Collision course with Virginia Tech?

As relayed in Part 2 of our Behind the Scenes series with Brad Brownell, the coach and his staff were already wary of Virginia Tech last week.

Clemson still had four games separating it from the regular-season finale against the Hokies at Littlejohn Coliseum.

Not trying to create the impression that Brownell and Co. were overlooking the next few opponents in favor of Virginia Tech; that's definitely not the case. But you could tell they had their eye on the Hokies, and perhaps that they knew it was shaping up to be a really big game.

It certainly has the looks of a huge game as it relates to the NCAA Tournament hopes of both teams.

Virginia Tech has the edge as it stands now, according to the so-called experts who forecast at-large entrants. Clemson has some ground to make up, having suffered a costly loss at N.C. State last week.

But if you look at the most current RPI approximations according to realtimerpi.com, there's not much separating these two. The Hokies are 65th, and Clemson is 66th.

Here's what the rest of Virginia Tech's schedule looks like:

at Wake Forest (tonight)
Duke (Saturday)
Boston College (Tuesday)
at Clemson (March 5)

and Clemson's:

Wake Forest (Saturday)
at Duke (March 2)
Virginia Tech (March 5)

No doubt the Hokies have a tremendous opportunity with the back-to-back home games against the Blue Devils (6 RPI) and Eagles (45). Clemson's final opportunity to grab a signature win comes next week on Senior Night at Cameron, and I'm not sure how many people are giving the Tigers a realistic chance of winning that one.

So the advantage has to go to the Hokies, who are 7-5 in the ACC (Clemson is 7-6) with a good shot at improving to 8-5 tonight in Winston-Salem.

But what if Virginia Tech wins tonight, loses to Duke and beats Boston College, putting the Hokies at 9-6 entering the regular-season finale? And what if Clemson beats Wake Forest on Saturday and loses to Duke, putting the Tigers at 8-7 entering the game against the Hokies?

If Clemson wins that game under that scenario, both teams are 9-7 entering the ACC Tournament. And Clemson will be able to say it beat the Hokies head to head a mere eight days before the NCAA brackets are revealed. That's big.

Here's a brief look at the resumes:

VIRGINIA TECH

The good: beat Oklahoma State (59 RPI) and Penn State (60) in non-conference. Losses to solid RPI teams in Purdue (7) and UNLV (26). Beat Florida State (50) in ACC play. Swept Maryland (85).

The bad: Swept by Virginia (144). Blown out at Georgia Tech (156). A lot of bad non-conference opponents in Campbell (259), UNC Greensboro (298), Cal State Northridge (266), Longwood (319) and USC Upstate (317).

CLEMSON

The good: Swept Miami (74). Beat Boston College (45). Beat Floria State (50). Six losses by six points or less. Non-conference win at College of Charleston (61).

The bad: Weak non-conference schedule dragged down by The Citadel (301), S.C. State (341) and UNC Greensboro (298). Loss to Virginia (144).

Looks like these two are as close to even as it gets. Clemson, by the way, has the advantage in strength of schedule (85 to the Hokies' 97).

Surely what unfolds at the ACC Tournament will play a big role in these two teams' NCAA at-large fortunes.

But if the Tigers and Hokies are fighting for one spot, what happens at Littlejohn in 11 days could be quite influential as well.

LW