2025 ACC Tournament: Mapping Out Virginia Tech’s Potential Opponents and Path This Week

Virginia Tech wrapped up the regular season with a loss to Clemson yesterday and now will be the No. 10 seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament. The Hokies are going to face Cal in the opening round of the Tournament on Tuesday and then would face Stanford if they won against the Golden Bears.

Coming into this ACC Tournament, there is a feeling that it is a certainity that Duke is going to walk over everyone else in the conference and that there is not much of a chance for any team to make a Cinderella run to win it. Last season, NC State made one of the most memorable conference tournament runs in ACC history when they won the conference tournament as the No. 10 seed then proceeded to get all the way to the Final Four. Just a couple of years ago, Mike Young led Virginia Tech to a conference tournament title as the No. 7 seed. It is not impossible, but with the ACC in a down year and Duke looking like a historically dominant team, it seems like a longshot.

But that is why its called March Madness. If Virginia Tech was going to make a shocking run (I don’t think they can), what does their potential path look like?

Of course, they start the tournament against Cal. The two teams played once this year, a 71-68 victory for Virginia Tech. If they win that, they will face Stanford, who is the No. 7 seed in this year’s ACC Tournament. The Cardinal won the only matchup between the two teams this season 70-59, but Stanford is far from unbeatable. They stumbled down the stretch after looking like a potential threat for a double-bye and were blown out by Louisville on Saturday.

If (and I stress if) they were to win those games, Virginia Tech would then be tasked with trying to beat No. 2 seed Louisville in the quarterfinals. Just recently, Pat Kelsey’s team beat Virginia Tech by only five points. It would be the third game in three days for the Hokies, while the Cardinals would be fresh. Assuming the highest seeds win out the rest of the way, Virginia Tech would then face Clemson in the semifinals and then Duke in the championship. If they are still standing, it will be the most shocking run in ACC history, topping NC State’s run last season.

There is a very tough path ahead for the Hokies if they want to make a deep run, but this team can win a couple of games. Young is a very good coach and has gotten the most out of this team this season and are capable of beating Cal and Stanford to reach the quarterfinals, which would be an accomplishment considering where this team was projected to be.

ACC Tournament Bracket

First Round (Tuesday, March 11th)

Game 1: No. 12 Notre Dame vs No. 13 Pitt (2:00 p.m. ET, ACC Network)

Game 2: No. 10 Virginia Tech vs No. 15 Cal (4:30 p.m. ET, ACC Network)

Game 3: No. 11 Florida State vs No. 14 Syracuse(7:00 p.m. ET, ACC Network)

Second Round (Wendesday, March 12th)

Game 4: No. 8 Georgia Tech vs No.9 Virginia (12:00 p.m. ET, ESPN)

Game 5: No. 5 SMU vs Game 1 Winner (2:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)

Game 6: No. 7 Stanford vs Game 2 Winner (7:00 p.m. ET, ESPN2/ESPNU)

Game 7: No. 6 Wake Forest vs Game 3 Winner (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2/ESPNU)

Quarterfinals (Thursday, March 13th)

Game 8: No. 1 Duke vs Game 4 Winner (12:00 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN2)

Game 9: No. 4 North Carolina vs Game 5 Winner (2:30 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN2)

Game 10: No. 2 Louisville vs Game 6 Winner (7:00 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN2)

Game 11: No. 3 Clemson vs Game 7 Winner (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN2)

Semifinals (Friday, March 14th)

Game 12: Game 8 Winner vs Game 9 Winner (7:00 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN2)

Game 13: Game 10 Winner vs Game 11 Winner (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN2)

Championship Game (Saturday, March 15th)

Game 12 Winner vs Game 13 Winner (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)