Playing Georgia Tech in the second round of the ACC Tournament on Thursday afternoon in Greensboro, the Virginia Tech women's basketball team was facing a must-win if they had any hopes of making the NCAA Tournament. When the dust settled, the Yellow Jackets used a 17-0 fourth quarter run to eliminate the Hokies, 72-57, to advance to the quarterfinals against North Carolina State.
The loss seemed to have popped Virginia Tech's tournament bubble, but that was until results in other games in other conference tournaments Wednesday later Thursday, which appears to have given the Hokies a new life.
Prior to the conference tournament starting, the Hokies were the last team out in Charlie Creme's bracketology at ESPN and figured to drop lower after losing to Georgia Tech. That wasn't the case. They went from the first four out to the last team back in the field. You might ask why? Well, it's simple.
Minnesota was eliminated in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament by Washington and hours after the Hokies lost, Arizona was bounced from the Big 12 Tournament by Colorado. Both of those teams have been neck-and-neck with Megan Duffy's team as the last team in the 68-team field according to Creme.
Despite losing to Syracuse, Stanford, and Boston College in February and Virginia in January, the Hokies could benefit from a bubble weakness this year. Creme has them matched up with Harvard in the Lexington Regional, which yes, means a trip to Kentucky against former coach Kenney Brooks, Georgia Amoore and the Wildcats potentially in the second round.
Virginia Tech still has nine days to sweat things out, and how things shake out in other tournaments will go a long way to their fate. Creme pointed out that the Hokies remain vulnerable to a Saint Joseph's run or Richmond being upset in the Atlantic 10 Tournament, as well as South Dakota State falling in the Summit Tournament. There is a lot to watch for Virginia Tech ahead of Selection Sunday.