Green Collects ACC POY

Last night, on the eve of the announcement of the ACC player of the year, Virginia Tech senior guard

That might have been the final step, but Green's play all season got him to this point. Today, the ACC announced Green as the conference's player of the year, the first for the Hokies as a member of the ACC.

Green received 38 of the 76 votes cast. Miami's

Green was also one of the last to know today, with the announcement made during Virginia Tech's practice. But he had a good feeling last night when he said his prayer.

"I was gonna keep my head high, regardless of if I won or lose," Green said. "My thing was just, before I went to bed, I just wanted to say, hopefully, I'd won, hopefully I'd win it. That would be a dream come true for me and I could cross that thing off on my wall I put up, to win ACC palyer of the year. It's just a great accomplishment, but I couldn't do this without my teammates and a wonderful coaching staff."

Green has led the country in scoring since December and still sits atop the leaders with 25.4 points per game. He's also shooting at a 48.2 percent clip from the field.

Only two other Virginia Tech players have earned a conference's Player of the Year award, as Green joins

"I know Erick would give all this up to have more wins and an opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament," coach

Johnson was one of the first to offer Green a scholarship in high school, as a then-assistant coach at George Mason. Johnson helped persuade former Hokies coach

"Definitely doing this with JJ, it doesn't get any better because that's the guy who recruited me and stuck with me and even when he left George Mason and Penn State and came here, he still got coach to come recruit me and he believed in me," Green said. "I remember from day one, he always told me I was gonna be a special player and man, he was right."

Despite a tough season for the Hokies, Green set a school record with 786 points scored, breaking the old mark of 785 by Coles in the 1989-90 season. In the regular season finale at Wake Forest on Sunday, he scored his 1,700th career point and moved past

The Hokies are still the 12th and final seed in the ACC Tournament, which begins Thursday as they play NC State. But Green is still confident he can continue his college career. He talked yesterday to media about nearby Liberty winning the Big South Conference despite a 15-20 record and the motivation that he can accomplish it too.

"I don't want my season to end. I still would like to be an all-American, but I would also like to win this ACC championship," Green said. "I still have a goal. It's still possible to make a run at the tournament. Liberty did it. I know we play in the ACC, it's a different conference, but it's still possible. I just wanna get these guys ready to make a run at this thing."