Last February turned out to be a month that ended up costing the Virginia Tech women's basketball team a slot in the NCAA Tournament. Second-year head coach Megan Duffy is hoping history won't repeat itself.
The Hokies, who have lost two in a row, will take a late-season trip out West to California with their NCAA Tournament hopes hanging in the balance. Thw two games could end up determining their fate, with both Stanford and California both in the same position as Duffy's team, looking to play their way into the 68-team field next month.
Virginia Tech is currently part of Charlie Creme's "Last Four In" at ESPN and the one team ahead of them? That would be Stanford, the Hokies' opponent on Thursday night in Northern California. Cal, who Tech will visit on Sunday night, is in Creme's "Next Four Out."
Virginia Tech women's basketball facing crucial West Coast trip
Duffy is hoping her team can do what Mike Young's team did on Wednesday night: pick up a huge road win. The Hokies' men kept their NCAA Tournament hopes alive with a 10-point win at Clemson on the road, and the women need to do the same this weekend, beginning with the Cardinal.
The last two losses for Virginia Tech, at Notre Dame and at home against North Carolina State, are not losses that are going to hurt their NCAA Tournament chances, but they would have been big boosts. Just one of them. Instead, now the Hokies are looking to take care of business on the West Coast with the conference tournament just a few weeks away.
It will be vital that Tech takes care of the ball, and their veterans, Carys Baker, Kilah Freelon, and Carliegh Wenzel, lead the way. Two road wins on the West Coast would go a long way to helping Virginia Tech's tournament hopes next month.