Virginia Tech can make very good use of its loss to Florida State

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Fans of the Virginia Tech Hokies talked about it all season: “We could get a double-bye in the ACC Tournament.”

It was a big deal. It deserved to be.

The ACC Tournament is the Cadillac of conference tournaments. It is the most prestigious, the most historic, the most treasured. The Big East Tournament in the days of the conference’s glory was something to behold, and even now, the smaller Big East creates an electric atmosphere in Madison Square Garden. However, the ACC Tournament is still the ultimate conference tournament. It is so important in ACC country that people in the region — media, not just fans — regard the ACC Tournament as the bearer of the label “ACC champion” on its winner. The team which wins the ACC regular season is, for many, not a champion but merely a team which finished first in the standings.

I don’t buy into this line of thought, and I’m not going to relitigate it here, but the point is plain: People in the ACC really, REALLY care about the ACC Tournament. They should. It matters. It should matter. The ACC Tournament is like the Wimbledon of Championship Week. No other event being played during Championship Week matches the tradition and the prestige and the sense that college basketball royalty is in attendance.

So, when any ACC team outside the league’s power structure has a chance to get a double-bye in the ACC Tournament, it’s a huge point of pride.

During the conference tournaments, the teams which don’t have to play until the quarterfinals, and always wear home whites as the higher seed, and never have to play first-round games in front of 3,421 half-asleep fans, are the teams which know they have succeeded during the regular season. When you wear white and get double-byes and consistently play on Friday and Saturday of Championship Week, you know you’re one of the big dogs.

Virginia Tech, like the Florida State team it played Tuesday night for a double-bye in the ACC Tournament, wants to get to a place where it is wearing white in the quarterfinals on Thursday after getting an extra rest and watching 11 other ACC teams labor on Tuesday and Wednesday.

This was a big deal.

Virginia Tech will not get that double-bye. A gallant Florida State team fended off the Hokies in overtime in Tallahassee. Given the loss — and how close Virginia Tech came to realizing its dream — the Hokies could be stung by this development.

Here’s a different thought: They don’t have to be.

It wasn’t “right” or “fitting” that Virginia Tech lost, but the Hokies were probably better suited than Florida State to live with an extra game in the ACC Tournament (the 5-versus-12/13 second-round game) on Wednesday of next week.

The explanation is not too complicated.

Justin Robinson — the team’s most important player — did not play against Florida State, but he has ditched the cast and was wearing sneakers, like a normal human being. He is getting there. He should probably be able to play next week at the ACC Tournament.

While Virginia Tech really wanted that double-bye, having an extra game might be good for the Hokies in their attempt to get back to full speed — with Robinson — before the NCAA Tournament.

Here’s the deal: In that game on Wednesday against the 12 or 13 seed, Buzz Williams could play Robinson 15 to 20 minutes and probably still win to face the very same Florida State Seminoles in Thursday’s quarterfinals. Robinson could play 20 to 25, maybe even 30, minutes in that game.

Robinson’s test drive in the 5-12/13 game would give him and Buzz information on how to manage his resources in the quarterfinal the next day (assuming Virginia Tech does win). Not getting the double-bye doesn’t increase Virginia Tech’s chances of winning the ACC Tournament or reaching the championship game, but it DOES increase Virginia Tech’s odds of playing two games next week.

Getting two games with Robinson on the floor instead of one will give Buzz Williams more time to work with his lineup combinations and regain cohesion before the NCAA Tournament. Also, playing two games in a tournament setting will give Virginia Tech and Robinson a better chance of adjusting to the two-games-at-a-neutral-site dynamic of tournament basketball. Yes, ACC Tournament games are played on consecutive days, whereas NCAA games are every other day, but the larger point — getting two games at the ACC tourney instead of only one — is the main takeaway.

Virginia Tech wanted the double-bye. It was a big deal.

Yet, under these circumstances, Justin Robinson might now get two games to work his way back into playing shape at the ACC Tournament.

Buzz Williams can live with that. So can Hokie fans.

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