MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Seth Greenberg is happy with Tech's 2 p.m. start on Friday.

If Seth Greenberg was hoping for a particular outcome to Sunday night's basketball game between Wake Forest and Clemson, he certainly wasn't obsessing over it.

"So, we're playing the winner of the Miami-Clemson game, right?" Greenberg asked, referring to Virginia Tech's opponent in Friday's quarterfinal game of the ACC Tournament.

No, not right.

With its 70-65 victory over visiting Clemson, Wake (19-9, 9-7 ACC) clinched the fifth seed and will meet 12th-seeded Miami (18-12, 4-12) at 2 p.m. Thursday, with the winner to meet Tech (23-7, 10-6) at 2 p.m. Friday at the Greensboro Coliseum.

The Deacons and Tigers actually tied for fifth, but they played only once this season and Wake won the first tie-breaker, which is head-to-head record.

The ACC Tournament gets under way at noon Thursday, when eighth-seeded Boston College (15-15, 6-10) faces ninth-seeded Virginia (14-15, 5-11). It will be the second meeting between UVa and BC in the span of 10 days.

The Eagles prevailed 68-55 in a March 3 match-up with the Cavaliers in Chestnut Hill, Mass. Boston College and Virginia also met in the first round of last year's ACC Tournament in Atlanta.

The Eagles won that game 76-63 in what turned out to be Dave Leitao's farewell as UVa coach. Tony Bennett, who came to Charlottesville from Washington State, is experiencing his first ACC Tournament.

Greenberg, preparing for his sixth ACC Tournament, doesn't envy Bennett having to get his team ready for a noon game.

"You don't want to play the first game," Greenberg said Sunday night after scouting the Catholic League playoffs in Washington, D.C. "There's no energy in the building then.

"I think playing the 12 o'clock game is the toughest. The 2 o'clock game for me, is as good a starting time as you can get. You're not sitting around the hotel all day watching games. It's exhausting."

The Hokies (23-7, 10-6) clinched a first-round ACC Tournament bye and almost assuredly a spot in the NCAA field with an 88-82 victory Saturday at Georgia Tech. It also gave them a much-needed extra day of rest for breakout junior Dorenzo Hudson, who missed the Georgia Tech game with a foot injury.

"It's going to be interesting," Greenberg said. "I'm shutting him down till we do our shootaround in Greensboro. It's Wednesday at 6 [p.m.]. Those kids played for Dorenzo. You saw Dorenzo on the bench watching the game, he was in [understudy] Manny Atkins' ear every play coaching him."

No team has ever played four games and won the ACC Tournament, but there is some momentum to be gained for a first-round winner. Greenberg concedes that.

"I think it can be an advantage," Greenberg said, "but I'd much rather have the bye."

As late as Saturday, television pundits were saying that a loss at Georgia Tech might keep the Hokies out of the tournament, but the closer the NCAA tournament has gotten, the better the Hokies have played.

The pressure may be off, "but our approach hasn't changed all season," Greenberg said. "Nor will it change now. We won't have any film to watch of our two [possible] opponents. Our focus the next two days will be on us."

With its 23rd victory Saturday, Greenberg's bunch tied the 1996 Tech team coached by Greenberg mentor Bill Foster for the second-highest win total in program history. Foster's 1995 team set the record at 25-10.

"I'm really proud of our team because we really are a team," Greenberg said. "We look out for each other and have each other's back."

While Virginia was losing its ninth straight game Saturday, there was a sense of the Cavaliers coming together in the absence of leading scorer Sylven Landesberg, suspended for the remainder of the season for missing classes.

UVa's previous six losses had been by double figures, but the Cavaliers found themselves in a one-point game at 66-65 before falling 74-68 to ACC co-leader Maryland.

"Hopefully, this will provide us with some momentum going into the ACC Tournament," senior co-captain Jerome Meyinsse said.