Heading into Wednesday night’s game at Boston College, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi had Virginia Tech as one of the last four teams out of the NCAA Tournament.  He updated his bracketology on Thursday morning with the results of Wednesday night’s games, and he now has the Hokies as one of the final four teams in the tournament.  He has them in a play-in game against fellow 12-seed Boise State for the right to fly all the way to San Diego and face No. 5 seed West Virginia in the opening round.

Such a task would be daunting, but it’s better than another 8-9 matchup.  It’s easier to make the Sweet 16 as a 12-seed than it is as an 8 or 9.  Of course, if the Hokies do make the NCAA Tournament, it would be surprising if they drew that exact matchup.  Right now, it’s more about projecting the seeding than the actual matchups.

I’ve always preferred Jerry Palm at CBS to Lunardi.  I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because Lundardi’s predictions are broadcast in your face full bore all the time.  Anyway, Palm has the Hokies in a play-in game as well, as an 11-seed facing Kansas State.  If they win, they would face six-seed Wichita State in Detroit, with a potential matchup against three-seed Michigan State.

BracketMatrix.com keeps up with 106 different bracket projections across the internet.  As of yesterday, 34 of those 106 brackets had the Hokies in the NCAA Tournament, though more like Lunardi probably have Tech in as of today.  Tech’s average seed in those 34 brackets was 10.97.  They weren’t any better than a nine-seed on any of them.

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