ACC Tournament projection has Virginia Tech basketball sitting in a good position

After struggling through the non-conference schedule and first two ACC games of the 2024-25 season, the Virginia Tech men's basketball team was hoping to turn things around in January. With a roster full of first-year players that included two key freshmen, it couldn't have gone worse for Mike Young and his team after the first two months, could it?

The answer is no. The Hokies split the month, going 4-4 which included a pair of road wins at California and Florida State, the latter collecting career win No. 400 for Young. This season when it comes to the ACC Tournament, with the addition of Stanford, SMU, and California expanding the league to 18 teams, the bottom three teams will be left out of Charlotte next month. When the season started, it was a strong possibility that one of those teams could be the Hokies, but after a .500 January, they are a team that has some projections in their favor.

ACC Tournament projections for Virginia Tech men's basketball trending upward

After beating the Seminoles Wednesday night, Virginia Tech is on a path to making the ACC Tournament with one early projection having the Hokies finding a way into the 15-team field.

We are at the halfway point of the ACC season and Virginia Tech has a lot of remaining games on their slate and it's a schedule that is doable in terms of picking up some wins to avoid finishing at the bottom of the conference. Let's face it, how many people had the Hokies winning two road games in the first half this season in conference play after the start they had? On top of that, comeback wins at home over Miami and North Carolina State will likely loom very large in five weeks.

Next up for Young and his team is a trip to Charlottesville on Saturday for the first of two Commonwealth Clashes with Virginia. The Cavaliers are a program going through a major transition with Tony Bennett stepping aside in October. They enter the game at John Paul Jones Arena looking to tie their in-state rivals in the standings. A win over Virginia would strengthen Tech's case to get to Charlotte next month, which would be a big step for the program.