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Under Review
In Pure Virginia Tech (Feb. 6 at 8 p.m., CSTV) the Hokies' Brooklyn-bred basketball coach, Seth Greenberg, stops off at a Blacksburg, Va., grocery store to pick up breakfast: a Diet Coke and a bagel. After one bite he suggests that he should open up a bagel shop in town, adding, "If we don't score for the first six minutes, I'll have an opportunity." Pure--which follows the fortysomething Greenberg as he prepares Tech, never a basketball power, for the school's first ACC game, against North Carolina--succeeds largely because of the coach's wit. We see him running practice, dealing with the media (and gently mocking the Hokies' play-by-play man), hosting a team dinner at his house and glad-handing fans at a party. Except for a few shots of film sessions, Pure is light on X's and O's. Instead it focuses on Greenberg's attempts to mentally prepare his young, overmatched, undermanned squad, to convince them that they can survive in the country's top basketball conference. (In one huddle Greenberg reminds his players not to be intimidated by the Tar Heels by telling them, "F--- the ACC.") Not that Greenberg believes his kids aren't in over their heads. As he leaves his house to go to the game, he gets a hug from his young daughter, whose final words to him are "You got your rabbit foot?" --M.B.
