INDIANAPOLIS – Though the 10th-seeded Virginia Tech men's basketball team has been in its rooms for most of its stay in Indy so far, and relatively kept to itself, it has done its best to stay locked in and focused on the task at hand.
The team arrived in the afternoon on Monday and as soon as it stepped off the plane, it was welcomed with freezing rain and gusts of 20 miles per hour wind. Lovely, right? Well, maybe not so much. But, high spirits remained.
Following its bus ride over to the team hotel, which is in downtown Indy, a Marriott, the team had to get tested (for Covid-19). After the testing, the Hokies headed to their rooms. And really since then, they haven't left but for short instances.
Those instances have been everyone's favorite – more testing – and then meals, film, weights and practices. But besides those moments of feeling alive and well and actually doing something, the rest of the Hokies' time has been in their rooms, as if time stood still.
Most of the players have been studios, hitting the books and keeping up with school. The coaching staff has chipped away at watching film on the seventh-seeded Florida Gators (14-9, 9-7 SEC). And the support staff has, well, stayed busy.
Today marks Day 4 of the trip so far, a business trip as the staff would put it. Sure, it's an incredible thing to be a part of, especially given this year with all of the teams (68) in one location, but Tech (15-6, 9-4 ACC) is here to win.
"I've never offered one thing in my approach with the team," Tech coach Mike Young said when asked on how he prepares his teams over the years for the NCAA Tournament in a press conference on Tuesday. "They know where we are. They're smart people and understand what's at stake. I'm not going to add any unnecessary pressure. Let's go play. Let's have a great time. We're playing in the best tournament of them all. Let you ears back and let it rip. That's what I expect our team to do on Friday."
And so, that's the expectation. To get out there and play like they have all season – tough. HokieNation has grown accustom to Young's teams playing the game the right way over the last two seasons. A grizzled vet, who has been a college basketball coach for over 35 years, Young has had a quiet confidence about this team. A team he loves dearly.
"I have an enormous amount of pride," Young said on making it to the NCAA Tournament with this team. "Thankful, appreciative of the people I work with on a daily basis, the people I work for and the players."
One of those players, Delaware grad transfer Justyn Mutts, has really come into his own as of late. The redshirt junior has had two 20-point games out of his last four contests, including a season-high 24 points in Tech's last outing, an eight-point setback to North Carolina (18-10, 10-6) in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament in Greensboro.
Though Mutts had his A-game and the rest of the Hokies did not, he expects his teammates to get back to their ways despite only playing one game the last three weeks.
"I mean, I see these guys in practice every day," Mutts said in a press conference after the ACC Tournament quarterfinal. "I know what everybody on this team is capable of and I know what this team is capable of when we really are clicking. And I feel like we've been able to show people what we're able to do. Moving forward, I'm just excited to see how we can really continue to gel together and really get some wins."
The team has had quite enough time to gel with one another the last few days, with truly enjoying seeing one another after being cooped in up in their respective rooms (no one shares a room) for a good chunk of the day. The small talk on walks to practices and interactions on the court have been fruitful, as everyone is just trying to 'enjoy' this unique setup and tournament as much as we all can. One day at a time.
"For me, personally, I'm just taking it one day at a time," Mutts said on Tuesday in the pre-NCAA Tournament press conference. "So much of what is going on right now is out of our control. Just as people, we think we have so much more control than we actually do, and we could get frustrated when a game might get postponed or canceled. But at the end of the day, we really don't have any control over it. It's just about rolling with the punches and just staying ready."
So, the Hokies will control what they can control as they get dialed in for their biggest game yet – the next one.