Winning the ACC Tournament to get a bid for the second consecutive season isn’t the easiest path, but it’s the bed the Hokies have made for themselves. The win over the Panthers may be too little, too late, but it did remind those watching that the Hokies were left for dead last season before sprinting through the field at the ACC Tournament in Brooklyn. This week was a microcosm of that, with a baffling loss at Georgia Tech followed by a massive win over Pitt. Virginia Tech (16-11, 6-10)įor the second consecutive year, the Hokies may be the most difficult team to understand in college basketball. But there is noticeable improvement and a solid 2023 signing class will help expedite the young head coach’s building process. The metrics don’t like them much, thanks to one of the Power 6’s worst offenses: the Eagles rank 247th in KenPom Offensive Efficiency and that number is even worse in league play, where it ranks around 300. They have collected quality wins, defeating Virginia Tech twice and upending Clemson while the Tigers still held first place in the ACC. The Eagles have improved in year 2 under Earl Grant. The Yellow Jackets also stifled the Hokies from deep, limiting Virginia Tech’s sharpshooters to just a 26.1% average from beyond the arc. Georgia Tech picks up the ACC victory over Va Tech. Deebo Coleman’s 21 points, a career high, paced the Ramblin’ Wreck, who all but ended Virginia Tech’s at-large hopes in the process.ĭeebo Coleman with a career-high 21PTS on an efficient 6-10 shooting. They also posted their best win of the season last week, defeating Virginia Tech 77-70 at McCarnish Pavilion. Georgia Tech (11-16, 3-13)Ī two-game win streak and three wins in the last four games may not save Josh Pastner’s job, but at least the Yellow Jackets are beating the league’s other bottom feeders. FSU hasn’t won since February 4 and their last home win came on January 7, and unthinkable run of futility for a team that had one of the 5 best home records in college basketball over the past 10 seasons. They followed that up with a better effort against Boston College, but still fell short. Florida State lost by 40- yes, 40- at Clemson- the worst loss of the Leonard Hamilton era. The Seminoles late season swoon continues. 6RD1ZokwyjĮllis now sits third in the ACC scoring title standings, but he’s first in “rub salt in the wound” final second dunks. The Cardinals star had 28 points and grabbed 5 rebounds in the Cardinals’ win.Įl Ellis doesn’t care about your feelings. The win over the Tigers all but sealed Clemson’s NCAA Tournament fate, and Brad Brownell will likely have offseason nightmares about El Ellis. The Cardinals get a bump after their best week of the season, which included not only Saturday’s win over Clemson but a tough 3-point loss to No. Mike Brey’s comments that he wasn’t planning to “retire” but instead was “stepping down” at Notre Dame also raised eyebrows, as the veteran coach clearly seems displeased he’s being asked to depart in South Bend. But it’s a bottom line business and the Fighting Irish lost twice. Mike Brey’s team was close- losing games against Duke and No. The Fighting Irish drop to the cellar after another two-loss week. Don’t even get us started on Clemson, either.ĭid the Power Rankings shake up after a frenetic week? Wake Forest knows too, as the Demon Deacons have to be wondering what could have been following a 9-point loss to the Hurricanes over the weekend. Ask North Carolina, who missed out on two huge résumé building opportunities last week, losing to No. 7 Virginia, who clipped Notre Dame by 2 points Saturday when Dane Goodwin’s open 3 at the buzzer clanged long off the back rim at John Paul Jones Arena. Other teams warded off serious “bad loss” scares, including No. Multiple league leaders were upset, including Pitt, who fell at slumping Virginia Tech on Saturday night. Last week in the ACC reflected the desperation of late February. There’s also the matter of seeding for the ACC Tournament to settle, and you only have to look as far as the last 2 ACC Tournaments, where the likes of Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech secured unlikely automatic berths, to know how wide open that event will be next month in Greensboro. It’s no different in the ACC, where a number of teams on the bubble fight for position in the hopes of hearing their names called on Selection Sunday. College basketball has hit the home stretch, with the grind of January and early February giving way to the desperate late February sprint to March.
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