Virginia Tech’s basketball team is down to seven healthy/eligible scholarship players for Thursday night’s ACC tournament first-round game against Georgia Tech – a contest the Hokies must win in order to stay in the hunt for an NCAA tournament at-large bid.

That’s because Hokies coach Seth Greenberg announced in a press release, sent at 11:47 p.m. Wednesday, that freshman Jarell Eddie, a 6-foot-7 reserve forward, has been suspended for the rest of the season “in response to an incident that occurred Feb. 15 in Blacksburg.”

That incident was Eddie’s arrest, during a traffic stop, for misdemeanor marijuana possession. He has an April 21 court date.

“Jarell Eddie is a excellent student, a fine young man and a great teammate,” Greenberg said in the release. “He made a mistake in judgment and is paying the price for that mistake.”

The suspension means that 6-7 sophomore Manny Atkins is Tech’s only forward other than the starters: 6-7 Jeff Allen and 6-8 Victor Davila. It almost means that Tech will have seven healthy/eligible scholarship players for the rest of the season, however long it lasts.

The Hokies might need to win two games in two days in order to make the NCAA tournament—a goal they have chased for four years. (They play Florida State on Friday if they beat Georgia Tech.) Even though they played their starters for almost all of their 16 ACC games, winning twice in two days could be tough with seven players, especially since an important one is gimpy.

Allen, Tech’s No. 1 rebounder and No. 2 scorer, is nursing a sore left ankle. He hurt it in Saturday’s regular-season finale, a loss at Clemson. But he stayed in that game and will play against Georgia Tech. How effective he will be remains to be seen.

“It’s an injury that will be an inconvenience,” Greenberg told reporters Wednesday at the ACC tournament.

Eddie’s suspension – and Allen’s injury – are just the latest blows to Tech’s front court.

The Hokies lost two forwards before the season: 6-6 J.T. Thompson (knee injury) and 6-9 Allan Chaney (heart condition). Cadarian Raines, a 6-9 graduate of Petersburg High, played four games before being shut down for the season in December with a recurring left foot injury.

For what it’s worth, even 6-6 walk-on Prince Parker is no longer available, after breaking his foot last week during practice. The former tight end on Tech’s football team joined the basketball squad in late December and has played five minutes in four games.

After Eddie’s arrest, Greenberg did not play him in the next game, a loss at Virginia. Greenberg never called it a suspension, but rather a “coach’s decision.”

Eddie played in the next three games, but didn’t play Saturday at Clemson. Greenberg has consistently and defiantly refused to answer questions about Eddie’s status since the loss at Virginia. His postgame press conference at Clemson was no different.

When asked why Eddie didn’t play, Greenberg said, “Coach’s decision. I decide. When you’re king, you get choices. It’s great to be king. You decide who plays and who doesn’t play.”

Greenberg was asked Tuesday about Eddie’s status for the Georgia Tech game.

“Right now, it is in my hands and I’ll decide who plays,” he said.

That is the most forthcoming answer Greenberg has given about Eddie’s status.

Later Tuesday, athletic director Jim Weaver said any decision about whether Eddie plays is in Greenberg’s hands – and that includes the decision to not play him at Clemson.

“I have not done anything since I concurred with the first time Seth did not play him [at Virginia],” Weaver said.

Eddie traveled with the Hokies to the ACC tournament in Greensboro, N.C. And on Wednesday, all Greenberg would say to reporters about Eddie’s status was this: “He’s here. If you want to talk about the game [against Georgia Tech], I’ll talk about that.”

The release sent out late Wednesday noted that Greenberg will refuse to answer questions about Eddie, as will athletic department administrators.

Eddie, a highly regarded recruit, averaged 10.9 minutes, 2.9 points and 2.2 rebounds this season. He played the second-most minutes of Tech’s three bench players. (Freshman guard Tyrone Garland is the third, in addition to Eddie and Atkins.) The Hokies leaned heavily on their starters this season, playing them for 85 percent of the possible minutes in their ACC games, compared to 75 percent last season.

At the time he signed with Tech, Eddie was the second-highest rated recruit Greenberg had ever landed since arriving in Blacksburg in 2003, behind point guard Marquie Cooke, who was rated by Rivals.com as the No. 57 overall player in the Class of 2004. He was kicked off the team after his freshman season.

Rivals rated Eddie the No. 70 overall recruit in the Class of 2010. Greenberg has since signed wing player Dorian Finney-Smith, Rivals’ No. 37 player in the Class of 2011.

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