Seth Greenberg and the Hokies got a lot of press on Sunday, but not for all the best reason. As the first 10-6 team to miss the big dance, many analysts including Dick Vitale, said that something unjust had happened to the ACC 4th place Hokies especially in comparison to Wake Forest - a team VT beat head-to-head and outperformed in the ACC.

A lot of disappointed fans felt jaded on Sunday and players like Malcom Delaney tweeted that he just wanted to be left alone and “not talk about it”. Still, the team is getting a lot of attention we wouldn’t otherwise have gotten as a 10-seed that had little hope of going beyond the first or second round in the tournament.

The real dagger in the Hokies bid for a tournament seed came in their extremely weak out of conference schedule. In case you forgot because the games weren’t even broadcast on the radio, here are some of the teams we played:

• North Carolina Central Eagles
• UMBC Retrievers
• Charleston Southern Buccaneers
• Campbell Fighting Camels

The sad thing is perhaps we had played a Syracuse or Georgetown in our out-of-conference and gotten beaten badly, it would have actually helped us. No one would have had a problem accepting a 10-ACC-Win team with 21-10 record.  Granted we can simply point to the one and done loss to Miami in the first round of the ACC tournament as well.

At least with the NIT the fans down in Blacksburg get more basketball, beginning with a 7pm game tonight against the Quinnipiac Bobcats - at least its not the retrievers.

The Hokies men’s basketball team has finally gotten to where they need to be: on the coveted ESPN “Locks” list for the NCAA tournament.

After a great February turned in to disaster at the end of the month the Hokies rebounded to win two crucial games at the end of the regular season and earned themselves a bye in the ACC tournament (and any potential embarrassment in a first round collapse had they played a team such as a re-born UNC as a five-seed).

In years past the Hokies have always slipped off the back of the bubble come this time of year with too many blemishes on their resume, especially in out-of-conference play. I liked this year’s path to the big dance though… play easy out-of-conference and then hold tough in the middle of the ACC pack. The Hokies managed a 10-6 ACC record (note that no team has ever been denied a ticket to the tournament with such a record in the ACC) and lost only one home game all season in the double overtime take-a-shot-to-win heartbreaker against ACC Co-champion Maryland. Not bad Seth, not bad at all.

Still even as a “lock” in the bracket of 65 the Hokies can help bolster their arguments for inclusion and fight for a better seed and easier path to deeper play in the tournament with a strong showing at the ACC tournament. Tech will face either #5 Wake Forest or #12 Miami in their first game (Miami is much better than their last place finish would have you believe and Wake Forest is trying to build on their street credit for the tournament just like the Hokies).

As an individual accolade, Malcolm Delaney was a first-team selection on all 53  ballots cast by members of the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association. Way to get even better and make up for that slob Jeff Allen, we love you, man.