Joe Lunardi paints a path to the NCAA Tournament for Virginia Tech

Major conference men’s basketball tournaments get underway this week with several teams looking to do and needing to do some damage to improve their case for the NCAA Tournament next week and Sunday’s selection show. The ACC Tournament kicks off in Washington, D.C. at Capital One Arena on Tuesday with three games.

Virginia Tech, because of their three-game winning streak the last 10 days, closed out the regular season over Wake Forest, Louisville, and Notre Dame. That allowed the Hokies to jump up into the No. 8 seed and avoid playing on the opening day of the tournament. Instead, they will play No. 9 Florida State on Wednesday at noon. Tuesday, Joe Lunardi of ESPN released his latest bracketology and the Hokies were given a potential path to earning an at-large bid.

Joe Lunardi’s take on Virginia Tech & the NCAA Tournament

Lunardi released his “bracketology guide to the most impactful game of Champ Week” and he listed the HOkies as the top team under “Win here, then win again’’ category. He referenced beating the Seminoles on Wednesday, a team Virginia Tech split with during the regular season, then they would need to defeat top-seed and ACC regular-season champion North Carolina.

Beating Florida State is very doable and if the Hokies can continue their recent strong play of scoring 80-plus points in three consecutive games, then they will get a shot at the Tar Heels. Winning that game would be a giant win for the Hokies case, but it’s a lot easier said than done.

Virginia Tech is in this position simply because they couldn’t take care of business in three ACC games earlier this year, two games against Miami and one at Notre Dame. If the Hokies win those three games, maybe even two, they are in a much different scenario heading to Washington than they currently are. However, there is a chance and that’s all you can ask for at this time of the year.