Tag: Virginia Tech Hokies

Duke infielder Aminah Vega named ACC Player of the Week

After she cranked out seven hits, three home runs, and nine RBIs in a three-game sweep of Virginia Tech, Aminah Vega took home ACC Player of the Week honors.

Duke infielder Aminah Vega took home ACC Player of the Week honors in what was surely one of the easiest decisions the conference will have all season.

The Blue Devils swept Virginia Tech, who previously hadn’t lost a conference game, in a three-game series. Vega finished the week with seven hits in just 10 at-bats, including a four-for-four performance in the middle game on Friday. She cranked out extra-base hits, too, knocking three home runs (including two on Friday) and three doubles to generate nine RBIs for the series.

The Friday effort was one of the most impressive of the season, not just because of the gaudy stats listed above but because of how essential they were to the win. Duke trailed 4-0 after the opening inning, but Vega powered two-run homers in the first and fifth innings to knot the game at four runs apiece.

With the game tied in the bottom of the seventh, she came to the plate with a runner on first and one out, and she doubled to give the Blue Devils two runners in scoring position. That set the stage for Kelly Torres’ walk-off single two batters later.

Vega, a sophomore, is batting .414 for the season, the second-highest mark on the team. Her 41 hits and 12 doubles are both the most on the Duke roster, and her eight home runs trail only Claire Davidson’s nine.

Duke softball up to second in Softball America rankings

After a sweep of Virginia Tech to take firm control of the ACC, the Blue Devils trail only Oklahoma in the Softball America rankings.

Duke rose to claim the spot as the second-best softball team in the country, according to Softball America’s newest Top 25 released on Monday.

The Blue Devils are 29-3 on the season and 10-2 against ACC opponents after a sweep of Virginia Tech this weekend. The Hokies entered the series as the last ACC team unbeaten in conference play, but the Blue Devils outscored them by a combined 13 runs, including a 14-5 win to open the series.

Duke has only lost twice since the season opener against Oklahoma. The Sooners, who have won the last three national titles, remain atop Softball America’s Top 25 with a 34-1 record so far this season.

Georgia, Oklahoma State, and Tennessee round out the top five. Texas, Stanford, LSU, Washington, and Florida finished in order from sixth through 10th.

Duke’s season keeps going against Charlotte on Wednesday before a three-game series against North Carolina beginning on Friday.

After securing second ACC series over UVA, Duke moves up to No. 9 in latest D1Baseball poll

Duke pushes back into top 10 in latest D1Baseball Poll.

Duke baseball is back in the top 10.

After a little bit of a bump in the road, Chris Pollard’s team desperately needed a big week on the diamond to shift the momentum. They got just that with a 3-1 week that saw them take down ACC foe UVA for the Blue Devils’ second ACC series win of the season.

The week started with the Blue Devils hammering in-state opponent Campbell 11-1 on Tuesday. The Blue Devils got back after it on Thursday when they hosted a top-25 Virginia team. Ace pitcher Jonathan Santucci dazzled, working five innings of two-hit baseball to improve his record to 5-0, and Duke won 9-4.

On Friday, UVA bounced back with a 7-3 win to even the series at one game apiece. Another Duke comeback spearheaded Saturday’s rubber match. After the Blue Devils were down 2-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning, they exploded for five runs in the seventh and pulled out a 7-4 win to take the series.

Joined by UNC and Clemson, Duke now gives the ACC three teams ranked in the top 10. Arkansas remains number one for another week, Clemson is number two, and Texas A&M rose from fourth to third.

The fourth spot belongs to Tennessee with the fifth going to Oregon State. Virginia Tech (11), Florida State (14), Virginia (15), NC State (19), and Wake Forest (21) make up the rest of the ACC teams on this week’s poll.

Duke was named the No. 9 team in the country by Baseball America and the No. 7 team by Perfect Game.

The Blue Devils will be back in action on Tuesday to take on Liberty in Lynchburg, Va., for a midweek game before returning home to host Miami for ACC play at Jack Coombs Field next weekend.

Duke softball walks off Virginia Tech to clinch series

The Blue Devils needed only one run in the bottom of the seventh to clinch this weekend’s series against Virginia Tech, and Kelly Torres came through.

Duke softball needed just one win in the bottom of the seventh for a second straight win over Virginia Tech. It took the Blue Devils only five batters to find it.

After a double and two walks from the previous two batters, senior Kelly Torres strode to the plate with the bases loaded and one out on the board. She swung at the second pitch that Virginia Tech’s Lyndsey Grein rifled her way, and the ball rocketed off her bat.

The low, flat long drive looked like a potential lineout to center at first, but the ball kept flying and flying. Hokies centerfielder Emma Ritter could only watch helplessly as it whizzed over her head, one-hopping off the wall and bringing home the winning run.

The win, Duke’s eighth comeback of the year, improved the Blue Devils to 28-3 on the season and 9-2 in ACC play. They’ve taken two in a row from Virginia Tech, who hadn’t lost a conference game before the series began.

Duke trailed from the opening frame after the Hokies hung up four runs in the opening inning. Star Blue Devils pitcher Jala Wright got the start, and the senior had allowed just five earned runs in her 64 innings in the circle.

After an opening triple from Ritter, however, the Hokies set a different tone. Another Virginia Tech runner reached on a throwing error before Bre Peck launched a three-run homer into right-center field.

After another home run, a solo shot from Michelle Chatfield two batters later, Wright returned to usual form. She finished the outing with five strikeouts, six hits, and three earned runs in four innings.

The Blue Devils slowly pulled closer and closer throughout the evening. Second baseman Aminah Vega made the comeback possible, first smacking a two-run homer in the bottom of the first before blasting another two-run shot in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game.

Right fielder Sarah Goddard pushed in the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth, a one-out single that brought Torres around from second base, but the Hokies tied the game in the top of the seventh to set up Torres’ heroics.

The final game of the series takes place at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

Ohio State basketball vs. Virginia Tech: How to watch, stream the NIT

Ohio State hosts Cornell in the first-round of the NIT. #GoBucks

The Ohio State men’s basketball team took care of business in the opening round of the NIT Tournament but it wasn’t easy. Ivy League foe Cornell proved to be a tough out with its full-court press and backdoor cuts. The Buckeyes were able to come out on top with a five-point victory in the contest.

Now it’s time to move onto the second round where OSU will host the Virginia Tech Hokies. The Hokies come into the match with a 19-14 record and were a middle-of-the-pack ACC team. Tech seems to have the same problem the Buckeyes had earlier in the year… getting wins on the road. The Hokies are just 2-9 away from Blacksburg.

Here’s how to see all the action.

Basic info

When: Saturday, March 23, at 7 p.m. ET

Where:  Value City Arena (Columbus, Ohio)

How to watch/stream/listen:

Broadcast: ESPN+

Live Stream: fuboTV (watch here)

Radio: IMG Radio Network (flagship station WBNS 97.1 The Fan)

Radio announcers:

  • Paul Keels (play-by-play)
  • Ron Stokes (analysis)

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes, and opinion. 

March Madness: How to win $2.5K in USA TODAY’s Women’s NCAA Tournament Survivor Pool

Let the March Madness begin. College hoops expert Kevin Erickson is here to help you win the $2.5K NCAA Women’s Tournament Survivor Pool.

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The 2024 Women’s NCAA Tournament is here, and the field of 64 will be cut in half with 1st-round games Friday and Saturday as the top 16 seeds will host games during opening weekend.

You might have already filled out your brackets, but USA TODAY has another unique NCAA Tournament contest in which you can win $2,500.

Can you survive? USA TODAY Sports’ Men and Women’s Basketball Tournament Survivor Pools are here with a $2,500 prize for each contest! Free to enter, 21+. Terms apply, void where prohibited by law. See Official Rules. Play now!

As an employee, I’m not eligible to win, but there’s no rule against me helping you win $2.5K.

Here is my strategy of how to win the Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament Survivor Pool.

Each round, you’ll pick a set number of teams. For the 1st round, you have to pick 3 teams to simply win their games — no spread involved. If one of your teams loses, you’re eliminated. However, once you select a team, similar to an NFL survivor pool, you can’t use that team again.

In the 2nd round, you must pick 2 teams to win outright. After that, you have to pick 1 team per round — in the Sweet 16, the Elite 8, the Final Four and the championship game.

Another tricky rule is that you earn points based on the seed number of your winning team. Successfully pick a No. 12 seed to knock off a 5 seed, and you get 12 points. Pick a No. 1 seed and you only get 1 point if it wins.

Starting with the 1st round, I’m not going to worry about points. My goal is to survive and advance. There are often too many upsets and I’m not going to take that risk of getting knocked out on Day 1.

Let’s treat this as a short marathon, not a 60-yard dash. We’ll earn our points in the later rounds.

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First-round picks

PICK 1: VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES (24-7)

Who they play: Marshall Thundering Herd (26-6)

When: Friday, 3:30 p.m. ET (ESPN2)

Where: Cassell Coliseum, Blacksburg, Va.

The 4th-seeded Hokies are a strong play on their home court against the 13th-seeded Thundering Herd.

Virginia Tech, No. 12 in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, won all 15 games on its home court this season, while Marshall posted a 12-5 road mark. The Sun Belt representative will be facing its 2nd ACC team this season. Back on Dec. 21, Marshall suffered a 66-59 loss at Wake Forest, and you can expect a double-digit loss in this one.

The Thundering Herd has a 3 tremendous offensive weapons with guards Abby Beeman (16.8 points per game), Breanna Campbell (15.0 PPG) and Aislynn Hayes (14.8 PPG). The trio can hang with most anybody. Plus, Marshall creates plenty of offensive boards to get 2nd and 3rd opportunities on offense. However, the Herd are pretty poor in the free-throw department — ranking 301st at 67.1%, per NCAA.com — and in close games, it can be their undoing.

Virginia Tech is an elite team led by C Elizabeth Kitley (22.8 PPG, 11.4 RPG) and G Georgia Amoore (19.2 PPG, 6.9 APG). They are one of the best one-two punches in the nation. Kitley missed the ACC Tournament due to a left knee injury, so that’s a bit of a concern heading into the Big Dance. But this team ranks 17th in assist-to-turnover rate (1.33) and 9th in blocks (5.5 per game) in playing suffocating defense. If it is down Kitley, the Hokies are still the play.

THE BRACKETS ARE BACK! The USA TODAY Sports Bracket Challenge is back! $1 MILLION grand prize for a perfect bracket, $25,000 prize for top bracket. Free to enter, 21+. Terms apply, void where prohibited by law. See Official Rules. Play now!

PICK 2: COLORADO BUFFALOES (22-9)

Who they play: Drake Bulldogs (29-5)

When: Friday, 7 p.m. ET (ESPNews)

Where: Bramlage Coliseum, Manhattan, Kan.

This is a dangerous matchup for the Buffaloes as this might seem like a road game as the Bulldogs faithful should travel well since it’s a short jaunt from Des Moines to Kansas.

Drake can score at a feverish pace, with G Katie Dinnebier (17.9 PPG), F Grace Berg (17.0 PPG) and F Anna Miller (13.6 PPG, 10.1 RPG) serving as a talented 3-headed offensive monster. The Bulldogs feature one of the best field-goal percentages at 48.7%, ranking 7th in the nation. Plus, they are good free-throw shooting team (77.4% to rank 24th), which is good news in close games.

Colorado is ranked No. 17 in the Coaches Poll, yet scored just a No. 5 seed, which seems criminally low. The Buffaloes roared into the season with an opening 92-78 win over defending national champ LSU on a neutral floor in Las Vegas, announcing to everyone their arrival. They also scored wins over ranked teams Stanford, No. 1 seed USC and Utah.

The Buffs can score, especially C Aaronette Vonleh (14.1 PPG) — the younger sister of former NBA player and Indiana Hoosiers standout Noah Vonleh. CU struggles on free throws (72.8%, ranking 123rd), but it’s a good team taking care of the ball, while ranking highly in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.36, ranking 13th).

Stream select live college basketball games and full replays: Get ESPN+

PICK 3: NC STATE WOLFPACK (27-6)

Who they play: Chattanooga Mocs (28-4)

When: Saturday, 2:30 p.m. ET (ESPNU)

Where: Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh, N.C.

The 14th-seed Mocs of the SoCon have to play this one on the home court of the 3rd-seeded Wolfpack, who are No. 11 in the Coaches Poll.

Chattanooga announced its arrival with a win over a ranked Mississippi State team back in early December, bolstering the team’s NCAA Tournament resume early. The Mocs ended up winning the SoCon regular season and the conference tournament to earn their Big Dance ticket.

The Mocs are led by G Jada Guinn (19.7 PPG) and F Raven Thompson (14.3 PPG) and this squad can be a dangerous shooting team, particularly behind the 3-point line where they converted 37.5% of their attempts to rank 9th in the country. However, expect a lack of size to be their undoing.

NC State is outstanding all around with G Aziaha James (15.8 PPG), G Saniya Rivers (12.4 PPG), F Mimi Collins (11.2 PPG) and G Madison Hayes (11.1 PPG) giving the Pack a very balanced attack. NC State doesn’t make a lot of silly miscues — only 13.3 turnovers per game — and will have a tremendous advantage with its size, particularly in the rebounding department. NC State also has a lockdown defense — holding opponents to 59.9 PPG — which will make it awfully tough for Chattanooga to get good looks offensively.

All right. Let’s get these 3 wins, rack up a few points and then make sure to check back before Round 2 for our next winning picks. Play now!

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For more sports betting picks and tips, check out SportsbookWire.com and BetFTW.

Follow Kevin J. Erickson on Twitter. Follow SportsbookWire on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

College sports coverage from USA TODAY Sports Media Group:
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College Sports Wire: Men’s hoops / Women’s hoops / High School

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Duke slides in latest D1Baseball rankings after series loss to Clemson; remains in top 10

Duke lost its first series of the year, an ACC matchup with Clemson, and slid down three spots to ninth in latest D1Baseball poll.

The Duke Blue Devils have lost a series for the first time all season. It wasn’t as if they lost a team to be ashamed of, but this is the first series loss Chris Pollard and his team will have to bounce back from.

The Clemson Tigers came to Durham for Duke’s home ACC opening weekend, and the Tigers spoiled it, taking the Saturday and Sunday games to claim the series. With that series loss, the Blue Devils have slid in the latest D1Baseball rankings. Duke remains a top-10 team, but they are now ninth after their three-spot slide.

Arkansas continues to cruise atop the rankings, while Oregon State and Vanderbilt round out the top three. The Commodores jumped six spots.

Clemson shot up six spots to fourth, now the highest-ranked ACC team in the poll. A slew of SEC teams follow with LSU and Florida at fifth and sixth, respectively, and Texas A&M and Tennessee rounding out the teams in front of Duke.

Fellow North Carolina-based team ECU officially cracked the top 10 for the first time this season.

Florida State debuted at 12, joining the ranks of ACC teams inside the top 25. The Seminoles have reeled off 18 straight wins to start the season and are the only undefeated team in the poll.

Virginia is 14th after taking a series from Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons continue to slide after their second straight series loss. They are now 16th after holding the seventh spot last week.

Virginia Tech also enters the poll after being unranked last week. They are 19th, one place ahead of UNC at 20. After a week that saw them go winless, getting swept by Georgia Tech, the NC State Wolfpack are officially out of the poll.

Duke will end its six-game homestand on Tuesday when it hosts Towson at Jack Coombs Field. The first pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Virginia Tech’s Kenny Brooks gave Carmelo Anthony credit for championing women’s basketball in tear-jerking speech

Kenny Brooks stifled back tears as he found the words to tell those around him why women’s basketball matters.

The importance of women’s basketball is known to hoopers and their fans, but with the sport’s tremendous growth over the past several years, its impact has become hard to ignore by those who may not watch the sport as closely. It’s why coaches like Virginia Tech’s Kenny Brooks get so choked up when speaking about just how important women’s basketball is and its trajectory.

Women’s basketball is more than a moment. It’s an undeniable movement. The passion that women’s basketball stars play with is infectious, which keeps arenas nationwide frequently sold out. Ballers are everywhere, from Caitlin Clark to Angel Reese to Kamilla Cardoso to Georgia Amoore. Virginia Tech head coach Kenny Brooks is already aware of how fantastic women’s basketball is and has been waiting for everyone else to see why he loves the game so much. (See the clip below and the 5:53 mark of the YouTube video.)

(Warning: NSFW language.)

Following the end of Virginia Tech’s regular season, Kenny Brooks poured his heart out to the media:

“In every sense, I have been fighting for respectability. Every one of the kids I coached has worked their [expletive] off for me, and I watch the women’s game get disrespected by people who have no idea how much work these kids put in…

I saw something the other day, and Carmelo Anthony was talking about the women’s game. And he talked about [how] the women’s game is its purest in its form because they play the right way. When you got one of the greatest of all time to ever say that, it makes fools on Twitter look silly.”

Men’s Basketball: Duke’s ACC opponents for 2024 are set

The ACC released its conference opponent schedule for 2024-25 on Thursday evening. See who Duke will host and travel to here.

The Duke Blue Devils have officially entered the month of March, which means things will get serious for them on the basketball court. The Blue Devils have just three regular-season games remaining before they play in the ACC Tournament and, after that, the NCAA Tournament for a chance to win the program’s sixth national title.

Even while that takes place, there’s an eye on next year’s team as the Blue Devils discover who their conference opponents will be for the 2024-25 season.

Next year is a big year for the ACC as it welcomes three new teams to the conference: SMU, Stanford, and California.

The expansion means some tweaks to the normal ACC schedule, however, and the conference revealed each team’s ACC foes for the 2024-25 season on Thursday.

Duke’s 20-game schedule for 2024-25 features two two-game series (home and away) versus its two current partners, North Carolina and Wake Forest. The Blue Devils are 1-2 currently this year against both teams. They also have a home-and-away series with the Miami Hurricanes for next season.

Duke will host California at Cameron Indoor for the first time. The last time the schools played was in 2019 when Duke blew Cal out by 35 points in an 87-52 win in the 2K Empire Classic.

Florida State, NC State, Notre Dame, Pitt, Stanford, and Virginia Tech will all come to Cameron next year. Duke will travel for road games at Boston College, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Louisville, SMU, Syracuse, and Virginia next season.

Duke is 3-1 all-time against SMU in basketball. The Blue Devils’ road trip to SMU is only their second all-time, having played in Dallas on Dec. 8, 1977 – a game which Duke won by 24 points 91-67.

The ACC recently announced that, with the conference expanding to 18 members, only the top 15 teams in the conference will participate in the ACC Tournament next year, which is set to be played March 11-15 at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The full schedule will be announced early this fall, equipped with specific game dates, times, and networks.

UNC one of seven ACC hoops teams in NET Top 60

Seven ACC hoops teams are in the Top 60 of the latest NET rankings. Can you guess where the Tar Heels sit?

Saturday is going to be a day full of highly-anticipated, marquee college basketball matchups that carry massive implications.

Several games to watch include a ranked Big 12 battle between Houston and Baylor, a significantly-improved Wake squad hosting eight-ranked Duke in a battle that could determine the ACC’s first-place team, Alabama and Kentucky battling between ranked SEC teams and – the one we hope you’re watching the closest – 10th-ranked North Carolina traveling to UVA, where it hasn’t won in over a decade.

We’ll talk more about the Tar Heels in a second, but let’s not discount the fact that – despite UNC and Duke being the only two ranked ACC teams, seven conference programs are Top-60 in the latest NET rankings.

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That’s right – North Carolina leads the way at 10th, despite its recent hot-and-cold stretch. Duke is rightfully close to the Tar Heels at 12th, Clemson stands at 26th, Wake Forest jumped 10 spots to 27th, UVA sits at 48th, Virginia Tech rose 10 spots to 52nd after its huge win over UVA, while Pitt rounded out the ACC’s share of Top-60 teams at 58th.

There’s still two weeks left in the regular season and the ACC Tournament, which could drastically change these team’s NCAA Tournament outlook, but all seven being in the Top-60 of NET means there’s likely to be several ACC teams in the Big Dance.

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