With the arrival of exam week at Virginia Tech, things have gotten a little quieter on the athletic front in Blacksburg. Nevertheless, Coach Joe Matthews of the women’s basketball team and Coach Ricky Stokes discussed the basketball teams, and several guests appeared to discuss the upcoming Gator Bowl.

Coach Henrickson was out of town scouting some underclassmen at a high school tournament on Monday, so Coach Matthews took her place for the first part of the evening. He said that the coaching staff is very confident in the team, and that it is an experienced team with a lot of depth and that all of the players can play in the Big East. He said they are trying to get Tere Williams to expand her game, and that they believe she is a WNBA-type player. When discussing the rest of the Big East, though, he said that the team must focus on its own success without trying to measure itself against anyone else.

On the injury front, he mentioned that Amy Wetzel is continuing to improve. She badly sprained her ankle earlier in the season, but still played 38 minutes in the game against Rutgers. Bill Roth mentioned that she will soon change positions once Lisa Guarneri joins the team after exams. The coach later said that this will give her the opportunity to move back to her natural position as the number 2 guard, where she has been more effective in the past.

Coach Stokes arrived a little late, but had a chance to discuss his men’s team briefly. They have been practicing a lot lately and are putting a lot of new things into the mix in an effort to put the team in a position to be successful. With the new players coming into the program, he said he is also looking forward to having a longer bench.

Bill Roth asked about the Dennis Mims situation. He said that nothing has been done yet, but that he expects to speak with Mims’s parents in the near future. He said that he is not practicing with the team at the present time.

Carlton Carter and Danny Gathings are two of the new players that will join the team for the East Tennessee State game. Carter is a "legitimate big man" that runs and handles the ball well. He also has good perimeter skills and is a leader on the team. Coach Stokes mentioned that the team had voted him as one of the co-captains for the season. He also brings experience to the position, as he has played college basketball for the University of Colorado. Coach Stokes said that he expects him to be in the rotation for the upcoming games, and thinks that he’ll get 20-25 minutes of playing time.

According to Alex Martin, one of his new teammates, Danny Gathings is a tough rebounder. He’s a little more of an unknown, though, since he hasn’t been practicing with the team as Carter has been. When asked about the chances that he will play in the upcoming games, the coach said that they’d have to wait and see.

The next three games are against ETSU, Mt. St. Mary’s and UT- Chattanooga -- the last two on the road. In discussing the rationale for the match-ups, Coach Stokes said that the team always wants to make appearances in the DC area, and Mt. St. Mary’s gives them that chance. The series will be a home-and-home series, with Mt. St. Mary’s visiting Cassell Coliseum in the future. UT-C also presents the kind of school that Tech was looking for in a non-conference opponent.

Roth mentioned briefly that Fordham had recently beaten St. John’s in Madison Square Garden. Both he and Coach Stokes agreed that this was encouraging from a Tech perspective. It shows that, while Big East teams are better, they aren’t unbeatable.

When asked at the end of the show what he will be looking for during the recruiting period, Coach Stokes said simply, "big guys, big guys, big guys."

Sammy Smith of the Virginia Tech ticket office and Rick Catlett, the Executive Director of the Gator Bowl, each joined the program to talk about the Gator Bowl from their perspectives. Smith said that support from the fans was great and that ticket sales had exceeded the 18,000 mark on Monday. He said that he had spoken with Gator Bowl officials, and Tech was ordering additional tickets to keep up with demand.

He said that this was the best support of the three trips to the Gator Bowl since 1994 -- attributing it to support from the many fans that weren’t able to make the trip to New Orleans last year for the Sugar Bowl. He said that it’s not too late to order or buy tickets, and that tickets are even being sold at the ticket window on campus. Tickets that have been ordered are being sent via FedEx in order to avoid Christmas delays, and that all tickets should be in hand by Monday or Tuesday of next week.

On other notes, he said that Clemson had sold a similar number of tickets, that Virginia Tech’s tickets were somewhat spread out, and that parking passes were being sold separately and that they are available on-line (note from Will: see TSL's Gator Bowl Page for a link to the on-line parking pass application).

Rick Catlett said that he is excited to have the Hokies in the Gator Bowl and that he feels that it will be one of the three best bowl games of the year. He said that Michael Vick is one of the two or three best athletes in the country and that Woody Dantzler is a duplicate of Vick. He also discussed the many events that are planned for the fans coming to Jacksonville.

When asked about potential rematches in future games, since Big East and ACC teams play frequently during the regular season, he mentioned that the Gator Bowl is in its third year of a four year contract, and that that scenario is being discussed. They are looking into the possibility of trading teams among a few other bowls in order to avoid such situations. He also mentioned that the Peach Bowl had called and offered to trade the University of Georgia to the Gator Bowl to allow a Clemson-Georgia match-up and have the Hokies travel to Atlanta, but the Gator Bowl said no. After all, he said, Virginia Tech is one of the best five teams in the country.

Roth asked if the Gator Bowl would ever be interested in stepping up to BCS status. Catlett said that it would, and that they had outbid the Orange Bowl during negotiations prior to the original BCS contract. If the Orange Bowl slips up this year as the championship game host, he said that they will be ready to become a part of the BCS. He said, among other things, that he believes that Jacksonville is a better destination for the fans than Miami.

• Early in the show, Bill Roth announced that Virginia head football coach George Welsh announced his retirement earlier in the day. He later said that his favorite memory of Welsh was of the 1990 Tech-UVa game (which Tech won 38-13, by the way) during which a picture was taken of him slamming his hat to the ground.

• Virginia Tech received a verbal commitment from a football player on Monday. While they could not mention the name, he’s a player that had been choosing between Tennessee and Virginia Tech. Roth mentioned that fans would have to go to another source to find out his name (note from Will: the commitment was from running back Justin Hamilton from Clintwood, Virginia. Justin is the #4 player in the state according to Roanoke Times rankings. Click here to see information on Justin, and click here to visit TSL's Football Recruiting Page).

• There are over 100 reservations for the fundraiser to benefit the Marques Hampton Scholarship at the Gobblertown Tavern.

• There will be no regular Hokie Hotline shows between now and the bowl game. Next week is a men’s basketball game. The following week is Christmas, and then there will be special Hotline broadcasts from Jacksonville on December 29 through 31. Details of these shows will be given later.

• Monday was Day 436 of Virginia Tech's possession of the Commonwealth Cup.

-- Apex Hokie

Hokie Hotline Note Archives