One year after missing the NCAA Tournament last March as the first team out, the Virginia Tech women's basketball team is back in the 68-team field. It was a tough pill for Megan Duffy and her team to swallow last year when they were left on the outside looking in. However, a new-look roster and a ton of retention, and the Hokies are back.
They are seeded No. 9 in the Regional 3 - Fort Worth and will play No. 8-seed Oregon on Friday in Austin, Texas, in the first round. The winner more than likely gets top-seeded Texas in the second round. It's a tough draw for the Hokies, but they are dancing after missing out last season.
A look at a little further down in the bracket and there is a familiar face in teh bottom half. Former coach Kenny Brooks and Kentucky checked in as the No. 5 seed and drew 12th-seeded James Madison in the first round. The winner plays the winner between the regional hosts, West Virginia and Miami of Ohio.
The ties to the regional are something else, and nobody on the ESPN broadcast figured it out or mentioned it. A major whiff.
ESPN crew whiffs on mentioning Virginia Tech, JMU & Kentucky in the same regional
ESPN's crew of Christine Williamson, Charlie Creme, Rebecca Lobo, Andraya Carter, and Chiney Ogwumike all never mentioned the potential matchups. Heck, Brooks gets JMU, a school where he began his coaching career for 14 seasons, before moving to Blacksburg for eight very successful more. He led the Hokies to the Final Four in 2023, and there are still some members of that team on the Tech roster. Now, in Kentucky, there are all kinds of ties to this region this year.
It has been nearly two years to the day that Brooks' rumors started about Kentucky before the Hokies hosted the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament in 2024. They lost in the second round to Baylor, and a couple of days later, Brooks was watching the ink dry on his Kentucky contract.
Virginia Tech AD Whit Babcock hired Duffy and everyone has moved on. It appears that the ESPN crew moved on from it, and nobody said a peep about it.