3 Virginia Tech players who need to shine for a deep tournament run

The best couple of weeks in college basketball is officially here. This week conference tournaments kick-off, if they already have not, and the ACC Tournament will begin Tuesday in Washington, D.C. with three games. After winning their final three regular-season games, Virginia Tech avoided playing on Day 1.

They moved their way up the standings to get the No. 8 seed and will play No. 9 Florida State for the third time this season after they split the two meetings with each team winning on their home floor. At 18-13 and a NET ranking of 56 at the time this article is being written, the Hokies only path it appears to the NCAA Tournament is winning the conference tourney. That won’t be easy.

North Carolina and Duke are the top two teams in the conference and knocking them off is going to take an almost perfect game from someone. Not impossible, but difficult. If the Hokies come up short in winning the ACC Tournament and missing out on the NCAA Tournament, then another trip to the NIT is likely. Not what fans want, but it’s what we’re likely going to be dealing with.

If Virginia Tech is going to win four games in four days again, they are going to need a lot of players outside of Sean Pedulla and Hunter Cattoor to step up and be big. Here are three players who need to step up for the Hokies to make a deep postseason run.