After beating North Carolina A&T this past week along with other teams ahead of them in the rankings losing, Virginia Tech jumped into the top 10 of the polls for the first time since February of 1996.
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Virginia Tech is ranked tenth in both the AP Top 25 and the Coaches Poll. The Hokies have the potential to continue climbing in the polls as they will be favored in their next four games with their toughest matchup either coming at home against Notre Dame or at Georgia Tech during that stretch before heading to Virginia for a potential top 10 mid-January showdown.
In addition to taking care of business, the Hokies also benefited from North Carolina losing to Kentucky, Texas Tech losing to Duke, and Auburn being upset by NC State. Those results combined with VT's win over NC A&T opened the door for the Hokies to jump into the top 10.
Currently, Virginia Tech is one of four ACC teams in the top 10 of the AP Poll along with #1 Duke, #4 Virginia, and #9 Florida State. Additionally, North Carolina and NC State are also ranked 14th and 20th respectively.
Among the teams Virginia Tech has beaten, only Purdue has any votes at this point with 3 voting points in this week's poll.
This is the latest high water mark for a Virginia Tech program that has reasons to set the minimum expectations around making the second weekend of this year's NCAA Tournament. The fact that Buzz Williams has turned Virginia Tech from one of the worst major conference programs to a top 10 going into ACC play with legitimate potential to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament is a testament to the impressive job he has done turning VT into a respectable program.
Photo Credit: Harley Taylor
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