Virginia knows what it needs to do in the ACC Tournament: Win, and you’re in

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has Virginia among his Last Four In. CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm has Virginia somewhat safely in, as a 10 seed.

Fox Sports’ Mike DeCoucy has Virginia as an 11, but not in the First Four.

A lot hinges, we could say, on Thursday night, when Virginia (22-9, 13-7 ACC) faces … somebody.

Clemson (21-10, 11-9 ACC) is the sixth seed in this week’s ACC Tournament, and somehow safely in as far as Selection Sunday is concerned.

The somehow: Clemson was really good before Christmas, apparently the most important part of the college basketball season, according to the computers, anyway.

Clemson will face the winner of tonight’s 11-14 game in the Capital One Arena, where, for starters, the media wifi isn’t working (I’ve got my phone working as my personal hotspot).

That one has Boston College (17-14, 8-12 ACC) facing Miami (15-16, 6-14 ACC).

Miami, man, what a case there – in the Final Four last season, preseason Top 15, picked second in the conference by the same media that left Reece Beekman off the All-ACC first-team, fell all the way to 14th with its ongoing nine-game losing streak.

Not sure, but my guess is that me writing about the travesty of justice involving Beekman the way I did yesterday (the password is: mighty forcefully) is why I wasn’t assigned a seat either on media row down on the court or even either of the overflow sections up at the top of the first section for today’s first-round games, which have the level of interest from fans akin to your average local middle-school wrestling tournament.

Whatever.

This column is supposed to be about Virginia’s NCAA Tournament chances, not my first-world problems.

Tony Bennett talked with reporters in Charlottesville today about the ACC Tournament. I wasn’t there, because I was on the train to DC, rushing to find out that there was no room at the inn for me.

Naturally, the issue of the NCAA Tournament bubble came up in Tony’s chat with the ink-stained wretches.

“That remains to be seen when the tournament selection comes,” Bennett said. “We’ve won 22 games, we finished third place by ourself, 13-7, and in football, any pro sport, what place did you finish, did you win the games? You won the games, and so you’ve positioned yourself to be in that spot.”

That’s as close as you’ll get to Bennett lobbying for his team to get an invite.

It obviously wouldn’t hurt Virginia to score more points over the course of 40 minutes than whichever team is on the other side of the scorer’s table on Thursday night.

“Certainly, you want to go into whoever you play and play well, and try to keep momentum going and be successful, so that takes gray areas out of it,” Bennett said. “But again, I think the last number of games have been in that realm of, you know, this is a really important game, must-win, or super important, significant. And so, I think hopefully that experience helps.”

I’d still treat this one as a must-win, just in case.

The bracket experts have Virginia right on the line as it is.

A blowout loss almost certainly throws the ‘Hoos to the NIT.

So, you know, no pressure.

“You can only control so much,” Bennett said. “It’s just being as ready as you can and bringing it and then playing, again, tough-minded, and with a level of freedom in the game. You can’t become something you’re not, and understanding that, you know, again, this has been, you know, we’ve been on that line trying to get in the tournament and on the bubble, out, and we played our way in, and we’re right there,  and again, who knows how it all play out as this thing goes on.”