Virginia Tech women’s path to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament

Thursday night, the Virginia Tech women’s basketball team had their 10-game winning streak snapped with a 71-58 loss at Notre Dame. It wasn’t all bad for head coach Kenny Brooks and his team as they still clinched the ACC regular season title outright after Syracuse lost 75-71, in overtime at North Carolina State.

Before the game, the NCAA released the second and final Top 16 seeds for the NCAA Tournament just over two weeks before the brackets will officially be released on March 17. The Hokies jumped up five spots to the No. 5 overall seed and we a No. 2 seed. There is still an outside shot that Virginia Tech can still get a No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament according to Charlie Creme of ESPN. Here is the path to the Hokies securing a No. 1 seed in two weeks.

Virginia Tech’s path to a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed

In the overall big picture, the loss at Notre Dame is not a bad loss at all. The Irish entered the game with the 10th overall NET ranking thanks to their tough non-conference schedule. In fact, they don’t look like the No. 17 team in the country in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll, they certainly looked like a Top 10 team. They still have a shot at getting a four-seed to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

For Virginia Tech, the path to the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament would be beating Virginia Sunday night in Charlottesville and then winning the ACC Tournament for a second consecutive season. The latter won’t be easy despite the Hokies sitting as the No. 1 seed in Greensboro, North Carolina next week with a 14-3 record.

How much does the ACC regular season title carry? It carries a lot of weight, especially if the Hokies win the conference tournament. They are projected to have nine teams in the NCAA Tournament, the most of any conference. Whether or not that happens, it shows just how beneficial it would be to Virginia Tech to win the regular season and conference championship. If that occurs, there should be no reason the Hokies don’t end up as a No. 1 seed, but if they don’t, then it’s just a matter of which bracket they get the No. 2 or 3 seed. 

The path is simple to draw out, beat Virginia, and win the ACC Tournament. Yeah, I know, a lot easier said than done.