The basketball games remaining in this exhilarating inaugural ACC season for Virginia Tech are dwindling down to a precious few. Three games remain for Tech to continue its long-shot bid to reach the NCAA tournament. The Hokies have a basketball opportunity before them that hasn’t been seen around these parts in quite a while. At a late February time when Hokie Nation attention is usually turning towards Spring football prospects, the Tech basketball team has diverted attention away from Tech’s signature sport. It would seem that basketball again matters at Virginia Tech.

Tech has placed itself in a position of post-season viability due to one of the more remarkable weeks in Tech basketball history. Seth Greenberg’s team, looking tired and perhaps worn out from the rigors of battling more talented ACC teams nose to nose, reached deep down and discovered a reservoir of determination and grit that enabled them to pull off a stunning upset of Duke in front of a wildly enthusiastic Cassell crowd that did indeed evoke remembrances of decades ago. The Duke win was a huge one that garnered national media attention piled atop the conference-wide acclaim this plucky bunch of Hokies had already achieved by playing like something other than the woebegone cellar-dwelling collection of basketball stiffs so universally forecast prior to the season. These are the kinds of wins that programs are built upon. Frank Beamer’s football program had already been to a couple of bowl games but his program really took off early in 1995 when Tech beat a high-profile Miami team. That victory proved to be the springboard for something pretty big.

The basketball win over Duke can have the same effect, but only if the program builds upon it. The early return was promising. Tech had every reason to suffer a letdown against Miami last Saturday night, a team it had already beaten in Coral Gables. This was a classic trap game, but Tech instead demonstrated that despite all of the sour grapes screeching out of Durham [and Roanoke], the Duke win was no fluke. Tech handled the Canes fairly easily. While it didn’t garner the attention of the Duke win, the Miami victory was only slightly less important in the overall scheme of things. Tech followed up the '95 football win over Miami by going to Pittsburgh the next week and not letting up or down, instead beating the Panthers and getting on quite a roll. It remains to be seen whether the basketball team can achieve a similar run - certainly the odds are against it - but Tech showed that they are looking above and beyond a single victory over a national power. They are thinking big around the basketball office.

The immediate thoughts are the game Saturday at NC State, a critical one to Tech’s NCAA hopes. While the placing of Virginia Tech up for discussion by NCAA Tournament Selection Committee Chairman Lee Fowler, who also happens to be the State AD, is likely to draw hoots, catcalls and comments along the lines of “Who?” “This ain’t the BCS” and “Didn’t they lose to VMI?” Tech’s chances for inclusion in the Tournament rely on their ability to continue winning. Beating NC State would be a step in the right direction.

This might not be a bad time to be catching the Wolfpack. This is a season where much attention has been paid to intensity of play; Tech has certainly become the case study for how far a high level of on-court passion can take you. State coach Herb Sendek got the desired high intensity level Tuesday night against North Carolina. It just wasn’t enough. With a superb effort having gone for naught, the focus and intensity of State’s players for the Tech game might not be at a particularly high level. How Sendek rallies a team following a tough loss will have a bearing on Saturday’s game.

With eight conference losses, State has its backs firmly planted against the wall and will be making its last NCAA tournament stand, barring some miracle run through the ACC tournament. Sendek is also dealing with another winter season of discontent among the State faithful; losing again to Tech would do little to quell the howling for his neck. While State has to re-group emotionally from the Carolina loss, Tech will have had a week off following the win over Miami in which to recharge. Tech has an opportunity to snatch what would be a very important road victory, one that would likely sit well with the selection committee.

Tech’s NCAA chances have become slightly enhanced, not only through its own play but also by a number of other ACC teams seemingly bound and determined to play themselves out of consideration. The Hoos saw their chances evaporate as Pete Gillen gave solid evidence that whatever are his practice priorities, teaching end-game situations are not placed high among them. Maryland, the beneficiary of the last-second brain lock by the Hoos, promptly turned around and somehow managed to lose at home to Clemson. Go figure. There are few ways that kind of late-season loss, especially at home, can be spun in a positive manner before the selection committee. Our new conference mates certainly seem to be pitching in and doing their part to assist Tech in its quest for a Tournament berth.

With a fortnight remaining in the regular season, the only Tournament locks among ACC teams are the three atop the standings, Carolina, Wake Forest and Duke. This is being written a few hours before the Duke-Georgia Tech game, but one should assume that no matter that outcome, as long as the Yellow Jackets can finish somewhere in the neighborhood of .500 in conference play, last year’s terrific NCAA run will allow them to shine in. Seven NCAA bids seems a stretch for the ACC, but a league with as lofty an RPI rating as the ACC boasts should command six. The other two will be contested these last few remaining games among Tech, NC State, Maryland and a Miami team that also continues to surprise. The Tech-State game is a very big one indeed.