Updated NET, KenPom Rankings For Virginia Tech After 76-72 Loss to No. 13 Virginia
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The regular season is over for Virginia Tech men's basketball. The Hokies enter the ACC Tournament in a lull, having dropped seven of their last 11 games.
— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 7, 2026
Still, Virginia Tech (19-12, 8-10 ACC) is by no means out of it. After the Hokies' most recent loss — a 76-72 loss at the hands of No. 13 Virginia — ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi elevated Virginia Tech to his second team out of the 68-team field (No. 70 seed).
Virginia Tech also moved one spot up in KenPom back to No. 57. The Hokies currently hold a net rating of +14.06, an adjusted offensive rating of 117.1 (No. 63), an adjusted defensive rating (No. 62), an adjusted tempo rate of 67.1 (No. 198), a luck factor of +.001 (No. 179) and a strength of schedule net rating of +10.29 (No. 66).
Virginia Tech now sits at No. 54 in the NET rankings. The Hokies went 2-7 on the road in league play. Virginia Tech exits the regular season with a 2-10 record in Quadrant 1 games, a 6-2 record in Quadrant 2 play and a 11-0 (4-0 Q3, 7-0 Q4) record against the lower two quadrants.
Despite its troubles, the Hokies still remain within reach of the NCAA Tournament thanks to the vacillating nature of the bubble. However, Virginia Tech will need to watch how several other leagues' conference championships unfold, such as the MAC and the Atlantic 10 championships.
Despite suffering seven single-digit losses, and five by four or less points, Virginia Tech is still in the fight. Four of those five two-possession losses were to Quadrant 1 teams (the lone one that wasn't was Stanford at home on Jan. 7), rendering those contests net-positives for the Hokies on the predicitive metrics.
Still, Virginia Tech has missed opportunities to close out. The Hokies ceded an early 9-0 run to the Cavaliers yesterday and fell behind 22-5 after seven and a half minutes. Though they rallied, a 12-2 run from Virginia to close out the first half didn't help. And faced with a four-point deficit, guard Ben Hammond — who logged a team-high 21 points and was shooting over 90% from the free-throw line — missed both of his free-throw attempts.
The Hokies now await Wake Forest in the first round of the ACC Tournament for their third matchup of the season. Virginia Tech and the 13th-seeded Demon Deacons will square off on Tuesday, March 10 at 7 p.m. ET. The two teams split their meetings in the regular season. The Hokies fell 81-78 at LJVM Coliseum on Jan. 3 before rebounding with an 82-63 victory on Feb. 21.
Hughes serves as Virginia Tech On SI's lead editor, a position he has held since July 2025. He is a sophomore at Virginia Tech, majoring in multimedia journalism with a minor in creative writing. Hughes is also the assistant editor-in-chief for 3304 Sports, as well as an on-air talent for 3304's SportsCenter-style studio show. He is also a staff writer for Steering Wheel Nation, having written pieces on several motorsport series, including Formula 1 and the NTT IndyCar Series.
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