Well the title might be a little more wide open than I originally planned, but let’s keep this on target. A subject that frequently comes up this time of year is what type of conference record is necessary to get an at-large bid to the NCAAT. Here is a little blurb from the Hoo’ville paper that we can refer to whenever this topic comes up:
Only six times since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 48 teams in 1980 (now 65 teams) has a .500 or better ACC team been bypassed when it came to receiving a bid. Unfortunately for Virginia fans, the Wahoos have been the victim three of those six times: 7-7 in 1980; 8-8 in 1992 and 9-7 in 2000.
In fact, that 2000 UVa squad marked the only ACC team to finish above .500 and not make the NCAA field.
By the way, the other three ACC teams with .500 records that were overlooked: Wake Forest (7-7) in 1983; Georgia Tech (8-8) in 1995 and Virginia Tech (8-8) last season.
