Virginia Tech Basketball: Hokies NET ranking soars after Clemson victory

After a loss at Florida State last Saturday, 77-74, the Virginia Tech men’s basketball team saw their NET ranking, which is the “new RPI” and a determiner of which teams make the NCAA Tournament field at the end of the season, fall to No. 62. Four days later, a 15-point win over No. 21 Clemson saw a fast spike in their ranking.

At tip-off at Cassell Coliseum aaginst the Tigers, the Hokies were looking for a Quad 1 victory and they got it with an impressive team performance against Clemson where Sean Pedulla (32 points) and Tyler Nickel (24 points) had career nights. Those efforts saw Virginia Tech’s ranking soar.

Virginia Tech’s NET ranking soars after Clemson win

Following the 87-72 win, the Hokies NET ranking soared up 16 spots to No. 46. Clemson, which suffered its third straight ACC loss and will likely fall out of next week’s Top 25 polls, saw their ranking drop from 23 to 30.

“We just needed to get our rhythm back and our confidence back,” Pedulla said. “I think the last couple of games since we had lost two in a row, our confidence was a little down. The coaches did a great job of getting our confidence back up and telling us we are a good team when we put it all together. It was a matter of putting it all together, and we did for the most part today.”

It’s just one game, but it’s a positive one in terms of going forward and they did it all together as Pedulla said. Next up is Miami on Saturday night at Cassell Coliseum and it might not look like a big win now if Tech can pull it off, but that could change later in the season, as Miami is coming in off a loss at home to Louisville. At 11-4, the Hurricanes had lost two straight and the Hokies could be getting them at the right time.