Hokies remain outside of AP Top 25 in Men’s Basketball
The post-Christmas Associated Press Top 25 basketball was released on Monday afternoon, and unsurprisingly, the Hokies remain just outside the rankings, while once again sitting on the cusp of breaking into the poll.
Buzz Williams’ 10-1 squad played one game the week before Christmas, a convincing 87-59 victory over Charleston Southern last Tuesday night. Despite playing well in that game, especially in the second half, it was unlikely that the Hokies would enter the polls given the lack of upsets last week, as well as the lack of games played in general.
Most teams within the Top 25 only played one game last week, and the majority of those teams took care of business to remain in the rankings.
The Hokies once again enter this week as the de-facto “Number 27” team in the AP Poll, as they are second in the “Others Receiving Votes” category with 37 total votes. Only Maryland, with 40 votes, is ranked higher without actually being in the Top 25.
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The country will learn a good bit about what kind of team the Hokies are over the next couple of weeks. The team takes on UMBC this Wednesday night at home to close out the non-conference schedule, and then kicks off ACC play with a bang, as the Hokies will face-off against #5 Duke next Saturday at noon in Cassell Coliseum.
After the tilt with Duke, the Hokies will embark on a two-game road trip against NC State and #20 Florida State before returning home to face #23 Notre Dame and a formidable unranked foe in Syracuse.
If the Hokies find a way to run the gamut against those five teams over the next couple of weeks, they will find themselves gaining greater national attention and respect in no time. Either way, Virginia Tech fans will know soon how good this year’s basketball team really is when they take a step upward in competition over the next couple of months.
