If there is one team that is glad the calendar turned from February to March, it's the Virginia Tech women. Last month did more bad than good for Megan Duffy and her team in terms of the NCAA Tournament bubble.
Hanging around in Charlie Creme's Last Four In, losses to Syracuse, Stanford, and Boston College have done in the Hokies. In Creme's last bracketology update, Virginia Tech fell into his First Four Out. Now with one regular season game remaining against Clemson on Sunday afternoon before the ACC Tournament this week, if Tech has any hope to be in the 68-team field, a win is necessary over the Tigers.
How to watch Virginia Tech at Clemson women's basketball game
Coming off an overtime loss at Boston College on Thursday night, Virginia Tech has no room for error against Clemson. ACC Tournament seeding is still in play as the Hokies are trying to avoid playing on the opening day in Greensboro.
This is the only meeting of the regular season between the two teams and for the Hokies, they need to play a lot better defense than they have in their three losses to the Orange, Cardinal and Eagles. They scored more than enough to win, they just struggled to defend. The same could be said when they picked up a three-point win over California last weekend after allowing 84 points.
Offensively, it'll be imperative that the Hokies establish Rose Micheaux on the inside early and often. She was ejected from the Boston College game in the third quarter, and they missed her down the stretch and overtime. Carleigh Wenzel and Matilda Ekh have shot the ball well from the outside, but they will need more from other people. Clemson is in the same boat as Virginia Tech in terms of needing this game for ACC Tournament seeding purposes.