With its NCAA Tournament bubble burst on Selection Sunday, the Virginia Tech men’s basketball team will regroup and return to Cassell Coliseum Wednesday night to host the Quinnipiac University Bobcats in the first round of the National Invitational Tournament.
The Hokies enter the NIT as a one-seed this year after boasting 10 Atlantic Coast Conference victories and barely missing the NCAA Tournament for the third-straight year. The Bobcats, on the other hand, enter Wednesday’s game as an eight-seed after winning the Northeast Conference in regular season play, but failing to make the NCAA Tournament after falling 52-50 to Robert Morris University in the NEC Championship.
While Hokie fans and the basketball team alike may have been disappointed with the team’s postseason destination after hearing the news Sunday, Tech head coach Seth Greenberg realizes the importance of moving on.
“It’s tough when there’s uncertainty,” Greenberg said. “It’s just the way it is; it’s the nature of the beast. There’s only a certain number of spots and when spots start disappearing ... it wasn’t easy. That is the reality of the NCAA Tournament.
“We’ve got a chance to play,” he continued. “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 and you know, we’re playing against a team that won 23 games so you know, we’re playing against a team that’s used to winning. We’ve got to get ourselves ready to play and that’s my job.”
Last season, the Hokies missed the NCAA Tournament, settling for an NIT bid in a similar bubble-bursting fashion after finishing with a 19-15 record and defeating No. 1 Wake Forest on the road to boot. Tech was awarded a No. 2 seed in the NIT and beat No. 7 seed Duquesne in a 116-108 double overtime thriller in its first-round game. In the second round, however, the Hokies were unable to advance further in the tournament, falling to the No. 3 Baylor, 84-66.
Tech will look to improve on its performance last year by preparing to face Quinnipiac immediately.
The Bobcats enter first-round play featuring two of the Northeast Conference’s premier scorers. Senior guard James Feldeine averages 17.1 points per game and junior forward Justin Rutty averages a double-double with 15.1 points and 11 rebounds per game.
Sophomore guard James Johnson, who hails from Queens, N.Y., also looks to be a threat, leading the team in three-point shooting and assists.
“They’ve got a 17-point-a-game scorer who is a senior, they’ve got a point guard from New York ... who’s a tough dribble-drive guard,” Greenberg said.
And it’s not just scorers that could threaten the Hokies Wednesday.
Quinnipiac is coached by Tom Moore, who was hired in 2007 after spending the previous 13 years as a member of the coaching staff at the University of Connecticut. Moore was an integral part of building the 1999 and 2004 Huskies’ National Championship teams, learning under the tutelage of legendary coach Jim Calhoun — one of only eight coaches in NCAA Division I history to have 800 wins.
Ironically, if the Hokies win against Quinnipiac, Tech could potentially meet Calhoun’s Huskies in the second-round of the NIT. Connecticut, a four-seed, takes on Northeastern University, a five-seed, Tuesday night.
“We’re obviously in the process of collecting as much information as we can on Quinnipiac,” Greenberg said. “I know they won 23 games, I know that coach Moore is a disciple of Jim Calhoun which means they’re going to play really hard, I know they’re athletic.”
“I think they play really hard and that’s kind of all (coach Moore) knows from the number of years he spent with Jim (Calhoun).”
The Hokies will have to shoot well from the field if they want a shot at advancing in the NIT. Tech took a giant leap backward in the ACC Tournament fromits strong shooting performance against Georgia Tech the previous week, where it shot 51 percent from the field and 52.9 percent from beyond the arc.
In their opening game of the conference tournament against Miami, the Hokies shot 38.1 percent from the field and 25 percent from three-point range.
Junior guard Malcolm Delaney will also need to get back in the rhythm of Tech’s offense. Delaney managed only seven points against Miami and shot three for 15 from the field, after leading the ACC in scoring throughout the regular season. He also missed on all eight of his three-point attempts after torching the Yellow Jackets with four three-point baskets.
Tech also suffered a blow to its bench Sunday after freshman guard Ben Boggs suffered an ankle injury in practice. Boggs was averaging 2.2 points per game in 8.6 minutes of action per contest.
“Ben Boggs had a severely sprained ankle, grade-two ankle sprain,” Greenberg said. “They thought it was broken, but it’s not.”
The Hokies will look to win their third straight opening round game in three years when they begin NIT competition Wednesday. They will also be seeking their third NIT banner, after winning the tournament in 1973 and more recently in 1995.
As a No. 1 seed, the Hokies are guaranteed to host their opponents, if they continue to advance, until the semifinal round. The semifinal games and final round will be played at Madison Square Garden in New York City on March 30 and April 1.
Wednesday’s game will not be televised locally, but tip-off is set for 7 p.m.