Entering Saturday night's matchup at North Carolina, the Virginia Tech men's basketball team was looking to hang onto the NCAA Tournament bubble with a huge Quad 1 victory. After putting up a fight for nearly 40 minutes, the Hokies fell short, 89-82, against the 18th-ranked Tar Heels.
UNC was missing star freshman Caleb Wilson as he recovers from a broken hand. The loss dropped Mike Young's team to 18-11 with a home game against Boston College looming on Tuesday night and a trip to Charlottesville on Saturday to close out the regular season. After the Hokies' loss, Neil Paine of ESPN gives a grim update on Virginia Tech's tournament chances.
ESPN drops grim outlook on Virginia Tech's NCAA Tournament chances
Now, most Virginia Tech fans are likely seeing the writing on the wall for this season with the Hokies heading to the NIT unless they pull off a pair of wins to close out the regular season before pulling an upset or two in the ACC Tournament next week. Paine, however, gives the Hokies a small chance to climb into the 68-team field in two weeks.
"Virginia Tech's big win over Wake Forest last week kept its bubble case in play, but Saturday's loss at North Carolina was the Hokies' fifth in seven games and dropped their consensus at-large chances into the teens. They have a case to be possibly the last ACC team called to the brackets, including a pair of Quadrant 1A wins and a résumé rating that is borderline top 50. But with a 7-9 ACC record now, they are very much in limbo,'' wrote Paine.
Even though the Hokies have a chance to get in, the chances are diminishing by the day. If they end up missing the tournament, they have nobody else to blame but themselves after their three losses in the final seconds to SMU, Wake Forest, and Stanford. Most fans didn't need Paine to tell them what they already knew.