There are several scenarios regarding the Virginia Tech men's basketball team's seeding into the ACC Tournament.
But one thing is simple: If the Hokies beat Notre Dame on Saturday, they will secure a first-round bye.
Virginia Tech (17-13, 9-10) concludes the regular season by hosting the Fighting Irish at 2:30 p.m.
If the Hokies win, they won't have to play on the first day of next week's ACC Tournament in Washington, D.C., and can wait until Wednesday's second round to take the court.
With two consecutive wins, Virginia Tech is tied for eighth place with North Carolina State University (9 wins, 10 losses, ACC) and Florida State University (9 wins, 10 losses). These three teams are one game behind No. 7 Wake Forest (10 wins, 10 losses).
Tech teams must finish as a No. 9 seed or higher to earn a first-round bye. Virginia Tech could finish anywhere from a No. 7 seed to a No. 10 seed.
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The Hokies have a chance to earn a bye even if they lose on Saturday.
Florida State hosts Miami on Saturday at 4 p.m. Wake Forest hosts Clemson at 6 p.m., and North Carolina State visits Pittsburgh at 7:45 p.m.
Virginia Tech will play the first ACC game of the day on Saturday. But because of the tiebreaker, the Hokies may not get a seed until after the 8 p.m. game between Georgia Tech and Virginia.
The Hokies beat North Carolina State this season. They split the regular season series between FSU and Wake Forest. As for seeding, if a head-to-head tiebreaker does not resolve the issue, it may need to be determined by the team's results against the teams higher in the conference standings.
Notre Dame defeated the visiting Hokies 74-66 (12-18, 7-12) on Feb. 10. Tech led 39-30 with 1:58 left in the first half and held a 39-35 lead at halftime. However, Virginia Tech won 39-27 in the second half.
Virginia Tech shot 57.7 percent from the field in the first half of that game, but only 32.3 percent in the second half. The Hokies made six 3-pointers in the first half, but only two in the second half.
Notre Dame freshman guard Marcus Burton, who scored 16 points in the game, averaged 17 points and a team-high 128 assists.
“I tried [in the recruiting process] We tried to get other guys to help him, but everyone thought we were going to be bad,'' said Notre Dame first-year coach and former Penn State coach Micah Shu. Roosevelt said. “No one wants to play on a boring team. It's hard to get a graduate transfer in his final year and he thinks we're going to be the worst. You have no choice. It's your loss. . Because I've developed a lot of good players.”
Notre Dame snapped a seven-game losing streak and won against the Hokies on February 10th. However, the win started a period in which the Fighting Irish have won five of their last seven games.
“Even in the middle of a seven-game losing streak, I thought we were playing pretty good basketball,” Shrewsbury said Monday. “We were making small improvements, just not seeing results.
“We started taking better care of the ball.” [during this stretch]”
Since defeating the Hokies, the Fighting Irish have also defeated Georgia Tech, Louisville, Wake Forest and Clemson.
“Confidence is a strange thing,” Shrewsbury said. “Once you start figuring it out, you can feel invincible. To emphasize that we're doing really good and the Virginia Tech game really helped us. , we needed that…moment. We've been kind of riding the wave ever since.”
Notre Dame suffered an 84-51 loss at North Carolina State on Tuesday. Notre Dame's other loss in this stretch was at Syracuse.
A pregame Senior Day ceremony will be held from 2 p.m.
Hunter Kattore, who holds program records for games played (148) and 3-pointers made (326), will be among those honored. Kattore, the 2022 ACC Tournament Most Valuable Player, also participated in last year's Senior Day ceremony, but ultimately decided to return to Tech for an extra year of eligibility.
Senior center Maylijael Potate may also ultimately decide to return for additional eligibility. Robby Beran and Mekhi Long, who transferred from graduate school, will also be recognized.
Senior center Lynn Kidd may elect to return for an additional year, but chose not to participate in the ceremony.
