"But, as an impartial observer, I do like to point out the big picture in things too. And, like I said before, Hokies fans really care about this result because they're invested in basketball in a way that I don't know they ever have been. This was the first time Tech has made back-to-back tournaments in 30 years. I know Seth Greenberg's teams fared much better than they ever really got credit for in the early ACC years, but the league is as strong and as deep as it has ever been, and Virginia Tech -- always known as a football school -- is holding its own, having knocked off Virginia, Duke, North Carolina and a pretty good Clemson team this season.

I completely agree with Aaron's column, that the next step for the Hokies is to win an NCAA Tournament game like this. And the fact that they've had two straight first-round exits gives the feeling that things have stalled. But this is part of the process. Buzz Williams had a pretty good quote about it after the game. "Obviously getting here is incredibly hard and we're very thankful for that and we are striving to continue to get better," he said. "I think the maneuverability in our league is really difficult, too. And obviously, I think that's great prep for this. But the higher you go, the altitude changes. It's harder to breathe. And so we need to continue to get reps at that. I thought tonight was a great game and just didn't come out on the end we wanted to."

It doesn't take much to possibly alter your path. Hold on to win that Miami game and all of a sudden Tech's got a double bye in the ACC Tournament. Perhaps it has an easier time at a run there and gets a better seed, which would get it out of the 8-9 matchup that's been proven time and again to be a coin-flip game. It's little things like that that can improve your chances in the tournament, and though it might seem like the Hokies are far away from breaking through on that front, I don't think they are. Getting there is the first step. Get there enough, and eventually you'll win one of these. It's easy to lose sight of that in the aftermath of a game like that, but it's probably something to remember once the tears dry up and the alcohol has been purged from the system."