For the first three years of the Buzz Williams era, the Virginia Tech Hokies have consistently had weak non-conference schedules that have featured few marquee games. The Hokies' weak non-conference schedule seemed to hurt their seeding in the 2017 NCAA Tournament with VT ending up as a 9 seed despite most expecting to see them as a 7 or 8 seed.
For the 2017-2018 season, the Hokies appear ready to put together a strong non-conference schedule that will include a game against arguably the most successful program in the history of college basketball.
https://twitter.com/VT_MBBall/status/867440301274787846
The Virginia Tech Hokies will face the Kentucky Wildcats at Rupp Arena on December 16th in what is the Hokies' biggest non-conference game in years. The Hokies and Wildcats will play for only the fifth time in history with Kentucky having a 3-1 advantage with the most recent win in the second round of the 1996 NCAA Tournament.
This game is a tremendous addition to Virginia Tech's non-conference schedule and will be the headline game for a schedule that already includes a home ACC-Big 10 Challenge game, at Ole Miss, and the 2K Sports Classic in Brooklyn and could include some other strong games that should give the Hokies a respectable non-conference strength of schedule.
The matchup has the potential to be a big December showdown with both teams having the potential to be in the top 25 as Kentucky will once again be loaded with one-and-done talent while VT has added some quality freshmen to a strong core that will be returning even without Zach LeDay and Seth Allen.
This is a great move by Buzz Williams and Whit Babcock to get this game on the schedule while this hopefully will be an opportunity for the Hokies to work out a way to get Kentucky to come to Blacksburg in the future.
Fans have been waiting for a stronger non-conference schedule and after making a return to the NCAA Tournament last season, the Hokies are doing just that for next season.
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