While following Twitter during the Hoos' 61-59 win over the Hokies last night, I came to the realization that the Wahoo faithful is a pretty funny, albeit cynical, bunch. Here are some of the best in-game tweets to get you a laugh and help you follow our psyches (sorry in advance to those who don't speak "Twitterese"):

The game didn't start off well at all, as Hokies chucked threes that kept falling:

@The_Superhoo: Luck. Sheer luck is keeping Hoakies in this game and in the lead. DFS just had a 3 bounce several times before falling in.

@VirginiaSports: UVa shot nearly 70 percent from the floor in the first half, yet trails 35-32. Here's why: Tech is 6 for 9 on 3s and 7 for 7 from line. JW

@ddamarketing: TV announcers disagree with the official not giving UVA a timeout. Karl Hess would have ejected the TV announcers....

@SethDavisHoops: I'm having a lot of fun watching hoops. I only hope Karl Hess doesn't barge into my living room and kick me out of the house.

...or Carolina jokes either

@BeerControl: Mike Scott is the player of the year in the ACC, only the tobacco road mafia media can keep it from him.

Keep it classy, Hokies!

@WahooBasketball: Hokies throwing things on the court. Again. All class.

@The_SuperHoo: Imagine that. A #VT fan threw something on the court. That NEVER happens at VT. #UVA

UVA climbs back into the game...

@PWiley87: Fun fact for this broadcast: Every time they say "Finney-Smith," it totally sounds like "Fitty Cent"

@UVAHooCrew: BUB WITH THE DESPERATION SHOT CLOCK THREE HAHAH

(saga continues after the jump)

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In a game that was exciting, terrifying, and bizarre all in one, UVA picked up a huge road win at Cassell Coliseum when it stormed to a second-half lead and held on in the final seconds to beat the rival Hokies. The Cardiac Cavs were at it again, as they won a third ACC game this season on a last defensive stand, this time when Malcolm Brogdon, playing with an ankle injury, swatted at a pass to earn a steal and seal the win. The win puts #25 Virginia alone in 4th place in the ACC at 8-5 (21-6 overall), while Tech drops to 4-9.

UVA had built a 59-51 lead after a Sammy Zeglinski 3-pointer with three minutes to go when things got really exciting/terrifying/bizarre. In the next 90 seconds, he and Jontel Evans, both point guards, picked up their fourth and fifth fouls and exited the game, much to the shock of viewers watching at home who were unaware of any foul trouble at all. In fact, we witnessed the first and second times a Cavalier has fouled out all season within seconds. Brogdon, who had injured his ankle against Maryland and was resting after it flared up in the first half, was forced to re-enter the game (the only other option to handle the ball would have been walk-on Doug Browman). Joe Harris was playing with one hand. How would the Hoos hold on?

The answer, apparently, was by the skin of their teeth and Malcolm's finger nails. The only UVA points down the stretch were earned on a Paul Jesperson layup; the Hokies, on the other hand, climbed quickly back on a series of layups and phantom foul calls. On consecutive possessions, Virginia inexplicably inbounded the ball to Akil Mitchell, once on a cross-court pass from Malcolm Brogdon. Akil, a 53% free-throw shooter, missed the front-ends of two one-and-ones, giving Virginia Tech a final possession, during which Malcolm's game-winning steal sealed the win.

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What: No. 25 Virginia Cavaliers (20-6, 7-5 ACC) vs. Virginia Tech Hokies (15-12, 4-8 ACC

Time: 9:00 p.m.
Date: February 21, 2012
Place: Cassell Coliseum
TV: ESPNU
Radio: Virginia Sports Radio Network

Spread: Virginia -2; Pomeroy: Virginia 56, Virginia Tech 53 (64%)
Last Meeting: Virginia 45, Virginia Tech 47
Last Time Out: Virginia Tech 74, Georgia Tech 73
Series: Virginia leads 81-53

In the last meeting between these two teams, senior forward Victor Davila was stuck to Mike Scott like glue, and while the stats don't show it, he was probably the biggest factor in effectively shutting down the big man. He has missed the last two games, though, and is listed as a game-time decision today as a result of a groin injury, for which he received an MRI today.

Virginia made a total of 15 baskets during the last meeting between the two teams. That...must get better. There's really nothing more to say and no other way of saying it. You don't win games on 32.6% shooting.

Virginia Tech's game notes say that an "interesting side note" is that of the Hokies' 11 active scholarship players, only three had meaningful action in past previous seasons, and five of them are freshmen. You know what I consider to be an interesting side note? That of Virginia's nine active scholarship players, one has a broken ankle and one has a broken hand. This is why we can't have nice things.

I also love this tidbit, from Virginia's game notes. "70 is a magic number" -- this is a "story line" that the media relations folks have been using since last year. Under Tony Bennett, in games where the Hoos have scored 70 or more, Virginia is 24-2, as opposed to 27-35 when failing to reach 70. But now, with this new and improved team, the media relations folks have dubbed that "60 is the new 70." Virginia is 16-0 this season when scoring at least 60 points, and 4-6 when failing to do so.

Big game for Virginia tonight. Some consider this a must-win, others do not. Everyone agrees that I will personally rage out if we don't get the job done.

Leave your pre-, in- and post-game thoughts here and Go HOOS!

The Chinese/Taiwanese-American Knicks star Jeremy Lin has been the focus quickly become the hottest thing since sliced bread. Could the next Lin be hanging out....right here in the commonwealth of Virginia? Yahoo! Sports' Prep Rally thinks so, and the recruit, 6-foot-2 point guard Chris Tang of Hampton Roads Academy (Newport News, Va.), has caught the eye of Virginia head coach Tony Bennett, as well as others.

According to Prep Rally, Tang, just a sophomore, is already receiving interest from Virginia, Virginia Tech, Maryland, Davidson, and none other than Harvard. Prep Rally notes Tang's exception court vision, ability to cut into the lane, vertical ability and agility. At 15, he's already had a 41- and 42-point performance this year.

The Chinese point guard moved to the U.S. in eighth grade and has lived with a foster family since. He's also a Boo Williams AAU product, as were current Cavaliers Jontel Evans and Mike Scott, as well as UVA legend Bryant Stith, among others.

Here's a highlight reel from Scouts Focus, or you can read the full Prep Rally article here.

The Virginia Cavaliers face the Virginia Tech Hokies in Blacksburg tomorrow to avenge an unexpected 47-45 loss earlier this year in Charlottesville. The Hoos are coming off a 1-1 week, crushing the Terrapins 71-44, but falling earlier at Clemson 60-48. In today's AP Top 25, Virginia is hanging on at No. 25, but fell out of the rankings in the Coaches Poll.

The Hokies needed overtime and a buzzer beater trey to top Georgia Tech this past weekend, 74-73. They improved to 15-12 overall and 4-8 in the conference.

What's changed since the last meeting between the two? For one, starting forward Victor Davila likely will not be playing this time around. The 6-8 senior has a groin injury that Hokies head coach Seth Greenberg described as "severe" following Saturday's game. Davila has missed the last two games for the Hokies, and will be undergoing an MRI on Tuesday.

Even though Davila put up just two points and no blocks in the first contest, he was key for the Hokies in defending Mike Scott, challenging shots and doing a good job of keeping the ball out of Scott's hands. He pulled in five rebounds, the second-best for the team in that matchup.

For the Cavaliers, the last meeting was the first game the Hoos played without senior Assane Sene, who injured his ankle in the prior contest against Georgia Tech. The Cavaliers have had some time to gel as a team without Sene's defensive presence on the court, but in the meantime, has had the misfortune of having Virginia's second-leading scorer Joe Harris breaking his non-shooting hand.

Harris, who had 10 points and seven rebounds in the first meeting, has struggled with an average of just four points and three rebounds per game over the last two games, since he broke his hand. Harris had been shooting 41.2% from beyond the three-point arc, but has gone 0 for 5 since.

Virginia head coach Tony Bennett addressed the injuries Monday afternoon on the ACC teleconference. He expects Harris's swelling to go down significantly over the next few days, but was less optimistic regarding Sene's return this season, stating that Sene is only about 50% weight-bearing, and still on crutches.

In the last meeting, Sammy Zeglinski was already ice cold, so any production from Zeglinski would be improvement. The senior guard shot 0 for 7 from the field, including 0 for 6 from three, with all five of his points coming from the charity stripe.

The Cavaliers are in a somewhat of a must-win situation if the Hoos are to make the postseason this year. Virginia is 7-5 in the conference with just four games to go, two of which are against 10-ACC-win teams Florida State and North Carolina at home, both of whom Virginia has already lost to once this year.

Tip-off is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. Tuesday.

After a 1-1 week that included a meek road loss to a mediocre Clemson team followed by a dominant home victory over similarly mediocre Maryland, Virginia fans took to their refresh buttons to see if the Hoos would maintain a spot in the top 25 polls. Does being ranked really matter? In terms of "tangible" factors, like future wins and losses, ACC tournament seeding, and NCAA bids, of course not. On the other hand, there are some fun perks that come along with a national ranking. Virginia shows up on the ESPN.com sidebar, the ESPN bottom line, and the ESPN highlights. So basically, it's a bit harder for one media group to ignore us, and we get to see a number next to our name on TV - but I'd like to keep it that way.

However, those days are (temporarily) over, as UVA dropped out of the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll for the first time since December 19th. The Hoos received 73 votes, putting them 3 votes away from the top 25, but stuck in 26th place for this week. Though Virginia stayed in the AP Poll, coming in at 25th, the media outlets that use the Coaches Poll (like ESPN) won't show the Hoos. As per my practice of using whichever ranking puts us higher, I'll stick with the Associated Press on this one.

Ken Pomeroy, who lives outside the world of perception bias and pacism, has the Hoos 20th in his rankings. Virginia is 107th in adjusted offensive efficiency (104.7 points per 100 possessions), but 5th in the nation in defense (85.3 points per 100). Notably, the defense is in the top 10 nationally in effective FG %, defensive rebound %, three point %, and, yes, free-throw %, as opponents, terrified by the prospect of returning to defend Mike Scott, shoot just 63% at the line. Pomeroy's magic 8-ball predicts its basically a toss-up whether we finish the year 3-1 or 2-2.

Jeff Sagarin's computer model puts Virginia at 23rd in the nation.

The much-maligned but all important RPI formula spits Virginia out at number 38. RPI is a terrible measure of team strength, albeit a very simplistic one (The formula is simply 25% record, 50% opponents' records, and 25% opponents' opponents' records. Home wins are weighted as .6 wins and losses are 1.4, On the road, swap those two.). This makes it pretty simple to predict where we will stand at the end of the year, and you could play around with that at this site. Basically, ending the year with an RPI under 50 means there is virtually no chance we miss the tournament if past history holds, and we should be okay as long as we stay below 60. The Committee tells us that RPI is "just one factor" used, but it always ends up correlating pretty strongly with their selections. This post from "Wahoo Metrics" explains further:

In 2011, the top four seeds in the NIT, and thereby the first four out of the real tournament, were Virginia Tech, Alabama, Colorado, and Boston College. Their final RPIs were, respectively, 65, 59, 67, and 61. In 2010; Illinois 66, Virginia Tech 52, Arizona State 69, and Miss. State 59.

Because RPI is so silly, it is also important that our opponents make it into arbitrary cutoffs. The selection committee looks at schedule broken into "top 50" and "top 100" components, so seeing that we played a team that finish 49th holds more water than if they finish a virtually identical 51st. A few teams to keep track of: Miami is currently 49th in RPI, and RPIForecast predicts a finish of 49.7, barely keeping them in "top 50 win" territory. NC State, on the other hand, sits just outside the top 50. Oregon could finish in the top 50 as well, though a run to the Pac-12 Tournament Final seems necessary. A strong finish could propel TCU into the top 100, though it is more likely that finish just outside and stay in "bad loss territory." Bottom line: RPI is dumb, but it could end up giving us a lift if things break the right way come tournament time.

After losses to UNC and Clemson in consecutive road games, Virginia's return to the friendly confines of John Paul Jones Arena to take on the rival Terrapins was a must-win for the team's psyche as well as its NCAA tournament hopes. With their backs against the wall, the 22nd-ranked Hoos took care of business, turning a 31-31 game at halftime into a 71-44 rout to pick up their 20th win of the season. UVA is now 20-6 overall and 7-5 in the ACC; Maryland fell to 5-7 inside the conference.

Any path to a Wahoo victory included two central tenets: first, shut down Maryland's prolific scorer Terrell Stoglin. Second, avoid another ice-cold shooting night. By doing both effectively, UVA gave the Terps no chance of pulling off an upset.

Mike Scott led the team with 25 points, scoring 16 of those in the first half. His 10 of 20 shooting reveals that Scott did not have his most efficient game, as he appeared to favor his ankle down the stretch. However, his continued ability to nail contested jumpers makes him a nearly unstoppable weapon.

The game got a bit too close for comfort around halftime; after Virginia jumped out to a 24-15 advantage, Maryland stormed back to tie the game at 31 behind a barrage of three-pointers. Stoglin somehow buried three heavily-contested consecutive shots from behind the arc, and Nick Faust hit one to tie the game with seconds remaining. The Terps took the lead after scoring just seconds after halftime but wouldn't threaten again, as the pack-line defense vexed them for the remainder of the game.

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What: No. 22/22 Virginia Cavaliers (19-6, 6-5 ACC) vs. Maryland Terrapins (15-10, 5-6 ACC)

Time: 1:00 p.m.
Date: February 18, 2012
Place: John Paul Jones Arena
TV: ACC Network
Radio: Virginia Sports Radio Network

Spread: Virginia -10.5; Pomeroy: Virginia 65, Maryland 53 (89%)
Last Meeting: Virginia 74, Maryland 60
Last Time Out: Maryland 81, Boston College 65
Series: Maryland leads 106-69

Even though we play Maryland twice and we're already 11 games into the ACC season, this is the first time the Hoos and the Terps have faced off this season.

Virginia's offensive drought can only last so long, right? I mean, at some point, the reliable, go-to Sammy Zeglinski will return from his winter hibernation, right? And Joe Harris's hand isn't actually broken, he was just tired that day? Excellent.

Seriously though, if there were ever a "must win" game to keep this season from spiraling, it's this afternoon. Virginia has lost three of its last four, which actually isn't as bad as what it sounds like when you consider that one of those was at Chapel Hill and the other was in Tallahassee. The third, against Clemson, felt like it should have been a game that Virginia should have just taken care of, even though Vegas and Ken Pomeroy essentially called it a coin flip.

I'll be pleased with a win today, if we can be so fortunate, but I won't really be happy with it unless I see some offensive power coming from the Hoos -- specifically from Zeglinski. Jontel Evans has certainly done more than his part to carry the team over the past two games, on both sides of the floor, and in a sport that asks the question, "What have you done for me lately," this means that Evans is ranking higher right now than Zeglinski in my book. Maryland is just not a good club this year, with four of their five wins coming from the cellar of the ACC (Wake, GT, VT and BC). They did, however, steal a win over Clemson by two. Virginia should take care of business today, and I'd love to see some offensive reassurance for the rest of the season.

Were the season to end right now, I think the Hoos are easily considered "in" come Tournament time, but a loss today would put that in grave danger. It's simply one that we cannot afford, considering two of our final four games will be against UNC and FSU.

Leave your pre-, in- and post-game thoughts here and Go HOOS!