Optimism in Blacksburg

When James Johnson accepted an assistant's position at Clemson it wasn't big news to those outside of Virginia Tech. It only became a story a week later when he was able to back out of that hiring and in to the head coaching gig for the Hokies. Little did people know that several months later Johnson would be doing one of the most impressive coaching jobs in the country. He could be sitting on Brad Brownell's bench, and no one would be thinking twice about it. Instead, he's brought optimism and hope to Blacksburg. The early knock was that Tech hadn't played anyone. And that's true. They began 5-0 without once playing a team inside of Ken Pomeroy's top 200. And a couple of those games were uncomfortably close. Still, senior Erick Green was playing like the best guard in the ACC, while Jerell Eddie and Robert Brown were both playing at a high level. And then the ACC-Big Ten Challenge came along, and the Virginia Tech - Iowa matchup was a b...