George Haskins

Blacksburg, Virginia

8/12/2019

Virginia Tech Head Coach Mike Young, was visibly frustrated as he began his press conference this afternoon. The typically mild-mannered man did not have to wait long to talk about what was on his mind. The first question from reporters was about the most recent AP Poll. The Hokies opened the season at 13th, but dropped out of the poll despite winning all three of their games this season.

"It's definitely very frustrating to see. You try to stay above it all, but inevitably it's going to be noticed by the players." He continued, "You can only play the teams in front of you. I was really proud of our team for getting consecutive double-digit wins after a very tough close game at Alabama. And then to completely drop out of the poll is extremely disappointing."

There are 9 undefeated teams currently in the AP Top 25: #1 Kentucky, #2 Texas Tech, #4 Texas, #6 Michigan State, #8 North Carolina, #9 Villanova, #11 Miami (FL), #14 Oklahoma State, and #18 Oregon. All of them are 3-0 except for Oregon who has won the only game they have played against St. Johns by a margin of 5 points.

There are also two 2-2 teams in the AP Poll, #25 Kansas and #19 Penn State. When asked about that, Young held little back. "Yes, I think we're better than both of those teams. I mean, have you ever heard of a team going 3-0 to start a season, and then dropping 13 spots in the poll? Kansas had a very solid first couple of games, but they have lost two straight. Penn State has lost to respectable teams, but at some point you have to penalize them for losing games."

About Oregon, the coach stated "I just don't see how the voters value a team who barely beat St. Johns as their only game higher than us."

"Alabama was definitely a tough team." said Young, "You never know exactly how your team will do in the first game, especially when you start with an away game. We bounced back and started played very solid games against Providence and Seton Hall. I thought all of our games so far have been very good team efforts. It's encouraging to see because you still have a chance to win a game if some of your best players have off games."

Tech's only player with a double-digit performance is Micah Mohr who scored 15 vs Seton Hall. The team has twelve 8- or 9- point individual performances over their first three games.

The Hokies' next game is against #24 Butler. "They're a good team. They've had some standout performances by some of their players, but they're games have been close. I mean it's pretty stupid that this isn't a ranked matchup. This probably deserves to be one of the best games of the week, but it's not going to get the attention from a lot of people because one of the teams doesn't have a number next to their name. #24 at #10 has a much better ring to it than #24 at unranked."

When asked if he thought his team was a top 10 team, Young said, "I do, yes, and I can't wait for the chance to prove it. It's frustrating to see these kids put in the work and not get recognized for it. I hope that the voters get it together