Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Hokies focus on games, not NCAA bids
Aaron McFarling
Recent columns
BLACKSBURG -- The coach refuses to dangle the NCAA carrot. Even now, as his team is playing as well as it has all season.
As freshmen are becoming leaders.
As offense and defense both run like they're supposed to run.
As conference wins pile upon each other.
As a bye in the ACC Tournament looks more and more possible.
Nope. Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg doesn't even want to think about it. Oh, you can bet there are times late at night when he allows himself to dream, especially after nights like Tuesday, when the baby Hokies put it all together in the second half and mauled Boston College 67-48. You can bet the conference standings -- showing Tech at 8-6 and all alone in fourth place -- whisper to him.
Psst. Seth. No team has ever been left out at 10-6, and you have two games left, and ...
"I'm sorry," Greenberg said, when asked if he brings any of this tournament stuff up to the team. "I don't. I asked them, what's the most important thing right now? And they all answered: The next 40 minutes. I know it's boring and mundane and it has no juice. But it's like Bracketology. So all of a sudden, are we going to be like, one of the last four out? I don't know.
"I mean, who cares?"
Not the younger guys. They don't know the difference between playing in the NCAAs and toiling in the NIT. They don't know about all the cameras, the lights, the drama and the fun on one side juxtaposed with the anonymity of the other.
But A.D. Vassallo does.
"I liked what I experienced last year," said Tech's junior guard, part of a team that advanced to the second round of the NCAAs last season. "I enjoyed that to the fullest, and I want those guys to not have to wait three or four years to enjoy it as well.
"I want them to go from the first year they get the chance to play in the NCAA tournament and build up from that point on, make it more like a culture where every year we're going to be a part of the NCAA tournament. We're in a good place right now to do that."
Well, "good place" is a little strong. OK, it's a little strong in the way Larry the Cable Guy is a little country.
But at least the bracket is within sight, and you couldn't say that two weeks ago.
Tech's official RPI ranking as of Sunday was 64th. Not nearly good enough. Losses to Penn State, Richmond and Old Dominion, suffered while the Hokies were still getting to know each other, will make the selection committee cringe. The overtime game against ranked Butler was probably Tech's most notable nonconference effort, but that was a loss, too.
No, the Hokies must make their pitch on conference play alone. Playing Duke and North Carolina only once apiece -- and losing both by healthy margins -- won't help the RPI. A 2-4 record against the other top six teams in the league doesn't boost their chances.
Yet they're still in control.
Two games remain in the regular season: home against Wake Forest and at Clemson. Tech must win both.
Then the Hokies must win at least one game in the ACC Tournament. At 20-12 overall (assuming a loss in the ACC semis) and 10-6 in the league, competing as the No. 3 seed in the ACC Tournament, Tech would force committee members to make a historic decision if they're to leave the Hokies out.
Two 9-7 ACC teams have been kept out of the NCAA bracket, and the Hokies would almost certainly be the third if that's where they finish. But 10-6? Well, those whispers are true. Even if Greenberg is trying to block them out.
As usual, though, he's taking the right approach. The NCAAs are for the rest of us to talk about. For his team, it's all about the next 40 minutes.
And the 40 after that.
And the 40 after that.
If they take care of those, they deserve to be in.
Nothing boring or mundane about that.
