. Most importantly, he got the win.
-- Conversely, Robert Morey is still lost in the woods. He struggled mightily against the Sooners yesterday, and hasn't been pitching well at all since he got lit up by Florida State in Greensboro. If we survive and advance to Omaha, we desperately need Morey to bounce back from his last three starts, all of which have been... well... not very good.
-- A week ago, we survived an elimination game against St. John's. This week, we face the same situation against Oklahoma. Just like last week, freshman fireballer Branden Kline will be taking the mound. This might be heresy to say with bonafide and established studs like Hultzen in the rotation, but Kline has been our single best pitcher since the exam break in late April. I'm extremely confident in the kid as he strides to the bump for tonight's game.
-- Speaking of St. John's, I see a TON of similarities to the Johnnies in this Oklahoma team. Young. Talented. Scrappy. Live bats. Deep bullpen. These two teams are actually spitting images of each other. We were able to beat St. John's when we had to. Here's hoping the same rings true against the Sooners.
-- This week, John Paul Jones Arena plays host to two big recruiting events: The UVA Elite Camp on Monday and Tuesday, and the NBA Top 100 Camp Wednesday through the weekend. These events are when Tony Bennett really got the 2010 recruiting effort cranked up and whirring audibly last year. He needs to manage the same feat this year, to sort of spark what has been a slow start to the recruiting push for the 2011 class.
-- Meanwhile, in the world of football recruiting, Mike London is straight up ballin' right now. The 2011 class currently sits at 14 commitments, including a bunch of in-state studs in DE Diamonte "Diomond" Bailey (Richmond), OL Ross Burbank (VA Beach), DT David Dean (VA Beach), DB Kameron Mack (Portsmouth), RB/WR Clifton Richardson (Newport News), and LB Caleb Taylor (Hampton). We have gone head to head with Virginia Tech and pulled Mack, Richardson, and Taylor. So yeah, it's confirmed. Mike London can recruit, his staff can recruit, the focus is on the state of Virginia, and (at least right now) there is a palatable buzz for the underdog Cavaliers. Some of these kids seem jazzed about the thought of being the group of players that turn Virginia Football back into a winning program.
-- In addition to the 757, it looks like London has pinpointed the DC-Metro area, along with Maryland, as areas that should be Virginia's stomping ground in recruiting. DT Vincent Croce (Olney, MD), OL Kelby Johnson (Hyattsville, MD), DE Marco Jones (Baltimore, MD), DB Jordan Lomax (Hyattsville, MD), and TE Darius Redman (Washington, DC) all hail from the area.
-- If you noticed that most of the recruits above play defense... well... I noticed the same thing. The 2010 class was more offensively oriented, so it makes some level of sense that we'll go D-heavy this year. That said, I'm kind of getting the impression that Mike London wants to build us into a team that wins games with its fast, attacking, playmaking defense... kind of like the way Frank Beamer built his early teams at Virginia Tech. Hate the Hokies, but at least be intelligent enough to acknowledge the fact that they have laid out a blueprint for how to win and win fairly big with less-heralded recruits, mostly from within the state borders.
-- REALIGNMAGEDDON UPDATE: Nebraska to the Big "Ten." Colorado to the Pac-"10." Boise State to the Mountain West. That all happened last week. This week, we're waiting to see what Texas decides -- will the Longhorns lead their junta to the Pac-10 to form the Pac-16? (Maybe.) Will they join Nebraska in the Big Ten? (Probably not.) Will they stay put and try to repair the Big XII? (Maybe. And this possibility is surprisingly gaining steam.) Will they go to the SEC? (No.) Make no mistake, Texas is the next domino, then Notre Dame. Depending on what those two schools decide, we'll see if the fallout from the mushroom cloud extends all of the way to the ACC. There is one piece of good news, via reliable sources at ESPN:
Looking beyond the Big 12 for expansion, specifically to the ACC for schools such as Georgia Tech, Clemson, Florida State or Miami, was not in the SEC's plans, sources told ESPN. The sources saw no way the SEC would raid the ACC and added serious doubt that Virginia Tech could be pried away from Virginia.I haven't decided if VT bolting for the SEC would be good for Virginia or not. On one hand, you know they'll go from a perennial 10-win ACC team to a perennial 7- or 8-win SEC team, and that's being generous to the Hokies. On the other hand, the idea of playing in the SEC tends to dazzle recruits, and I'm not sure I want VT having that sell point.
That's it for now. Be sure to tune in to tonight's game -- 7:00 PM (EST), ESPN2.
GO HOOS!
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