Despite losing Seth Allen and Zach LeDay last year, the expectation in Blacksburg was that Virginia Tech would be back in the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight year in 2018. Unsurprisingly, the Hokies have lived up to that expectation.
Virginia Tech received one of the 36 at-large bids to the 2018 NCAA Tournament. This will be the Hokies' tenth NCAA Tournament appearance and third in the 21st Century.
This is only the third time in program history that VT has gone to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments. With his second NCAA Tournament appearance in four years in Blacksburg, Buzz Williams now only trails Charlie Moir for the most NCAA Tournament appearances for a Virginia Tech coach.
The Hokies largely benefited from the fact that they were the only team in the country who had four wins against teams in the top 10 of the RPI before conference tournaments. That, combined with great metrics allowed Hokie fans to relax in the lead-up to Selection Sunday while teams below them in the ACC were more nervous today.
When Buzz Williams first arrived in Blacksburg, making the NCAA Tournament didn't seem like a realistic possibility till his fourth year yet Buzz has the Hokies comfortably in the field for the second-straight year. The job Buzz has done is tremendous as for the first time in a long time if not ever, the Hokies are becoming a NCAA Tournament regular with next year's team having a great chance at becoming the first VT program to make three-straight NCAA Tournaments in school history.
Virginia Tech's Seed and Matchup Revealed
Virginia Tech received an 8 seed in the East Region and will face ninth-seeded Alabama in Pittsburgh on Thursday. If the Hokies beat Alabama, they will most likely face 1 seed Villanova unless either Radford or LIU-Brooklyn makes history as the first 16 seed to upset a 1 seed. For the Hokies, this is a much better matchup than last year as they face an Alabama team that had lost five-straight games before making a semifinal run at the SEC Tournament. The matchup that everyone will have their eyes on will come at the point between two of the country's most exciting point guards: Collin Sexton and Justin Robinson. The Hokies' game at Alabama will tipoff at either 9:20pm or 30 minutes after the Villanova vs. Radford/LIU-Brooklyn game, whichever start time is later, and will be televised on TNT.Photo Credit: Dave Knachel/Virginia Tech Athletics
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