Virginia Tech Head Coach Megan Duffy Previews WBIT Matchup Against NC A&T

This season, some considered the Virginia Tech Hokies to have overachieved, given the circumstances they faced. After finishing the March Madness tournament last year, the Hokies lost their head coach and several players, with only a few returning. However, head coach Megan Duffy came on board, and in her first year, she exceeded expectations. The team finished with an overall record of 18-12 and an ACC record of 9-9.

As of Sunday, the NCAA announced the teams that made the March Madness tournament, and unfortunately, the Hokies didn’t make it. But they made it to the WBIT tournament, which starts on Thursday. Let’s take a look at what Coach Duffy had to say:

“The last three weeks of the season, we were in and out of that bubble area, and at that point, you’re watching games and leaving it up to the selection committee. One of the things we talked about three weeks ago is we’re not going to make excuses. We’re going to own our season and the great victories with it, some of the mistakes we made along the way, and with us building our program from our first year, you want to really pull out those positives.”

Duffy went on to say “Would we love to be dancing in our first year? Absolutely, but I think there’s some great value and momentum and to continue to be able to practice with your team and get some game experience in March.”

Much could be made about what Coach Duffy said, as the team had opportunities to make the March Madness tournament but, unfortunately, came up short in certain areas. There were games where they had opportunities to close the deal but would have some mishaps throughout that ended up costly. Coach Duffy had this to say about the Hokies matchup with North Carolina A&T:

“Obviously, we have the advantage of playing at home in front of our crowd and getting Hokie Nation out to see us at least one more time, and I think there’s a mindset of, ‘We want to win the tournament,’ but at the same time, our success has really been taking it a couple of days at a time.”

The Hokies are currently the number-one seed in the WBIT tournament and are the favorites to win. Let’s take a look at what our own Taylor Bretl had to say:

“As in the WBIT, the Hokies have positioned themselves as the tournament favorites. With this, Virginia Tech will host the first three rounds at Cassell Coliseum, giving them a home-court advantage on their path to the semifinals. Notably, the Hokies are the only ACC team on their side of the bracket. This season, they were 7-0 at home against non-conference opponents, with an average winning margin of 29 points per game.”

The Hokies will play North Carolina A&T this Thursday, March 20th, at 6:00 P.M. in the first round of the WBIT tournament.