After finishing the regular season at 19-12 and 8-10 in the ACC, the Virginia Tech men's basketball team will look to improve its chances at an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament. To do that, they will need at least two wins in the conference tourney, beginning against Wake Forest on Tuesday night in a first-round game.
If they can get by that one, they face a golden opportunity against Clemson on Wednesday night, but beating Wake Forest isn't going to be easy, especially if Amani Hansberry can't go after suffering an injury against Virginia in Saturday's loss to the Cavaliers.
On Monday, David Cunningham of Tech Sideline reported that Lunardi said that if the Hokies have wins over Wake Forest and Clemson in the first two rounds of the ACC Tournament, then he would have them in his field. On Tuesday, he doubled down on that take.
Joe Lunardi doubles down on his Virginia Tech and NCAA Tournament hopes
On Tuesday, Lunardi continued with his same take on Virginia Tech and what they need to do this week in the ACC Tournament and the effect it'll have on their NCAA Tournament hopes.
"Like Stanford, the Hokies can think about dancing with two wins in Charlotte,'' wrote Lunardi.
The Hokeis would greatly benefit and raise their tournament hopes if they were able to get to the semifinals of the tourney this week. That would require three wins in three days. Each of those wins would carry a lot of weight in terms of Quad 1 and 2 wins. Virginia Tech would also need help in the other conference tournaments, with bubble teams losing early. Truth be told, the Hokies have nobody to blame but themselves for being in this position, as their three January losses to Stanford, SMU, and Wake Forest are going to be what keeps them on the outside looking in on Sunday night.