In the 10 days leading into Selection Sunday, the Virginia Tech women's basketball NCAA Tournament hopes have been living on each result from the remaining conference tournaments. All eyes this weekend were on the Ivy League Tournament where the Hokies needed Columbia to win the tournament instead of Harvard or Princeton.
Friday night, the Crimson edged the Tigers, 70-67, to advance to the championship game against top-seeded Columbia. Hanging on the bubble, Harvard made sure that they would hear their name on Sunday night when they upset the Lions, 74-71, to grab the conference's automatic bid. Now the only question at selection time is does Virginia Tech or Princeton get the 68th and final slot?
Virginia Tech women looking at missing the NCAA Tournament
According to Charlie Creme of ESPN, the question for the committee is, do they do the unthinkable thing and give the Ivy League three bids or does Virginia Tech get the last bid? Columbia was in, win or lose on Saturday night, and with Harvard getting the automatic bid, does Princeton's résumé look better than the Hokies?
Creme has been saying the last couple of weeks that this season's bubble wasn't as strong as it has been in years past, which was good for Megan Duffy and the Hokies. However, at 18-12, if Virginia Tech looks to why they missed the tournament, all they have to do is look at February, where they lost to Syracuse, Stanford, and Boston College. Win one of those games and they are safely in the field. The frustrating part of the losses to the Orange and Cardinal occurred in Blacksburg.
Is Virginia Tech a tournament team? Yes, but their work over the last two-plus weeks of the regular season says otherwise. For the record, Creme has Princeton getting in over Virginia Tech. We'll find out shortly after 8 o'clock Sunday night.