MBB HOKIES 17-18 | MEDIA GUIDE

H O K I E G R E A T S #getB3 TTER #ThisIsHome 51 A season of firsts. A record-setting year. A year to remember and to be talked about throughout Virginia Tech history. The 1966-67 basketball team featured a star-studded lineup that included two players who went on to professional careers and a third who was drafted into the ABA. The Hokies were virtually unstoppable, despite losing their leading scorer and rebounder from the previous year. After seeing Tech reach the postseason in 1965-66, fans thought the Hokies would be good, but not nearly as good as they turned out to be. Opening the season against fourth-ranked Duke, Tech blew out the Blue Devils on a neutral court in Charlotte, N.C. Hokie fans were so stirred up after knocking off the Blue Devils that a school-record 11,500 fans filed into Cassell Coliseum to watch Tech down Purdue the very next day. Still to this day, it is the largest home game attendance in Virginia Tech history. At the time, it was also the largest crowd to ever see a game in the state of Virginia. The momentum carried the team to seven more wins over the next nine games before dropping a narrow loss to Clemson. After losing to the Tigers, the Hokies would win the next seven games down the stretch, thanks mainly to the sharp-shooting of Glen Combs, who averaged 21.3 points per game as a junior. Tech averaged 78.8 points per contestduringthememorableseason. The potent offense contributed to its run in the NCAA Tournament, where Tech promptly knocked off Toledo at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky after losing to the Rockets at the end of the regular season. The Hokies reached the Elite Eight before succumbing to Dayton in overtime. Despite seeing their team on the verge of the Final Four and coming up just short, fans remember the team as a run-and-gun outfit in the pre- shot clock era. They also remember players like Ron “Spider” Perry, Chris Ellis, Ted Ware and Ken Talley. This group will always be etched in the history books as one of the best ever. There is simply no other way to describe the 1966-67 Virginia Tech men’s basketball team. T H E 1 9 6 6 - 6 7 HOK I ES V I R G I N I A T E C H ’ S E L I T E E I G H T T E AM It was a wonderful year. All of the starters could get out and run the floor, and everyone complemented each other on the court. Some of the players were interchangeable, and we were a good overall athletic team. - Former Virginia Tech and ABA standout Glen Combs