Virginia Tech at Virginia, Pitt at St. John's

UVA
The Cavaliers host the Hokies in just less than an hour at 1. Virginia is on a slide and a win over the archrival would be great. Virginia defeated Tech earlier in the season and a season sweep would mean a lot for the program and fans. But for the immediate situation, Tech is the one that needs to win this game. The Hokies are 17-7 and 7-4 in the ACC, in need of as many wins as possible before selection Sunday. They've moved up from an RPI of 68 to an RPI of 57 since the last time I made a blog post. Tech is once again inflating its overall wins, but still in need of some quality wins this season. Tech does have a better strength of schedule than say, last year, but the Hokies failed to win most of their key games. They play Duke at home next Saturday so that will be a big change for them to score some points for the selection committee.
Really hoping Virginia can damage the bubble of Tech today. A loss to a sub-RPI 150 team is not what Tech needs right now.
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BIG EAST THROWDOWN
St. John's hosts Pittsburgh in huge Big East matchup. The game started at noon. Like Virginia Tech, St. John's needs this more than Pitt. The Panthers seem well on their way to getting an at-large berth for the Dance while the Red Storm have only just become a Dance possibility within the last few weeks. Despite losses to St. Bonaventure and Fordham early in the their non-conference schedule, the Red Storm have built up a Big East record of 8-5 and have shot all the way up to an RPI of 16. The committee likes teams that come on strong at the end of the season and St. John's could do wonders for its resume with a win over Pitt. After this game, St. John's four remaining opponents are DePaul, Villanova, Seton Hall and South Florida. Besides the Villanova game, St. John's should win the other three games easily. Combine those three wins with a win today against Pitt, and I think St. John's should be in March Madness.

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