NCAA center
Related: Join the Collegiate Times NCAA Bracket Contest for a chance to win an iPod touch.
After the latest in a string of disappointing finshes, Virginia Tech will miss the Big Dance for the third consecutive year but take a No. 1 seed in the NIT tournament.
The NCAA and NIT selections come two days after Tech’s quarterfinal loss to Miami at the ACC tournament in Greensboro, N.C. Tech’s final record stood at 23-8 overall and 10-6 in-conference. The committee passed on Tech, as bubble teams Utah State and Minnesota locked up at large bids.
Nearly every basketball analyst pointed at Tech’s out of conference schedule strength — ranked around No. 339 nationally — as the main factor for its NIT relegation.
Greenberg disagrees with the national bashing of the schedule his team played, and doesn’t appear to regret the games he scheduled.
“I don’t kick myself at all," Greenberg said after the NIT announcement. "Our schedule is what our schedule is. We won 10 games in the ACC, played four BCS teams. … we can’t control the record that these teams have, we can only control the record that we have."
“There are only a certain number of spots…that is the reality of the NCAA tournament,” he said.
Tech will have to quickly regroup to prepare for Quinnipiac University in Connecticut on Wednesday. The winner of that game will play the winner between Connecticut and Northeastern. Since the Hokies earned a No. 1 seed they can host up to three games in Blacksburg. The final four is played at Madison Square Garden.
Quinnipiac sits at 23-9 after losing to Robert Morris in the Northeast Conference tournament final.
“We’re playing against a team that won 23 games so they’re used to winning," Greenberg said. We have got to get ourselves ready to play. ... It’s going to hurt today but we have a chance to go to New York and cut down the nets. That’s going to be the vision we’re going to sell to our team”
Last year Tech participated in the NIT where they lost in the second round to Baylor. The Hokies are 21-8 all-time in the NIT and won the 1973 and 1995 NIT Championships.
Six ACC teams made it to the NCAA tournament. Duke took the No. 1 seed in the South Region. Maryland and Georgia Tech snagged the No. 4 and No. 10 seeds respectively in the Midwest. Florida State is the No. 9 seed in the West and Clemson and Wake Forest took the No. 7 and No. 9 seeds in the East.
The last time the Hokies participated in the NCAA tournament was as a No. 5 seed in 2007 where they lost in the second round to Southern Illinois.
Leave a comment 23 Comments Write a letter to the editor
All letters to the editor must include a name, e-mail, daytime phone number and affiliation to Virginia Tech. Affiliation includes: year and major for students; position and department for faculty and staff; current city for alumni and parents.
#3 Team in the ACC, historically the best conference; with the best regular season record in school history left out of the tourney... this is simply heresy.
I'd rather have the BCS running this dance.
Reply to this Top
i am more upset at the way tech lost to bc and miami here at the end then at the selection results. disappointing finish again! college bball stars dont have off days in the most serious of times(late feb-march anyone). the game at miami was atrocious!
Reply to this Top
same here, i was disappointed with the last couple of games. what ever happened to our 'resiliency'?
i hope our guys learned good things this season though, and as a fan i hope we bring THE trophy home someday.
Reply to this Top
If I hadn't for 41 on the road @ VT, maybe you would have gotten in! You also lost to a sorry BC team by 20! And to top it off you lose to Miami in the first round when you needed to win. PSU, GA, etc are historically never good teams so why is Seth acting innocent and passing the blame on 'not controlling their wins/losses?'LOL...why does any recruit go to VT over a real basketball school, they are just setting themselves up for disappointment. GO MARYLAND!
Reply to this Top
When we do get an NCAA bid again, I hope Greenburg denies it. NCAAs are a joke (and so is Maryland!)
Reply to this Top
Also why was our out of conference schedule so weak. That deserves the most blame and we need to play more challenging out of conference teams! Does that fall under Jim Weaver?
Reply to this Top
Seth Greenberg set the OOC schedule himself.
Reply to this Top
Even though our last few weeks were awful (Miami,BC, ACC tourney) and we don't really deserve to be in, we still should be in over wake forest or fsu. I think the whole NCAA process must be corrupt. The past 2 years were close calls but this year I was 99% sure we were in despite blowing our first game in the ACC tourney.
Reply to this Top
The Wake Forest AD is on the NCAA committee. I smell a rat.
Reply to this Top
This is such BS. The whole NCAA selection process, needs to change..period. At least the BCS is done by computer and polls, NCAA tourney is selected by a committee of like 10 or 12 athletic directors, obviously there is going to be bias and human error.
Reply to this Top
I agree strength of non-conf schedule needs to be addressed by Weaver and Greenberg. Schedule some home-home series with some teams that are perenial NCAA tourney teams. On the other hand, who would have known that GA, Seton Hall, PSU, and IA all would have been so horrible this year..
Reply to this Top
Leave it to the hokies to blow the games that count most at the end of the season. All we had to do to get in this year was beat Miami at the ACC tournament.
Anyway I hope the Hokies take revenge at the NIT and make it to New York instead of wallowing in sorrow and consequently blowing our first game on Wednesday to Quinnipiac.
Reply to this Top
i agree, tech had several chances to get it done and failed to, which seems to be the product of greenberg's philosophy-coaching scheduling ooc the past 3 years. i mean who was coaching tech the days prior to getting blown out by bc and losing to miami a couple of times at the end of the season? he needs to change everything in his philosophy bc his is not working anymore.
Reply to this Top
VT - enjoy the big NIT tournament. Weak Weak Weak!!!! I loved the FACT your Chockies are dissed once again from the REAL tournament.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA and Let's GOOO Mountaineers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Reply to this Top
Mountaineers are still bitter over leaving you behind in the NIT. Enjoy earning your degree that will undoubtedly land you in the coal mines.
Reply to this Top
Chockies? What is that, some kind of cookie? Leave it to a Mountaineer fan (probably not even an alum or student) to try to mix Hokies and choke and screw it up.
Reply to this Top
yeah, it's a cookie that's being asked to not join in with the other BIG TIME cookies. It's kinda like VT Not being invited to join in with the big boys - nothing new though, I mean when has VT EVER been BIG in basketball. Fun stuff though in seeing the 2nd class cookies playing that Qu something school in a who cares tournament. LET'S GO COOKIES!!!!!
Top
Are you kidding me? A WVU has such a boring life that he/she has time to read an article online from the student paper at VT. Get a life, seriously.
Reply to this Top
I admit I was bored yesteday and HAD to view the cries from VT over being not invited. I love it . . . . I really do. Not Invited Tournament - enjoy playing in the tournament that NO ONE cares about. hahahahahahaha
Top
The WVU mountaineers will undoubtedly be in the NIT sometime again in the future, who will be laughing then?
Every team has up years and down years. Look at UNC.
Reply to this Top
"The biggest thing that has to happen is there has to be a set criteria so you can schedule your games to that criteria," Greenberg said. "Every committee has its own personality and that's just the way it is. The problem is you can't schedule your games because you don't know what the committee's personality is."
Reply to this Top
If that's true then that only shows the selection process is flawed and needs to change. Perhaps there really does need to be an expansion to 96 teams? There are surely other teams other than tech that should be in there over other 12-16 seeded teams. Something's not right.
Reply to this Top
This comment has been buried by moderation (show comment)
Reply to this Top