This late in the season, we see bubbles form, and one of the metrics used in assessing these bubbles is RPI. This season, the talk is all about quadrants, which understandably have some people confused, so I thought I'd lay out the Hokies' resume, RPI Quadrant style.
Updated after Duke win
Quadrant 1: Top 30 at Home, Top 50 Neutral site, Top 75 on the road.
VT record: 6-6, 1 game remaining
Q2: 31-75 at Home, 51-100 Neutral, 76-135 on the road.
VT record: 4-2, no games remaining
Q3: 76-160 at Home, 101-200 Neutral, 136-240 on the road.
VT record: 2-1, no games remaining
Q4: 161+ at Home, 201+ Neutral, 241+ on the road.
VT record: 9-0, no games remaining.
Best 3 Wins: all Q1
@ #1 UVA
v #4 Duke
v #5 UNC
Worst 3 Losses:
n #136 St Louis Q3
v #47 FSU Q2
@ #45 Syracuse Q1
Comments
Who are our 6 losses for quadrant one?
Home Losses to UVA (1) and Miami (29)
Road Losses to Duke (4), Kentucky (16), Syracuse (42), and Louisville (52)
Thank you!
The downside to the quadrants system can be seen should Virginia Tech beat Miami next Saturday. It is mathematically possible that our Tier 1 home loss to them would become a tier 2 home loss.
So next Saturday we are rooting for a quality loss, not a mediocre win. Got it.
Or we just do the Jake Taylor and "Win the whole /expletive deleted/ thing."
We're fine. Enjoy the run in yall.
Quadrants are stupid
Oh, and Go Hokies!
For sure, beating a top 50 team is an achievement even if it's not on the road. It also counts a win at Murray State the same as beating UNC at home or Virginia on the road, and counts it as better than beating a team like West Virginia at home.
Or the same as a neutral site win against Washington?
I like the fact there's now a way to easily quantify the fact that winning on the road is a lot harder than winning at home.
I don't like the fact it's still based on RPI.
I've seen this movie before. We need to win one more.
Two probably gets us a double bye in the ACC. But this does have an ugly, familiar feel to it. Not going to be comfortable until I see our name on the line.
Agree with this. UL is a bubble team - we must not go 0-2 against them. Win that one and I think we are in with 90% certainty. But I think we would still need to win another one, either regular season or in ACC tourney so that we aren't entering the conversation on a losing streak. As we all know all to well, that committee is certifiably insane and likes keeping VT out.
I don't understand the worry. There is no comparison. Look at resumes below (RPI rankings)
2008 (63)
Best Wins: Duke (9) Miami (39), Mississippi State (42)
Bad Losses: Georgia Tech (89), Virginia (149), Boston College (151)
2010 (58)
Best wins: Georgia Tech (29), Wake Forest (31), Clemson (41)
Bad losses: Miami x2 (95), Boston College (122)
2018 (42)
Best wins: Virginia (1), North Carolina (5), Clemson (9)
Bad losses: St. Louis (139)
There is no question. Our resume from this season blows previous years out the water. We're in, and if we are somehow left out, it will be the biggest snub to date.
This does make me feel a little better. That being said, in 2010 we were 10-6 and tied for 3rd place in the ACC final standings. 25 total wins with only 3 "bad" losses to ACC teams (2 on the road and 1 neutral in Charlotte). If that doesn't get you in, I'm not holding my breath if we get second losses to Louisville, Duke, and Miami. Imagine if we do that and then lose to Syracuse or BC in the second round of the ACC tourney.
Don't get me wrong, I hope you are right, but I'm not going to act like we are in because we beat 3 good teams.
We should have gotten in over Wake Forest in 2010, I agree, but 2010 was the weakest the ACC has ever been in recent memory. Honestly, I thought the 2016 team was more deserving than the 2010 team, but the Alabama State loss ruined it. Without that (to which had we played in March we would have beat them by 30) I think we're in the First Four that season.
I think we're comfortably in. If we do lose out and then add that a loss to a BC or Wake or someone in the tournament, then things might get sweaty just based on perception, but overall resume, we should be a lock.
Wake's AD Ron Wellman was the ACC rep on the Selection Committee that year. Even though he couldn't be in the room when they discussed Wake, he still had influence over our bid. When asked after the process why we didn't get in, his reasoning was off of losses he was referencing that we simply didn't have that year.
Dino Gaudio, the Wake basketball coach at the time, had this to say about a 'certain member' of the committee during that time...
Did St. Louis #getbetter? I thought for sure I would see a L in the Q4 category for a 200+ neutral site game.
EDIT: Yup! RPI 139 as of 2/23.
Q U A L I T Y L O S S
U
A
L
I
T
Y
L
O
S
S
Saint Louis and Washington both have gotten much better since we played them. Washington could be a tournament team.
The difference between home and away rankings seems too great. Beating the #75 on the road is more impressive than beating #31 at home? Feel like they should shrink that gap just a little bit. Just me?
This is a crippling loss for our tournament chances.
Must beat either Miami or Duke... Each would be a monumental upset.
5 downvotes? 😂😂 that's dumb. But monumental upset? 🤔🤔🤔🤔
I think the reason for downvotes is probably fatigue from seemingly nonstop negativity, either in the form of complaining about Lunardi or the tournament committee to now a single loss ruining our tournament chances.
This. There's specific guidance given on respecting signal to noise ratio, and Alum has done this a few times recently on Buzzketball threads. The community is self moderating.
You've lost your damn mind.
But is he certifiably insane?
This aged well.
I think his point is simple we've now lost twice to a true bubble team we've got some nice wins but if we lose or get blown out in our last two games I've been a part of too many short comings in VT sports to feel too good on our chances barring a nice tourney run I'm optimistic but I didn't fall off the turnip cart this mornin
This, ahhh, needs another update.
HOKIES IN!! HOKIES IN!!
Big win against a surging (and talented) Dook team puts VT as a lock (at-large) bid.
My guess is an 8-seed, but a good run in the ACC tourney puts them even higher!
FAM!
When you compare resumes, we should certainly be above an 8 seed - realistically like a 6, however we've been effed in the a so many times by the committee, 8 sounds about right.
Hey. Stop cussin.
-Buzz Williams (post game interview)