Virginia Tech Limps Down The Stretch

The Hokies head into Wednesday night's game banged up and desperate for a win.  The injury situation is so bad it's forced Seth Greenberg to alter his practices:

Greenberg said he had scaled back in live drills in practice because not enough players could participate. Virginia Tech practiced for an hour and 20 minutes on Monday, but Greenberg said that was "probably too much." He said he was debating whether the team should practice live on Tuesday.

"I think we’re not where we would be defensively" if the team was healthy enough to practice, Greenberg said. "We can't guard in practice right now. I just can’t afford it."

I can't imagine Greenberg appreciated having to play a couple of overtimes on Saturday.  All three of their key contributors--Dorenzo Hudson, Malcolm Delaney, Jeff Allen--are coping with nagging injuries.  Those injuries could be partially responsible for the team's offensive struggles in conference play.  Looks like it's taking a toll on their defense as well.  They've allowed opponents to score comfortably above a point per possession in four straight games, and they haven't been forcing nearly as many turnovers as they were early on.

Perhaps the Pack's odds are a bit better this time around.  Cassell's been kind to us in the past.  At the very least, this game can't go any worse than the February 11 meeting.