Virginia Basketball Bracketology Update: Picking Up the Pieces

Taking a look at how the Cavaliers' blowout loss at Virginia Tech impacted their NCAA Tournament resume and chances

From mid-January to mid-February, Virginia's eight-game winning streak took the Cavaliers from the outside looking in to safely in the projected NCAA Tournament field in most Bracketology projections. Then came the last three games, which saw UVA lose two out of the three, with the one win being a two-point escape against Wake Forest and the second loss being an immensely damaging 75-41 blowout defeat at in-state rival Virginia Tech on Monday night. 

Virginia's NET ranking dropped nine spots from No. 41 to No. 50 following the Virginia Tech loss, but has since moved up two spots to No. 48 thanks to Wake Forest pummeling Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. That game elevated the Demon Deacons 14 spots to No. 26 in the NET rankings, which makes Virginia's win over Wake on Saturday a Quad 1 victory. UVA now has a 3-3 record in Quad 1 games, 3-3 in Quad 2, 8-1 in Quad 3, and 6-0 in Quad 4. 

Joe Lunardi now has Virginia as a No. 9 seed in his latest ESPN Bracketology and No. 36 overall. Jerry Palm of CBS Sports and Mike DeCourcy of Fox Sports both have UVA as a No. 10 seed in their latest bracket projections. 

So, Virginia remains in the NCAA Tournament and not quite in Bubble territory, but the margin of error has decreased. The Cavaliers road is tough from here on out, as their final four games include some big-time opportunities to improve their standing (North Carolina and Duke), but very challenging ones at that, as well as a couple of potential tripping hazards at Boston College and against Georgia Tech to end the season. 

Virginia's remaining regular season schedule:
vs. North Carolina on Saturday, 2/24 (NET 10, Quad 1)
at Boston College on Wednesday, 2/28 (NET 91, Quad 2)
at Duke on Saturday, 3/2 (NET 16, Quad 1)
vs. Georgia Tech on Saturday, 3/9 (NET 141, Quad 3)

It's tough to predict where the Cavaliers will end up after the next few weeks, but if they continue to play poorly in these final four games of the regular season, they might find themselves with work to do entering the ACC Tournament. 

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