Bracketology 2024: Latest Bubble Watch of key teams in late February
By Joey Loose
Virginia Tech (15-11) (NET: 53)
4-6 (Q1), 1-3 (Q2), 4-2 (Q3), 6-0 (Q4)
Early in the season, these Hokies got Quad 1 wins over Boise State and Iowa State during the ESPN Events Invitational. They added to their impressive total with a big win against Clemson in early January and a road victory at NC State a few weeks later. Monday’s 34-point win at Virginia remains Quad 2.
Virginia Tech does have a pair of Quad 3 losses and picked them both up in ACC play, losing at home to Miami a month ago before a tough outing at Notre Dame a few weekends back. Their record against Quad 2 teams doesn’t exactly inspire confidence either, including road losses to Florida State and Miami.
That big win over the Cavaliers got the Hokies back into the hunt for an at-large bid. Even though that win currently sits at Quad 2, it has a chance to look even better and helped reverse a recent trend for Virginia Tech, losers of four of five before then. They have road games at Pittsburgh and Syracuse upcoming and might need to win both to get into the NCAA Tournament field.
Wake Forest (16-9) (NET: 40)
1-6 (Q1), 4-3 (Q2), 5-0 (Q3), 6-0 (Q4)
Wake Forest’s lone Quad 1 win came against Florida back in late November and wasn’t even Quad 1 until very recently. Outside of that, they’ve also beaten Virginia, Virginia Tech, and NC State for Quad 2 wins during conference play, though that’s not exactly a super impressive list.
Perfect against Quad 3 and 4 opponents, the bad losses for the Demon Deacons aren’t too terrible. They lost at Florida State in early January but it’s been all Quad 1 losses since then. That does include a 21-point loss at North Carolina and a rough offensive performance against Virginia this past weekend.
After back-to-back losses to Duke and Virginia, the Demon Deacons have to keep pushing forward despite blowing those two opportunities. They’ll get second shots at Pittsburgh and Duke this week, this time at home, and desperately need one, if not both wins to get themselves into a more comfortable position. There’s a path forward even if they lose to the Blue Devils.