I am kicking myself already for doing this, but I’m officially jumping on the “Virginia Tech is going to the postseason in basketball” bandwagon today. As of a few weeks ago, I think the wagon only had two riders: DuffHokie and vatechhokies50. They were the only ones, at least on TechHoops.com, that initially picked Tech to do well enough in ACC play to qualify for the postseason. I think Duff later wussed out, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for his initial pick. Well, move over Duff, and get me a tall boy, I’m riding shotgun all the way to…. hmm, which postseason tourney will we be in?
The Postseason Tournaments:
- NCAA Tournament (65 teams) – VT’s chances? Not gonna happen. Or, at least, I’m not getting on that bandwagon any time soon. Tech’s RPI is in the 60s, which is “on the bubble”, but they just aren’t there yet. Realistically, the Hokies magic number (wins needed) to make the NCAAs is 7 (maybe 6, but that’s a stretch) with nine regular season games left and the ACC Tourney.
- NIT (32 teams) – VT’s chances? Pretty darn good now. VT must be at .500 or better by the end of the ACC Tourney to qualify. To do that, they just need to go 3-6 the rest of the regular season and they will be above .500 no matter what happens in the ACC Tourney. But again, that’s just to qualify. I think the magic number to make the NIT is 4.
- College Basketball Invitational (16 teams) – What is this, you ask? Here you go… We’re goin’ to the CBI! (I hope not). Basically, the entire tournament will be played on-campus. The finals will consist of a best-of-three, with the higher seed at home in Game 1 and 3. The committee for this tourney has not set qualification standards, so technically speaking they could take the Hokies no matter what. But obviously they want teams that are over .500. I’d say 3 is the magic number here. Could this be the New Orleans Bowl of basketball? I guess we shall see.
To summarize, 113 teams will be dancing this postseason. I now think VT will be one of those “elite” 113. The question is just — will it be the Big Dance limo style? Or will we be dancin’ at the local Y all doped up on Tussin and Bear Fights with tall boys in our pockets at the CBI?
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Thanks for giving me some credit, Niemo… it’s due lol.
Here’s my next prediction: In the NIT, we will play a team from the Atlantic 10 or the Colonial Athletic Association… think they are going to try to give us some sort of regional matchup for the early rounds…
If the do the opposite, they might give us a team from the Missouri Valley… in fact, it might actually be southern illinois (who we played in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament), who is not strong enough this year for the big dance that is march madness… but good enough for the NIT.
Just a side note: My high school classmate (Ben Jacobson) is the coach of the university of northern iowa panthers, who might also have a shot at the NIT…
http://unipanthers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/jacobson_ben02.html
I think the ACC is a four-bid league, max, for the NCAA tournament.