Is Virginia in March Madness? Exploring the Cavaliers' odds of making the NCAA tournament after NC State loss

The Virginia Cavaliers recently fell to the NC State Wolfpack in a heartbreaking 73-65 loss in OT in the ACC semifinals. NC State mounted a comeback late in the second half after being down by six with under a minute left.

Then, senior guard Michael O'Connell sent the game into the extra period with a desperation 3 at the end of regulation. And in overtime, the Wolfpack just pulled away for good.

With the loss, Virginia's chances of making it into this year`s tournament are now incredibly slim. But just how slim is it now? Here`s a closer look.

Is Virginia in March madness? Analyzing the current scenario

The Cavaliers still potentially can get into the NCAA Tournament via an at-large berth, but they can only get news by Selection Sunday (via The Washington Post). This means that their fate is now in the hands of the Selection Committee.

Their loss to NC State meant that any hope they had for an outright qualifier was now gone. They`ve now failed to reach the conference finals for the 11th time in their program history. Currently, Virginia`s net rating sits at 50 due to their poor Quad 1 record (2-6). Their only wins in the quadrant against Florida and Clemson didn`t do much to bump them up.

Has Virginia ever won the NCAA?

As one of the NCAA tournament mainstays in the 2010s, Virginia has just one national championship win in 2019. It is also their first-ever title win in program history.

Perhaps the biggest thing about that championship is that it was a redemption victory. They won it just a year after their embarrassing loss to the 16-seed UMBC Retrievers--the first time in men`s college basketball that a No. 16 seed beat a No. 1. It could be safe to say that they`re looking to regain that kind of glory in this year`s tournament if they do get in.

Who are the likely top four teams for March Madness?

It`s not hard to see that the top four teams in this year`s March Madness will be the usual suspects all season long. These would be Houston, Purdue, UConn and Tennessee (via Bleacher Report).

Houston is the No. 1 ranked team right now, but they still seem to be the odd team out of the bunch. They don`t have elite individual talents like Purdue and Tennessee, and they don`t score as much as UConn.

They`re the best team in the nation right now solely because of their suffocating defense – which is something they`ll hope will carry them through to the end.

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