Virginia Tech channels old-school ACC vibes as it bounces UNC, earns shot at Duke
Of all the expansion arrivals, no one’s been a better spiritual fit for the ACC than Virginia Tech, the school the ACC didn’t want in the first place. Turns out the Hokies would have made a great 10th team if the ACC had ever wanted one, way back when.
Then Virginia politics forced the ACC’s hand and almost two decades later the Hokies were in a new-school tournament venue channeling the old-school ACC they once watched from the outside.
There they were, living the annual dream of Maryland and Virginia and Clemson and Georgia Tech, finding a way to knock those high-and-mighty Tobacco Road schools down a peg.
Friday, the Hokies denied the ACC — and ESPN — a coveted third rivalry meeting by clinically dismantling the Tar Heels, who reverted to their worst possible nature at close to the worst possible moment. ABCers rejoiced.
On Saturday, they’ll have a chance to rain on the second leg of the Mike Krzyzewski farewell parade by denying him a final ACC title — but at the least, the Hokies have already denied Duke the chance of redemption it so badly wanted against North Carolina.
In the process, they may have claimed the NCAA tournament bid Wake Forest was hoping to cling to like grim death after losing its opener to Boston College.
And the Hokies probably did some damage to N.C. State we’ll only find out about later, just for good measure.
Lefty Driesell joked about strapping the ACC trophy to the hood of his car and driving from Murphy to Manteo; Mike Brey wanted to do the same after beating Duke and Carolina in Greensboro with Notre Dame in 2015. Mike Young, who like Brey grew up deep in traditional ACC territory, may get the chance to make the same joke after following a similar path to the title.
All jokes aside, Virginia Tech showed up in Brooklyn as the team everyone thought it was in November and the Tar Heels showed up Friday night as the team everyone feared it was in December. Virginia Tech is 12-2 since starting the season 10-10, overscheduled early as it tried to work Wofford transfer Storm Murphy into the lineup.
Murphy is fully integrated now, Keve Aluma and Justyn Mutts are a matchup nightmare that will force Duke to make some tough defensive decisions and the Hokies — four-time ACC champions in football — will play for the basketball title for the first time.
North Carolina, mercurial as ever, struggled to score in the first half and struggled to defend in the second Friday night. The depth of how far the Tar Heels fell from Thursday night’s win over Virginia was shocking, the mere fact of it was not. This is their nature.
Perhaps it was better the Tar Heels throw in one of their characteristic clunkers in this game than against Duke, if there’s any consolation to be found. The Blue Devils certainly wanted more; Paolo Banchero, in his walk-off interview with ESPN, was asked who he would rather play. “UNC,” he said, without hesitation.
Instead they’ll get a Virginia Tech team intent on playing spoiler and, apparently, getting very good at it.
Once upon a time, in a smaller ACC, everyone was trying to chase down Dean Smith and, later, Smith and Krzyzewski. The latter is still around and still standing in the Hokies’ way, and vice versa. Virginia Tech becomes the 14th different team to play for the ACC title. The Hokies honor their spiritual predecessors with their obstinance.
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This story was originally published March 12, 2022 at 12:29 AM with the headline "Virginia Tech channels old-school ACC vibes as it bounces UNC, earns shot at Duke."
