Virginia Tech and Maryland On The ACC Bubble
Critical Contests Ahead May Determine NCAA Tournament Bids
Mar 4, 2009
Separating the two schools to determine a favorite is almost impossible. Heading into the home stretch in their seasons both sport 7-7 conference records, while the overall records of 17-11 for Virginia Tech and 18-10 for Maryland are virtual carbon copies. The race for the last spot may be decided over the next five days as each prepares for crucial home and away contests.
Looking At Virginia Tech
Perhaps no program has seen more late-game heartbreak than the Hokies, with several contests coming down to the last possession, highlighted by a half-court buzzer beater loss against Xavier. Tech's record includes road wins against Wake Forest and Clemson, although they've gone 5-6 since the Wake game, including a loss at Maryland. Tech comes in with RPI and Strength of Schedule rankings of 59 and 36, respectively.
Looking At Maryland
Maryland's spent most of the year fighting itself, suffering humiliating losses to Duke and Clemson, yet rallying to beat Michigan State early in the season and North Carolina late. They played Duke even up for 35 minutes last week and fought off a difficult N.C. State team over the weekend. Maryland is clearly playing its best right now. Maryland comes in with RPI and Strength of Schedule rankings of 52 and 23, respectively.
Both teams have had their share of bad showings and highlight wins, and other than the head-to-head win that went Maryland's way, not much really separates the two teams. However that may change over the next five days.
Critical Contests Ahead Will Decide
Both teams finish the season with one home and one away game, all of which are critical and could sway the tournament committee. On Tuesday Maryland hosts Wake Forest and on Wednesday Virginia Tech hosts North Carolina. It does not get any better for either team if they want to make a case and get some separation from one another. A win by either team is huge, while a loss sets up final games as crucial.
Over the weekend Maryland plays at Virginia, a team that has struggled most of the season, while Virginia Tech plays at Florida State, a lock tournament team ranked inside the Top 25. If it comes down to the end, a Tech win in Florida could make the biggest impact while a Tech loss and Maryland win, no easy feat, could sew up the bid for the Terrapins.
It is truly getting down to the basics for both schools; winning out would lock up each case for a tournament bid, while a split for both schools puts them right back where this all started: pretty much in a dead heat. In that case, the ACC Tournament might determine who moves on to the big dance.
