The Roanoke Times | File February

Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg and the Hokies will have to wait until 2011 now to get another shot at earning an invitation to the NCAA tournament.

BLACKSBURG -- After playing one of the weakest nonconference schedules in the country, the Virginia Tech men's basketball team once again had an unhappy experience on Selection Sunday.

The Hokies were relegated to the NIT for the third straight year, becoming the first team with a 10-6 ACC record to be left out of the NCAA tournament.

"They're disappointed," Tech coach Seth Greenberg said of his players. "I told them, ... 'It's going to hurt today, there's no doubt about it, but we've got a chance to play.'"

Tech (23-8) got the No. 1 seed in its eight-team bracket of the 32-team NIT, and will host Quinnipiac in the first round at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

The Hokies' nonconference strength of schedule ranked No. 344 out of 347 Division I teams, according to the RPI.

"One of the things that allows us to distinguish between one team and another ... is strength of schedule, especially nonconference strength of schedule, and that was an area that really hurt Virginia Tech," said NCAA tournament committee chairman Dan Guerrero, the UCLA athletic director.

Greenberg said he is not kicking himself over his schedule.

"We won 10 games in the ACC, came in third place, played four BCS teams nonconference, played [Temple] in an exempt tournament, ... played in a made-for-TV event against a Big East school [Seton Hall]," he said. "We can't control the records that other teams have."

Only two of the Hokies' 14 nonleague foes finished in the top 100 of the RPI. Of Tech's 13 nonleague wins, nine came against teams ranked below No. 200.

"When you play in the ACC, ... and then you schedule four more BCS conferences, and then you go and play Temple, ... you figure you're going to be playing probably 21 top-100 games. I think that's a pretty competitive schedule," said Greenberg, whose team ended up with only 15 top-100 foes, going 8-7.

The ACC's unbalanced schedule gave Tech just one crack apiece against the six ACC teams that made the NCAA tournament Sunday.

Seven of the Hokies' 10 league wins came against the bottom five teams in the league.

"It certainly leaves a team at risk," Guerrero said of relying upon league play to impress the committee. "You don't want to leave any stone unturned. You don't want to give the committee any reason to ding you.

"In this particular case, just because a team plays in a quality conference, it doesn't necessarily mean that by running the table you're definitely going to get in."

Greenberg said he will evaluate his scheduling philosophy at season's end.

"It's hard to get people to come to Blacksburg and play home-and-home," Greenberg said. "West Virginia, they wanted us to play in D.C. and then we'd play in Charleston, W.Va. Well, Charleston, W.Va., is a home game for West Virginia. Washington, D.C. ... is not a [Tech] home game."

The Hokies went 3-4 against the RPI's top 50, beating Clemson, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech. All three finished below the Hokies in the ACC standings.

Wake Forest, noted Guerrero, had six top-50 wins, including wins over Gonzaga, Richmond and Xavier.

Greenberg said he tried to schedule Gonzaga.

The Hokies were hurt Saturday when Houston upset UTEP in the Conference USA tournament, dropping UTEP into the at-large pool. They were hurt again Saturday night when New Mexico State upset Utah State, dropping Utah State into the at-large pool.

UTEP and Utah State had the worst seeds (No. 12) of all the at-large teams.

"Their ... nonconference strength of schedules were clearly superior to Virginia Tech's," Guerrero said. "All teams have the opportunity to show the committee how they match up against other teams in the field by what they do in the nonconference, and in the case of both of those teams, they did a better job."

Eighth-seeded and at-large entry California beat just one top-50 team. Guerrero said that nonconference strength of schedule was one factor that helped Cal, which ranked No. 1 in that category.

"This committee rewarded people for playing a good schedule and even not winning," Greenberg said.

Quinnipiac (23-9), from Hamden, Conn., got an automatic NIT bid as the regular-season champ of the Northeast Conference. If Tech wins, it will host Connecticut or Northeastern.