The Virginia Tech Hokies entered the ACC Tournament with a prime opportunity to earn a bid in the NCAA Tournament. Heading into the first round of Tuesday’s action, the Hokies were among the “first four out” in Joe Lunardi’s “Bracketology.”
In fact, only two teams were ahead of the Hokies among the “first four out,” and before Tech tipped off against Wake Forest on Tuesday night, Pitt helped them. The Panthers upset Stanford in the final seconds, which meant one of the two teams ahead of the Hokies in the “first four out”
group was essentially eliminated.
All VT had to do was beat Wake, a team it had defeated 82-63 last month. Of course, in January, the Demon Deacons had defeated Tech 81-78 after a last-second 3-pointer.
On Tuesday night, the Hokies were forced to face the Deacs without junior forward Amani Hansberry. Hansberry was Virginia Tech’s leading scorer (14.3 PPG) and second-leading rebounder (7.4 RPG), who injured his leg in last week’s regular-season finale at Virginia.
Like many of VT’s games this season, it came down to the wire, and the Hokies had a chance to win in the final seconds of regulation, but Ben Hammond’s floater fell short. However, Jailen Bedford was there for the rebound, but his putback failed to go in, and we were headed to overtime.
Unfortunately, Wake couldn’t miss in OT and the Hokies failed to keep up, falling 95-89 to finish the year with a 19-13 record.
That bubble seemingly burst.
So, is there a chance?
Well, let’s first look at Lunardi’s latest.
Here are the last four in:
- Missouri
- VCU
- Texas
- SMU
Here are the first four out:
- Auburn
- Indiana
- New Mexico
- Oklahoma
Here are the next four out:
- Stanford
- San Diego State
- Cincinnati
- Virginia Tech
So, what chances do the Hokies have of getting in? Well, those chances aren’t good. They essentially have seven teams in front of them. Auburn, at 17-16, went 1-1 in the SEC Tournament and remains the first team out. The Hokies, at 19-13, have a better record. However, advanced metrics favor the Tigers because they have wins over St. John’s, Arkansas and Florida this season.
SMU and Stanford were two of the teams that Virginia Tech lost to in buzzer beaters this season. The Hokies dominated Stanford, but fell apart in the final minutes, allowing a last-second 3-pointer to sink them. Tech had an excellent opportunity for a win at SMU, but Boopie Miller’s last-second half-court shot went in to shock the Hokies.
Had Tech closed out at least two of those last-second games, this would be a different conversation. The ACC Tournament probably wouldn’t have even mattered.
