Two weeks ago, when the Virginia Tech men's basketball team hosted Duke at Cassell Coliseum, Joe Lunardi of ESPN made it clear what a Hokies upset would have meant. They would have taken a major step toward moving safely into the 68-team field based on his projections.
Virginia Tech was unable to pull off the upset and lost three out of four games heading into Wednesday night's ACC road game at No. 20 Clemson. The Tigers appeared ripe for an upset after playing last week in California before coming home to host the Hokies before a trip to Durham to play Duke on Saturday. A win over the Hokies would have set up a showdown for first place. Instead, Mike Young's team went into Clemson and came away with a 76-66 victory. The win was massive in terms of the latest bracketology at ESPN.
Virginia Tech vaults up bracketology board at ESPN
Lunardi released his latest bracketology on Thursday, and he moved Virginia Tech from "Next Four Out" to "First Four Out" as the second team behind TCU.
— Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) February 12, 2026
So what do we make of this? Well, we could make of this that Lunardi doesn't have much love for the Hokies, as many believe a win over the Tigers should have had more meaning. Maybe as in the "Last Four In''? This was a giant Quad 1 win for Virginia Tech, and the first road-ranked win under Young. Talk about good timing.
Florida State is up next on Saturday afternoon in Blacksburg, and this is a game Tech can't afford to lose. They visit Miami next week in another Quad 1 opportunity. Win the next two games and take on Wake Forest and Boston College at home, and the Hokies are really in business for the NCAA Tournament. The opportunities are there over the next couple of weeks to get into the field.