A.D. Vassallo prepares to receive a pass in the lane against Miami.
Once again, Virginia Tech fell short of making the NCAA tournament's field of 65. Instead, the Hokies are a No. 2 seed in the National Invitational Tournament, hosting their opening round contest against seventh-seeded Duquesne on Wednesday evening.
Nevertheless, Tech head coach Seth Greenberg sees no shame in being part of the NIT for the second year in a row.
"It's hard to make the NCAA tournament," he said. "Playing in the NIT is not an embarrassment."
Even though most of the Hokies were resigned to the fact that they wouldn't be selected to take part in the NCAAs after their narrow defeat against North Carolina in the ACC tournament quarterfinals, they can take solace in the fact that they are one of the few teams in Division I basketball to take part in postseason competition.
"We're still playing," guard Malcolm Delaney said. "That's the best thing about it. We're playing in the postseason. A lot of teams don't get a chance to play. We're just going to take it as that and try to get some momentum for next year."
To establish that momentum, they'll have to beat quality competition. The NIT field features a wealth of 20-plus win teams, former national champions and recent Final Four participants.
"There are no easy games," Greenberg said. "Every single game is absolutely brutal. There isn't a single team in this field that couldn't match up well with any team in the NCAA tournament. ... We're in good company."
A team that meets one of the above criteria is the Dukes. Duquesne (21-12) captured its first 20-win campaign since 1971 and features a roster that includes seven scholarship freshmen and just one scholarship upperclassman.
Still, this youthful group nearly reached the Big Dance when it reached the finals of the Atlantic 10 tournament.
The Dukes dethroned Rhode Island before knocking off the Dayton Flyers, a No. 11 seed in the NCAA tourney, by a score of 77-66. Then, they hung tough with Temple before being defeated by five points - nearly capturing an automatic bid.
The head coach who has guided this inexperienced bunch is a man who knows Tech basketball extremely well. Ron Everhart played for the Hokies in the mid-1980s, part of three NIT teams and as a captain on the 1984-85 squad that reached the NCAA tournament.
"I wouldn't trade my education at Tech for the world and wouldn't trade my experiences basketball-wise for the world, either," Everhart said. "They were great. We played at a very highly competitive level. You can't erase some of those memories. They were unbelievable."
In order to win in Everhart's homecoming, Duquesne will likely need continued production from guard and leading scorer Aaron Jackson, who averages 18.5 points per contest, dishes out an average of nearly six assists and makes field goals at a 55 percent clip. He led his team with 24 in the win over Dayton and 20 versus the Owls.
Jackson typifies the Dukes' lineup - quick, undersized and sharp-shooting.
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