After Virginia Tech’s disappointing loss to a hot-shooting Virginia Cavalier team at the John (John Paul Jones Arena), Virginia Tech’s chances of an unofficial regular season ACC title and 1st seed in the upcoming ACC tournament are pretty slim.
First and foremost, the Hokies need to be beat the slumping Clemson Tigers, who have lost nine of their last 11 games. If Tech doesn’t win tomorrow (Sunday, March 4), then the following scenarios are moot:
The Virginia Cavaliers were poised to win their first outright ACC title since 1981 – all they had to do was beat Wake Forest on the road. Well, a funny thing happened on the way to the top – the Hoos lost 78-72 to the Decons, the second worst team in the league this season. So, the Cavs finish 11-5 in the ACC and no worse than a tie for first, but will lose all tiebreakers.
Boston College needs to lose on the road against Georgia Tech, which is very possible. The Ramblin’ Wreck upset the Tar Heels earlier this week and Boston College has been shaky down the stretch with three consecutive conference losses (Duke, UNC and VT). An Eagles loss give them a 10-6 record in the ACC and out of a shot at first place. If they win, things get more complicated (Tech gets No. 1 seed in a four-way tie, but not a three-way tie).
Finally, North Carolina doesn’t have to lose, in fact, it would actually be to Tech’s benefit if the Tar Heels beat Duke. Though, the Tar Heels have struggled of late, losing their last two – and three of their last five. If Duke pulls the mild upset, then UNC falls to 10-6. If UNC hold off the Dookies, then they finish 11-5 and tied for first.
So, if all the scenarios above play out, we will have a three-way tie for first place between Virginia Tech, Virginia and UNC, all with 11-5 records. Now we get down to the tiebreakers (for a complete list, click here). Tech swept UNC this season, so they own the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Heels. Tech and UVA split the home-at-home series, so the next tiebreaker is your record against the top teams in the ACC; and the Hokies own that tiebreaker against against UVA.
There are four total first-place tie scenarios and Virginia Tech owns the tiebreaker in three of them. The only tiebreaker they lose is a three-way tie between VT, BC and UVA.
To simplify – if Tech wins and BC loses, the Hokies get the No. 1 seed. All that being said, tomorrow, Hokie fans everywhere must cheer for both Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech. The Hokies host Clemson at 1 p.m., followed by Georgia Tech at home against Boston College.
In a perfect Hokie world, this would mean that Virginia Tech get the No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament and are unofficially the ACC regular season champs – unofficially because the ACC doesn’t give out a regular season title … not that Tech fans would care – we’ll take the bragging rights and the satisfaction of knowing that we did something no one thought we’d be able to do.
GO HOKIES! Beat Clemson!
