Tough to be a Tech Basketball Fan
It is tough rooting for Virginia Tech basketball and probably not for the reason you’re thinking of.
Most people would hear that comment and respond with a “well duh” or “no kidding” because the Hokies have been pretty poor at basketball in recent memory. Having made the NCAA Tournament just once this century (2007) and having been on the bubble oh so many more times and not gotten the invite, it’s been excruciating. However, failure alone is no reason to sour on your squad. If it was, no one would show up for Towson basketball games and I am pretty sure they draw at least a couple hundred fans most nights.
But cheap shots aside, rooting for Virginia Tech basketball is hard because it is so obviously a football school. Students and alums treat the bball team as a “thing to do on a Tuesday night” rather than a power conference clash with a fellow division one foe. It seems the university treats them almost as nonchalantly. Although new practice facilities were built a few years back, the arena, Cassell Coliseum, is no place to draw big-time recruits. Rather, Tech is used to bringing in able bodied athletes and hoping some wins pile up. There is never a season where the Hokies have the talent to fight it out for the ACC title and this is obvious in November, not February.
I get it that it’s hard to compete in both. Rare is a school who can vie for a football championship as well as a top seed come March Madness. Texas has done it; Florida was the pinnacle earlier this decade. Yet there are dozens of power conference teams who field talented teams in both sports. When a university is branded a “football school,” it’s hard for the basketball fans. Why compete in a sport if we’re not giving it our all? I’d rather the Hokies go all out and fail.
Read the in-depth Preview for Virginia Tech Basketball
