Is this a make-or-break week for Pittsburgh?
Pittsburgh’s recent loss to Florida State at home left them no margin for error. Pitt at 13-7 and NET of 64 looks like the resume of an NIT team so this is a critical week for the Panthers. They get two home games, but against a couple of quality teams in Wake Forest and Miami. A sweep probably covers up the FSU loss, but a split just treads water. If Pitt gets swept all the goodwill and momentum they built up will be gone.
Does Virginia Tech have a realistic path to an at-large NCAA bid?
Monday night Virginia Tech needed a must-win over Duke. They got it and that improved them to 12-8 (2-7) with a respectable NET Ranking of 50. In addition, the Hokies have 5 Q1/Q2 wins.
Do Hokies have a realistic path to the NCAA tournament and at-large bid?
It’s not a great chance, but there is one. Virginia Tech has 11 ACC games left, and to feel like they are squarely on the bubble 20-11 or 21-10 should be the target. That would be an 8-3 or 9-2 finish. Looking at the Hokies schedule they should be considerable favorites against Syracuse at home, Boston College at home, at Notre Dame, at Georgia Tech, at Louisville, and Florida State at home. The Hokies must and should be 6-0 against that group. Then they need to go 2-3 or 3-2 in their 2 games against Miami, Virginia, and Pitt at home, and Duke. It starts with Syracuse this Saturday. It’s not out of the question now that Virginia Tech is healthy.
Will Florida State dent someone’s NCAA chances?
Florida State was a forgotten team after a 1-9 start, but there were signs this team was better than their record. They had back to back to competitive losses to Virginia and Purdue, but 1-9 was still 1-9. Then the Noles started to get some guys back and started getting healthier. Their computer numbers are awful sitting at 188 in the NET, but they’ve become good enough to knock off some of the upper-echelon ACC teams. They just won at Pittsburgh and they play Miami and Clemson at home this week. I wouldn’t be shocked if they pick one of them off. If they don’t you can still expect games that will be in doubt in the final 5 minutes.
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